In the middle of his third 30 years, Bud Seidenfaden picked up some major achievements to make his great-grandchildren proud.
The manager of the Perry Athletic Club and only a resident of Perry for the past eight years, Seidenfaden went to the 2013 Southern States Bodybuilding Championships the weekend of July 13 in Ft. Lauderdale and won the trophies in the Grand Masters (over 70) division for both middleweight and overall men.
It was only the second time ever the Louisville, Ky., native took part in a bodybuilding competition. A gym rat ever since his teenage years, Seidenfaden first went on stage as a 62-year-old in 2004 and won first in the over 60 at the NPC Gold Cup Classic. This also took place in Florida when Seidenfaden resided in Ft. Myers.
“I was training with (Bill Davey), who was a Mr. America,” he said. “He was doing the professional Musclemania on South Beach. I went with him, and he won.”
Seidenfaden said Davey suggested during the return home that he get into competition. It involved serious dedication to weight loss, 196 to 169 pounds, in nine weeks, and it paid off in the trophy for the event that stresses natural, drug-free training.
The Southern States event featured more than 300 competitors total in all divisions.
“It was a little humbling,” said Seidenfaden, who used the Tim McGraw song “My Next 30 Years” as his posing music. “They tell you if you are fit enough to go on stage, you are a champion.”
Seidenfaden had put that type of training behind him after winning the NPC. Early in 2013, he received a phone call suggesting he try the Southern States. This required 20 weeks, or five months, of training, the first four focusing on getting “my brain working and thinking” about reaching his weight goal of 171 pounds from 202.
“It was quite an experience, a lot of fun,” said Seidenfaden about the competition, not the training, something that he said takes a toll on the body and requires weeks afterwards from which to recover.
“The three of us over 70 guys (the oldest being 76), it was something because we had one lightweight, one middleweight and one heavyweight. They treat the older athletes really well. I had a 50-year-old man – just turned 50 – say (about me), ‘This man’s been working out longer than I’ve been alive.’”
Seidenfaden’s regular routine began at the age of 15 at a YMCA.
“I don’t think I’ve missed three months in any year,” he said. “It’s been about staying healthy and fit. Doing this show was a byproduct. I play racquetball every day. I knew at 70 and 5-7, 200 pounds was getting to be too heavy. My goal was to get below 175, and I really got below 170, and I want to stay below 180 continuously. The show was just one more tool in doing that.”
Seidenfaden’s goal now is to stay below 180 pounds by Sept. 1. He said it will help his knees in his racquetball game as well as his elbows and shoulders.
“I made my mind up that I wanted to do ‘My Next 30 Years,’” said Seidenfaden. “I always tell people I’m starting my new 30 years. I have a 30-year plan I’m starting right now. That’s to get up early, have a cup of coffee, let the dogs out and get my wife up.
“I’m up and in the gym by 5:30 and train my first person at 6. If I stay busy, I’m tired when I got to bed at night at 9.”
To any aspiring bodybuilder, Seidenfaden said the easy part is in the gym with the weights. The hard part is the cardio work, the dieting and getting proper sleep for the body to recover from hard workouts. He said his customers love lifting, but are afraid of losing muscle mass through cardio. He said that gives you better and smarter muscles that last longer.
Seidenfaden was a football player, track runner and high jumper in high school. He graduated in 1959 and went into the military. Afterwards he was a firefighter for 22 years retiring in 1984. Ten people call him grandfather and three great-grandfather, but it will soon be four when Gracie is born.
If Seidenfaden gets back in competition this year, he said it would likely be the NPC Gold Cup again in November in West Palm Beach, Fla.
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