IRON NATION
By Bob Whelan and Drew Israel
The sub title of this fine new book is ”Passion for Hard Training” and the authors have this passion in abundance. Bob and Drew are two hardcore Iron Game enthusiasts in their mid-fifties who have had many years of experience in different aspects of training with weights. They have been involved in powerlifting, martial arts, personal training and a whole lot more. In addition they are academically qualified in such subjects so have balanced personal profiles of theory and practice.
Their approach in this substantial volume has been to add to their own experiences by incorporating interviews with, and sections from, other well-known and respected individuals in the industry. These include such as Vic Boff, Bill Pearl, Dr Ken Leistner, Stuart McRobert, Randall Strossen, Steve Pulcinella, Bill Starr, Clyde Emrich – I could go on, there are around three dozen in total and I was pleased to see one of this illustrious band was an old friend and fellow country-man, Mike Thomson.
The fund of training information and inspiration is clearly the most important part of the book and I am not going to spoil it for you by quoting from this absorbing publication.
There is however one part I feel bound to give special mention. Many of us knew and loved IRON MAN magazine. Readers that had the good fortune to meet the publishers also loved Peary and Mabel Rader. The section on this couple is fascinating and left me thinking that the hardships they suffered and the efforts they made must had played a major part in moulding the lovely, modest personalities of this great couple. Brief samples of their story include the information that every day Peary rode horseback six miles to go to school.. In 1917 Mabel was born in a sod house built by her parents who had travelled from Kansas to Nebraska in a covered wagon! As a school girl she and her sibling also travelled to school on horseback, five miles in their case. Peary and Mabel’s progress in setting up and publishing the magazine a makes a great read, especially since from their humble beginnings they eventually travelled the world to international events including the Olympic Games.
One of the many good things about this book is that you get the feel that you get to know quite a bit about the various characters, thus increasing the interest and value of their training wisdom. If you want to get good results you will certainly be successful if you closely study this book and develop a PASSION FOR HARD TRAINING.
-David Webster,
World Famous Iron Game Author and Historian
