Pianist a bodybuilder: He presses both keys and weights

Date: 30-04-2003 Posted by: Anabolic Info TeamUnited States

Like countless other pianists, Leon Bates can play a Beethoven concerto with ease.

But here's where we separate the man from the Rachmaninoff — Bates also can bench-press 310 pounds with ease.

Add a couple of Yo-Yo Mas to the bar and he'd really get a good workout.

Believe it or not, Bates is one of the nation's leading concert pianists in addition to being a bodybuilder.

The 53-year-old Philadelphia native ended a three-day Springfield City Schools residency Wednesday at South High.

Performing one of the classics for the school's music students, it had to have been a first — the first time someone seated at a grand piano was armed with a set of muscles that threatened to bust out of a Gold's Gym T-shirt.

“I definitely do not look like your typical classical pianist,” Bates later confessed.

Last weekend, he acted like your typical classical pianist, performing Beethoven's fifth concerto with the Dayton Phil.

Four days later, though, he was at South.

And not only did he play music and work with the band, but he also taught some students how to do a proper squat.

With each concert in each city he does, he goes into nearby schools and performs his muscular arts outreach. His physique comes in handy by grabbing the attention of students who envision pianists as old and frail.

“It's harder to do this than a recital at Carnegie Hall,” he said.

Earlier this week, he spent time with middle schoolers and at North High, working with its orchestra and chamber choir.

But it was at South that he also ventured into a weight room.

The morning weight lifting class was stunned when Bates lifted 270 pounds — and never stopped talking to them.

“That was a lot,” marveled Josh Lucas, one of the 10th-graders who added more weights at Bates’ request.

Eric Carter, a junior, couldn't believe Bates was a concert pianist: “You wouldn't know it if you saw him in the gym.”

Bates started lifting weights when he was 18, but has been playing piano since age 6.

“I got into bodybuilding like every male does — to have big muscles and look good,” he said. “But when I got into it, I realized it was a real discipline like music. Playing the instrument is a physical endeavor. I identify with my body.

“The music is asking you to do certain things as a part of the process.”

If you don't think it takes some physical conditioning to play, try tackling Rachmaninoff's third concerto for piano.

It's 40 minutes long.

“Practice is grunt work,” he said. “It's about learning the physical. Then your mind is able to go off and create music.”