AARP Members—
Welcome Letter
from Dave Draper

Hey, I recognize you. You might be new here, but you don’t look any different than the rest of us. You have that look in your eyes – curious, aware, hopeful, eager yet hesitant, self-conscious yet bold, amenable, but no fool, and ready, willing and able to work, learn and grow. Welcome to IronOnline! C’mon in and make yourself at home. Meet the gang.

We’ve been waiting for you. There are enough active participants on the various parts of IOL to fill a fair-size town – 20,000 give or take, not including pets -- ranging in ages from 14 to 84. Fact is most of us here are 40 and over, with enough youngsters present to keep us smiling and grateful, and enough octogenarians to keep us aware and hopeful. And now you’re here. How cool!

If you look around you’ll see some pretty strong people with big muscles (smiles to match) and a lot of exercise insight. A robust and enthusiastic group, we dissuade them from removing their shirts and flexing, or groaning out loud under the load of enormous weights. Everyone here is seeking healthy muscle and might, daily physical fulfillment, long life and the joy of lifting weights and eating right. We also have jobs and contribute to society. Most of us vote.

Among the amiable faces surrounding you are very bright minds who share their wisdom, understanding and experience with us all. The weekly newsletter – it’s free, please subscribe – draws us together in knowledge, purpose and motivation, and engenders an invaluable interrelationship that perpetuates our wonderful adventure in health. The forum, or discussion group, is sharp as a tack, warm to the touch, generous as saints and active and alive as puppies and wild horses. The contributors don’t bark or bite, and will make an intelligent point without piercing the skin. Behind the curtain multitudinous lurkers convene in silent clusters, unspoken support.

You’ll find 3,000 quickly available and smartly arranged pages on the davedraper.com website offering invaluable information and motivation on health and fitness and muscle and might. And there are 500 times that number of pages of provocative forum discussion and straight talk. Finally, we have an e-store where you’ll find a selection of the best books and the best food supplements to inspire and augment your knowledge and wellbeing.

Sign up for my free newsletter and know you are joining thousands of like-minded rascals in learning and growing and making great and wonderful changes in your life. And these are not limited to magnificent strength and health alone. They include the revitalization of your body, mind and spirit, the ongoing development of your character and the natural building of encouraging relationships. No small bonuses and for the same low price: everyday engagement of personal responsibility and universal respect.

Exercise, eat right and live well! It’s basic, it’s simple, it works. You don’t have to study, research, invest big bucks, join a group or a society or a movement. You simply open the black box and release your commonsense. You look yourself in the eye (I use the bathroom mirror) and admit something needs to be done now and for good, for cryin’ out loud. And then you pick up either the left foot or the right foot and step forward. Don’t look down, don’t look back, don’t doubt and don’t stop. Wonder is permitted. Congratulations are in order. Achievement is underway.

Look around the Welcome Page for AARP visitors prepared by Laree, my wife and slave person, and you’ll find links to pages of information that are essential and pertinent to your needs. The pages are quick to load, brief, to the point and right on. You’ll soon discover that, though we are an odd mob, we are not full of baloney or full of ourselves.

We are also peace loving. I say this because we reference bombs, bombers and bombing not infrequently and at first glance you might think we’re a gang of extremist freaks who stockpile fertilizer, disposable cell phones, rolls of wire and other assorted suspicious stuff. Not us. Our bombing devices are stacks of weights, barbells and dumbbells, piles of protein powder and scoops of food supplements. You see, when I was younger than I am today and a contemporary musclebuilding contender, I was referred to as -- get this -- the Blond Bomber. This was attributed to me because of my hair color (duh!) and cuz I trained with extreme diligence and intensity. I bombed it, as they say, so the story goes.

Thus, we who frequent IronOnline are called bombers. We bomb it and we blast it, according to our own capacity for such methodology. In defense of our apparent childishness, allow me to explain that we are kids, certainly, but we are not childish. We are robust men and women of might. It gets worse: Somehow Bomber got stretched to include that type of aircraft used for delivering bombs, the bomber, and we are affectionately known as the pilots of such aircraft, bombers. We fly high.

If you stick around week after week you will learn, grow, develop, improve, advance and overcome, and become a bomber who bombs it. Now, I ask you, does that sound childish?

The routine outlined with the article in your AARP Bulletin is a neat and effective combination of exercises to get you ramped and ready for more of the same in the months to come. We’ll be changing the program every four to six weeks to continue your physical improvement and slowly advance your knowledge and understanding of the things we do.

I’ll remind you periodically of the benefits and rewards of exercise and smart eating and the sad consequences of abandoning such valuable and responsible practices. There are no secrets or short cuts to good health, building muscle, losing fat or getting in shape. The basics in weight training exercise and nutrition absolutely work best; they are simple, but they require work and commitment. Here’s we’re we come in. Encouragement and hope and certainty are the foods of life. And IOL becomes the feasting table from which you feed on the richest and purest of ingredients.

Yeah, I sling a little corn around to keep Laree, the editor-in-chief, busy and trim, and to cause my readers to cringe.

Life is grand when our backs are strong and our energy and endurance are high and our perspective is clear and our attitude is positive and our self-image sound. And nothing contributes more directly to these priceless qualities than hard training and right eating and the application and development of the disciplines to accomplish them.

I see familiar faces smiling and heads nodding in the wings.

You think I’m exaggerating, but I’m not. You’ll see. Soon enough many of you will agree, those of you who hear what we say here at IronOnline, apply yourself to the good work at hand and ignore the hype and misinformation of the marketeer, hawk and shill on every corner.

Did you know that there are more than five reasons to train, that is, to lift weights and eat right regularly? Read this article from an earlier newsletter when you have the time.

The sun is setting earlier in my neck of the woods, the temperatures are dropping at night and the summer vacation traffic has subsided on Route #1 along the Pacific coast. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I think I’ll laugh. I worked shoulders and back today and they’re stronger and more painfree than they’ve been in years. I’m not boasting (the weights I used had to be tied down to prevent them from floating away) and I know the other shoe is hovering somewhere over my head, but I wanted to give you a brief update of current condition. Maybe it’s the company I keep. Did some soaring and gliding this week, could be the swift maneuvers. As the great philosopher, Zabo, says, “It’s all good.”

God’s strength... The Bomber

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