All in the Family

WOMEN’S PHYSIQUE WORLD

Ageless in Seattle
FLEX MAGAZINE

Kelly Nelson Update
MUSCLE MAG INTERNATIONAL

Redefining Possibilities

Off-Season Training

Older, stronger, wiser!

Kelly and Colleen Update

All in the Family

WOMEN’S PHYSIQUE WORLD - March 1999

By Mike Bogen

If there is anyone who still doubts that bodybuilding is more than a sport, more than an activity- that it is indeed a lifestyle- then they haven't seen Colleen Fisher and Kelly Nelson.

Actually, Fisher and Nelson have been pretty easy to see. In October, they got more national television exposure than the vast majority of active competitive bodybuilders. They opened the Rosie O'Donnell Show.

Now, this was not because either won the Ms. Olympia crown. No, it was because in a sport populated by mostly young, or relatively young, women, Fisher and Nelson stand out from the crowd.

Colleen Fisher is 42 years old, and her mother Kelly nelson is 71.

"I started lifting because my mom got me into it about 18 years ago." Fisher says, "She wanted to firm up her underarms, which at the time, she didn't even know were called triceps. I guess my mom was about 53 when she started at the gym. I followed about six months later, and we've both been doing it ever since.

"My mom started competing before me. I waited longer, I guess I'm not the exhibitionist she is," Fisher jokes, "Actually, what happened is that my husband and I were NPC judges and representatives during that time, and I finally decided at after so many years of judging that I had to get on the stage."

Nelson was born in 1927, the year Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs, Charles Lindbergh made the first nonstop solo transatlantic flight that year. And President Calvin Coolidge declared, "I do not choose to run." a year later. In those days a bar of ivory soap set you back eight cents.

Now in 1998, when you now need a 'Federal Cleanliness Loan' to afford a bar of soap, Nelson finished third in a field of six in the Over-50 division of the NPC Masters Nationals.

"I was the oldest one there." Nelson says, "I'm always the oldest one there."

When Nelson started to lift, in 1980, there was no gym in Wenatchee, Washington, where she still lives. In fact, when Nelson first competed, in 1983, she still hadn't trained at a gym.

"My husband bought some weights, because there were no facilities here, and after a couple of weeks, I was already seeing some results," she says. "There still wasn't a gym here when I entered the first Emerald Cup Masters Division in '83. I remember there were three of us in the division. I was 56, and the other two were closer to 35. They looked like babies."

Nelson won that first contest and has been competing ever since. She's won several Masters titles, and even taken a couple lightweight Open Class crowns- at the 1983 Evergreen state and the 1984 Idaho Inter Mountain.

Finally, in 1995, Nelson gave in to her age - just a bit and started entering Grand Masters divisions, in addition to competing in the over 35 age group on the national level.

Fisher, meanwhile, competed only twice in the mid-1980's, before taking 12 years off from the stage and picking it up again last year. She finished second in her first contest, at the age of 29 in 1985, and won her first overall title the following year, at the NPC Olympic Peninsula Championships.

Last year, Fisher made her comeback in the Masters division and positively dominated there, competing four times and winning three titles, before taking first in the middleweight division of the Masters Nationals.

One of Fisher's victims, in the Oregon State Championships, was her mother.

"We planned this year together, around the Oregon," Fisher says. "We thought, 'wouldn't it be funny if we both won (Fisher in the Masters and Nelson in the Grand Masters)?' We did, and it was the first time in bodybuilding history that a mother and daughter posed down for an overall championship. But the judges didn't know we were mother and daughter until we came out for the overall mandatory poses, and the emcee mentioned it. The place went nuts.

"It was a real special moment for us, one of the most special moments of our lives. I can't even put into words how special it was for us, " she says.

Fisher defeated Nelson for the title, "and my mom grounded me for a week," she jokes.

In the time between 1986 and 1998, when Fisher wasn't competing, she never stopped training.

"Training has just been a lifestyle for me...being in the gym, riding a bike. Getting back into competition this year just seemed like the right time of my life to do it again. My mom and I really wanted to compete together, and since they were offering the Masters and Grand Masters classes at both the Oregon and the Nationals, it just seemed to make sense," Fisher says.

The key word - for both Fisher and Nelson - is "lifestyle."

"This is so much more than just bodybuilding and competition for us," Fisher says.

"Over the years, I've gotten involved in other areas of fitness, like my cross-country skiing, and long-distance bicycling. I try not to not spend all my time in the gym."

"I'm an avid biker, too. I bike to and from the gym, which is a 10 mile round trip, and once a week I bike 30 miles to Leavenworth (Wash.) for lunch." says Nelson. "I've biked across Washington, Montana and the Grand Canyon, doing 800-mile, seven-day trips.

"I also do cross-country skiing," she says. "It's all part of a healthy lifestyle. Competing in bodybuilding is a way to chart my progress. I've learned to trust in my own individuality. Everyone's different."

Fisher agrees.

"We really enjoy being well rounded in fitness," she says. "I'm talking about the health aspects of fitness, not just getting ready to compete in bodybuilding. I think for us bodybuilding is mainly an expression of our commitment to health. Some people run marathons, we chose bodybuilding.

"My husband trains with me, and does all the other stuff with my mom and me. I couldn't have done it without his support. He and my mom get along great. It's like the three of us are joined at the him, sometimes."

Nelson remembers what it was like to start lifting weights 18 years ago.

"I never did anything until I lifted that first dumbbell in my living room," she recalls, "Remember it was unacceptable for women to do anything more physical than cleaning house when I was younger."

It's a different story now, though.

"My time in the gym is first and foremost to me, "she says. "I fit everything else around that. It makes me stronger for everything else I do. I can't envision a time when I won't be able to go to the gym to work out."

For Nelson, becoming an athlete has made a profound change in her life.

"I was married for 18 years and I was a single parent to Patrick and Colleen for 16 years until they grew up. I remarried and 10 years after that, my husband died in a plane crash. I worked in a defense plant in the 40's. I was a waitress for years, and now I'm enjoying my retirement athletically.

"It's all paid off quite well," she says. "My bone density is that of a 40 year old, and I have the resting heart rate of someone 20 years younger than me. When I was younger, I looked older than I was, and now I look younger than I am," she says.

"I just think I have a wonderful life."

They both do!

04

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Female bodybuilder Colleen Fisher of Bainbridge Island won the Emerald Cup Bodybuilding Master Championship which was held recently in Seattle, as well as the Vancouver Natural Bodybuilding Master's Championship held in that Southwestern Washington city.

Fisher, 41, returned to competitive bodybuilding after an 11 year hiatus from the sport. She is an independent Certified Personal Trainer with 16 years of experience in the fitness industry, and owns Body by Fisher on Bainbridge Island.

Fisher works out with her husband Mike and her 70 year old mother Kelly Nelson, who is also a competitive bodybuilder and Grand Masters Champion.

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"We have had the privilege of being onstage together, striking poses. People said we look more like twins than mother and daughter," Colleen said. "Even though my mom's 71, I consider it a great compliment. My mom is in incredible shape."

Kelly's bodybuilding success began 20 years ago when her late husband brought home a set of barbells. "I started experimenting with them because I wanted to get rid of underarm flab," she told the Enquirer.

