Dennis
Thank you for tuning in. I am your host Dennis VanDerGinst here with my charming colleague Dana Watkins. Today we’re looking forward to a really Uncommon Convo with Dale Ruplinger.

Dennis
Dale is a bodybuilding legend who won Mr. Iowa, Mr. Central USA, Mr. USA, Mr. America and Mr. Universe. In fact, he’s the only person to ever win Mr. USA, Mr. America and Mr. Universe in the same year. In fact, if I’m correct, he scored a perfect score at Mr. Universe as well. The first one to do that. Isn’t that right, Dale?

Dale
Yes, that is.

Dennis
All right. He’s been a personal trainer for the last thirty five years, helping other people reach their fitness goals. He’s married to wife Linda and has four boys and six grandkids. He’s been a motivational speaker. He’s spoken with some, on some of the same venues with Art Linkletter, some of you might remember him from children, or Kids Say the Darndest Things, lynn Swann, John Wooden and other inspiring people. I’ve known Dale for ten or twelve years, but it’s been quite a while since I’ve spoken with him, so I’m really looking forward to this conversation.

Dennis
So, Dale, thank you for being here. How are you doing today?

Dale
I’m doing great. Feeling good. It’s a beautiful day out. I thank God every day I get up anymore, you know what I mean?

Dennis
We all, we all should be doing that for sure. I braced you before we we started and told you that I’m going to throw a little bit of a curve at you. A friend had suggested that we do something a little bit different and ask the guest to ask themselves the first question of the interview. So I want you to ask yourself the question. You can give yourself a softball if you like. I don’t care.

Dale
Oh, I’m going to.

Dennis
All right. Well, you ask yourself the first question that you get to answer.

Dale
Well, you know, you’ve been personal training now for about 35 years, Dale. You know, how much longer do you think you’re going to continue training? And do you ever plan on retiring?

Dana
Good question.

Dennis
Good question.

Dale
And, you know, I guess it come down to the fact is, is I’m going to keep on doing this as long as somebody will hire me. I, I love what I do. I love teaching. I love my clients, see that light bulb come on when I’ve explained something to them or show them something that really made a difference for them. Love dialing people in nutritionally and motivating, stimulating them.

Dale
Train a number of people who own their own businesses, are very successful in what they do. And sometimes when they see me, and I’m training them, I’m the only one in their day that says, you know, that was great, good job. You got good form there. You’re doing it right. It’s the only attaboy they get because they’re handing out attaboys all day long. So I guess that’s it.

Dale
And and well, you know, I still feel good. So I just couldn’t see myself sitting around, I guess.

Dennis
All right. Well, that’s the last softball question you get.

Dale
That’s OK.

Dennis
No, not really. You know, I mentioned that even though I’ve known you and of your accomplishments for quite some time, I wasn’t really aware of everything that had gone in to getting you to that level of success until I listened to another podcast, which was Bodybuilding Legends, I believe is what it was called.

Dennis
And and you went into some detail as to, you know, what you had to go through. So my first question, I guess, is why, knowing what kind of agony bodybuilders put themselves through, why in the hell did you decide to get into that sport?

Dale
Well, I guess I have to take you back awhile, back into high school where my parents really couldn’t afford to send me to Assumption High School and all my friends had gone through St. Paul’s. And everyone I knew in the world was, was going on to Assumption. And my dad looked at our family of six kids and he thought that, you know, to get them all six through Assumption would be a tough, tough gig for him at that point.

Dale
So he was going to send me to Central and it just tore me apart. I just even couldn’t even imagine having to leave all my friends and start all new friends over again. So they they had this program at Assumption where if you are willing to help out at school or clean classrooms after school or empty out the trash cans and stuff like that, that they would pay half of your tuition or they’d, they’d absorb it. And then, you know, I talked my dad into paying the other half.

Dale
And so that’s how I started out. And he granted to let me go to Assumption. So, you know…

Dennis
Hey Dale, before you go too much further, for those folks who are listening and aren’t from the, the area that you’re referring to, Assumption is a Catholic school and Central is a public school and yeah.

Dale
Yes.

Dennis
You wanted to go to this more expensive Catholic school.

Dale
Yes. Correct. And that’s where all my friends were going. So, so while I was emptying out trash cans and sweeping floors, the other guys and kids were, you know, able to go out for sports. And I always thought that I had the ability to be a good athlete, I just really didn’t have an opportunity.

