'You want to be healthy': 70-year-old man continues competitive bodybuilding
Competitive bodybuilding at age 70 is all about caring for your God-given body with the proper combination of nutrition, training and rest, Alfredo Arias says.
"If you don't take care of yourself, no one will take care of you," the Schaumburg resident said. "My principle is that your body belongs to you. Not your wife, not your kids. It's yours. And it's only one. God gave us this material, which is the body, and we have to take care of it."
Arias takes part in competitions organized by the National Physique Committee, the largest amateur organization for bodybuilders in the United States. He'll be competing Saturday at the 2018 NPC Midwest Gladiator in Chicago, and Nov. 10 at the NPC Noble Warrior Natural Classic in Rockford.
Competition is scarce at his age, because it takes tremendous dedication to keep up with competitive bodybuilding that long, said Kevin Noble, a Midwest Gladiator judge and promoter for Noble Warrior.
"There are many men in the 70s right now that used to be bodybuilders, competitors, in their 50s, 40s, 30s and 20s, and they've given it up," Noble said. "But to keep doing it, you're in the 1 percent of the population. They have to be extremely passionate about it in their desire to compete and win again."
Arias was a crowd favorite in May at the NPC Grand Prix Natural competition in Rockford, where he won his age group, Noble said. During the "posedown" for the overall title, "he was really laying it out pretty well with the dance moves," Noble said.
Arias said he started competitive bodybuilding in his native Peru about 35 years ago. He is especially proud of his grand master men overall win at the 2013 NPC Natural Mid-States Muscle Classic in Rockford, he said.
He started working out in the 1970s when he was a police detective while attending law school in Arequipa, Peru, where fellow students invited him to the gym, he said.
"I was a little chunky," he said. "They showed me what do to and I liked it. I was getting stronger, and little by little, I started getting better."
His first competition was in powerlifting, which is about explosive force with little regard for body aesthetics, he said. He eventually transitioned to bodybuilding, which is about whole health and symmetry, he said.
Arias said he works for a bus transportation company in Skokie and trains at LA Fitness locations and Schaumburg's Community Recreation Center. Center manager Kristy McCann said he's a great example for other patrons.
"He is very health-conscious and he really enjoys what he does," McCann said. "He's always been a big advocate of the park district."
His training is from Monday to Friday, with rest on Saturday and a 6-mile run on Sunday, "which relaxes me," he said.
He spends up to an hour working out one muscle group per day - chest, back, legs, shoulders, and biceps and triceps - followed by 20 to 30 minutes of cardio on the bike or elliptical trainer three times a week. When he's training for competition, he does cardio five times a week, morning and evening.
He eats a balance of protein, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats, and drinks up to 1½ gallons of water a day, he said. He has five or six meals a day, starting in the morning with six ounces of chicken, seven egg whites and a protein shake, and he never eats after 6 p.m.
Just before competition, his carbohydrate intake reaches near zero, he said. Otherwise, he occasionally indulges with a piece of birthday cake or a glass of wine - followed by an extra 15 to 30 minutes of cardio the next day.
Arias said he is grateful to his wife, a former personal trainer who has supported his passion. The couple and their two children moved to the United States in 1996 and are U.S. citizens, said Arias, who sports an eagle tattoo on his right shoulder.
"It's not easy," he said of living with a bodybuilder's food restrictions. "She's a great cook, but we almost can't eat the same thing. So I cook often."
In his spare time, he trains clients over age 60, some of whom have never worked out, he said.
"You have to build slowly and adapt," he said. "But I want to send a message to older people, that they don't get defeated because they are old, or have diabetes or something else. ... Exercise is great, especially for preventing health problems."
Arias said he's adamantly against steroids because they only damage the body.
"It gives me great personal satisfaction to stay healthy," he said. "I have no illnesses or disabilities. You can get to 70, but the point is, you want to be healthy."