"After two weeks I was getting real tone -- and I thought, 'This is great, I'm going to keep on doing this.' "

And she has. In the past two decades she's competed professionally in 32 bodybuilding events, dramatically showing fellow seniors how to keep Father Time at bay. Kelly and Colleen, whose husband Mike is also a bodybuilder, work out five days a week in and outside the gym -- cycling 100 miles a week.

The two eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, while avoiding red meat and refined foods like sugar and white bread, eating whole grain foods instead. They also swear by a dietary supplement called RenewTrient which they say induces the body to release growth cells to fight the aging process.

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You don't often see two generations of the same family competing in s a pose down, Yet, there they were comparing abs and glutes side by side at the 1998 Oregon State NPC Bodybuilding Championships for the overall masters title. Kelly Nelson, then 70, definitely held her own against her daughter, Colleen Fisher, then 42. When it was announced that they're a mother and daughter team, the audience gave them a standing ovation.

Kelly started training at age 53 in her living room, long before there were gyms in her hometown of Wenatchee, Washington.

The 5'3", 112 pounder trains consistently four times a week, incorporating a vigorous weight-training regimen with enough cardio work to tire someone half her age. She considers her daughter to be her best friend, and they often do bike rides and hikes together. Colleen lives near Seattle and has been lifting weights for 19 years. At 5'7", she won the middleweight division at the 1998 Masters Nationals, as well as a number of other titles.

Both women have been training long enough to experience the changes that occur with the aging process, and they realize how bodybuilding can keep them fit and younger looking.

"I've noticed that it takes longer to recover from my workouts," says Kelly. She has increased her rep range, finding that 12-15 reps are more effective than the heavier weights she used to lift. she does 2-3 movements for each body part using a variety of exercises.

"You can pretty much do whatever the kids do as long as you're reasonable about it. Be consistent in your training, and challenge yourself. You'll get the results you want in time."

Colleen, likewise, has modified her training and diet. "I need to change the tempo and variety of my workout more frequently," she says. "My body has become more adaptable over the years, so I need to confuse it more with supersets and other intensity boosters. My metabolism has also slowed down, so I watch what I eat more than I used to."

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East Wenatchee woman gives new meaning to R&R with late success in body building Kelly Nelson is just like any other person enjoying her retirement.

The 70 year old East Wenatchee resident does her best to stay active and healthy. She has plenty of hobbies to occupy her time and she loves spending time with her children and granddaughter.

In fact, nothing melts her heart more than hearing those magic words from little 8 year-old Kelly Colleen O'Laughlin. "Grandma, let me see your muscles!"

OK, so maybe she's not exactly like everyone else on Social Security.

To be perfectly blunt, Nelson is ripped. Absolutely nothing about this 5 foot 31/2 , 110-pound lady with a vise for a handshake belies her many years. Certainly not her zest in bodybuilding, and most certainly not her success at it.

"I really believe," Nelson says, delving into a large bag of philosophical sayings, "as you get older, you really don't quit playing. But you get older if you quit playing."

Not that Nelson plans to stop playing anytime soon, fresh off a third-place finish at the National Physique Committee National Masters and Grand Masters in Pittsburgh, three weeks ago. "anyone can do this," Nelson says in all modesty, "You just have to want to do this,"

Maybe so, but how many body-building grannies do you know?

There can't be too many, judging from all the national attention Nelson has drawn for her success on stage.

London magazine "Zest" called her the "Body Building Pensioner." "Ageless in Seattle" was the headline in "Flex" magazine following the Emerald Cup in march, in which she and 65 year old partner Kjell Bakke of Leavenworth placed third in the mixed pairs. "muscle Magazine" run=s a Kelly Nelson update from time to time. In short, she is becoming a national phenomenon.

"I always thought I'd be discovered when I was 17, not 70."

But discovered she ahs been, and if this past year is any indication, she'll be under the glare of a spotlight for some time to come.

Nelson and her daughter, 42 year old Colleen Fisher competed together for the first time in the Emerald Cup. Fisher won the masters (35 and over), the same event that her mother won 15 years earlier in one of her first competitions.

But the duo made history two months later at the Oregon State Championships, when Nelson won the grand masters (50 and over) and Fisher won the masters.

Following the age group competitions, the two faced off on the same stage in a pose down. It was believed to be the first such face off between mother and daughter in the history of the sport. "We weren't fighting up there " Nelson recalls. "I didn't try to get in front of her or anything like that."

The daughter won the overall competition, and mom walked away with the inspirational award as well as the mixed doubles title with Bakke.

Fisher, who hadn't competed in 11 years, had a strong first year back with four wins, including a national masters title.

But how exactly does a 53 year old woman take up body building, as was the case with Nelson 17 years ago?

It started when her late husband John, brought home a Bench and some weights, the kind sold at any department store. But it didn't start without a little convincing.

" I thought, 'Oh, I don't think so. I don't want to get muscles like that."

Eventually, Nelson, who had always been active, gave in and started lifting, and loving it.

Without any gyms in town, her workouts eventually moved to the basement of Lou Corulli, a local power lifter who opened his home to high schoolers looking to bulk up.

"Then somebody came in and said I should compete," Nelson recalls. "and I said, 'Not me, not ever.' Then I thought maybe I could."

She took a chance and won the over-35 division of the first competition she entered. Since, she has been in 25 competitions, often going against and beating women in their 20s.

"It really works to your advantage," Nelson says of the age difference. "The longer you train the more mature your muscles get."

Now she mostly competes in grand master classes. But still the nearest competitor is usually almost 20 years younger.

Of course, the question she hears most is how does a 70 year old woman look like that. The answer is lots of work and a strict diet.

Nelson bikes 14 miles to the gym, works out an hour and a half five days a week, then bikes back home. that's the routine five days a week, along with whatever additional runs or rides she feels like taking. Sometimes it varies, adding additional cardiovascular workouts.

Nelson is just as regimented with her diet. Vegetables, fruit , beans and rice make up much of her nutrition. At least until the 10 days leading up to a competition, when a special diet helps to first flatten her muscles, and then make them bulk up, absolutely ripped.

"You could eat Satan's sugar and not get fat," she says of the final days before a competition.

but isn't it hard to stick to the diet?

Not at all says Nelson, born in 1927 in Spokane and who grew up in the Great Depression.

"I remember going to bed so hungry, I imagined I was eating a banana and actually tasting it... When my bodybuilding diet gets tough, I remember that... It's a piece of cake."

Also, Nelson does allow herself to splurge a little after competitions, like in Pittsburgh.

"That's a tradition," she says, adding that Bakke scarfed down a cheeseburger and fries. "After nationals, I had two big salads!"

Two salads? Splurging?

Nelson laughs, finally admitting to partaking of some apple pandowdy.

but then, considering the rather revealing outfits body builders wear on stage, Nelson might just want to stay away from the deserts as well.

"There's no way I wanna get up on stage out of shape and fat," she says, adding that she feels perfectly comfortable in a bikini.

"My son probably had the hardest time, seeing his mother on stage in a teeny, tiny bikini."

Fortunately for Patrick O'Laughlin, a pilot who lives in Pittsburgh, he's gotten used to seeing his mother up on stage.

But Nelson still doesn't see what all the fuss is about.

"I stay in shape and do what I do even though I'm 70," she says. "But it's no bigger deal now than if I were 20."