Dale
Now there was at one point I went out for swimming one year because it was, I was able to because it ran a little bit later and started a little bit later. And also my father for my senior year said I didn’t have to clean classrooms anymore. So he let me go out for football my senior year as if you know, the team isn’t already picked at that point and, you know, positions are already aren’t had by some other kid.

Dale
But I did play all specially as far as the football schedule goes. The kick off, the punt returns, the things like that. And I did play a little defensive back, but I still left that desire and that urge for me to want to see if I could, you know, really excel.

Dale
And, you know, I got to about the age of, you know, in my 20s and, you know, sports kind of passed me by, and I still had that burning desire inside of me to to do something. And for my 24th birthday, I got a book called Winning Bodybuilding by Franco Columbu. And and I read the book that night, and every page I turned, I realized that this was a sport I could do.

Dale
I mean, I didn’t need a team, you know, I really didn’t even need a coach. All they had to do is really study hard and learn and understand it. Have the desire, have the drive. And I always wanted to find out what I could achieve. If I put it all on the line, what in my life could I really achieve? And that was just a burning desire that I’ve always had within me. And that’s what kind of got me started.

Dana
Even though you didn’t have any idea like where you were going, you knew there was something huge that you could achieve?

Dale
I always felt that way. And, you know, believe me, after reading the book, I told all my family, all my friends within, within about two weeks, I got around to just about all of them, just talking to them on the phone or whatever. And I said, in two years I’m going to be Mr. Iowa, and someday I’m going to be Mr. America.

Dale
Well, they all laughed at me. I mean, my God, at that time I was riding Harleys and drinking beer. I mean, I never lifted a weight in my life. But I just had that belief. I just had the belief.

Dennis
I think I want to, like, say that I’m going to be within two years a billionaire and I’m going to ride Harleys for the next, you know, couple of months. But if it works out that easily. Heck, yeah. But no, I know it doesn’t. But by the way, at this point, for those people who are listening and choose to also watch the video, I’m going to have our producer insert a photo of you as Mr. Universe, because I want them to see that that is not the body of a swimmer, you’re talking about swimming.

Dale
No, no.

Dennis
So did you have, I know that, I shouldn’t say I know, but I assume that some of this has to do with your genetic makeup as, as well as determination. Is that fair?

Dale
I would say that I had an athletic physique. I’d have to have, because when you think around the world, there are millions of guys who aspire to become world best at our sport, millions. And when it comes right down to it, when you’re in that one tenth of one percent, maybe even less in the world, you, God had had to give you a perfect bone structure.

Dale
I mean, I already had a huge rib cage. I had small joints, a narrow waist. I was balanced from top to bottom as far as my bone structure and everything. I had good genetics. I had good metabolism at that time. So when it gets to that point, it’s really what God gave you. And if he puts you in the right, you know, symmetrical body for it.

Dale
At that, early on, I didn’t quite all understand all that. But when I when I got up there and I realized that this was a very select group of people in the world, that it just wasn’t just me. I had to have the right combination to begin with. I was just lucky.

Dennis
And you mentioned the book by Franco Columbu that you had, that I guess, turned you on to the sport. And he, he’s a world champ, too, isn’t he?

Dale
Oh, yes. He won the Mr. Universe. He won the Mr. Olympia, which is the pro version. He was Arnold Schwarzenegger’s best friend, and he’s in a number of the movies. If you ever watch the movies, he’s the short blocky little guy that’s in some of the Conan movies and and things like that. Arnold always brought him along, gave him a bit part, threw him in there so they could hang out together.

Dennis
I always loved that. You know, you see, like Adam Sandler does that a lot with a lot of his buddies that get thrown into these small parts in every movie he’s in. And I love to hear that Arnold did that as well. My, my understanding is that you, were you the first in your family? I understand that you have other family members who also, though, went into bodybuilding. Is that right?

Dale
Yeah. My brother Dan is the first one who started lifting in my mom and dad’s garage with this, you know, the weight set that was the plastic they had the sand in it, you know, and I mean, it was just cruel, you know, crude equipment that he had back then. And I always used to laugh at my brother. I said, you know, Dan, if you turn sideways in class, they count you absent. He was so skinny to begin with.

