MAY 2015 ISSUE #01
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15 In this issue 5
Editor’s Message by Cam Patterson
7 Lean & Strong by Dr. Mercola
11
For the Huddle
15
Health & Nutrition
18
Unexpected Champion
19 21
21
Training Tips
Just Get Active
24 World Masters Summer Games 26 Maintaining Speed 28 Memory, Age and Fitness 30 Maintaining Endurance
>> EDITOR ’S MESSAGE
MAY 2015
ISSUE #01
PRESIDENT/PUBLISHER Ray Blumenfeld VICE-PRESIDENT, CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT Kevin Klein VICE-PRESIDENT, MARKETING Patrick Cairns EXECUTIVE EDITOR Cam Patterson CREATIVE DIRECTOR Christian Kent CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Martin Unrau, Andrew Beattie, Ehsan Sairally, Ed Sullivan, Mandy D’Autremont LOGISTICS Carol Ann Lee
The Sports Masters is published monthly by We Communications West Inc.
COMMUNICATIONS WEST INC.
We Communications West Inc. 106-530 Kenaston Boulevard Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3N 1Z4 Phone: 204.985.9502 Fax: 204.582.9800 Toll Free: 1.800.344.7055 E-mail: publishing@thesportsmasters.com Website: www.thesportsmasters.com Sports Masters subscriptions are available for $28.00/year or $46.00/two years and includes the annual Buyers Guide issue. ©2015 We Communications West Inc. All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced by any means in whole or in part, without prior written consent from the publisher. Printed in Canada. ISSN 1715-6726
INTRODUCING THE SPORTS MASTERS
Extensive research throughout North America, that also included other English speaking countries around the world, indicated a very limited range of any type of quality publication or digital presence aimed at the overall realm of competitive and recreational male and female athletes who are 35 years old and up. These mature athletes are well educated, professional and have the financial capability to train, travel and compete in their chosen sport or activity. The Sports Masters is a media property (print magazine, interactive digital platform and social media community) that has been created to fill this void and capture the constantly growing and highly desirable demographic of active, intelligent adults who are significantly improving their quality of life through participation in organized individual and team sports for health, fitness and competitive reasons. The Sports Masters project will include a high quality printed magazine, an accompanying digital version and mobile application, a weekly e-newsletter and a highly interactive web site. These platforms will directly target those active men and women who are 35 and up - an audience that has the time to devote to their sporting passion and the income to sustain it. The Sports Masters magazine will feature a wide range of current, well written and helpful articles. That content will be made available on the web site in an effort to encourage members and visitors to contribute their own content, photos and video which will create a platform for athletes to interact freely and openly, encouraging them to return to this site over and over again with the familiar attraction of current sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. The Sports Masters digital presence will allow the creation of a valuable database in order to communicate with visitors and members to ask about their likes and dislikes as well as creating a wealth of email addresses which can be utilized for a variety of purposes in support of the magazine, cross-promoting special events and as an effective, personalized marketing tool for our advertising partners. The Sports Masters web site will draw visitors, allow them to create their own pages and encourage them to communicate with their fellow competitors to discuss training methods, to promote upcoming events, to share equipment reviews and to generally act as a meeting place for competitive and recreational athletes, regardless of their geographic location. This site will become an online social community for competitive and recreational athletes from around the world from all sporting disciplines. The combination of a professionally produced magazine along with a highly interactive web site will capitalize on the benefits of a growing social media culture and generate revenue from advertising, endorsement and sponsorship as it will effectively attract a large audience of athletes and consumers.
Cam Patterson is the executive editor of this publication.