In an effort to firm up her arms, Colleen’s mom began lifting weights at the age of 52. She invited Colleen, then 24, to experiment with her. Over 20 years later the two are in the best shape of their lives, competing in bodybuilding contests and completing weightlifting regimens that many women half their ages could not navigate.

For Kelly, a grandmother from Wenatchee, Washington, youth isn’t just a state of mind; it’s the state of her body. You can often find her shoveling her driveway several times a day in the winter, and carrying 50-pound bags of salt up the porch steps.

"As of May 1997, my bone density was that of a 40-year-old," say Kelly, who is 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 110 pounds. "As of February 1999, my grip strength was equivalent to a 20-year-old’s, balance of a 40-year-old and power of a 30-year-old." (These tests were conducted at the Biosports Clinic in Wenatchee.)

Five times a week for one hour, Kelly lifts weights at the gym. She avoids meat, instead centering her four to five meals a day around cage-free whole eggs, protein powder, beans, whole grains, potatoes, sugar-free and salt-free bread, and plenty of vegetables.

"Age is never a legitimate reason to be frail," she says. "We should prevent getting old, same as any other life-threatening disease. Avoid aging. It’s a disease."

It’s a strategy that has worked for both Kelly and Colleen, who’ve garnered numerous awards at natural bodybuilding competitions. In 1998, at the age of 42, Colleen won the 1998 Oregon State Masters Overall and the 1998 Emerald Cup Masters (which Kelly won in 1983). And at the 1998 Oregon State Bodybuilding Championships, the mother-daughter pair found themselves on state together.

‘Age is never a legitimate reason to be frail.’

"Mom and I had the incredible opportunity to pose down together (for the overall judging)," says Colleen, who is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 128 pounds. She can press 70-pound dumbbells upward in each hand.

Colleen’s diet is similar to her mother’s, consisting mostly of unrefined foods. Once a week, she and her mom will "eat bad."

"We are average women with average genetics," says Colleen, a personal trainer at the Human Performance Center in Bainbridge Island, Washington. "The human body will burn more fat and increase metabolism more from lifting weights than aerobics only. Aerobic does burn fat, but lifting weights will change the entire shape of a person’s body."

Redefining Possibilities

By Marty Gallagher

Performance Press Aug ‘98

"Age is no limiting factor for bodybuilders

Kelly Nelson, 70, and daughter Colleen Fisher, 42."

The master of ceremonies at the Oregon State NPC bodybuilding championships placed a hand over the microphone and whispered to the tall man who had just handed him the note. "This can’t be right? Is this right?!" The tall man nodded. The emcee stared at the note a moment. He then announced to the packed auditorium. "It seems that our over-35 masters champion and our over-50 grand masters champion know each other – they are mother and daughter! And now it’s time for them to posedown!" Before the stunned audience could react, a sonic wave of rock music tore through the house. Colleen, 42, strode onstage with her 70-year-old mom (no, that’s no typo Bucko) close behind – and, as you can tell from the pictures, Kelly didn’t need a wheelchair or walker! The lithesome twosome broke into a synchronized routine: following each other, matching each other, complementing each other – it was enchanting. Daughter Colleen recalled, "I remember reading something Ken Griffey, Jr. said when asked how it felt to play on the same major league field, at the same time and in the same game, as his dad. ‘Well that was great,’ Junior related, but the important aspect of the whole affair, to his way of thinking, was that they had ‘both hit home runs,’" Colleen Fisher, certified personal trainer, laughed. "I felt as though Mom and I had both smashed grand slams!" It was the first time in physique history mother and daughter had entered and respectively won their divisions. The audience, in rapture, gave mom and daughter an ovation worthy of the occasion: loud, long and sustained.

MOM

"I was a child of the depression and held a job from the time I was 12 years old." A lifelong native of Washington state, Kelly Nelson lives 100 miles east of Seattle and told of the early day’s mentality. "My formative years were during World War II, when those who could went to work at an early age. I was no exception. I had no real athletic background. I didn’t take up weight training until I was 53." At 5 feet, 4 inches and weighing a sleek 110 pounds, Kelly, though late to the game, has been making up for lost time ever since. "I weight train four days a week. In addition, since I live in a natural paradise, I do a lot of cardio in the form of bike riding." This isn’t Grandma wobbling down to the Seven Eleven to buy cigarettes: "Last year my daughter, son-in-law and I went on a bike ride. It was eight straight days of riding, averaging 80 miles each day. This included four mountain passes." OK: this is what we at INTERPOL call a clue: one reason Kelly looks 35 at 70 is that she has the aerobic capacity of an in-shape 35-year-old woman. "I recently did a 100-mile day trip on my bike. It took us from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. to complete." Is there any wonder she is lean? "I ride my bike to and from the gym every day; it’s about nine miles round trip and allows me to get some good aerobic work in." Weight training addresses the muscles and daily bike riding covers the aerobic bases. What of the nutritional component? "I follow the Parrillo principles. I eat no beef or pork, a little bit of fish and some eggs. I use Optimized Whey™ three to four times daily, after a workout, mid afternoon and I will take a third shake in the evening." This provides Kelly with 100 of the 150 grams of protein she tries to intake daily. "I use the 50/50 Plus™ and we love the supplement bars, especially on long bike rides. I use most all of Parrillo’s aminos and am absolutely convinced that the Parrillo supplements have caused me to improve in the four years that I have used them." High praise indeed from Wonder Woman!

DAUGHTER

Colleen Fisher is a certified personal trainer who lives on a rustic island inhabited by 18,000 people just outside Seattle, Washington. Married to bodybuilder Mike Fisher for 23 years, this duo, like last month’s Parrillo Press featured couple Mike and Marcia Ferguson, attest to the fact that the bodybuilding lifestyle is quite conducive to domestic bliss and nuptial tranquillity. "I guess it could be perceived as odd, but my husband, my mother and myself all enjoy weight training, aerobic activity and clean eating. We especially like the results, the camaraderie and the vibrant health the lifestyle has bestowed on us." This is one healthy brood. In addition to NPC masters competition, the threesome likes to go on long distance bike rides, eerily reminiscent of Mike Ferguson’s love of 100-mile bike treks. Colleen spoke of the area’s natural beauty. "We travel the roads in rural Washington state. Biking is big out here and sometimes we will ride with a group of 200 or more. It is exhilarating to ride through the woods." What a great way to do cardio, and it sure beats the heck out of sitting on a broken exercycle. Parrillo has long preached that performing cardio is one thing, busting butt while doing it is something else again. Those who loaf in aerobics or weight training become stagnant. They achieve a certain level and then settle in, forever, increasingly unchanging. To excel you must exceed your momentary limits: by stretching the envelope in weight training and aerobics you force evolution. Growth occurs as a result of applied biology: you stress, stretch, feed and rest your musculature in sequence. The muscle grows and the bodyfat diminishes as a result—the body has no choice but to comply. Colleen preaches the Parrillo gospel. "I tell my clients, physical transformation is not an easy thing. I don’t candy coat it. It’s damn hard work but the system is in place and it works. I have read everything I can get my hands on about John’s theories and agree down the line." High intensity weight training and aerobics, backed up with serious stretching, structured eating and target supplementation: this is the Parrillo performance training philosophy and Colleen Fisher is a believer.

