Surgery is no bar for senior weightlifter World champion powerlifter and Redbank resident Alan Muston, who hasn’t let a nephrectomy slow down his strength-training activities.
Alan, 68, an accomplished powerlifter who broke the international squat record for his age group in 2018, runs fitness classes for seniors at the Camira Springfield Community Centre on Wednesday afternoons.
In November, Alan was informed of a cancerous lump on his kidney, which was fully removed in early December. “I had a kidney taken out on December 4,” Alan said. Fortunately, the surgery went well, and while classes had to close for around seven weeks, it has otherwise had little impact on Alan.
“My physiotherapist started working with me at home two days after I got out of hospital. “I’m pretty much back to speed again.
At the moment I’d probably squat 190 kilos, bench 120, deadlift 220, which is down on what I’d normally do — but it’s a good start just two months out of cancer surgery!” Alan even jokes about losing a kidney.
“Yeah, I call him “George”. And I miss George… but he wasn’t behaving himself, so he had to leave home.”
Unexpectedly, the president of the Australian Powerlifting Championships earlier this month offered him a spot in this year’s competition, at the end of June, without needing to qualify. Alan plans to give it a solid crack.
His drive to succeed through adversity is inspirational. Participation in his seniors class in fact doubled last year.
“We were getting so many people, I couldn’t run it in one session.” It’s making a big difference to their physical and mental strength, Alan explained.
“One lady, when she started with us, she had had a stroke. And she could not get out of the chair without assistance.
Now she carries the chairs!” Another lady with osteopenia, a precursor to osteoporosis, reported that her doctor was shocked to see her bone density had increased.
“One of the things that annoys me is that old people are told to take it easy. ‘Don’t take any chances…
Don’t push yourself too hard’. “Old people aren’t made of glass. They can push themselves. “And most old people could do an awful lot more … if they just had the confidence to have a go.
“The human anatomy and strength training is no different whether you’re 65 or 75 or whether you’re 25.
“There are recovery issues. It’s harder to recover as you get older… It’s not easy. But once they see they can bend over and pick up things off the ground without back pain, they can pick up their grandkids, they can carry bags of shopping, they can get in and out of their car… it’s addictive.”
