Bill Pearl and Dave Draper…Iron Icons commiserate: will you be able to hear the whispers?
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Bill Pearl and Dave Draper…Iron Icons commiserate: will you be able to hear the whispers?
Wisdom isn’t shouted. Wisdom is related in quiet whispers. And only those quiet enough and attuned enough and receptive enough and sensitive enough to really listen hear the profundity hidden in the whispers. Dave Draper sent me a 75-minute DVD that includes a 32-page booklet that whispers profundities. It captures a slice of time, a seminar he and fellow Iron Icon Bill Pearl put on at David’s Southern California gym a year ago. Basically a question and answer session with the public and each other, I found the whole undertaking fascinating and incredibly informative. Of course I’m biased in that I really look up to both men. Back in the day as physical role models and nowadays as life-extension examples and age mentors. Bill is 76 and Dave is in his mid-sixties. Back in their heyday each was a superstar in the crazed world of competitive bodybuilding: Dave was Mr. Universe and a training partner of Arnold in his prime. Bill was the original Iron Iconoclast and captured the Mr. America title in 1954. He went on to beat Sergio Olivia, Reg Park and Frank Zane at the 1971 NABBA Mr. Universe in London. This was Bill’s competitive high watermark. Bill was a physical idol for me as a young man-boy. He graced the pages of Strength & Health and Muscular Development magazine on a regular basis all through the sixties. Physically Bill had the type of body all athletic young men sought: he was no gazelle, he was a rhino. I never ever was a “bodybuilder” in that to me physical display in and of itself had zero appeal, form without function. Pearl bridged a psychological and physiological gap. While he was a “Bodybuilder” with a capitol B, competing in the arena of functionless muscle-for-muscle sake, he was also bull strong…strong with a capitol S. At a time when a 500-pound squat was a big deal Bill handled 600. In order to create the muscle mass that attracted us to him Bill trained in a fashion that bridged the gap between the preening bodybuilder and the functional athlete. His primordial training template is the one we use and recommend to this day: basic barbell and dumbbell exercise done using pristine technique for moderate reps. In Sanskrit “guru” literally means – “he who points.” Bill was our Iron Guru. He pointed the way and to this day we follow that path.
Dave Draper has gotten better with age: an artistic introvert, he was a master woodworker and carpenter in addition to being (for a time) the best in the world as a bodybuilder. Snippets and glimpses: the men relate in the booklet that accompanies the DVD, the aloneness that accompanies true athletic discipline and how it morphs an adherent, psychologically…
Dave: We are not great socializers, you and me. We have friends and influence people, but we do not collect awards for Mr. Congeniality.
Bill: If you look closely at our background, we’re people who’ve become totally involved in weight training (as you and I have) - we’ve become “one” for the rest of our lives. We don’t work well in groups. I don’t. Maybe this is because we’ve relied on ourselves all our lives. In this world we have to communicate and I think if you dedicate your entire life to weight training you are a “single-purpose,” sole purpose person and that’s not particularly good for society - or for you.
Dave: Yes, I would agree with that.
…And so would artist/athlete Marty Gallagher. My wife lovingly but insightfully jokes, “You were raised by wolves and to this day you remain a lone wolf.” This comes as a result of starting training at age 12 and continuing for the next 44 years…
Dave: The best relationships are often with training partners…its about sharing the gritty lifestyle…don’t get totally bound up in yourself…weightlifting is very personal. It’s a lone sport…few words are spoken or need be spoken. Camaraderie between lifters is strong.
My longest lasting relationships have been with my training partners, Pirates and no-necks the lot. This snippet is representative of the insightful dialogue between these two old lions: this is not all about sets and reps, this is about life and existence and purpose and how we choose to spend our days on this planet. This is not to say that the twosome don’t have lots to say about sets, reps, exercises, tactics and strategies…but the message is decidedly retro: the distilled essence of their cumulative message could best be encapsulated as: Old School all the way: the best advice they can offer, based on 120-years of combined empirical expertise is this; use basic barbell and dumbbell exercises, use strict technical execution, be aware that there are no magical modes, no secret systems or exotic procedures that the iron elite use to shortcut the blood, sweat, toil and tears necessary to renovate the human body. They reiterate a message you hear often in my own musings: the human body will not favorably reconfigure itself in response to ease or sameness, the body changes only in response to drama, to controlled shock and muscular trauma associated with hard training.
Dave: I don’t use heavy weights {compared to previous years} but I still love – need – the full-bore exertion.
Bill: I’ll tell you how simple weight training is: you either push or pull. And that’s about as simple as you can get. You either push or pull on something and the attitude you have while pushing or pulling makes the effort a success or failure…it’s all about discipline. You must persist, persevere, press on with patience. Train consistently. Trust in yourself.
Dave: Apply yourself willingly to the work at hand with confidence.
Bill: Be totally present…too many people let their mind wander and that’s ineffectual training.
Dave: If my mind wanders and I lose concentration I have failed in my workout…get tough – be tough!
On and on it goes…one hidden gem after another, to me the conversation between the two is endlessly fascinating but please don’t buy this DVD expecting the latest/greatest/newest way to train: this is underplayed Old School, subtle as summer breeze on a stifling hot day. To grasp the essence of what these men say requires a quiet concentration while viewing, a quiet concentration as intense as the concentration these two giants apply in their workouts. In our age of hyperbole, flamboyance and over-the-top fitness sensationalism, this dialogue requires an audio sensitivity that means the viewer must become totally attuned to the ebb and flow of the conversation. If the viewer is alert and really listens, the Iron Wisdom of the Ages is revealed – the problem is real wisdom is not sensationalistic, it’s understated and told flat – without emphasis or bravado – but to those with the ability to actually hear what is being said the commonsense advice contain within can shortcut the physical journey by light-years…unfortunately for the vast majority of fitness surface skimmers the profundity of what is being said will be lost in the wind…too bad for them.
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