Tag Archives: Thom Van Vleck

JWC: The Evangelism Years

by Thom Van Vleck

Left to Right: Brian Kerby, Brett Kerby, John O'Brien, and Thom Van Vleck. The core members of the JWC Evangelism Team

Left to Right: Brian Kerby, Brett Kerby, John O’Brien, and Thom Van Vleck. The core members of the JWC Evangelism Team

The Jackson Weightlifting Club (JWC) has had many lives over the past 91 years.  One of it’s incarnations was as an Evangelism team.  We were inspired by Paul Anderson who toured the country and evangelized while demonstrating feats of strength.

It started with a relationship with Randy Richey who heads up Omega Force.  They are a strong man evangelism team that has toured the country for many years.  I met Randy at a Scottish highland games and he invited me to perform with his group in St. Louis.  I talked Brian Kerby into going and we performed 6 shows in 4 days.  Talk about a workout!  We finished as the warm up for the US Strongman Nationals at the Family Arena in front of a crowd of over 3000.

Randy invited us to travel with them but Brian and I both had families and full time jobs.  We would occasionally hook up with them but doing anything long term was out of the question.

Brian is an ordained minister and often would fill in at local Churches.  He was filling in at a little Church in tiny Worthington, Missouri and they were having a 24 hours fast with the youth group.  Brian suggested we do a little strongman show for the 20 or so kids present.  Brian invited his brother Brett and I invited my friend John.  That show ended up being quite a production and a real hit.

We had not intentions of taking it further.  Just a one time deal.  But a woman came up and gave Brian a check for $250.  She said we needed to do this somewhere else.  So the team was born. We would stay local and that way we could all be back to work the next day.

At first we weren’t going to call ourselves the JWC.  That was the name of the weightlifting club started by my grandfather and continued by my Uncles.  But Brian thought it would be the thing to do.  My family has a deep Christian history and I was honored.

We never asked for money.  Just an offering.  We figured as long as there was money in the bank we would keep going.  Over the next 10 years we did over 250 shows to over 25,000 spectators.  Every show was all about the gospel.  But some serious lifting and feats of strength were performed. We would bend short steel, steel bars (scroll work), break cement blocks, lift objects such as anvils and stones, lift traditional weights, strongman events such as the log lift, and tearing phone books and decks of cards in half. All the feats would tie into a Christian message.

Thom Van Vleck on the bed of nails with 380 pound Terry Lawson on top of hims and 330lb Brian Kerby at the very top. Yes, it's a physics trick but it still hurts!!!!

Thom Van Vleck on the bed of nails with 380 pound Terry Lawson on top of hims and 330lb Brian Kerby at the very top. Yes, it’s a physics trick but it still hurts!!!!

Some of the more amazing feats we performed over the years include the following:

John O’Brien became a world class short steel bender.  He would bend 3/8″ grade 8 bolts.  We would always offer for someone to come out of the crowd and try it and no one ever even put a kink in it.  John is one strong guy and he would lift about anything.  He would lift a 90lb dumbbell with a 3 inch grip with one hand and the proceed to press it overhead for as many as 10 reps.  We would have the crowd count along.  Afterwards we would ask people to come up and try and lift it.  The thing was that with that 3inch handle nobody could get a grip to even break it off the ground!

Brian Kerby was just strong.  He would regularly load up 405lbs on the Bench with no warm up and then do reps.  Again having the crowd count along and he would usually do 10 reps.  Brian benched 550 raw in a meet one time.  Another time he lifted a log loaded to over 300lbs.  He lifted it so easily the crowd didn’t respond.  So with the weight overhead he stood on one leg, the did a 360 degree turn, and then proceeded to talk for what seemed like a minute or two all while holding that weight.

Brett Kerby was amazing at grip strength.  He would do all the bending that John would do but he was also great a ripping decks of cards in half.  Now lots of strong guys could rip a deck of cards in half with a little work.  Heck, I did it!  But Brett would take it two steps further.  He would rip the deck in half, then quarter it….and then eighth it!

Some of the other “regulars” included Mitch Ridout, Eric Todd, Jeff Jacques, and Joe Costello.  Sometimes just two or three of us would go.  Work and family came first.  Just whoever could make it and we made do.  Some of the funniest memories was going out to eat after a show.  We would be exhausted and starving but full of joy.

