THERE SHOULD BE A LAW AGAINST IT

In the following article written by Dr. William Brady, and widely published throughout the country he writes, "Really there ought to be a law prohibiting unqualified persons from offering the public advice about health."

The bible says, Take the mote out of thine own eye before you take it out of thy brother's eye. Why doesn't Dr. Brady take his own advice ? Certainly the remarks he writes in his column about weight lifting glaringly show that he doesn't know what he is talking about. I doubt much if he has ever seen a weight lifting contest or a weight lifter in action. I would like to know in what manner he has become qualified to talk of something he knows nothing about. Or what anyone can think of a newspaper which is willing to print a statement so palpably untrue. He has this to say:

"Short of such tests of endurance as Marathon races, there is no ordinary exercise, game , play or athletic activity which an oversize adult may not advantageously enjoy, provided his or her own physician does not interdict it for a particular reason. Just one form of exercise tends to develop massive muscles and that is fool stunts such as weight lifting or similar strains recommended to gullible young men by mail order physical culture humbugs. These strong men stunts are objectionable, not merely because they produce hypertrophy of certain muscles, but because they make one muscle bound, clumsy, inefficient. The overgrown muscles become parasites on body vitality. The professional freak strong man never won a race in his life. He is really a feeble man."

I ask you readers of Strength and health magazine, what do you think of a man, (a doctor who to use that title should know about the human body,) who can make a statement such as the latter. That strong men are really weak. The entire paragraph shows his woeful ignorance of exercise.

I agree with his statement that there ought to be a law prohibiting unqualified person from offering the public advice about health. Yes there should be a law prohibiting these antique "doctors" from telling "gullible" newspaper readers that they will get huge muscle from training with weights which will be weak, useless, muscle bound or clumsy.

I challenge Dr. Brady and others of his ilk to show up or shut up. I defy them to prove their statements about weight lifting and weight lifters. To show if they are able, that they are qualified to write about exercise and body building. I, in behalf of the York weigh lifting team, who number among their members world's record holders, American record holders and men who have won over half a hundred national championships to produce any group of men who even approach our weight lifters in physical ability. Development, shapeliness, strength, speed, athletic skill in a host of sports and strength feats and in all-around physical perfection.

I suggest a test of twenty events, we to chose ten of the events, any person such as Dr. Brady or ---, who have written or spoken anything to the detriment of weigh lifters and weight lifting, to choose the other ten. We suggest that ten of these events be held on two consecutive days. And that a group of competent physicians examine the York group and the opposition at the end of each day's test. We are willing to back our men very heavy financially if Dr. Brady will back up his convictions with a like sum.

It made me wonder where men such as Dr. Brady have been all these years. They must still be living back in the nineties when so called strong men, fat men, medicine men and barkers posed as strong men. There are still some of them in action. They didn't get that way from the lifting of weights. But from the life they lead. Most of them are naturally powerful men. The majority have taken little or no exercise in their lives and the feats they perform are seldom as represented.

Dr. William Brady can be addressed care of the Jersey Observer, Hoboken, N.J. In Anthony Terlazzo's home town. Anthony holds five American records, he has made a total on the three lifts 43 1/2 lbs. greater than any other man in the world in the 132 lbs. class. he is a good all-around athlete and American 148 lb. national champion. You should see him tumble, balance, climb a rope or perform on gymnasium apparatus.

Near this same territory, about five miles away, is the home of Steve Weisch of the Prudential Insurance Co. weightlifting team. Steve is 181 lb Unites States lifting champion. he is a strong man. Lifts 454 pounds with one hand in the dead lift style and performs a host of other feats that are truly astonishing. He was a track and field man before he became a weight lifter. Now that he is a champion lifter he is a better track and field man. It is not a bit unusual for him to win four or five track and field events in one afternoon.

There is Bob Mitchell of the York team, holder of the world's record in the two hands snatch, a winner of both junior and senior national weight lifting championships, as well as the holder of American Records. He is a phenomenal athlete. Without training I have seen him standing broad jump 10 feet 5, standing high jump 5 feet 4. He can run 100 yards any time in ten seconds or less. He has running high jumped 6 feet 1, pole-vaulted 12 feet 6, and broad jumped 22 feet 10 inches. He is a remarkable acrobat, dances on his hands and he plays a mouth organ, can walk up and down flights of stairs balanced upon his hands and perform a great host of other feats.

Dick Bachtell, champion of the United States in the 132 lbs class. A very heavily muscled man, yet one who can perform the most amazing feats of tumbling, balancing, flexibility and contortion. His greatest claim to fame outside of his lifting, wrestling and gymnastic ability is the way he can make time in long distance running.

Gordon Venables who excels at nearly every sport. A champion backstroke swimmer, a sprinter, a runner, jumper, boxer, a star at a host of games. Or myself, as I have enjoyed success at every known game in my athletic career.And my proficiency in all these sports improved with my weight training.