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MAY 2015 SPORTS MASTERS 5
>> COVER S TORY
PAY IT FAST FORWARD KINDHUMAN IS NOT YOUR TYPICAL CYCLING STORE
BY AL AN MACK ENZIE It’s not uncommon to see sport-related retail stores celebrate athletic greatness. However, it’s usually a certain kind of greatness – the kind proven by stats, numbers, victories. Of course, athleticism and striving to break records are at the core of sports, but a young North American cycling business is celebrating another fundamental element – sportsmanship. KindHuman is a bicycle company like no other. Its products are stylish, top-quality bikes that can be ridden in high performance competition, but good sportsmanship is truly what is at its core – which the company has proven with its Take the Lead Cycling Scholarship. “Every purchase of one of our bikes and one of our products goes directly to support our scholarship,” says bike designer Adam Abramowicz, who established the company with Toronto businessman Gavin Brauer in 2012. “We want to shed a light and put young people on the podium not just because they’re fast runners, not just because they win. We’re looking for people that are using the bike to do good in their community – for their cycling communities and for their communities at large.” Without the scholarship, KindHuman simply would not exist, Abramowicz says. “KindHuman was founded to support the growth and longevity of cycling and the scholarship is a perfect example of how thesportsmasters.com
we’re doing just that,” he notes, adding that picking only two winners from over 25 worthy applicants was tough. The first recipients of the youth scholarship were announced in April 2014. They are: Keishawn Blackstone, a young man from Los Angeles, California who lost 100 pounds in nine months due to his new love of cycling, who plans to share his story to inspire other young people to make healthy changes in their lives; and Katrina Mayer, an A-student from Toronto with a future in healthcare who plans to introduce children in underprivileged communities to cycling. “Hopefully once our business is more
The boutique 1,000 sq. ft. store offers the company’s full line of products, top-quality cycling accessories, a café, and even Internet for streaming live races, giving the store a true community feel.
successful this won’t be as difficult and we can give to more than just two,” he says, noting that all applicants will receive some level of sponsorship from the company. As winners of the first Take the Lead Scholarship, Blackstone and Mayer will be receiving a complete KindHuman Kampionne bike assembled with Shimano 105, Ritchey Logic components and Reynolds wheels along with official KindHuman Cycling Team kit, Modern Krochet gloves, Flag cycling cap, and Basik socks. Ritchey Logic donated all components to the scholarship and Lazer helmets will be supporting the recipients with Genesis helmets, the company said on its website. KindHuman’s carbon and steel frame bikes are designed by Abramowicz and hand crafted in Toronto. The Kampionne is the company’s first product, a 950 gram roadframe that retails for about $2,075. KindHuman’s bikes are available from select dealers throughout North America, as well as online at kinduman.cc. Last year, Abramowicz and Bauer opened up the company’s first Pro Shop in downtown Toronto. The boutique 1,000 sq. ft. store offers the company’s full line of products, top-quality cycling accessories, a café, and even Internet for streaming live races, giving the store a true community feel. They also offer a repair shop that promises the same level of service to all, not just those with MAY 2015 SPORTS MASTERS 7
super-expensive bikes. “We feel that if we can be successful in Toronto, we can be successful with this model anywhere. Toronto’s tough because of the weather, and it’s also a very populated city and we’re in the middle of a bustling neighbourhood,” he says. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Abramowicz has lived in eight U.S. states and currently resides in South Carolina. He has been racing bikes since he was 10 years old, starting with BMX and moving into road racing and group riding when he was living in Los Angeles. “Getting into road racing was tough because if you didn’t have a $10,000 bike and the right shorts and equipment, you were frowned upon,” he says. “So my goal was to start a team that would welcome anybody and teach them the ropes.” The team was sponsored for a few years by TOMS shoes, a California footwear 8 SPORTS MASTERS MAY 2015
company that is known for donating a pair of shoes to an impoverished child every time one of their pairs is sold. “I met the owner, Blake Mycoskie, right when he was starting TOMS and I thought it was a match made in heaven at the time,” Abramowicz says, noting that when that sponsorship relationship eventually came to a close, he used the TOMS business model of helping those less privileged as an inspiration for what would become KindHuman. Another inspiration, he adds, was his father. “I come from a very blue collar family,” he says, noting that his father is a huge influence. “I remember him working three different jobs and working a lot of overtime – but he always made time to coach my basketball and baseball teams. I didn’t appreciate that until I was a bit older, what my dad did for my family. I knew it was hard for them with the bike racing, because bikes are expensive and races are expensive. We
had to travel and every time you participate in a race you have to pay to be part of it. “I was never that good at sports, but I took to cycling and was really committed to it,” he adds. “I used to bug my dad whenever we went out somewhere to take me to the bike shop. He never wanted to take me there because I think he didn’t want me to look at things they couldn’t afford. “But one day he said, ‘let’s go into the bike shop.’ I didn’t even ask, and he’d already picked out a real nice, brand new race bike for me. It was more than I could have ever asked for,” he says. “I’ll never repay my dad for that, but KindHuman is my way to pay it forward to other kids with a similar upbringing.”