I learned to do many feats of strength.  I built a bed of nails and we would lay a platform across my body and load up audience members.  I once had 14 kids standing on me.  We would break concrete blocks across my stomach with a sledge hammer.  One of my regular feats was to pull vehicles.  One time we showed up at a Church and we had told them if they had a vehicle I would pull it.  They had a fully loaded 80,000lb semi!  I thought I’d met my match but somehow I managed to ever so slowly pull it.  I had blood blisters all over my shoulders from the harness.

I never dreamed we would last as long as we did.  The end came when Brian moved away for a new job.  We did a couple more shows without him but it wasn’t the same and father time was moving in on all of us.  Brett had to quit because of injuries.  It just reached a natural conclusion.

That was about 10 years ago and to this day I’ll still be recognized by people who saw one of our shows.  One of the more touching moments for me involved a boy that attended our show and I gave him a signed souvenir after the show.  That boy died suddenly and at the funeral that souvenir was in his casket.  His dad explained that it was a prized possession and his goal was to lift weights and get strong and do what we did.  I like to think we did God’s work and glorified Him and not us.  We just used His gifts to serve Him.  My grandfather was a musician and he spread God’s word through his music.  I’m a strength athlete and I served with my own talents in the same way.  Through performance with a message.

Forty Years of Lifting

by Thom Van Vleck

It was 40 years ago in May that I started my weightlifting journey.  I had messed around with the weights for a couple of years.  I would workout but a month or two later I would quit.  I made myself a promise on my 15th Birthday I would start training and give it my all.  I’ve been lifting ever since.

I remember maxing out on some lifts to get a base line.  I deadlifted 225 pounds, I could barely squat my own bodyweight (due to having broken both legs and my hip), I benched 105, and power cleaned 125.  I weighed in at a porky 198lbs.  As a matter of fact I wore a 38 waist then and I now weigh 275 and wear 38’s.  I was a fatty!

My birthday was the first day of school being out.  I worked out in the old Jackson Weightlifting Club which was in a barn with a metal roof.  More often alone than with someone. There was no air conditioning.  It was hot!  I would workout about 2 hours every single day all summer.  Not surprisingly I lost over 30lbs in three months plus I think I converted another 10lbs to muscle.  On top of that I grew about 4 inches.  My transformation was so great that when I went back to school that fall a classmate didn’t recognize me.

My lifts didn’t sky rocket up.  I was probably over training badly.  I was also constantly maxing out and not sticking to a routine.  But I was dedicated and I learned a lot and I got well conditioned.

I would spend my time reading stacks of weightlifting magazines owned by my Uncles and my grandfather that were laying around the gym. My routines were often gleaned from these pages.

My memories of those days working out in that unairconditioned, metal roof building in the sweltering Missouri heat are burned into my mind.  I felt like a spartan!  I had friends come by to workout and they would last a day, maybe two.  Then they would quit.  It was too hot and too hard for them.

My Uncle Wayne would come by and workout three days a week.  We would visit, talk about training, and I would watch him put up some fantastic weights and dream of when I would be that strong.  He regularly pressed 300 pounds or more.  I remember him doing a seated press with 300lbs for 8 sets of 3 reps.  I also remember him hang cleaning 300 for 8 sets of 3 reps.  It was inspirational.

My grandfather would also come out a couple days a week and work out.  I marveled at his dedication even though he was in his late 60s.  At my age at the time that was amazing.  He did a lot of old school strongman lifts.  He would do lifts like the shoulder drop and Zercher squat.  I learned a lot from him.

We would open the big sliding doors to the barn to let as much air in as possible.  I can recall opening those doors and it being like walking into an oven.  I would often walk outside between sets hoping to catch a breeze.

It was at this time I fell in love with weightlifting.  It became my sport.  While I’ve had some success in competition the greatest rewards have been in mind, body, and spirit.

Do you remember when you fell in love with lifting weights?

Me and Bill Pearl

by Thom Van Vleck

One of my favorite Bill Pearl photos. He was in his 40's in this photo and as a teenager that was OLD! It inspired me to be fit but also fit for life.

One of my favorite Bill Pearl photos. He was in his 40’s in this photo and as a teenager that was OLD! It inspired me to be fit but also fit for life.

If you don’t know who Bill Pearl is then you don’t know weightlifting history and you should drop everything and look him up and learn about the greatest bodybuilder of all time.

