Interview with Dennis Brady
By: Eric Stone
5/25/04

Eric Stone:  Tell us a bit about yourself, how old you are, what you do outside of powerlifting, where you live, where you grew up and anything else general you'd like to add about your life outside powerlifting.

Dennis Brady:  I am 49 years old, born and raised on north side of Chicago. Have little my entire life in basically the same area. I am a juvenile probation officer for Cook County. I am also a football coach at lane tech high school, where I am the head coach for both the freshman and sophomore teams. We were a combined 23-1-1, with both teams winning the city championship.

ES:  What are your best lifts in powerlifting in competition and training, and at what weight?

DB:  As a 181lb lifter, my best competition lifts were a 565 squat, a 425 bench and a 550 deadlift. My best training lifts were a 585 squat, a 435 bench, and a 560 deadlift. My best raw lifts were a 415 bench and a 515 squat. I have won the Illinois State Championship, the Viking Open, and several National Masters Bench Titles. I also won the WDFPF Bench Worlds in both the open and the masters.

ES:  What are some of your proudest accomplishments in powerlifting?

DB:  My two proudest moments in powerlifting were probably the ADFPA 1987 Men’s Nationals and being President of the ADFPA from 1987 to 1989. As President of the ADFPA in those years we grew from 2000 to almost 6000 members and became the strongest, most dominant organization in the US.

ES:  What is your best moment in powerlifting?

DB:  My best moment in powerlifting was undoubtedly the 1987 Men’s Nationals. I was elected president at this meet, and directed the largest Men’s Nationals ever with 137 lifters. What was truly special about this meet was that the USPF Nationals was in Chicago the previous week and we blew their doors in every aspect, from number and quality of lifters to size of the audience. One thing I remember was the quality and depth of the lifters. In the 198 class, there were at least 5 lifters going into the final deadlift that could of won.

ES:  How did you get started in powerlifting?

DB:  I got started in powerlifting in 1979, when myself and several friends opened a small gym. We knew nothing about powerlifting, but someone told us about a meet. We went, knowing nothing about the sport at all, and we all did well. I remember I went 435-350-455, in a singlet and a small leather belt, no wraps or supportive equipment.

ES:  How did you get started promoting powerlifting meets?
 
DB:  At that first meet, I was shocked at how poorly it was run, and realized we could do a better job. We went to the Illinois powerlifting meet that summer, and ran our first meet the next spring, the Illinois collegiate, where we had over 80 lifters and many lifters said it was the best meet they had ever been to.

ES:  Who are some of the people in powerlifting who have most influenced you?

DB:  Lyle Schwartz who first dragged me into judging and the political side. Pat Malone, Judy Gedney, and Stephanie Whiting were also great influences. All were good smart people who did what they felt was right, no matter the consequences.

Two other good friends over the years have been Larry Miller and Mike Cissel. The number of great lifters I have come to know over the years is probably too great to list.

ES:  What type of training do you subscribe to?

DB:  Kind of old school training, cycle workouts, 5 weeks of 10, 4 weeks of 5, 2 to 3 weeks of 2 and 3. Work up to one heavy work set, light and heavy day. Stay away from gear as much as possible.

ES:  What advice would you give to the younger powerlifter just starting out?

DB:  Best advice for new young lifters:  Do lifts strict from the beginning. Stay away from gear as long as possible and don’t become dependent on it. Squat deep and explosive.

ES:  How important do you think training partners to training?

DB:  Not that important to me, have had some over the years and can take it or leave it. Know they seem very important to some lifters.

ES:  What is your opinion of the advancement of supportive equipment?  Has/can it go too far?

DB:  Definitely feel supportive equipment has went way too far. I always felt the point of this sport was to become as strong as possible. Now I see people that I don’t think are strong lifting big weights due to their equipment. I try to keep my high school lifters as far away from equipment as possible unless they are going to a contest, and then they only use it for the last couple of weeks.

ES:  How did you get involved with the ADFPA now USAPL?