Dale
But he he had a determination and he and he kept at it. And eventually, my brother Dan, after I had, won the Mr. Iowa and then he went on to win the, the central states. But that’s when, that’s where he ended up at. He’s much taller than I am. Guys with longer legs, it’s a little bit more difficult to get them as balanced as they need to be, but he had a great physique at one point in time.

Dale
So, so it was my brother Dan. And then I had three, I had three first cousins that also won the Iowa. So in the 80s, in the 80s, five years in the 1980s, it was my family that won the Iowa.

Dale
And there is four, I’ll say this was four guys, and there was one girl. So, so there is Greg Grunder, and then there was his sister, Sherry Grunder who also won the Iowa. So good genetics.

Dennis
Yeah, absolutely!

Dale
Good genetics.

Dana
So did you guys figure out together how to fuel your bodies for that kind of competing because I feel like it wasn’t readily available back then.

Dale
How to fuel it?

Dana
Yeah, like what you do to really get where you went. Like I can’t even imagine what a protein shake tasted like.

Dale
Oh gosh. Yeah, you almost had to stand up above the sink, so if you had a gag reflex, you didn’t get it on the carpet, you know, flooring or whatever. Yeah, I used to chew liver, liver tablets, so they had absorb in my system better.

Dana
Gross.

Dale
You have to understand, I didn’t have a coach here in the very beginning, so I probably trained about an hour and a half a day. But I also read three hours a day of everything I could get my hands on, from fitness, to lifting to nutrition. My God, I even read the Nutritional Almanac cover to cover and took notes.

Dana
Wow.

Dale
So, you know, that’s the kind of research that that went into it. And, you know, basically the only thing we’re doing in the gym, and people understand this, they think they’re building something in the gym. They’re not. In the fitness center, the only thing that we are doing is that we are tearing tissue on a microscopic level.

Dale
No pain, no gain. Those little sayings are, have a reason behind them. You have to be in the pain barrier at times for you to tear enough tissue. And then you have to have the proper amount of rest, and the proper amount of nutrition to mend that muscle back bigger and stronger. If any one of those is out of balance, you don’t grow.

Dale
So it’s kind of like fire. For fire to chemically happen, you have to have fuel, you have to have oxygen, and you have to have heat. If any one of those is missing fire, doesn’t chemically happen. And so it’s the same with bodybuilding. And if you want to train and compete, it’s a process of sparking it, which is tearing it. And then it’s the the rest, amount of resting time. And it’s the amount of nutrition.

Dale
I always tell these young kids who, you know, are trying to aspire to being better and bigger, you can’t build a brick wall without bricks. You can’t build a body without, you know, so much protein every three to four hours that’s bathing your system, allowing it to repair, reheal and get better. If I’m going to work out this hard in a workout, it’s the rest in the nutrition that’s going to make me bigger and better.

Dale
Why would I want to screw that end of it up when I went through the hard part, which was the workout?

Dana
Yeah.

Dale
But if it’s not in balance, you don’t grow. And I’m going to tell you, I see people coming in the gym. I see them come in. Very dedicated people, I must say. It almost amazes me how dedicated some people are. And I see them walking in that gym and I see them every day for five years, and I see no change.

Dennis
I’m sorry. I will try.

Dale
I don’t know what drives them. I don’t know what gets them back in there.

Dana
Yeah.

Dale
If I don’t see, if I wouldn’t see change, I’d quit. I certainly wouldn’t hire me to keep doing it if I, if they didn’t see change. So it’s, people, people who have some great desire, but they just don’t know how to put it together or they just think that just we go in there and we just lift some weights and let’s, no. It’s the mechanics. It’s everything. It’s it’s the make the mind to muscle connection. If you’re not, if you’re not feeling it in your chest when you’re working your chest, you simply aren’t working it.

Dale
And it’s amazing to me what how what I see in a fitness center every day, they just, and even in a machine, people get on a machine, they go, well, this is simple. I’m just a machine. No, where’s your elbows are your up? Are you focusing on that muscle? Where’s your hand placement? All of that makes a complete difference and they never get it, you know, they just never get it.

Dennis
I, you know, I was involved in athletics growing up and of course, not to the level that you got involved. One thing that I was always told, and I want to know if this is true, is that if you want to get bigger, you lift heavier. If you want to get more cut, you just do more reps with less weight. Is that, is that true, Dale?