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MAY 2015 SPORTS MASTERS 9
FOR THE HUDDLE 46-YEAR-OLD KLAVERKAMP MAKES NATIONAL WOMEN’S FOOTBALL TEAM Lisa Klaverkamp remembers the day she agreed to play tackle football. OK, she remembers the day. There are times when she still can’t believe she actually agreed to do it. That’s probably because, on that fateful day, she was a 40-year-old Winnipeg housewife taking her 16-year-old daughter to sign up for the Manitoba Fearless Women’s Football Club when Fearless player and founder Tannis Wilson said, “Why don’t YOU play?” “I looked at her and laughed and said, I’m too old,” Klaverkamp said with a smile. “She said, ‘No you aren’t,’ and well, you know Tannis. She’s pretty persuasive. She talked me into it. And here we are.” “Here we are,” is a very interesting place. Not only is Lisa Klaverkamp a member of the Manitoba Fearless and one of the most feared linebackers in the Women’s Canadian Football League, but she’s now a member of Canada’s National Women’s Tackle Football Team and is getting set to head over to Finland in late June to represent the country at the World Championship. “I really thought I’d be too small,” said Klaverkamp, now 46 and a first-time member of the national team who barely thesportsmasters.com
weighs 130 pounds. “But I was fast and I like to hit. For my first two years I was a runningback and then I moved to
“I still have to continue to explain to people that it’s tackle football. And I also have to explain to people that it’s not that Lingerie League.” Lisa Klaverkamp –
linebacker.” She was a terrific back, but every
Fearless coach said the same thing, “Man, can she ever hit!” “She can really tackle,” said her friend and teammate Pauline Olynik, who also went to Canada’s tryout camp in Moose Jaw and made the team as a defensive back. “She’s tough. She’s not very big but she can hit. If you’ve seen us play you know how good she is.” Klaverkamp was a good athlete in high school. She played basketball and volleyball at Vincent Massey in Brandon, but after she got married she did as most women do and raised her family. Her son Nick played for the St. Vital Mustangs and her daughter played with her on the Fearless for the first couple of years. However, mom might be the best football player of the bunch. “It was fun playing with my daughter for a year,” she said. “But I just enjoyed it. I enjoyed the friendships and the competition. I’d been pretty competitive when I was younger and it was fun.” Back in 2010, she chose not to try out for the first National Team that finished second in Sweden. This time, however, she had already earned a reputation as a pretty solid player before she went to the tryout camp.