DB:  I had been the USPF state chairman for several years, and was becoming increasingly frustrated by the drug use. Two events really pushed me to the ADFPA. The first was when I took a team of teenagers to the teen Nationals and I was shocked by the amount of drug use at that level. We had 10 teens lift one year, and had none qualify the following year because they had to raise the qualifying totals. The second was the last USPF meet I was to run, the Illinois state championships in 1982. Drugged out lifters virtually destroyed the meet site, dropping bars thru the gym floor in the warm up gym after they bombed out, and kicking down the urinals and stall doors in the washroom. There were constant fights and arguments, and it got so bad, that one of the referees (an international referee and world class lifter got up and left). I contacted the ADFPA, became their state chairman, and began to run meets. Things just took off from there. Incidentally, when I resigned from the USPF, Illinois was the largest USPF state, with over 500 lifters.

ES:  What is your take on how the ADFPA became the IPF affiliate and changed to the USAPL?

DB:  In 1997, the IPF and the ADFPA began negotiations for the ADFPA to become the IPF affiliate, as the IPF was no longer happy with the USPF. A meeting was held in Chicago with the IPF, the ADFPA, and the USPF to work out the details. It was out of this that the USAPL was born. Many people had strong misgivings about giving up the name ADFPA and basically absorbing the USPF to become the IPF affiliate, including me. To this date, I feel it was a mistake, because the ADFPA really was something special, which is now gone. Also, the USAPL has become in a lot of ways what the ADFPA fought against, a more elitist organization where international competition has become the focal point, rather than promoting local competition.

ES:  How did you feel to be the first promoter in the US to have an IPF World event in such a long time?

DB:  Well actually, I wasn’t the first as Johnny Graham had the Masters Bench the previous year, however it was the first major IPF meet in many years. Overall, I was pretty disappointed. It was probably the worst major meet we ever had in terms of audience attendance, despite a lot of advertising and promotion. There is really no way to make a profit, much less even break even on an IPF meet, so we did lose a lot of money. Also, I was not really impressed with most of the IPF big shots that were in attendance. Most of them seemed to be on very large ego trips. We were treated for the most part like some bumpkins that had no idea what we were doing, and they had to show us the “IPF” way of doing things.

ES:  What is your opinion of all the alphabet soup of federations in the current day?  Provides options for the lifter, or just confusing and unnecessary?

DB:  I am really opposed to all the organizations and federations. I feel they have really ruined the sport. This sport probably peaked in the late 70s and early 80s. At that time, there was one organization, and aside from the drugs, it was a good time. In Illinois, there were probably 6 to 8 meets a year, but they were all well attended, and very competitive. For most lifters, their only goal was to win the junior state championships and maybe get a state record. The Nationals was a meet that only drew the 100 best lifters in the country, and most lifters wanted to go see it to see the best. Now, everyone seems to be able to find a place where they can be a National or World Champion, and they truly believe they are an elite lifter. Lets face it, there are very few truly great lifters in the U.S. and they are not getting the respect that they deserve. As opposed to the IPF as I am, I still feel that is where all the best lifters in the world are. If you don’t win an IPF title, then don’t live in the dream world that you are a true World Champion.

ES:  What do you think about the Olympic movement in powerlifting?  A possibility?  Worth striving for?

DB:  I have been listening to the talk about the Olympics for 25 years, and believe it will never happen. Even if it did, I think our sport would be very much in danger of being forced to change by the IOC to what they wanted (fewer weight classes, no equipment, eliminating one of the lifts, etc).

ES:  What do you think about the professional movement of the WPO and Mountaineer Cup?  Are they the future of this sport?  Is this sport marketable to the public as a professional sport?

DB:  I don’t really know that much about the WPO, as I don’t follow it. However, I don’t really think there is a market for pro powerlifting. If the public is going to follow anything, it’s going to be strong man contests. Let’s face it, the people in our own sport don’t really support it, at least in terms of going to see it as spectators. Too many lifters believe they are the elite level lifters, and why should they pay to go see other lifters. The crowds for powerlifting have never come close to what they were in the late 70s and early 80s. And those crowds were mostly other lifters. I remember seeing thousands of people in Dayton, Ohio for the Senior Nationals, many from the Chicago area, who came and watched the entire meet, because they wanted to see the very best in our sport. It hasn’t been the same since.

ES:  Dennis, thanks so much for taking the time to do my interview!  You are truly one of the great meet promoters in this sport and a true asset to Chicago powerlifting.  Is there anything else you would like to add?

 DB:  Thanks Eric for allowing me to do this interview, Dennis.

Check  out the website of Dennis'  gym, B&W Gym in Chicago:

B&W Gym


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