Stan Kratkowski, 165 lb. national champion. Wally Zagurski, former national champion, the only man to win five championships in a single year. A heavily muscled man but a great athlete at a wide variety of sports. Bill Good, America's strongest weight lifter, who can wrestle, play baseball, football or run. Art Levan champion in the 126 lb. class, or Joe Fiorito in the 118.

Johnny Terpak the world's best lightweight and barring accidents a sure winner at Berlin in the 148 lb. class. He is a great sprinter and former football star, a boxer and wrestler. Dave Mayor whose 235 pounds might make some persons believe he is not skillful and fast. One of the best of young heavyweight lifters.

My idea is to pit our United States weight lifting champions against the champions in any other sport or game. The boxing champions, the wrestling champions, the track and field champions, the swimming champions, any that Dr. Brady may select and any that are willing to be shown what kind of men win weight lifting championships for the York team.

Our men will demonstrate that other sport or game, nor other form of exercise, can produce men the all around equal of star lifters in every desirable physical way. Champion lifters must possess a greater combination of speed, skill, nerve, energy, endurance, coordination, balance, timing and all around athletic ability than the men who follow any of the sports that are not considered to make men "muscle bound."

We are serious in this challenge. We are tired of men like Dr. Brady who know nothing about weight lifting and weigh lifters, writing for newspaper editors who know less, and passing it on to lazy people who like to have a good excuse not to exercise. I really believe that such medical men who write these health columns for the newspapers know, deep down in their hearts that weight training is the best thing in the world for anybody. But if everyone took to weight training with bar bells and dumbells, and became strong and healthy, and heart trouble, tuberculosis, kidney troubles, nervous disorders and alimentary troubles disappeared, WHAT WOULD THE DOCTORS DO FOR A LIVING ? No, dear reader, we must not let the doctors starve, refrain from "straining and fool stunts" and continue to live within easy walking distance of a doctor's office so that you can spend a shorter stay on earth and an unhealthier one.

Before closing let's analyze further Dr. Brady's remarks. He is opposed to marathon racing. The running of long distance takes time, the men are not pretty physical specimens, but everyone must admit that they are tough, enduring and healthy, and live long. Stenroos, the Finn who won the 1928 marathon was well past 40. Clarence DeMar of Melrose, Mass., has been running marathons ever since I was a little boy, which means around twenty-five years. In fact as I witnessed the finish of the Yonkers marathon I saw a number of runners who were prominent in this sport fifteen and twenty years ago. Aside from weight lifting there is hardly a sport where the athletes last as long as they do at marathon running.

The Doctor was right when he said that just one form of exercise will really develop the muscles. What he does not know is the quality of the muscles that weight training produces. Weight lifting as practiced today is the most scientific of sports. When comparatively small men like Anthony Terlazzo, Art Levan, Dick Bachtell and Johnny Terpak lift more than twice their own bodyweight to arm's length overhead, it takes power, speed and a host of physical qualities. The average man can't lift 100 pounds to arm's length. These men who average less than 140 pounds bodyweight have lifted 300 pounds to arm's length. This lifting has built muscular strength and internal strength. It has made them better men in every possible way.

Dr. Brady insists that strong men are objectionable because he says that the lifting of weights produces hypertrophy of certain muscles. By using such pseudo scientific terms he makes his readers believe that something terrible might happen to them if they so much as lift a 15 lb. dumbell. In looking through all of your volumes of Strength and Health Magazine do you see any men with overdeveloped bodies? Do you see any man who is not better built than the followers of any other sport? Do you see any man whose build you would not be satisfied to have for your own ?

And then Brady has the incompetent never to say that exercise with weights will make one muscle bound, clumsy, inefficient. I defy him to prove his words if he is able. My idea is to take the entire group of this year's champion lifters. Ten or more of them if desired. Let them compete against the champions of any other sport in a series of twenty sports or games. Every man of both groups must participate in each sport or feat. Failure to compete will result in a zero in that particular event. It is natural that the opponents selected will choose the sport in which they are most proficient.

The champion lifters will prefer strength sports. Their first love lifting. Wrestling, boxing, balancing, Jiu Jitsu, tumbling, jumping, apparatus work rope climbing, chinning, and similar feats. But everyone of them can swim, run, put the shot, or make at least a reasonable showing in other track and field sports. They can row, paddle, dive, in short any game, sport or test of skill, strength and endurance.

Dr. Brady and Dr. F. L. Bartlett, you owe the weight lifters of America an apology. If you are real men you will admit you are wrong and make it. If you have the courage of your convictions, try to prove your story and we will prove that you are absolutely wrong, that you know nothing about the sport of weight lifting or moder bar bell training. We will look forward to your acceptance of this challenge.

EDITOR'S NOTE: If interested kindly send a marked copy of this magazine or article to the doctors mentioned here and to the newpaper editors of the papers in which such articles have appeared.