Dale
To to a small extent, but not really. I, I always keep my exercises with the people that I train and myself joint friendly. You have to make sure that the mechanics is right. You don’t want to injure yourself. It just takes you back, doesn’t move you forward.

Dale
Most trainers feel good about the fact that they make you crawl out of the gym. You know, I’ve really done my job if I make you crawl out of the gym. And that’s simply not, it’s simply crazy. An eight year old could push you hard enough to make you crawl out of a gym. But what did you really accomplish? So keeping it joint friendly, I always start off with an exercise that people can do 12 of because I know that’s enough.

Dale
And if they’re using really, really good form and they’re not cheating it, that’s a good warm up set, you know? Then we’ll move something to something that’s ten reps, maybe something that’s eight reps. You know, when I was doing I would go from twelve reps down to about five or six reps when I was really competing. Maybe sometimes I’d max out, but not all that much. But I’m going to tell you, every set after the first set is to failure. Every single set.

Dale
When I went into the fitness center on my own, because I can beat myself up really bad, just not other people, you know. It’s kind of like that Jim Carrey movie, Liars, when he’s that lawyer and he’s, he’s in the bathroom and he’s, he’s smacking

Dennis
Smashing his head.

Dale
The guy walks and he goes, What are you doing? I kick my ass. What’s it look like?

Dale
Well, that’s what I could do to myself. But so it was me against the weights. I always knew exactly how many reps I got out of a certain weight from the day before, a couple of days before. And it was always my goal to beat it, always my goal to beat it. So is the weights going to win today, or was I going to win today? That’s the kind of drive and attitude that I had to have going into the fitness center because I had certain goals and I had to meet those goals and I had a very aggressive agenda. So I didn’t have any time to waste.

Dennis
You know, I think a lot of our audience is probably not that familiar with bodybuilding. I mean, they may be familiar with Arnold and Lou Ferrigno and, you know, maybe a few others. I’m sure some people are much more familiar. But having heard you speak, you know, in more detail about what you went through, I feel is something that they might really take something away from, just understanding what perseverance can do.

Dennis
So I wanted to kind of back up and go through that point in time where you made that decision that you wanted, you know, you’re going to give yourself X number of years and you wanted to to win, you know, Mr. America, Mr. Universe, et cetera. And take us through that. Like from the time you made that decision, you got that book. What did you put yourself through to the point that you had, I guess, your first competition?

Dale
OK, well, I guess I got to take you back to what really drove me. What really drove me is that, you know, I was the oldest of six and my father was a strict disciplinarian and never really told me that, you know, I was doing good or, you know, or whatever. And it just seemed to be the World War II group. The greatest generation of our lifetime. But I always seem to have disappointed him. He always wanted me to be the best in school, you know, the you know, to, you know, go to college and, you know, you know, move forward.

Dale
And, you know, I’d come home late for dinner and he’d be upset with me. And what kind of example are you showing to your brothers and sisters? And, you know, it just, it just was a point where I just had to prove to me that I could, you know, really excel at something, and so I went into the gym each day with knowing, wanting to know who I was and what I could really do with my life.

Dale
So, you know, that’s kind of how I started out and that that was my drive, my goal, and then every, every single workout of every single day, because I really wasn’t a very positive mental attitude type person, I mean, I believed in myself, don’t get me wrong, I thought I could, but, you know, it’s like that little train, you know, I think I can. I think it can. You know, I had to turn that into. I know I can. I know I can.

Dale
And so every day I had to prove it to myself, each and every day. So I never once, throughout my whole career, never once let my head hit the pillow at night without me absolutely doing everything in that day that I needed to do to be successful and let me move my life forward. Now, whether it was doing that last set of sit ups, or whether it was making sure that I got my two and a half to three hours reading in each day, even though I was tired and maybe I didn’t feel like it, I never allowed myself that luxury, and I call it a luxury, of a negative thought.

Dale
I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do that to myself because if I would have allowed that to sneak in, just once, would I not do that last set of sit ups or would I have not spent the time reading the next day or the next week. I couldn’t go there, I had to do it.

Dale
And over the course of the years of never allowing myself that luxury, I created such a strong, positive mental attitude that I really thought I could accomplish anything that I ever set my mind to. And, and I was just blessed enough, and fortunate enough, you know, to be able to do that.

Dennis
You you won the Central USA competition in ’81. How long before that was that that you actually started training?