MAY 2015 SPORTS MASTERS 11
“The coach of the team is the coach with the Saskatoon Valkyries and he knew me and knew what I could do,” she said. “I don’t think I did anything special at the camp. I just played and the coach knew what he could expect from me.” During the day, Klaverkamp is an accountant at Winnipeg Hyundai. At night — at least four nights a week — she works hard in the gym to prepare for another season. “I work out four nights a week in the gym with Char (Mash-Hadlow) and Amy (Mohr),” Lisa said. “We’ve been friends a long time and played together on the Fearless before they started the Wolfpack. They’re both a big part of the reason why I made the team.” Olynik and Mohr will join Klaverkamp on the National Team along with WR Roxanna Cox, OL Christine O’Donnell and DL Alexa Matwyczuk. As well, WR Mash-Hadlow, WR Jill Fast and DB Patti Eko-Davis were named to the reserve team and could still make the team if a player is injured or if someone can’t make it because of work or family commitments. 12 SPORTS MASTERS MAY 2015
And there is a chance someone could be injured. The World Championship of American Football will be held after the 2013 Women’s Canadian Football League
“I looked at her and laughed and said, I’m too old… She talked me into it. And here we are.” Lisa Klaverkamp –
good shape and ready to play,” Klaverkamp said, during an interview for The Huddle TV Show. “It’s pretty exciting. Everybody has been really happy for me although my boss wondered what he’ll do for three weeks when I’m gone, but he was still happy for me.” Klaverkamp still has one concern about being a 130-pound, 46-year-old linebacker playing in one of the best female football leagues in the world. “I still have to continue to explain to people that it’s tackle football,” she said. “And I also have to explain to people that it’s not that Lingerie League. It’s real tackle football with full pads on the big field. Some people still don’t get it.” Maybe they’ll start to understand if she returns from Finland with a gold medal. - staff
Season ends. “The timing is perfect because we’ll be in thesportsmasters.com
BY AL AN MACK ENZIE
HEALTH & NUTRITION FOR MASTERS ATHLETES There’s good news and there’s bad news for older competitive athletes. The good news is that if training intensity can be maintained, decrements in performance will be minimal. The bad news is that recovery from hard training takes longer with older athletes. That’s where specially designed nutritional programs may come to the rescue. The right nutrition program may aid in offsetting the decline in mobility and deceleration of recovery from injuries or hard training sessions. As Masters athletes, we want to maximize joint health by consuming whole, natural and unprocessed foods, rich in fruits and vegetables and low in fatty and sugary products. New research recommends the following be a part of a senior athlete’s diet: • Vitamin C is crucial for collagen formation, which is a protein forming the basis of connective tissue, such as tendons and discs. It is also a strong antioxident. • Omega-3 Fatty Acids are extraordinarily healthy fats which exert an antinflammatory response on another fatty acid called omega-6. It’s good to keep your omega-3 to omega-6 ratio about 20:1. • Sulpher Containing Amino Acids (SAAs) - Chondroitin sulphate is a sulpur containing compound which is used to synthesize the building blocks of cartilage. thesportsmasters.com
Methlysulphonylmethan (MSM) is another sulphur containing compound and is able to donate some of its sulfate to the formation of connective tissue and has an antiinflammatory effect. (SAMe) is another sulpur containing compound which not only exerts an anti-inflammatory response but is also
Age-related declines in muscle function have the greatest impact on older athletes.
used an an antidepressant. • Bioflavanoids are naturally occurring compounds found in fruits and vegetables that appear to possess anti-inflammatory
effects. They have demonstrated this in both acute and chronic inflammation. • Antioxidents - Hard training produces free radicals in the muscle tissue and joints. There are many antioxidents produced in your body which afford protection from free radical damage. These include, selenium, vitamin E, glutathione, and leukotrienes. All these aid in the anti-inflammatory process. • Zinc and Copper - Zinc activates numerous enzymes in the body including the SAAs. It also functions as an antioxident and protects those important sulphur containing compounds. Copper is needed for important antioxident enzymes and for collagen formation. In addition to ensuring a good supply of the above nutrients, it important to keep your fat levels down, especially saturated fats as these can lead to other inflammatory processes. So, Masters athletes, we’ve shown if you can do the workouts at the right intensity you can keep up the pace. You may just need a little help from Mother Nature in the nutrition department to can keep bouncing back healthy from each workout. Aging Athletes Require Tailored Exercise Regimen to Avoid Overuse Injuries: MAY 2015 SPORTS MASTERS 15
Orthopaedic surgeons study most common bone, joint and muscle problems in mature athletes. Research shows that many of the so-called physiologic effects of aging may be related to the increasingly sedentary lifestyle that typically accompanies old age. Regular exercise can slow down or even reverse many of the “physiologic” consequences of aging. Estimates cite that onequarter of the U.S. population will be over age 55 by the year 2010. With the growing trend of exercise adoption among baby boomers and beyond – coupled with the fact that older athletes are more susceptible to chronic and overuse injuries than their younger counterparts – the number of Americans with musculoskeletal problems is positioned to reach an all-time high. According to a study published in the October 2005 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, proper diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal problems in aging athletes will help active older adults maintain function and safely return to sports via individually-tailored exercise programs.