There have been countless stories written about Pearl by guys that know much more than me.  This is a story about my relationship with Pearl.

When I first got interested in weightlifting when I was around 14 years old my Uncle Phil took me under his wing and taught me about lifting, lifters, and all the history, types of strength, and just about everything you’d want to know about weightlifting.  My Uncle Phil would tell me, “I’ve forgotten more than you’ll every know”.  He was my guru whereas my Uncle Wayne, his brother, was my training partner.  Wayne didn’t talk much about lifting.  He just did it and with great success.  Phil became a student of the sport, opened a gym, and became a great trainer.

The guy my Uncle Phil first told me about was Bill Pearl.  Pearl was the epitome of size and strength according to Phil. Pearl was a 1 time amateur Mr. Universe and 4 time Pro Mr. Universe.  He first won in 1953 and his last win was in 1971.  This would have been 1977 when I first learned about Pearl so not too long after his last win.  The amazing thing is Pearl never lost.  Theoretically he could have won every year in between but chose to come “down from the mountain” every so often to reclaim the title.

My Uncle Phil had a 3 ring binder that included just about ever photo of Bill Pearl out there.  He “loaned” it to me (40 years later I still have it).  There wasn’t much on lifting out there and I would peruse that binder for inspiration while lifting.

My Uncle Phil met Bill Pearl in the 60’s.  Right after he won the 1967 Mr. Universe.  My Uncle was stationed in Alabama in the Air Force and found out about Pearl appearing at a nearby gym.  Phil went and listened to his seminar.  He said Pearl was wearing street clothes but stripped off his shirt and loaded a barbell to 300lbs.  With no warm up he powercleaned the barbell and pressed it overhead then pressed it behind the neck twice.

Pearl also did feats of strength that inspired me.  He would rip decks of cards in half, tear license plates in half, and blow up hot water bottles.  I learned how to do all of these things because of Pearl.

Then about 15 years ago I got to thinking.  Pearl was still very much alive.  My Uncle Phil was struggling with some health issues and needed some inspiration.  Maybe I could call Pearl and arrange for them to talk on the phone.

After a couple of phone calls I reached Bill!  It seemed weird talking to someone you’d grown up reading about.  The amazing part is he claimed he knew me!  I had been writing articles for Milo, a strength journal, and Bill was a fan.  He love Milo and recognized my name and even quoted a couple of articles he remembered.  Well, that made my day.

I arranged for my Uncle Phil to talk with Pearl.  Phil said they talked for 3 hours!  It had been nearly 40 years in the interim.  Pearl was as friendly as they come.

Over the years I’ve kept in touch with Pearl.  I once had plans to go to Oregon where he lives but he was called away last minute.  I really need to go.  He promised me a workout!

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

by Thom Van Vleck

Weightlifters are generally liars.  My Uncle Phil once told me that everyone was a liar, it’s just that some do it to a low degree while others to a high degree.  He would often would describe someone as a 5% liar (which was someone that most would feel was really honest) or maybe an 85% liar (which was someone that was full of crap).  Everyone had a number.

Weightlifters lie for lots of reasons but I think the number one reason is ego.  I’ll admit to it myself.  When I was young I would often add 10% to my best lift to inflate my ego.  I would reason that “on a good day” I could make that lift or that I would soon be able to if I kept training so it really wasn’t a lie.

Another reason weightlifters lie is because they are greedy.  They will lie about their workout routines to hide their secrets or to sell workouts.  I bought a leg training manual from a bodybuilder back in the 80s.  He had the best legs out there.  I followed that routine to the “T”.  Only to have him come out years later and admit that it was a fraud.  He was blessed with great genes and his legs didn’t require as much effort to look fantastic.  He said he was afraid nobody would believe him if he told the truth.  He was probably more concerned nobody would buy his training manual!

Weightlifters lie about two things.  Weights and measurements.  How much can you squat?  Oh, 5 plates.  I guess I didn’t ask if those plates were 45’s or 25’s so he could be telling the truth.  I had a high school buddy I would run into every year or so for some time.  Every time he would ask me what I was benching.  By some miracle he would always be benching 5 or 10lbs more.  Finally I asked him to do a bench workout with me (which was really me asking him to prove it or shut up).  He never showed up.  The truth is the numbers I gave him were probably 5 or 10 pounds more than I could actually do.  So we were both liars.  I was just a 5% whereas he was more like 20%.

