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How to give your body a liftDate: 30.01.2007
Posted by: Anabolic Info Team United Kingdom
IF ANYONE knows about being the best, it's weightlifter David Morgan.
Not only has he won Commonwealth gold five times, a record across all sporting categories, but last year he also won the World Masters Championships - at the age of 41.
A lifelong devotee of physical fitness, he's just written a guide to improving the health and shape of your body. Be Your Bestcan, he says, help anyone - whatever their age or weight - achieve amazing results.
"One of the guys who comes to my gym is 79," says David, who runs a personal training centre in Sawston. "He's had two knee replacements and he's one of the fittest people who trains here; he's in amazing shape. If he can do it, anyone can."
David has been passionate about keeping fit ever since he was a little boy. "I loved reading about superheroes in comics," he admits, with a smile.
"When I was at school it wasn't considered cool to be into Spider-Man and Marvel, but the kids of today (Tuesday, 30 January) can relate to it - the film industry's brought comic superheroes back in."
"I was amazed by people that could do incredible things," continues David, "people who could, if you like, train themselves and evolve into something that could do the job at hand."
When he was nine, David came across the nowlegendary muscleman Charles Atlas. Seeing an advert for his "Dynamic Tension" bodybuilding course in one of his comics, David signed up; arriving in 12 weekly instalments, it was his first taste of serious training.
"You had to do things like deep breathing in front of a window," recalls David, with a laugh.
"But it was great; every week you'd have another hit."
Then, in the mid-1970s, Arnold Schwarzenegger hit the big screen - in Pumping Iron. "I went to watch it and just thought, 'This guy is in amazing shape'," says David. "It was a revelation. He'd taken things to a whole new level, using free weights."
It was then David began weight training in earnest. "I was 12," he remembers. "But I soon lost interest in the body building side of it - and became more interested in just how much weight I could lift." At 13, David was competing in his first British schoolboy challenge; the following year, aged 14, he won it.
Although his parents were far from sporty, David says his dad was enthusiastic from the word go, and his mum came round to the idea quite quickly, "once I started winning medals".
"They both backed me," he says. "In those days there was very little in the way of Government grants for sports people, so you were very reliant on your parents."
On leaving school, David settled into a regular - and highly rigorous - training schedule, working out for six hours a day.
"I'd do an hour first thing in the morning, rest for 30 minutes, do another hour, rest again, do another hour, then stop for lunch," he explains.
"After lunch I'd have a two-hour sleep. Then it would be back to the gym to do it all again."
David's dedication paid off: he scooped his first Commonwealth gold in 1982, aged "18 and one day".
A second followed in 1986, a third in 1990 and a fourth in 1994. Keen to win a record-breaking fifth, David admits he was upset to miss gold in 1998.
"I didn't want to know about weightlifting for about six months afterwards," he confesses.
But, after a friend got David to watch the World Masters, he determined to give it one last go. "We just happened to walk in when a guy in my weight category was lifting," adds David. "My friend said 'I reckon you could beat him'; about 10 pints later, I said 'Yeah, actually, I reckon I could'."
At the following Commonwealth Games, in 2002, David still thought a fifth gold was out of his grasp
* until his Australian challenger missed a lift, by opting for too heavy a load, and his Indian counterpart failed a drugs test.
Fate has, it transpires, played a significant role in David's life on more than one occasion. Having worked as a personal trainer for many years, he decided to write a book about how to develop the right eating habits, mental attitude and fitness regime.
In the middle of writing, David had a holiday in Dubai; while browsing in the hotel bookshop, he heard a woman ask for a diet and fitness book, penned by a certain celebrity. "I said 'What would you want that for? It's all celebrity nonsense'," remembers David.
"We ended up having a five-minute conversation. She said 'I suppose you've got a book in you, have you?' - and I told her I was in the process of writing it." The two exchanged cards, but it wasn't until David took his seat on the plane that he realised he'd been talking to KT Forster, managing director of Virgin Books.
When David returned to the UK, an email from KT was waiting; less than a year later, his book Be Your Besthas just hit book stores. It is, he says, a practical guide to improving health and fitness, which includes a detailed healthy eating plan (complete with a week-long example menu).
After opening his own personal training centre, also called Be Your Best, on Sawston business park, David says his clients (like the 79-year-old) are proof his methods work - and that anyone can do it.
"If I went out and wrote a book about acting, people would say 'That bloke's a complete lunatic, he doesn't know anything about it'," David adds. "But this is what I know; sport's always been at the centre of my life."
¦ David's book, Be Your Best: The Smart Way to Improve Your Body, Shape and Mind, is published by Virgin at L10.99.
DAVID'S TOP TIPS FOR A HEALTHIER YOU
Do you want to be your best?
Start by following David's top tips . . .
¦ Eat food in its most natural, unprocessed state
¦ Eat five times a day: three meals and two snacks
¦ Eat protein and carbohydrates at every meal
¦ Eat complex carbohydrates early in the day
¦ Avoid eating sugar, processed food or hydrogenated fat
¦ Don't overeat
¦ Get your daily dose of good fat
¦ Drink two cups of water with every meal
¦ Don't exceed four cups of tea or coffee per day
¦ Schedule a specific time to do exercise
¦ Keep your metabolic rate high by maintaining or building muscle
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