THE FUTURE

Colleen expressed confidence that she could still make considerable progress. "I feel that I can make some significant gains in the coming year – make that years! I train smarter and the knowledge we accumulate as we get older allows us to become more efficient. Plus, this is a lifestyle, not a hobby." This is an important distinction. The hobbyist will pick-and-choose, rejecting those aspects (of any system) that are bothersome. Overemphasizing areas of personal preference while ignoring other vital components. This destroys the balance and synergy of the Parrillo Performance System. Those who embrace the lifestyle understand the easy flow and interrelatedness of the component parts. "It all weaves together, the diet, aerobics, stretching, supplements and weight training." Mom added, "People ask what concessions to age I make and I can honestly say none. My bone density at 70 is better than what it was at 58, a direct result of the fact that I am stronger at 70 than I was at 58."Really?" I could bench 105 x 1 at 58 weighing 110. Last week I benched 120 x 3 weighing 110." No concessions to age are allowed in the Kelly Nelson household. Five years past her first social security check, at an age when many oldsters are comparing assisted living prices, Kelly completed an eight-day, 500-mile bike trip, won the Evergreen State Grand Master bodybuilding title and benched 110 percent of body weight for a triple! There is an entire life-extension industry selling what Kelly possesses. People like Kelly, such as 68-year-old Bill Pearl, 60-year-old Larry Scott, Len Schwartz, a 72-year-old psychiatrist who can do 32 chin-ups and has five percent bodyfat, are redefining "the golden years" and what we can expect if we adopt the proper lifestyle.

Off-Season Training & Nutrition

by Colleen Fisher (as told to Marty Gallagher)

Performance Press Feb ‘99

"1998 NPC National Masters Champion"

Colleen Fisher exemplifies the old Cliché that life begins at forty. In addition to being the NPC National Masters champion, Colleen is the poster girl for the Parrillo Performance lifestyle: high intensity weight training and aerobics – coupled with strict nutrition and target supplementation. Together, these elements (along with lots of intestinal fortitude and determination) form the finest system ever devised for renovating the human body. Natural, scientific, holistic, precise and intuitive – Colleen’s version of Parrillo Performance System is so effective that these principles will grow muscle on a stick. The question of the month asked Colleen is posed by Stacy O’Neal the current Ms. Maryland: "Colleen; I’ve just competed and have a full six months before my next contest. What do you suggest for the off-season?"

I feel there are important factors that can make off-season training and diet conducive to muscular gains and physique refinement. The goal is to gain muscle, strip fat and bring up weak points through extra work. Here are some rules that I use:

1. Get out of the gym after the contest season ends! As a personal trainer this is sometimes very difficult for me, but I feel it is essential to disengage a bit before starting the heavy training and strict dieting again. I like to plan some down time with my family to ski, bike and just do something different recreationally. Some people think our idea of fun – physically demanding recreation - as just more work, but to us it is fun and physically stimulating in a different way. We love to use our muscles in vigorous outdoor activities. Plus we live in the Pacific Northwest – a recreational playground!

2. Have a game plan: You need to know what the goal is before you commence. Set some goals, know what you want to improve on and then write out a plan of attack. Is there a contest you will be shooting for - or perhaps another fitness goal or form of athletic competition? Decide what the goal is and plan accordingly. Please be realistic. What good is it to devise a goal so large as to be unobtainable? Think long term.

3. Lift heavier with less sets and exercises: For me, I keep my same rep range (lifting in the 8-12 rep range) but I do fewer exercises and fewer sets. I continue to superset many movements. I am a superset junkie and believe this works best for me. However, everyone is different, so play around with different types of training splits and tempos. Try varying rep speeds.

4. Cut down on cardio but do not eliminate it completely: I cut down from two 45-minute sessions a day pre-contest to just one in the morning on an empty stomach (always). I will do this six days a week.

5. Moderately increase calories: Again, don’t use this as an excuse to pig out every day of the week! Gradually, I increase my calories, usually by 300 to 500 a day. I will eat the same types of bodybuilding foods year round. Off-season I will add some whole grain breads and frozen yogurt as an occasional treat. I do take one day per week to eat anything I want! I also rotate my calories, carbs and fats throughout the week. For example: two days will be (somewhat) low carb days (approximately 80 grams), then three days of moderated carbs (125-150 grams) and two days of higher carbs (more than 200 grams) adding a little more fat. This way my calories are also rotated, which seems to keep my metabolism zipping along and energy high.

6. I believe that we need to alter training and diet periodically: We need to change in order to give your body a basis for future change, refinement & improvement. Sameness in bodybuilding and life is slow death through boredom!

a.m.

cardio for 45 min., abs

breakfast

6 egg whites with veggies, low-fat cheese and salsa

two pieces of whole grain rye toast

1 tbsp. of jam

Training

(see attached)

post workout snack

one 50/50 Plus™

one Parrillo Bar

Mid a.m.

one scoop Optimized Whey Protein™

¼ cup pumpkin with equal to sweeten

Lunch

one chicken breast w/ BBQ sauce

one sweet potato (plain)

large green salad with fat free dressing

Mid p.m.

one Parrillo Bar

one brown rice cake

one scoop Optimized Whey Protein™

Dinner

fish, chicken or turkey

veggies

green salad

one piece of bread (not every night)

Snack

sugar free/fat free frozen yogurt or ice-cream (higher carb day)

small serving of frozen yogurt (if at all). Cut out bread, add one Parrillo Bar (moderate day)

Sample back workout:

Wide grip pullups - 4x8-10

Bent-over BB rows superset with low cable rows - 4x10

DB rows - 4x10-2

Sample leg workout:

Smith Machine Squats superset with leg extensions 4x10-12

Leg Press 4x10-12

Stiff-leg deadlifts superset with Lying leg curls 4x10-12

Smith Machine lunges

4x12-15

Seated Calf Raise superset with Donkey Calf Raise 4x15

Life Can Be Extended and Improved 

by Adopting the Bodybuilding Lifestyle

by Colleen Fisher 1998 NPC National Masters Champion &

Marty Gallagher, 1998 USPF World Masters Powerlifting Champion

Performance Press Aug ‘99

Top bodybuilders, champions of yesteryear, giants from the years gone by, continue to look physically phenomenal deep into old age and this has great significance for all of us interested in extending the length and quality of our own lives. By examining bodybuilders who have kept up their disciplined training and eating, we discover an amazing commonality: those who train intensely and diet correctly look light-years better than their sedentary age-group contemporaries. Even when compared against other elder athletes (runners, tennis players, golfers, etc.,) bodybuilders look and perform significantly better than their most athletic and active contemporaries. And examples abound.

Have you had the pleasure of seeing Robbie Robinson at age 53? Incredible is an understatement. The Black Prince looks as if he’s been sculpted from purest ebony and can still rep 635-pounds in the deadlift. He shows not the slightest sign of softening up or slowing down. Ditto for 52-year old Boyer Coe. The Cajun warrior has matinee-idol looks and radiates health and chiseled fitness. Larry Scott was the first Mr. Olympia way back in 1963 and at age 56 has a degree of leanness one might expect on a 24-year old regional bodybuilding champion. Ed Corney, at age 63, displays rock-hard condition and retains a surprising portion of his mass, this despite the fact that Ed’s peak years were back in the mid-seventies. Bill Pearl is a muscular marvel at age 72 and has a body that is unprecedented for a man his age.

