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. If you
get down from a final or something,
you can take it out on the weights.”
By Jody Murray
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