Measurements are also a topic of exaggeration.  I remember there was a weightlifting historian by the name of David Willoughby.  He would show up with a steel tape and ask to measure strongmen, weightlifters, and body builders.  Most of the time he would get turned down.  When he was allowed the proclaimed measurements usually came up short.  Then the excuses would come.  I don’t recall him once saying he found a measurement that was bigger than stated.

Another measurement is distance.  Like a shot putter or highland gamer.  What’s your best put?  You always round up or you give your personal best from 10 years ago.

My Uncle Phil said that my Uncle Wayne was the only 100% honest weightlifter he knew.  I remember asking my Uncle Wayne about his lifts and never once did he exaggerate.  NOT ONCE.  He would not only give his best lift to the pound he would also tell you when he did it and that he couldn’t do that much now.

It all comes down to ego.  If you have a strong ego you tend to exaggerate less.  Doesn’t matter how strong you are, if you have a weak ego the lying will come!  I notice as I get older I lie less.  Maybe my ego is stronger. Have I mentioned I have 20 inch arms and I can bench 500?!

Ultra High Rep Training

by Thom Van Vleck

Albert Beckles: One of the great bodybuilders from the 60's to the 90's who used ultra high rep training.

Albert Beckles: One of the great bodybuilders from the 60’s to the 90’s who used ultra high rep training.

So I was talking training with Al Myers the other night and he asked me if I did a particular exercise.  I said I did.  Then he asked me what kind of weight I used.  I said bodyweight.  He then asked if I didn’t use weight how was it progressive resistance.  Was it reps?  I jokingly said I was up to a 1000 reps.

That got me to thinking about Ultra High reps. Usually strength training falls in the 1 to 10 rep range.  Body building 10 to 20 reps.  But what about high rep training.

My Uncle Phil was a bodybuilder but he had to travel a lot for his job.  Back in the 60’s and 70’s there weren’t many gyms he could find so he developed a routine where he would do 100 reps on bodyweight exercises.  Such as push ups, sit ups, leg raises, etc.  He weighed around 220lbs so doing 100 perfect push ups was a real challenge.  And believe me, he did them strict and non stop.

Bill Clark once wrote about doing something similar.  As a baseball scout he spent much of his time on the road.  He did a “Deck of Cards” workout.  He would shuffle a deck of cards, pick a bodyweight exercise, draw the card and do however many reps the card represented like in black jack.  This would amount to several hundred reps in one workout.

But what about weight training with high reps?

When I was a kid and just starting training I would peruse the weightlifting magazine collection my Uncles and grandfather had.  They went back to the 1930’s.  There was one magazine that had an article by Albert Beckles.  Beckles was a bodybuilder that placed as high as 2nd in the Mr. Olympia and won a pro event at age 61.  He competed at a high level from the 1960s to the 1990s.

This particular article he was pushing single sets of 32 reps.  This seems absurd and to be honest back in the day lifters would lie in articles about training as they wanted to keep their routines secret.  I read later articles on his training and it was more conventional.

But I tried it.  Talk about a pump!  I could see where as a bodybuilder that might be an effective routine to cycle in every once in awhile.  I don’t see how you could maintain that for very long but it might be good to “blow the cob webs out” every once in awhile.  Why 32?  Beckles just said that he originally would do them to failure and 32 was where he would usually end up.

I have a set and rep system I call “Hundred’s”.  I usually use it on calves and forearms that you need higher reps to get anything out of them.  If I use it on another body part it’s usually with an assistance exercise.  But I’ve used this set and reps program on the Bench Press before.  Believe it or not I started with 205 for 30 reps.  By the last set I was barely able to do 135 for 10 reps.

So sets and reps go like this:

First set:  30 reps

Second set: 25 reps

Third set: 20 reps

Fourth set: 15 reps

Fifth set: 10 reps

These total 100 reps.  I usually do them as quickly as I can.  The hump always seems to be the third set.  The final set I usually do slow and deliberately really squeezing the muscle.  What I like about the scheme is I feel confident I can do 5 less reps with each set although by the third set it becomes a real struggle.  I have to admit that 100 is a nice, round number.  I just adjust the weight until 100 reps is all I can do.

Will Ultra High reps build a lot of strength and power?  Probably not but they will build endurance which will in turn help with the lower rep exercises with the added conditioning.  If you try it share your results.

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