Unprecedented is an appropriate word (all up and down the chronological line) when used to describe these incredible elder musclemen. Women lag behind the men in the anti-aging department a bit and this is directly attributable to their collective late start in the iron game. Up until the Reagan era it was socially unacceptable for a woman to lift seriously and women who weight trained were subtly mocked. What an unenlightened mob we were. This ridiculous social taboo mercifully faded when female bodybuilding took off like a runaway freight train back in the sport’s infancy. Suddenly, with role models like Rachel McLish, Carla Dunlap and Lorie Bowen, it became hip for women to really pump iron and the female population has been making up for lost time ever since. Now that we’re a decade-or-two down the road we have a lengthy list of over-40 female bodybuilders all possessing unprecedented physical development.

Oops! There’s that word ‘unprecedented’ again! But it’s an inevitable word and crops up over and over when describing the heretofore-unimagined degree of fitness the leading exponents of the over-forty segment of the bodybuilding populace possess. Never in the long history of this planet has mankind lived longer and never in history have those who’ve lived so long retained such an astounding degree of physical function. Not only has the length of life been extended but also the quality of that newly extended life has been improved beyond all expectations. And all this by simply following certain commonsense health and fitness commandments relating to the bodybuilding lifestyle.

We have undergone a fitness revolution, experienced an anti-aging breakthrough of unprecedented significance and all as an unintended consequence. The pioneers were those who pursued the bodybuilding lifestyle: originally invented to maximize the human physique, who would have thought that the bodybuilding lifestyle would so rapidly emerge as the greatest system of life extension ever devised! That’s a hell of a claim but you need look no further than the leading practitioners to unequivocally determine that never in the recorded history of civilization has an identifiable group (serious bodybuilders) looked better and retained such an amazingly high quality of life so deep into old age.

But enough rah-rah-sisk-boom-bah! How about some nuts-and-bolts, nitty-gritty double-duty weight-training that’ll build your body and extend and improve your life. As Mel Brooks would say, "such a deal!" Charity, as the old saying goes, begins at home, so let us share with you some concepts used by the elder champions to stay young looking and feeling. We will share a few tried-and-proven age-retarding training tactics and share some insider tips used by some of the nation’s top Master bodybuilding champions. This system is designed to build muscle and strength while stripping body fat and thereby forcibly holding back those infernal hands of time. We practice what we preach and the techniques we pass along to you are ones we use. This month we are going to talk about customizing a basic game plan.

DESIGNING A CYCLE

The first step in any physical transformation is to crystallize the goal in the mind of the athlete. A clear vision of the finished physical product motivates the bodybuilder. The second step is to develop a road map that allows you to reach the goal. The goal is three-fold: increase muscle size and strength while decreasing body fat. If you are successful, physical function increases as a direct result of achieving the three goals. Become leaner, stronger, more muscular and your physical abilities will improve as a direct result We allot a specific number of weeks, a time frame, and then plot incremental increases in training intensity. We systematically manipulate diet and nutritional supplementation to goose our progress upward. This multi-pronged approach creates a momentum where before there was inertia. The goal is established and the time frame specified and the components identified. Then, through will power and incrementalism, we improve. We are methodical and relentless, creeping up on the goal inch by inch, step by step, week by week, month by month. We need to devise a game plan then slice it up into little bites

THE BASIC TRAINING TEMPLATE

Our goal is broken down into component parts and mini-goals are established. We arbitrarily pick weights to show how an average individual might set up a program – if you are a strong guy - instead of reading this in pounds read it in kilos.

WEEK SQUAT BENCH DEADLIFT PBN CURL ROW

1 100x10 80 100 40 30 60

2 105x10 82.5 105 42.5 32.5 62.5

3 110x8 85 110 45 35 65

4 115x8 87.5 115 47.5 37.5 67.5

5 120x6 90 120 50 40 70

6 125x6 92.5 125 52.5 42.5 72.5

7 New max 130x1 95 130 55 45 80

Strength

Increase 30% 19% 30% 36% 33% 33%

This is one example of a basic seven-week lifting cycle blueprint. The reps in this example are the same (reading across) in each exercise. In addition, we can cycle the components of a diet simultaneously. Here is Colleen’s 12-week eating plan prior to winning the 1998 National Masters title.

WEEK CALORIES PROTEIN STARCH FIBER FAT BODYFAT

PER DAY GRAMS GRAMS GRAMS GR. %

1-4 2,000 200 100 100 50 15%

5-8 1,600 200 50 50 25 10%

9-12 1,360 230 0 50 10 6%

WEEK 1-4: Cut fat to 20% of total calories.

WEEK 5-8: Cut fat 15%. Cut calories 20%. No starch after 4pm.

WEEK 9-12: Fat cut to 10%. Cut calories 15%. Increase fiber to offset reduced starch.

WEEK 13+: Increase calories 15 to 20% and commence off-season growth period.

This program is for leaning out. Keep in mind that Colleen weighed 140 at the start and 124 at the conclusion. If the goal is to gain muscle mass you reverse the process as Colleen alludes to in week 13+. We manipulate the nutritional components to stimulate muscle gain and/or fat loss. Combine this nutritional template with our weight-training template and you’ve got a pretty good basic game plan. What about aerobics, you ask, how would we cycle those? Colleen used this aerobic plan in conjunction with her 12-week diet cycle.

WEEK LENGTH INTENSITY TIMES DAILY BODYWEIGHT

1-4 30-minutes 70% once in AM 140

5-8 35-minutes 75% twice 130

9-12 40-minutes 80% twice 124

WEEK 1-4: Five times a week, 30-minutes per session.

WEEK 5-8: Am, five times for 45-minutes. PM, three times for 30-minutes.

WEEK 9-12: Am, six times for 60-minutes. PM, five times for 45-minutes.

LOGIC AND THE CYCLE

Cycling is based on logic and the principle of achieving small incremental increases spread over a long period of time. It’s like the old kid’s joke: how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. We build our cycle and move towards the goal one step at a time. Customize a cycle for yourself using the periodization principle for weight training, diet and aerobics. Coincidentally, life extension and bodybuilding use an identical approach. The goal is different though the vehicle is identical. Good luck!

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Older, better, stronger, wiser!

Performance Press Sept’99

By Marty Gallagher & Colleen Fisher

Iron Vic Steel described in a recent article how all the frauds and tricksters tell you how easy it is to get in shape assuming you buy their latest miracle product, yet you know different because you've been burned over the years. The health rider has laundry hanging on it, the Ab Buster resides on the top shelf of your closet, the expensive miracle supplements have long ago been consumed, yet still your body retains way too much intracellular body fat and has far too little muscle. Instinctively you recoil at any new approach to fitness for two very good reasons: none of the hi-tech devices and supplements designed to trigger an 'easy' transformation have worked for you and they all require you to fork over a big chunk of cash. All this would make anyone dubious but Colleen and I take a different approach: physical renovation, the goal of any legitimate fitness program, can be obtained relatively quickly and cheaply but there is a catch. We figure six weeks to be all the time needed and the game plan is free. To do it right, you should take Creatine Monohydrate. The cost is minimal, the result maximal, but the catch is that the process is not easy - rather it is hard!

