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From muscle madness to Sweat FitnessDate: 21.12.2006
Posted by: Anabolic Info Team
For the last three years Dan Moser has been building and running his own gym, Sweat Fitness, located in downtown Tooele. Throughout the ‘80s and early ‘90s he spent his time in the bodybuilding Mecca of Venice Beach in Southern California competing in events including Mr. Universe. Moser poses on on Venice Beach (top, right) in Southern California in 1981./photo by Troy Boman]
From muscle madness to Sweat Fitness
When Dan Moser was growing up on his family’s farm in Wisconsin he dreamt of getting out and seeing the world. That is exactly what he did.
For several years, Moser was a top contender in competitive bodybuilding. It was the “golden era” of body building; just a few years earlier Arnold Schwarzenegger had stared in “Pumping Iron” which pushed the sport of bodybuilding from the fringe to the mainstream.
Moser began weight training as a teenager to develop more strength for competitive springboard diving. He soon became more interesting in body building as a sport than diving.
Moser started weight training at 14, but he never though it would lead to a lifelong pursuit. Today he is the owner, manager and friendly face behind the counter at Sweat Fitness on Main Street in Tooele. His wife, Sonja Moser, is co-owner. And he’s never shy about imparting his knowledge of bodybuilding, weight loss and nutrition.
“I put on all the hats — everything from janitor to Web designer,” Moser said. Although the 44-year-old father of two spends his days coaching novice weight-lifters, high school athletes and moms wanting to shed a few pounds, he’s never too far from the memories of his professional bodybuilding days.
Hints of this past are portrayed in the framed black and white photos on the wall behind the front desk. Although the photos are not hung with museum care, they are significant. The pictures depict Moser, years ago, posing for judges at a Mr. Universe contest — he thinks it was Mr. Universe. He says he doesn’t really remember. “It was another lifetime,” he said motioning to the hard bodies toned to perfection and posed like dolls.
The first contest he entered, for teenage bodybuilders in Wisconsin, he won. That motivated him to stick with his training. But years later, when Moser was a sophomore at University of Wisconsin- Madison, and still diving, his chest got too big, he said. “The coach poked me in the chest,” he said gesturing, “and he said ‘This has got to go.’” Ultimately, Moser opted for weight training over diving. “I just kinda went where my heart was,” he said of his choice to continue bodybuilding. His decision caused ripples in his home life. His father, a farmer, and his sisters did not understand his passion, he said. When Moser decided to leave Wisconsin for California, he and a friend bought roundtrip tickets to Los Angeles. After a few weeks soaking up the sun and the scene on Venice Beach, Moser said, his friend had returned to Wisconsin.
“I don’t know what I did with the other half of my ticket, I think I sold it,” he said. Moser got a job repairing gym equipment and trained for several hours a day. And trained at the legendary Gold’s Gym in Venice and World Gym in Santa Monica. He trained with veterans in the field: Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno and Frank Zane.
He talks about the old days and legendary bodybuilders with a shrug. He mostly recalls what the other bodybuilders weighed and what percent of body fat they had — like an old football coach talking about yardage and statistics. Moser’s top weight was 257, he said. He ate six times a day to maintain his championship muscle mass. On the off-season Moser had less than 3 percent body fat, on-season he was less than 1 percent. His first title in California was Mr. Venice Beach. He placed first in his class and went on to win several more competitions in California, Hawaii and abroad. By this time he was making enough money from sponsors and speaking engagements to quit his day job.
He won Mr. California in 1986 and 1987, and place second in 1990 and 1991 on the National Amateur Bodybuilders Association (NABBA) competition circuit including Mr. Universe. He retired from competitive bodybuilding in 1993 due to an injury.
“Winning meant everything to me,” he said. Being on the bodybuilding circuit was almost like being in a cult, Moser said. “There were 20 top competitors in the world. They all knew each other, knew other’s weaknesses. They all dated the same people,” Moser said. M o s e r met a lot of women, was invited to a lot of parties and spent a lot of time at the beach.
He became a member of the Screen Actors Guild. This allowed him to work in film and t e l e v i s i o n . One of his gigs was as a male stripper on “Married with Children.” “They needed a dancer for Peggy [Bundy],” he said. He keeps a scrap book behind the counter at the gym. Some of the pages are loose. Photos, pages of script and old faded articles are slipped between the pages of model-quality headshots. But all of his old memories don’t compare with what he is able to do currently, he said, inspiring others to get fit. He runs weight loss challenges for the Sweat Fitness members. The winners, or biggest losers, are memorialized on a lobby poster board and added to the long list of name’s on the gym’s Web site: Lonny lost 33 pounds, Shaunna lost 34 pounds, etc.
“You drive up and down Main Street and all you see is fast food restaurants,” he said explaining that just one or two triple cheese burgers a week could add a dozen pounds on the average adult within a year. “By the time I see most people it’s too late. They already have diabetes, high-blood pressure or arthritis.” Moser admits that it is never too late to set new goals; eat better and exercise more.
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