One of the common causes of prolonged shoulder pain, weakness, and disability is a torn rotator cuff.
The most common injuries among aging athletes are chronic, overuse injuries such as muscle strains and tendinitis. These types of injuries result from a decrease in musculoskeletal flexibility and participation in endurance sports – such as long-distance running – which promote muscle fatigue and predisposition to injury. “Chronic and overuse injuries account for approximately 70 percent of injuries in veteran athletes age 60 and older, whereas only 41 percent of younger athletes – ages 21-25 – are affected by these same injuries,” explained Dr. Chen, the study’s lead 16 SPORTS MASTERS MAY 2015
author and attending orthopaedic surgeon in Littleton, NH. “Because these injuries are related to repetitive activity in the presence of degenerative changes, they often result in prolonged disability.” Shoulder injuries are also frequent among older athletes. One of the common causes of prolonged shoulder pain, weakness, and disability is a torn rotator cuff. Rotator cuff repair can be very successful in physically active older patients, with up to 94 percent of patients over 65 years old reporting satisfactory results. After repair, up to 80 percent of patients are able to return to athletics at their pre-injury activity level.
of benefit to patients with arthritis limited to only part of the knee. Osteotomy is ideally suited for physiologically younger patients who wish to remain extremely active. In cases of advanced degenerative changes, total joint replacement is often recommended. However, total joint replacement presents a unique challenge in the older athlete, as the goal of the procedure is not merely pain relief, but also to allow return to functional activities. Despite continued improvements in implant technology, what limits postoperative activities is implant fixation to the body. Because the procedure provides patients with pain relief and mobility – allowing them to return to many activities they enjoy – older athletes often place undue stresses on the implant. Patients who have undergone hip replacement have additional activity constraints due to risk of implant dislocation. Most patients with artificial joints can remain physically active, as long as they adhere to certain restrictions as recommended by their orthopaedic surgeon.
Because the success of functional recovery and return to athletic activity depends on the older patient’s ability to physically or mentally comply with a given treatment plan, it is essential that physicians individualize conditioning or rehabilitative regimens based on each patient’s known physical or cognitive limitations. The Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS) is a publication of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (www.aaos.org).
Realignment surgery (osteotomy) may be
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UNEXPECTED CHAMPION SPEEDSKATER MOORE SURPRISES HIMSELF WITH FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP AT 68 Bob Moore is the Canadian Open Masters Long Track Speedskating Champion and yet he hardly knows it. At least, if you spend any time talking to the retired schoolteacher from Killarney, Man., he still doesn’t know how he won. “We skated four races and I’m not sure how many I won,” said Moore earnestly. “Another skater, Brett Arnason, (who finished second to Moore), who skates all over the world, won some races, but he didn’t even skate the 3,000. He went off to Germany to skate there. “Anyway, apparently I did win and it’s quite an honour.” Moore, who was the chairman of the 2010 Manitoba Seniors Games in Killarney, has been speedskating since 1990. There were Masters athletes from 30-70 and at 68, Moore was clearly the oldest champion.
