State Champ, 79, Won Bench Press Gold after Two Heart Surgeries

ERMA – John Sheets Sr. has a message for heart surgery peers: Great post-op achievements are possible, make up your mind, allow the body to heal, and then chase your dream. 
Sheets proudly displayed two gold medals that he won this year for bench pressing as proof. He hopes to surpass those weight milestones – 170.5 and 185 pounds – later this month. Pressing those weights made him the holder of two state records.
The 79-year-old, lifelong Lower Township resident, is a Bell Telephone Company retiree since 1991. He accrued over 27 years in the military, six in the Army, 21 in the Coast Guard Reserve, where he was a first-class Boatswain’s Mate.
Sheets and his wife, Erika, are married 59 years and anticipate their 60th anniversary in February 2017. They have five children, eight grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, “And one on the way,” smiled Erika.
Sheets underwent two heart surgeries. Never one to be idle, as he recuperated from his first aortic valve replacement in 2002, Tim Shoffler, his son-in-law “Encouraged me to go to the gym with him.”
When he began that early fitness training, Sheets said: “I could not press 45 pounds.” Over time, “Tim kept working with me, encouraging me, and as my strength increased, I got to the point after a few years I started to wonder, ‘How would I compare to other people who had my surgery?'”
After a second heart operation, Sheets’ curiosity led him to do an Internet search. There he found U.S. Powerlifting Association.
“I joined,” he said simply. The organization randomly selected 10 percent of participants for drug testing, to ensure members have not used strength-enhancing substances to achieve success.
The association appealed to Sheets partly due to its size, and partly because it offered the prospect of traveling, something the Sheets have enjoyed.
The couple has made numerous flights to Erika’s homeland, Germany, and from there motored across Europe. They plan, in the future, a Pacific cruise to the Hawaiian Islands, Samoa, and several other ports.
In the state’s 34th Annual Powerlifting Championship, Summer Classic June 5 Sheets won the record division for his age after bench pressing 77.5 kilograms (170 pounds 13.7 ounces). For this, he won his first gold medal.
In the Aug. 5 competition, Sheets pressed 82.5 kilograms, (181 pounds, 14 ounces). He said the category was “raw” which means with no assistive clothing, simply muscle power. That show of strength resulted in his second gold medal.
As he prepares for the September competition, Sheets visits the Coast Guard Training Center gym five days a week. He works out for varying times.
“I have no coach, no trainer,” he said. When other competitors go to matches, many are accompanied by such aides, he said.
“The first meet I went to my granddaughter’s husband went with me,” said Sheets.
Weighing in at the competition, he said, is exacting, with every item of clothing weighed and examined, as well as what height the bench press is to be set.
Camaraderie in the preparation room swells to a crescendo, he said, with all encouraging each other to do their best.
When competitors hear their name and the words, “The bench is ready,” the person has 60 seconds to “go out and start your lift,” Sheets said.
There are observers at the head and on either side of the weight lifter.
“You take the bench press off the rack, and he, referee, says start, you take the weight down to your chest until he says ‘lift.’ Then, you press the bar up and hold it up until he says ‘Rack’ and then, you rack it.”
All the while, observations are made ensuring the feet remain flat on the floor, the buttocks and back stay on the bench.
“They run a lot of people through,” said Sheets. “It is a good organization.”
The association is for both sexes and all ages that lift various weights, he said.
“When you see a crowd of 300 or more people hollering and screaming at a competition, it’s amazing,” said Sheets.