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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 13, 1981)
Pumping iron to the top f Photo courtesy of George Pessell Continued from Page 1B talking to Pessell for a few minutes explodes the tiresome tale of the bodybuilder with muscles where his brain should be. “Muscle bound, brainless wonders,” Pessell says, mimicking the worn labels. “I don't think that's fair. It's like stereotyping football players.” To a degree, those labels belong to the past. Factors aiding the grow ing acceptance of bodybuilding in clude the popularity of the "Incre dible Hulk" TV show with Lou Ferrigno in the lead role; the charis matic Arnold Schwartzenegger, who is to bodybuilding what Ali is to box ing; and the increasing number of women bodybuilders. “I think it’s great,” says Pessell of his female counterparts. “The public has had a little trouble accepting it, just like male bodybuilding back in the ’50s. I think it makes them look a lot better, too.” The health movement of the past few years hasn’t hurt the sport’s image, either, Pessell says. “Oh, yeah. Just look at all the people coming into the gyms now. It’s the health habit. People are us ing weight training to help keep physically fit. And it works, I can tell you that ” Is George Pessell another one of those 98-pound wimps who got tired of having sand kicked in his face? Well, yes and no. When he began dabbling in weight training, he weighed about 98 pounds. But that was just after sixth grade, and he only was 4-feet, 7-inches tall. “I starting weight lifting and play ing a little basketball and found that weight lifting was something I excelled in. I was always far and above everyone else in terms of natural strength." Bodybuilding, however, was not Pessell’s first love. When he was 15, he entered his first powerlifting contest, in which contestants grab an outrageously heavy barbell and try to yank it to knee level. Pessell has deadlifted 550 pounds. It wasn’t until he was a sophomore at the University that Pessell added bodybuilding to his repetoire. "Powerlifting gave me the foun dation, the muscular mass," Pessell says. "Bodybuilding was something I just decided to try. I ended up liking it -1 still do both. "It’s something to do,” he dead pans. "It keeps me off the streets.” Pessell doesn’t plan to enter any competitions in the next few months, so his current Autzen Stadium wor kouts focus on increasing bulk rather than “defining and sharping" the musclature he already has. But if a competition was coming up in, say, six to eight weeks, Pessell would change his routine. The most important change would be his diet. Lots of protein, preferably chicken and fish. Cut down on breads. No junk food. "You’re losing subcutaneous fat and letting vascularity come through. The effect is to get your skin paper thin. You work out a little harder, get a little more intense. And that's how you get the definition to come through, the muscle quality. “That’s what the judges are look ing for nowadays. There have been certain trends in judging. Before it Weeks after competing in the Mr. Collegiate America contest (far left), Pessel has some more relaxing moments entering his last month at the University. would just be as big as you can get,’ then it was ‘more symmetry.' Now it’s both. You have to be huge, very dense, with muscularity and abse nce of body fat.” There are three stages of any bodybuilding competition — symmetry, compulsory posing and free posing. In the latter, each competitor tries to show off his or her strong points while hiding the weaker ones. Pessell, being both a bodybuilder and powerlifter, has a very powerful chest, arms and thighs. “My chest is my forte. It’s just natural, I’ve always had a big chest. People ask me,” he says, in a snarly voice, “ ’When are you gonna get a bra?’ ” But almost every body builder has his or her Achilles heel. ”1 hide my calves. I once saw a Mr. America calf routine in a magazine. I tried it and couldn’t walk. God, I only did three sets out of the seven they wanted me to do!" There are other methods of bodybuilding that aren't so natural. Drugs, anabolic steroids in par ticular, are used to increase body mass at a faster-than-normal rate. Most pros use them religiously, and many of the amateurs have at least dabbled in steriods once or twice. Passell is no exception. He says he has used steriods once. “It helped my strength incredibly. I gained a lot of weight. ”1 figure I can do without it, though. My body is genetically capable of putting on a lot of muscle mass through lifting. I’m not willing to risk my body for maybe getting there faster. I’d rather go through the hard-work routine.” One routine Pessell tends to avoid is working on his posing. "I don’t practice that too much. I have a certain routine that I'll brush up on before a competition, maybe throw in something new. "Some people take ballet to work on flexibility, posing, and to check out the girls.” He grins. ”1 thought about taking ballet, but I took bowling instead.” Pessell's training method seems to work, if one looks at the results. In addition to the Mr. Oregon title, Photo by Jody Murray Pessel works on a fly routine in the Autzen Stadium weight room Pessell took third in the light heavyweight class at the Mr. Colle giate America contest. "It was a very well-run contest. It had national judges, which was nice because there’s no politics involved — bias about what state or gym you’re from. "The heavyweights were incre dible. The one who took second was Mr. America's workout partner. The winner was 21 and already owned his own gym. He was 5-10, 225 pounds. He was a house." Pessell had just as much fun win ning the Mr. Oregon title. “I was up against two competitors who had each beaten me twice before. I thought I had been ripped off the other times, so I came back and ripped the shit out of them. It was great. "Some people consider body building an art form, some a sport. I consider it a sport." With his competitive nature, Pessell thinks he could go pretty far with what he’s already got. "If I entered the Mr. America now, I could probably place in the top 20.” Mr. America is the country’s most prestigious amateur title. “I’d like to become Mr. America or win a national contest. That’s maybe three years away, as I see it." In Pessell's case, three years equals tons of weight pushed, shoved and strained to add that extra inch of muscle. But he says life in the weight room has its benefits. “It's my social life, more or less, nowadays. Guys there have the same interests. We'll break our backs for each other. It’s good comraderie. “It relieves a lot of pressure. 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