Moore said he became discouraged with hockey because “most of the older guys just play to get a night out and have a few beers.”
“…what I liked most was the camaraderie and the competitiveness and passion of the other skaters.” Bob Moore –
He was also the most unexpected. Even to himself. “I started skating in 1990 and skated until 1997,” he explained. “I had a lot of fun at it but I moved to Killarney and started playing hockey again. There is no oval in Killarney. The closest oval is in Winnipeg or Brandon.” 18 SPORTS MASTERS MAY 2015
“There just wasn’t any passion in it. So I decided to start speedskating again and I got on my skates a month ago when my wife and I came into Winnipeg,” he said.
‘What the heck, I should enter,’ and so I signed up and had some success,” Moore added. “But what I liked most was the camaraderie and the competitiveness and passion of the other skaters. What a great group of people. “I’ll tell you a great story. When I was warming up, I hadn’t put on my skin suit yet and so I was just warming up in my parka and jeans and Brett, the international skater who is a couple of years younger than me, came up to me and said, ‘Hey Bob, I can loan you a skin suit if you need one.’ Well I thought that was just great,” said Moore. “These people just wanted to have a good competition. They didn’t care if they had the upper hand or anything. They just wanted to compete. It was great to be part of it.” Moore—who says his mentor is former Gendis president, the late Albert Cohen, who speedskated as a boy and continued to work at it for most of his life—still hadn’t quite come to terms with his national honour. “I’ve never won a national championship before, not at any age,” he said with a laugh. “It really hasn’t sunk in yet.” - staff
“I saw that this event was on and I thought, thesportsmasters.com
TRAINING TIPS
FOR OLDER ATHLETES The following training methods have been suggested for all athletes to improve performance, but seem particularly helpful for slowing the age-related decline in athletic speed: • Hill Running or Interval Training can condtion both the aerobic and the anaerobic system which lead to dramatic fitness improvements. • Weight training can maintain muscle tone, strength and maintain fast twitch muscle fibers. • Plyometric exercises and strength
increase
power
MAINTAINING ENDURANCE The common fitness declines that occur with aging include changes in body composition with increased body fat and decreased muscle mass, lose of height (sometimes due to osteoporosis), diminished cardiorespiratory capacity and muscle atrophy. Despite these losses there are examples of extraordinary physical feats of older athletes. Older athletes are often able to compete in thesportsmasters.com
endurance exercise because they often have higher proportions of slow twitch fibers. Additionally, it’s estimated the much of the physical declines associated with aging aren’t inevitable but is due to a detraining or deconditioning effect that comes from a decrease in exercise levels, frequency or intensity. Research has found that seniors make quick improvements when they start exercise. NUTRITION FOR THE OLDER ATHLETE Proper nutrition in older athletes may also protect the joints from age-related degeneration. Aging causes the joints to become less flexible and lose a range of motion. These limitations can compromise physical abilities. The following nutrients are of particular importance for older athletes: • Vitamin C for collagen formation • Omega-3 oils (from nuts, seeds, oily fish and wheat germ) for anti-inflammatory effects. • Sulphur-containing amino acids (from some vegetables, meat, poultry, fish and dairy products) for joint cartilage health.
• Bioflavinoids (from all fruit and vegetables, and buckwheat) for anti-inflammatory effects and improved local circulation. • Antioxidants (selenium and vitamin E) for protection against the damaging free radicals that proliferate in the body with age. DECREASED POWER Aging results in decreases in muscle power faster the decreases in endurance in both men and women. While endurance performance in men peaks in the 20s and declines by about 4 percent by age 55, in women endurance often peaks in the 30s. In both men and women strength and power show a much faster and earlier decline. MEMORY, AGE AND FITNESS There is growing evidence that suggests that seniors who exercise not only reduce the physical declines of age, but also protect their brains (particularly memory) from age-related decline. Physical fitness is linked with a reduced rate of memory decline in middle age.