In the body makeover game, intensity and discipline trumps everything else. Here's the deal: we'll give you a proven training and nutrition template but you have to furnish the psychological willpower. We supply you the game plan and you supply the girt, determination and stick-to-it-ness necessary to stimulate change. If you can institute our battle plan and adhere to it fully for one week you have a 90% probability making it all the way and lasting the designated six weeks. If that happens you will undergo a total physical transformation. If you persevere for a month and a half you will undergo a transformation that will leave friends, relatives, co-workers, wives, husbands and children stunned, in slack jawed amazement. Is our incredibly braggadocious claim more 'Big Lie' tactics design to separate you from you disposable income? Nah! The plan is proven, based on biologic reality and physiological cause-and-effect, the key is getting through the first few days. By day seven, assuming that the plan is fully implemented, tangible physical results will become observable and despite psychological cravings, the key is getting through the first few days. By day seven, assuming that the plan is fully implemented, tangible physical results will become observable and despite psychological cravings, energy will be high. Once the results manifest, most trainees are hooked and finish out the proscribed six weeks.

A six week plan for physical renovation.

Colleen Fisher lays the plan out in plain English. "if you can hang in there for seven days, you will see changes but those gutsy enough to take the plunge must overcome the lame self excuses taken as Gospel that hinder progress. Beginners become hung up to the scheduling, complaining that they cannot ‘fit fitness’ into their already hectic daily routines. Later in life they usually come to understand the falseness of the ‘not enough time’ argument. Usually some health related crisis brings them around to our viewpoint that ‘fitness comes first’. We favor early morning workouts because that ensures the workout will occur. If left until later in the day a thousand variable sand circumstances will conspire to postpone or cancel the fitness session. If your physical training is done firs thing you avoid the whole problem Besides, what a great way to start your day." Have a coffee or tea before the am workout but do not eat; we want to train you in a glycogen-depleted state that occurs after sleeping for 6-9 hours. Post-sleep is the ideal time to oxidize body fat through exercise. Early is better, the optimal time to burn fat with a high-intensity weight session or cardio workout.

"For the first week you will exercise every morning; three weight training sessions and four cardiovascular training sessions in seven straight days. This is how we get traction. For the remaining five weeks you will weight train three times a week, perform cardio three times a week and take off totally on the seventh day. The aerobic sessions start at fifteen minutes in duration and we add two minutes a session until you are performing 30-40 minute sessions at the end of six weeks. In the weight training portion we stress perfect technique, hard muscle contraction, and control at all times. Do three sets per exercise: a warm up, intermediate set, and an all out set. We strive to add reps or poundage each week. Extending past your current limit will trigger muscle growth, which I sour sole objective. The weights build muscle and the cardio melts the fat- provided your diet is sound.

"Maintain a workout and nutrition journal. Purchase the Parrillo Nutrition Manual and let’s get serious about diet! Eat five or six small meals, three regular food meals and three times daily have a protein shake or a sports nutrition bar. In this way nutrients are always in your system and positive nitrogen balance is maintained throughout the day. Protein should be at 1 to 1.5 grams per pound of bodyweight. Fat should be kept to 5 to 10%. Adjust starchy carbohydrates to achieve a 1-2 pound weekly weight loss. Refined carbs, bread, pastry, pasta should be eliminated. Ditto for sugar and excessive alcohol. Supplement your diet with a high quality Parrillo protein powder and Creatine."

Colleen on the particulars:

"To those who express concern about ‘getting too muscular’ (I wish I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard that!) I would say do not worry about that eventuality. The hulking look you fear is light years from your current condition and does not happen in an eye-blink. This is a process not an event. Keep a journal as it will keep you on track and accountable. Write down your every workout and what you eat and when. The very act of jotting down food intake has a self-regulating effect. Try it!" Start your exercise routines with lightweight and keep sessions short and to the point. Build the length and intensity as you go, acclimatizing your body along the way. Colleen adds another component: "I love to stretch the target muscle between sets of my weight training workout. You should do the same. Stretching is the perfect compliment to weight training and will insure that your muscles stay loose and flexible as they grow." Plus, as John Parrillo and the Evil Russian stretch master, Pavel Tsatsouline have pointed out time and again, serious stretching will actually build muscle." Consult the Parrillo Training Manual for the appropriate stretch as every exercise has a corresponding stretch. Stretching is especially valuable for older athletes.

Final thoughts:

Colleen concludes, " As a result of eating balanced nutrients at regular intervals six time s a day, your metabolism improves dramatically and you seldom feel hungry. The digestive processes improve making muscle building and fat oxidation easier. You also become more efficient at converting food into energy without storing the excess as body fat." And if the rate of progress is not fast enough for you, you can double up on aerobics: "If, after you gain traction, you want to really speed up the process, add another 15-20 minute aerobic session in at the conclusion of your thrice-weekly weight training sessions." Aerobics improve making muscle building and fat oxidation easier. You also become more efficient at converting food into energy without storing the excess as body fat." And if the rate of progress is not fast enough for you , you can double up on aerobics: "If, after you gain traction, you want to really speed up the process, add another 15-20 minute aerobic session in at the conclusion of your thrice-weekly weight training sessions." Aerobics improve endurance and food assimilation and you feel far more energetic as a result. Get your exercise out of the way first thing then go about your day in normal fashion. Eat three balanced meals with Parrillo’s fabulous protein powders, bars and creatine Monohydrate. Buy a box of bars and have one as a meal after training. So muster up some gumption and let’s kick it in gear- time to renovate that body!

Kelly and Colleen Update

by Marty Gallagher

Performance Press Nov ‘99

"Daughter Colleen captures NPC women’s master’s middleweight class; Mom Kelly takes 3rd in over-55s"

The Parrillo Performance-powered mother and daughter team of Kelly Nelson and Colleen Fisher took home the proverbial bacon by capturing 1st and 3rd respectively in the biggest amateur master’s contest in the country – the NPC Master’s Nationals. Colleen won her class, the women’s middleweight title. The 42-year-old used symmetry, classical lines, muscular flow and professional presentation to overcome her younger, more massive opponents. She competed in the over-35 category and despite giving away seven years to other competitors, delivered a total physical package for a unanimous win. The combination apparently appealed to the steely-eyed NPC judges – the toughest in the world.

"I am thrilled with the win and thrilled with the whole experience," Colleen said. "It was my first national title and frankly I have never competed against this caliber of competitor before. Which made it all the more gratifying. But the absolute highlight was sharing the whole process, leading up to and including the event itself, with my mom."

The mainstream media wanted the nitty gritty too, after their win in the Oregon State NPC bodybuilding championships. Since Kelly and Colleen’s recent victories Rosie O’Donnell, CNN, "Inside Edition" and Seattle’s Channel 5 have scheduled appearances and booked interviews.

On NBC’s "The Rosie O’Donnell Show," Kelly and Colleen opened the show and introduced the other guests. On stage they also demonstrated various contest poses, which inspired the pugnacious Rosie to try a few herself!

"It was a lot of fun," Colleen said. "The audience was amazingly receptive."

Highlights of the appearance included a stay in New York City’s Parker-Meridian Hotel on 57th Street, a limo ride to the Rosie set and their own dressing room. The show aired Tuesday, Sept., 29, on NBC.

