Agoura Hills strong man gets a lift

Acorn Staff Writer


HEAVY SET--Ritchie Creevy is a champion weightlifter at age 57. He's training for a world competition.

HEAVY SET–Ritchie Creevy is a champion weightlifter at age 57. He’s training for a world competition.

Men who are pushing 60 like to hit the golf course, maybe play little a tennis every now and then. Ritchie Creevy, a 57-year-old resident of Agoura Hills, eats tennis rackets and golf balls for lunch.


Creevy is a professional weightlifter, the first man in the world to break the 500-pound barrier in the over-age-50 masters division.


Lying on a bench at a Moorpark shopping mall in 1993, with thousands of spectators waiting in anticipation, Creevy lowered a 502-pound barbell until it almost pressed against his sternum. Left to their own devices, the huge disks of iron would have crushed any man’s chest, but with a surge of power and determination Creevy jerked the weight upward until he demonstrated that his elbows were locked and his effort was under control. As the judges gave their approval, the pronounced arch in Creevy’s back collapsed like a punctured balloon forcing his breath to woosh out like a train. While Creevy still held the weight in balance, the spotters on each side helped return the barbell safely to its perch.


Mission accomplished, Creevy sat up and accepted his new crown as old champion.


Powerlifting USA’s world rankings for the top 50 bench presses came out last month and Creevy’s accomplishment still ranks 28th of all time. In the masters 181-pound division, his 502-pound record has yet to be broken.


But Creevy freely admits that steroids tainted the feat.


"I was loaded, everybody was," he said matter-of-factly. "I mean how can you do that kind of weight? The public knows that."


Today, Creevy works out three hours a day, five days a week as he trains for the next month’s World Bench Press and Dead Lift (WABDL) Championships in Reno, Nev., and, he’s doing it steroid-free. Life is, he said, better that way. "I was not nice to be around and not fun to play with."


Like most men, the 5-foot-7-inch Creevy finds his weight creeping up with age. He must compete at the WABDL event as a 198-pounder, up from the low 180s.


"Last year around Thanksgiving I had to diet all through the holidays and I don’t want to do that this year," Creevy said. "I weigh 184 now, so I’d have to be 181 and under. I’d rather go 198 and under so I can play and eat.


"I do drink a lot of beer because it has choice wheat, barley and hops," he said with a chuckle, "but I eat decent and I don’t eat junk."


Ten thousand weightlifters from 35 countries will attend the Nov. 16 competition.


The current bench press record for 57-year-olds in the 198-pound division is 419. Creevy needs 420 1/4 pounds to officially break the record, but he refuses to lift that much weight until the day of his event.


"I don’t even go near [420] until that day. I never max out," he said. "Your body peaks and then I get hurt, my shoulders, my rotors."


Creevy hopes to become the first 57-year-old in his weight class to break the 400-pound barrier.


If Creevy has tree trunks for arms and legs, it’s probably because of his, well, family tree. Creevy’s uncle was the legendary John Grimek, one of the most revered bodybuilders of all time.


Grimek, known as the "Monarch of Muscledom," won the Mr. America title in 1940 and 1941, Mr. Universe in 1948, and Mr. U.S.A. in 1949. Creevy’s famous uncle passed away in 1998 at the age of 88.


Creevy agrees that weightlifting is hard work for men of advanced age.


"I wanted to quit 25 years ago," he said. "[Physically] it hurts, but they keep asking me to come out. At my age, it’s a big draw."


But the best thing about the sport, Creevy said, "It keeps you young."


Grimek retired as the only bodybuilder in history who was never defeated in a contest. Creevy wants to have that same distinction.


"My name is out there," he said. "I’ve haven’t been beaten yet."




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