MAY 2015 SPORTS MASTERS 19
JUST GET ACTIVE BODYBUILDING CHAMPIONS SHELLY PATON & TOM HEFFNER When Tom Heffner’s weightlifting partner Cal Schmidt suggested they check out the Manitoba Body Building Championships, Heffner wasn’t in the least bit interested. After all, this was a decade ago and Heffner was no longer a bodybuilder. After winning “Best Legs” at the Manitoba Provincial Body Building Championships way back in 1974, Heffner had grown into a powerlifter. Nobody made more noise in the gym— Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Athletic Club—than Heffner and Schmidt as the two gargantuan lifters tossed boxcar loads of big, round 25-pound steel plates around the freeweight room. Their groans could be heard all the way to the parking lot as they lifted heavier and heavier iron bars. And those bars creaked under the pressure of the plates. Heffner was a manly man. He was 55 and weighed a rock solid 270 pounds. He’d even won a couple of the strong man contests he’d entered. He was no longer a guy who paraded around in a Speedo posing with his artfully constructed physique hoping that a table full of judges appreciated the effort. “We’re going,” Schmidt said. “I already bought the tickets.”
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Little did he know at the time, but with his insistence, Cal Schmidt created a national bodybuilding champion. And not just a onetime champion: Tom Heffner is the current six-time Canadian champion who will likely his seventh straight National Masters title next year.
But when he started to win, there was no stopping him. And now, as he prepares to fly to Turkey in order to compete in the World Masters Championship, Heffner trains differently, eats differently and even acts differently than the strong man who made more noise in the gym than a convoy of 18-wheelers.
“I’m in the gym every day with young people and I now have more in common with them than people my age.”
“It’s a different kind of training,” Heffner said softly, over coffee, at a Winnipeg restaurant late last month. “I don’t lift the huge weights I used to lift. My nutrition has changed dramatically and I’m very careful about what I eat. When I got back into bodybuilding, I weighed 270. When I competed in, and won, my first bodybuilding competition a year later, I weighed 184 pounds. It’s a different sport altogether than powerlifting and those strongman competitions. You can just tell by the way I train.”
Tom Heffner –
Heffner is a rare beast. An athlete all his life, his devotion to sport and competition didn’t pay him back until he was almost 60.
A guy who once couldn’t find the stairmaster, is now a guy who won’t get off it. Heffner, 65 and retired from a job he held at the City of Winnipeg for 21 years, is now lean and cut—a combination of proper training and nutrition—and while he’s lived a life of sport, he’s only now, been given the chance to be an international winner. Heffner, who grew up in Winnipeg’s River Heights area, thought he’d one day be a MAY 2015 SPORTS MASTERS 21
hockey player.
still a big part of his daily routine. He found he still enjoyed lifting weights and working out in the gym and he soon embarked on a part-time career as a bodybuilder.
“I lived right across the street from Sir John Franklin Community Centre and I’d skate on that rink every day,” he said. “The school was right there and we’d get home from school and skate until we had to go to bed.” But like so many kids in the 1950s, there was such a limited future in hockey that his interest waned when it became clear that, at 15, he was never going to be good enough to make it in the six-team NHL. So by the time he got to junior high, he’d fallen in love with cross-country and track. After junior high, he signed up for an industrial design course at a local vocational high school, where he was asked by legendary Manitoba high school coach Arnie Taylor to join the school’s cross-country and track programs.
“I looked at those guys and thought, ‘I could train for less than a year and beat those guys,’ and that’s what I decided to do.”
But Taylor also had another job for the big, strong exhockey player. “He asked me to play football, too,” Heffner said. “I’d never played before, but I thought I’d give it a try. Arnie saw my size and quickness and wanted me to play defensive end. My job was simply to chase down the quarterback. I was pretty good at it.” After a tremendous high school career, Heffner played two years with the junior Weston Wildcats. When the Wildcats program folded, he thought his sporting life was over, but then he got a surprise call from Peter Watt, the man who ran the Manitoba Senior Football League’s highlyregarded St. Vital Bulldogs. Heffner jumped at the chance to play with the Bulldogs and was rewarded with four straight Canadian Senior titles and, in 1970, 22 SPORTS MASTERS MAY 2015
After winning “Best Legs,” in 1974, however, he seemed to develop a desire to get bigger and stronger. His workouts got more intense, the challenge was altered from sculpting the body to building large muscle mass and he found that the success he was having in powerlifting and strong man competitions were much more fun—and less exhausting—than the time and effort required to turn one’s body into an oiled-up temple. But that’s when his pal Schmidt decided to attend the provincial bodybuilding championship.
“I went with Cal and I studied the bodybuilders,” Heffner said. “Then, I got Tom Heffner – a real surprise. I realized that there was age group competitions and one just for me—Masters or over-55. I looked at those at the age of 25, he got a chance to try out guys and thought, ‘I could for the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers. train for less than a year and beat those “In those days, local Canadian guys were guys,’ and that’s what I decided to little more than training-camp blocking do. Although it took a little longer than bags for the players who were going to a year.” start,” Heffner said, laughing. “I had a pretty good camp, but they made me a centre and I was behind Paul Robson. There was some thought that they wanted Robson to be a full-time linebacker and I might have had a chance to stick, but I broke my arm and that was it. In those days, they had no room for injured Canadians and I was done.” Not surprisingly, after his arm healed, the lessons he’d learned from 10 years of playing competitive football, were
First, he became Manitoba champion and then, in 2004, he heard about a competition called “The World Qualifier.” It was actually a fancy way to say Canadian Body Building Championship, so he entered. He was second in 2004 and then won the Canadian Masters title in 2005. He has been Canadian champion every year ever since and has represented the country at World Championships in Hungary (twice), Sicily, Czech Republic and Poland and this December will travel to Turkey for his sixth thesportsmasters.com
World Championship appearance. “I think Tom is a pretty remarkable guy,” said Neil Dalrymple, a personal trainer and the manager of the Assiniboine Athletic Club. “He’s a role model for a whole lot of people. “He used to be a great big guy who never worried about his nutrition or how he trained. Now, he’s a very healthy person who is proof that you can get healthier as you get older as long as you take care of your nutrition and work out regularly. He’s not all that rare, either. A lot of mature people have done very healthy things as they’ve grown older. It’s never too late.” It certainly hasn’t been too late for his wife, Darlene. While other women watch her husband parade around in his Speedo, she’s not the least bit concerned. She’s absolutely thrilled that (a) he’s in the remarkable physical condition he’s in and
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(b) she gets to accompany him on his travels to some very exotic places.
that Heffner now has a lot of trouble just looking at his birth certificate.
“Yeah, he looks pretty good for 65 doesn’t he?” said Darlene, who has been Tom’s better half since 1972. “I don’t have any problem with what he does, at all. I’m actually enjoying my part of it.
“I don’t feel 65 and I don’t feel comfortable around people who don’t train like I do,” said Heffner with a tiny smile. “I’m in the gym every day with young people and I now have more in common with them than people my age. I feel like I’m 20. It’s all about being active. I mean, just get active. It will change your life.”
“I get to travel with him to all the championships he attends. We’d never been to Europe until he’d won his first World Qualifier in 2005 and we got to go to Budapest, Hungary. It was a wonderful city. We’ve been all over Europe since. We usually go in late fall and the weather is just right. For me, this has been terrific.
- staff
“By the way, be sure to mention his legs. Everywhere we go, people just say, ‘Wow, how did you develop those legs?’ They’re incredible. I wish I had legs like his.” It IS pretty incredible. So incredible, in fact,
MAY 2015 SPORTS MASTERS 23