Like Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr., Naomi and Wynona Judd, or the Pettys and Andrettis of auto racing, this bodybuilding generational tag-team enjoys the process as much as the competitive payoff.

"You have to. Otherwise there would be no motivation to hold the course," Colleen said. "This is serious business and the intense preparation bonds people, particularly if both share the same goal, enter the same contest and both do well. Now compound that whole training partner bonding experience with the fact that your mother is your training partner. It makes it doubly fantastic!"

To say that the ladies created a sensation would be a gross understatement. Colleen competed at a body weight of 128 pounds and said she achieved the condition of her life the night of the show.

"I would say that my contest preparation came off almost exactly as planned."

The judges must have thought so as well. Colleen, a lifetime, drug-free competitor, swept to victory in this untested contest, making her triumph all the more impressive. How did she do it?

"John Parrillo strategies pretty much straight down the line."

Her mother, Kelly Nelson, 70, also had a great contest. She weighed 107, placed third out of eight national level competitors in the over-55 age group, and most observers thought she could have placed second without any significant dissent. Her next closest competitor was 15 years her junior. Look carefully at the accompanying photos: doesn’t Kelly redefine the physical possibilities of aging? Has there ever appeared a better constructed and preserved 70-year-old?

"Oh, I’m happy and thankful," Kelly said with typical modesty.

Asked where her motivation springs from, Kelly warmed to the subject.

"I always have a short- and long-term goal. The short-term goal is to improve the quality of my workouts. I always try to have a contest lurking out there somewhere in my competitive future. The contest is my long-term goal."

Following up on the psychological aspect of preparation, Kelly said, "I have a strong imagination, which is a result of my depression-era upbringing. I see the finished product in my mind’s eye and this motivates me. Everything springs from strong motivation. Then, after I visualize it, I go actualize it."

Good advice for anyone regardless of age. Kelly and Colleen are both Parrillo product users and adhere to John’s no nonsense guidelines down the line. Interestingly, during the last four days leading up to the contest, Kelly ate like a horse.

"For the two weeks preceding the contest, I cut out my starchy carbs, pretty much subsisting on protein and fibrous carbs. Between Wednesday and Thursday before the Saturday contest, I began to carb load. I took in 3,000 calories on day one."

A huge allotment for a 107-pound person; by comparison, a 214-pound male bodybuilder would need to eat 6,000 calories in a day to equal Kelly’s intake.

"I drank Parrillo Performance 50/50 Plus™, which I took every two hours. I did this for every waking hour from Wednesday to Saturday night."

While her competitors were as weak as kittens from their dehydrating, debilitating, depleting pre-contest depravations, Kelly "felt like a swollen giant." She weighed 103 on Wednesday before the carb-up began and a tipped the beam at a whopping (comparatively speaking) 107 at the show. This is a 3.9 percent body weight gain in three days immediately preceding a national level physique contest!

Since the topic was food, we asked daughter Colleen to give us a snapshot of her average eating day during the two weeks prior to a contest:

5 a.m. Parrillo Bar, coffee

7 a.m. 6 egg white omelets made with veggies and fat free cheese, and a sweet potato.

9 a.m. 50/50 Plus™ shake

noon chicken, turkey or fish (4 oz.), spinach or asparagus, sweet potato

3 p.m. High-protein pudding: ¼ cup of Libby’s pumpkin pie filling, Optimized Whey™, water

6 p.m. chicken, turkey or fish (4 oz.), salad, vegetables, no starchy carbs

8 p.m. High Protein Pudding

"This is a fairly typical pre-contest eating day for me – a little less starch than I will consume in the off-season, but otherwise this spacing and food composition is typical and normal."

Future plans? "Too early to tell but we will keep you posted," Kelly promised. Colleen chimed in, "We are planning to come out with our own instructional videos. "

Good job ladies! Look for more of team Kelly and Colleen in the magazines Muscle & Fitness and Oxygen this spring and in the Gold’s Gym corporate newsletter ¨

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By Leslie Gordon

"Wonderful things happen when you keep fitness in the family."

The bond between a mother and daughter is a very special thing. As you get older, the relationship changes as life’s experiences draw you closer together. To keep the bond alive and well, mothers and daughters find ways to relate to each other. For some, this means shipping trips and lunch dates. For others, like the six women we’re about to discuss, fitness is the glue that keeps them together. A healthy lifestyle has given these women a sense of self-accomplishment, a way to keep their lives on track, and most importantly, a stronger, closer relationship.

These women share a passion for exercising and eating healthy. Although they don’t always work out together, they are an inspiration to each other inside and outside the gym. They motivate and support each other through the though times, and applaud each other form their victories. A mother and daughter relationship is something to be cherished. For these women, fitness is a lifestyle commitment to work at together.

Kelly Nelson and Colleen fisher couldn’t have make the saying "like mother, like daughter" any more true than at the 1998 Oregon State NPC Bodybuilding Championships. Both women entered the contest. Kelly won the grand master’s division, while Colleen placed first in the master’s division. The two were then required to pose down against each other! Colleen, 42, and her 71 year-old mom Kelly, were all smiles onstage. "I felt like we hit home runs," Kelly says as she recalls the special moment. "It was absolutely wonderful."

Colleen calls it a once-in-a-lifetime experience. "It was such an incredible feeling of energy to be up there with her," she explains. "We were both giddy with excitement."

Exercise, fitness and bodybuilding seem to have that effect on the mother/daughter muscle team. Every day, Kelly get up at 5:00 am, hops on her bike, and rides to the gym for a two-hour workout. When she’s done, she pedals home, does some stuff around the house, and heads out to do volunteer work with senior citizens in her community. For Kelly, age is just a number. By keeping herself in tip-top shape, the lifelong native of Washington State looks and feels half her age.

"I’m more alive and focused than I’ve ever been," exclaims Kelly who says she and her nine-year-old granddaughter just celebrated their birthdays by going for a bike ride. "Before I started weight training, it was like I was just existing. Now I know there isn’t anything I can’t try to do."

Kelly had no athletic background while growing up. As a child during the depression, she was forced to go to work in a factory at the age of 12. It wasn’t until she was 53 that she picked up a set of weights with guidance from a friend, and started working out in her living room. She also read absolutely everything about fitness and nutrition she could get her hands on. Less than two years later, the 55-year-old entered her first competition – the Rocky Mountain Stage, in Washington. "This was just an extension of what I was doing," say the 5’4", 110-pound fitness buff. "I wanted to see if I could measure up to a contest physique." She certainly did. The contest had no weight or age categories, so Kelly was competing against women half her age. She placed an impressive fifth.

Since then she has entered 32 competitions. Kelly won the over 35 division of the Emerald Cup in Seattle, WA. Fifteen years later, her daughter Colleen followed in her footsteps and also took first place.

"I’m going to keep going until I place first in the nationals," say Kelly. She weight trains and does cardio four or five times a week. every third week, she maxes out with heavy weights. Last year, Kelly, Colleen and her husband went to an eight-day bike trip, averaging 80-miles a day. Just recently Kelly completed a 100-mile day trip on her won. Kelly has the aerobic capacity of a young athlete, her bone density is better now than when she was 50, and she can bench press 100 percent of her bodyweight. Fitness has done wonders for her life. "I don’t make any concessions for age," explains Kelly. "I always keep challenging myself and that’s what it’s all about – personal growth."