Dale
Well, I won the Iowa, which was the first, and that was 1980.

Dennis
OK.

Dale
I got the book when I was 24. I guess it was about two and three quarters years before the Iowa circled back around again where I knew that I was ready. And so that was my first, first competition. And, well, it’s the first one that they counted. But it was the first it was the only one that I had my mind set on.

Dale
But that was the first competition that, that, I, that, I’m leaving the whole audience.

Dennis
I know this story. You won the competition in Illinois…

Dale
I won the competition at the Junior Illinois two weeks prior because I figured, OK, the Iowa is my goal and I’ve never been on stage in my life, not alone shaved my body and put that little brief on so I’m kind of just freaking out about the whole thing.

Dennis
Now I do that every day, so I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Dale
Yeah, so I think I thought to myself, well, maybe a warm up might be might be a good idea. And I’ll do it in Illinois where nobody knows me. You know I’ll go up there and I’ll do this thing.

Dennis
I do it in my office. I get it.

Dale
So I went up there and I won and, you know, I had the trophies and everything else. And, you know, that gave me a shot of confidence. I did my posing routine in front of some some people for the first time and the whole bit. And so when I got to the Iowa and I was signing up for the Iowa, the same head judge that was a judgeing the Illinois competition was now head judge, judging the Iowa. And he said, I’m sorry, you can’t enter.

Dale
And I had no clue at that time, he says you can’t, you can only compete in one and win one state in a year. He says you can’t do it. And I said, you don’t understand. My mom and dad are here. My oh, my, my my sisters who drove hours and hours to be, all my friends are here. This is, this has been my desire and goal ever since I, I lifted a weight. You can’t do this to me.

Dale
So he made me sign this affidavit that I, before the competition that I had to renege my title in Illinois, and I had to promise to send back my trophies. Otherwise they take away my, if I win anything at Iowa, they take that away from me too. So I went in there and I gave away all my Illinois things to to compete at the Iowa.

Dennis
Well, it turned out all right.

Dale
Yeah, it worked out good, anyway. So he says, okay, judge, I talked to him afterwards. He says, OK, you’re pretty confident that that was a pretty good choice. I said, well, thank you.

Dennis
So so now you’re on your way. And ’83 I guess was that was the big breakout year for you, right?

Dale
’82. ’81 I went back to Illinois, in Elgin, Illinois, and I won the the Mr. Central USA. And that was against Mike, ah it was against Mike Everson who was all over the magazines of Muscle and Fitness and everything. He was a big rider. And Cory Everson, his wife, won the women’s division and I won the overall as a middleweight. I won the overall as, over the light heavy, and the heavyweights. Her husband was in the heavyweight division and I won the overall for that competition. And Cory went on to win the Mrs. Olympia like seven times. I mean…

Dana
Wow.

Dale
She’s just incredible.

Dennis
By the way, that’s a big deal, right? I mean, as far as the competitions, my understanding is that normally you would expect the lightweight, or the heavyweights and the light heavyweights to have kind of an edge…

Dale
Oh, big time.

Dennis
In competition as far as the overall, but there are divisional winners as well. And you were a middleweight.

Dale
I was a middleweight, yeah, I was a middleweight. So I looked so big. And this isn’t me saying it. If you ask anybody in bodybuilding, they’ll tell you that I was the biggest middleweight that they had ever seen. And Mike and Ray Metzner, who were great bodybuilders and anybody in the bodybuilding world knows who Mike and Ray is, God bless their souls because they’re both passed away now, called me the guy with hollow bones, because there’s no way I could look that big and only weigh 173 and a half pounds to win the middleweight and the overalls.

Dale
So so I think I shine so much as a middleweight, then when the, the four weight class winners get together to compete for the overall, I’ve made such an impression upon them that, well, in my own mind, I was hoping and thinking that that was the reason that propelled me to the overalls. But I had a little trick up my sleeve as far as being on stage and looking bigger than I was.

Dennis
How’s, how’s that?

Dale
Well, Boyer Coe, another great bodybuilder, who’s still alive today and he’s down in Florida, he was shorter than I was and I saw him at the Olympia. I was sitting in the judging area at the Olympia and this was before I even won the Iowa. And I was sitting there with Arnold, because Arnold be, I be, he befriended me a year before that, we became friends…

Dana
Wait, