In the 1960s, Stan Bennett from Willington was crowned the most muscly man in Darlington, half a century later he is still going strong. Lizzie Anderson meets the weightlifting octogenarian on a mission to inspire the next generation.

WHENEVER Stan Bennett visits his GP for a check-up and she asks him how he feels, his response is more or less the same: “I feel 42.”

For an 84-year-old, this may seem like an exaggeration but not for Mr Bennett. The former steel erector and bodybuilding enthusiast not only works out six days a week but can lift heavier weights than people half his age.

At JP Fitness in his hometown of Willington, the great-grandfather is an inspiration to other members and regularly trains youngsters setting out in the sport.

Passionate about the benefits of clean eating and staying active, he actively encourages other pensioners to attend the gym and is a firm believer in the healing powers of exercise when it comes to mental health.

In fact, he attributes his own recovery from a nervous breakdown in the early 1960s to weightlifting. Mr Bennett, who had left the RAF five years earlier, had become so unwell doctors doubted he would ever work again.

“It’s like a drug, it gets under your skin and you are hooked,” said Mr Bennett.

“It really helped me turn my life around and I get so much pleasure now when I see the youngsters improving.

“When they start out they can’t believe that I’m stronger than them at 84 but I say to them if they follow my advice they will be lifting more than me in four months’ time and they usually are.

“Things have changed a lot from when I started. The facilities are 100 times better now and much cleaner.

“We had a few dumbbells and barbells in a room with no heating and the windows hanging out. Instead of showers, there was a bowl of cold water wash your face in.

“Yes things are much better now.”

As a young man in the 1960s, Mr Bennett was a regular at weightlifting contests across the region, and once earned the prestigious title of the most muscly man in Darlington. He was also profiled in a national magazine and shared a stage with a 19-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger in Chester-le-Street.

Mr Bennett was to meet the action hero 50 years later during a trip to California, where he has become somewhat of a legend among fellow weightlifters.

In Santa Rosa, there is a string of gyms called Stan Bennett’s Health and Fitness named in his honour. The gyms belong to Mr Bennett’s friend and former pupil Ken Prest who went on to enjoy great success in wrestling and the fitness industry after he left Willington for the United States.

“Ken is one of my best friends and I couldn’t believe it when he told me the name of the gym,” said Mr Bennett.

“I was visiting a few years ago and Arnold Schwarzenegger was in the gym and he said to me ‘ah so you’re the original Stan Bennett.”

His friends at JP Fitness love to hear Mr Bennett’s stories, and observations on how bodybuilding has changed over the years.

Manager Stuart Paterson said: “He’s such a character and a real inspiration to those who have just started at the gym.

“He is proof of the difference staying active and looking after yourself can make and I hope it will encourage more older people to come to the gym.”

A community open day will take place at JP Fitness, above the pharmacy in Chapel Street, Willington on Thursday from 9am to noon.