It was Kelly who got Colleen started with fitness. Although the 42-year-old Seattle resident played some sports while growing up, she did not type of resistance training until the age of 25, when her mom showed her how. "She’s always been ahead of her time," says Colleen. "I was what weights were doing for her, and then when I started, the results got me hooked."

Colleen had always been a skinny kid. When she started working with weights. Her body changed almost immediately. Within four years, Colleen entered her first bodybuilding competition and placed third. Since then, she’s competed six more times.

Today Colleen is a certified personal trainer who helps others improve their lifestyles. "I want everyone to know how good it feels to be fit," explains Colleen. Six or sever times a week she goes for a 45-minute bike ride or run. She works with weights five days.

Just like mom, Colleen believes fitness is about personal accomplishment. "Discipline creates balance, and when you’re consistent with fitness, everything else tends to fall into place a little easier, and you feel good about yourself."

Whenever Kelly and Colleen are together they head to the gym or take off on their bikes. "We’re always pushing each other," says Colleen. "Maybe sometimes we’re harder on each other than any other two people in the gym."

Fitness is more than a hobby for this mother and daughter duo. "It has become our lifestyle," Colleen says. "We’re in it for the long haul."

HOW KELLY & COLLEEN MANAGE TO LOOK HALF THEIR AGE

What’s the secret to looking half your age? According to Kelly and Colleen, no magic potion will do the job. It’s all about lifestyle and attitude.

EXERCISE: "Start exercising now," Colleen advises. "It doesn’t matter how old you are – get off the couch and get moving."

EAT CLEAN: "Diet makes a big difference," says Colleen. "My training feels the best when I eat properly." Kelly attributes a lot of her physique success to her diet as well. She east small meals throughout the day, no beef or pork, and uses whey protein supplements three or four times daily.

STEP BACK AND ENJOY: "You shouldn’t let one grain of vitality slip through your fingers," says Kelly. "Live every day to its fullest. Run your own race and enjoy the journey."

PUSH YOURSELF: "Age is no excuse," Kelly says. "I always keep pushing the envelope and working harder. After a contest I remember the training the most."

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF: Kelly keeps her skin looking yourg by using moisturizer and eating properly. She only uses sun beds prior to a competition, three times a week.

USE AGE TO YOUR ADVANTAGE: Colleen believes it’s easier to maintain a healthy body and fitness level as you get older. "Estrogen levels drop with age. By exercising and eating properly, it’s easier for women to get leaner because they tend to carry less baby fat," says Colleen. She says she’s seen more hard-bodied women in their 40s than in their 20s.

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By Colleen fisher (as told to Marty Gallagher)

1998 NPC National master Champion

Anti-aging, also know a life extension science, is the hottest current trend in fitness. Why? The post-WWI baby boomers are growing old and this is the first generation that has been able to devote lots of time and energy to fitness pursuits on a widespread basis. We baby boomers were more fortunate than our depression-WWII ear parents: we have the time, inclination and money to pursue serious fitness. Our medical, scientific and empirical knowledge is unsurpassed, as is our access to plentiful nutritious food, we have a shorter workweek and more disposable income than ever before. You now being to understand why a huge sector of the American middle class is engaged in fitness related activities – to a degree our ancestors could only dream about. The average American has a higher standard of living than any in recorded history. Boomers are becoming chronologically challenged so ideas, devices and methods that retard the aging process have suddenly moved to center stage in the fitness limelight. Science, medicine and industry have rushed in to feed the pent-up demand for that which keeps us young. If you are a serious body-builder, you are engaged in the most effective system of life-extension over devised.

In the newspapers, magazines and on TV, people are clamoring for effective anti-aging products, supplements and philosophies. From the cover of People Magazine to the TV show Sixty Minutes, substances, techniques and methods that forestall aging are routinely featured. Life Extension Science is defined in a million ways be a million different schools and organizations, but roughly speaking, the movement is about extending not only the length of life itself but also about improving the quality of life as we move deeper and deeper into the golden years. Not that an organized approach to living longer and better is anything new, just more successful. The ancient Chinese Taoist Monks would drink jade elixirs in a futile attempt to obtain immortality while European Alchemists attempted to construct life-extending potions make with mercury and other deadly trace metals. The Queen of Spain spent millions to send Ponce d’Leon and an expeditionary fleet of ships to search out the oft-ru-mored ‘fountain of youth’ located somewhere deep in Everglade country. So ours is hardly the first generation that has pondered mightily on how to delay that nasty inevitability – death.

In 1900 the life span of the average American male was forty-nine years. In the space of 100 years that average age has increased to seventy-three years. In addition to living longer, those who don’t smoke, eat a diet low in saturated fat and sugar, avoid excess booze, exercise and avoid stress, routinely live into their 80’s. Never in history has any civilization had a population as old and vast as ours. Further, those who become a little fanatical about their nutrition, exercise and stress-relief are displaying a quality of life deep into old age that is without precedent. Ironically, those who are the absolute finest physical specimens – in relation to their age – are bodybuilders. Bodybuilders, use progressive resistance training, eat light, wholesome meals and perform cardiovascular exercise on a regular basis. As a result, they exhibit a phenomenal degree of fitness: appearing to be decades younger than their sedentary contemporaries. The greatest system for extending the quality of life deep into "old" age is the bodybuilding lifestyle. The bodybuilding life style (minus drugs) is a effective an anti-aging system as any ever devised.

The bodybuilding lifestyle is effective because it is comprehensive and multidimensional: diet, nutrition, supplementation, meal composition, exercise approach and selection, hi-tech machines, aerobic training, fascia stretching, flexibility training, anti-oxidant science and eloquent recuperation strategies – all have combined to stimulate physical progress regardless of age. No matter where you are in terms of your physical progress regardless of age. No matter you are at in terms of your physical state-of-being, if you incorporate these disciplines you will improve in a physical sense: this is a biological fact-of-life. This complex approach is stunningly effective and requires a sound game plan, focused concentration, detailed planning and conserted effort. The bodybuilding approach to anti-aging requires a subtle balance of proper exercise, nutrition, rest and an underlying positive mental attitude. The pieces, like a fitness puzzle, fit together and form a holistic, synergistic system. Where to start? We start with the first piece of the puzzle: exercise. If you want to live longer and enjoy a high quality of life, put down the remote control, get out of the recliner and move your booty! To get started, you need to perform some form of resistance exercise, using free weights or machines.

Resistance training keeps the human musculature functional. The number one reason old people become enfeebled is that the muscles weaken and atrophy. Weight training promotes muscle growth and bone density; weight training virtually eliminates osteoporosis in aging women. Weight trained muscles do not turn flaccid and weak. It is only when muscles are not used that they lose size, strength, range-of-motion and functional ability. Medical science has demonstrated time and again that oldsters with no prior training who commence weight training benefit immediately. Cardiovascular training is equally as important. The idea behind aerobic training is to stimulated the human heart to pump blood through organs, veins and capillaries at an accelerated rate. Regular high output heart acceleration sessions, done on a regular and consistent basis, result in strong internal organs and clean, artery walls. When the internal p