One of ISSA's "older" personal trainers is still training himself, his wife and a few clients in his home studio in Richardson Texas. Entering his 68th year in April, Ed Fries, CFT, still trains with weights 3-5 times a week. He earned ISSA certification in 1998, just before turning 63.

He'd been training off and on since the age of 17, and first looked into getting certified with ISSA in 1993. He was running his own advertising and public relations agency at the time. Roland Jehl, former national bodybuilding competitor who then owned Austin gym, said Ed knew more about training than anyone he knew, but really needed the Certification to be able to work in gyms. After retiring in 1997, Ed started looking into it again.

"I still liked ISSA's approach and finally took the plunge. My Seminar leader was Tom Platz. A couple of years later I had the pleasure of being his facilitator in another ISSA accreditation seminar."

Ed also attended Everett Aaberg's courses on the Biomechanics of Strength Training, earning a Specialty Certification from CIAR (Cooper). He is currently enrolled in ISSA's Fitness Therapy course. He also reads and studies extensively.

"In the last two years, I've re-read the ISSA manual, studied the ACE manual on Exercise for Older Adults, the ACE and CIAR personal trainer manuals, two books by Dr. Squat (ISSA's Fred Hatfield) many other books and several hundred articles by top people, including ISSAs Charles Staley."

After working in a gym, and teaching introduction to weight training courses at a local recreation center, he decided to expand his home studio and work there, and in client homes, as an independent contractor.

"I really prefer being on my own, which in Dallas precludes most gyms; very few accept independent contractors today. I'm happy with a few clients, and concentrate on meeting their needs, which these days often include overcoming special conditions."

One of the many unique things about Ed is his more than 50 years of involvement in many different areas of fitness. He started by hiking, bicycling and playing soccer in the '40s. He fenced and taught fencing in PE classes at Texas A&M (he earned a BA degree in Journalism in 1956 and later worked on newspapers and in corporate communications), where he was introduced to "weight lifting" by Gene Shue, one of John Farbotnik's proteges.

At first, he just wanted to build up his 5' 11" 135 pound frame. Then as an Army Armor officer in Germany, where he won fencing championships and was a starter on a German football (soccer) team, he trained hard with weights during the months when he wasn't in the field (a lot). But this time his goal was to be as fit and strong as possible as a leader of combat arms units.

He was responsible for the fitness and combat skills of his officers and men, and trained hundreds of soldiers in weight training off-duty. At one point, he found a book on 'improving your Olympic-style lifting.' In only three weeks; from a bodybuilding base, he got within ten pounds of the then three-lift (only two Oly lifts today) world record in the 181 lb class. During this time, he was also fencing and bowling, activities most people thought were totally incompatible with weight training.

Over the next 30 years, the weights took a backseat to demanding jobs in the communication field, more education (MBA-Management, Univ. of Dallas, 1972) and family. He also had a stint as General Manager of one of the first major league soccer franchises in the U.S. For fitness, he raced bicycles (Ed ran the amateur bicycle-racing program in Texas in the early '70s, too) and ran a lot of miles (more than 3,500 a year for 15years). And of course there was tennis and swimming, as well as running and hiking in the mountains whenever possible.

"In the Army, of course, I did a lot of running with the troops, often going 10-20-miles at double time, with no rest or food/water. As a civilian, I started running in the days when Dr. Ken Cooper believed that all you needed for lifetime fitness was aerobic exercise. I argued that you also needed muscles and flexibility. Whenever I could, I hit the weights, but also did a lot of pull-ups, push-ups and bodyweight squats, including sissy and one-legged squats, several times a week when running was my main activity.

"Most cyclists and runners couldn't believe it when they saw me out on the road - I carried too much muscle for them. It was often too much for me, too, especially for marathon running (finished two) and bicycle road racing (Bronze medal in Texas Championships at age 38).

Then he discovered the vital fact that the aging process robs us all of a pound or two of lean mass a year after about age 20. And we lose even more when we just do aerobic exercise and dieting. The only way to prevent this loss, and keep from getting weaker every year, is to add a scientific weight-training component to your fitness regimen! He also really liked the benefits, especially the far lower incidence of diseases and disabilities (on average) for people who included weight training in a rounded fitness program.

"But even without knowing those things, I'd still train hard whenever possible, because the exercise I like best is one that has iron attached to it. I'm one of those rare birds who love to hit the iron. I stopped running eight years ago, getting all my aerobic work on the exercise bike or stair-stepper, with an infrequent long walk. My wife, on the other hand, works out because she knows it's important for her health. She feels better for doing it, but she doesn't really love it, just its benefits.

"For her, and for paying clients, I sell the long-term health benefits of weight training (as part of a rounded program), and then attack their short-term objectives. Over the years I've trained people from 16 to 89, for general and senior fitness, for relief of physical problems (heart patients, renal failure, Parkinson's and more), weight management and sports performance, as well as weight lifting." (Olympic-style, of course - power lifting didn't develop as a recognized sport until Ed had been a running and biking civilian for several years)

His favorite exercise is the squat and on the wall are his certifications and a personally inscribed photo of the Golden Eagle, Tom Platz (ISSA Director of Bodybuilding Sciences): who is renowned for his quadriceps muscle development. He's done more than 700 pounds on the Smith machine in the last few years, but tripped a golgi tendon organ around T-3 (check your ISSA manual) with 600 pounds in December 2000. Chiropractic treatment and self-administered therapy resulted in full recovery. But in deference to increasing age, he seldom does much more than 300 pounds now (working sets of 8-10 reps) after Staley's low-rep warm-up protocol. He also likes dead-lifts, heavy shrugs and 'hasn't met a back exercise he doesn't like.'

"Most guys work the chest hard and mainly ignore the back. But the back is more important for good posture even when Mother Nature and gravity are combining to bend you forward. Besides, any imbalance will eventually result in problems. To this end, I do, and have clients do, a lot of free-weight work, including unilateral work, for almost all body parts, to develop a balanced physique, and let the stabilizers keep pace with the prime movers. After all, too much machine work leaves the prime movers weaker and often causes injury."
He also likes functional core work, and incorporates many little known or forgotten movements into his personal periodized program. These include overhead shrugs, Turkish get-ups, Cuban presses (often seated on a 75cm exercise ball), front presses, one-arm dumbbell snatches, one-arm DB cleans and bent presses, Arnold presses, Zotnik curls, dragging a loaded metal sled (no wheels), and many more. He also does hack pulls, external shoulder rotation, and more, with the sled!

"I'm keeping myself well ahead of the aging-related lean mass loss, and, for several years kept my body fat in the 7-10% range. Now? Oh well, when you get to my age, you're entitled to a little leeway. So my personal goal this year is to drop 10-15 pounds and get body fat back around 8.5%. And to maintaining a fit, strong and healthy body as long in life as possible - for another year at least."

Ed also plans to finish his ISSA Fitness Therapy certification this year, and, of course, continue studying as much fitness material as he can get his hands on, then put it into practice, to benefit both him and his clients.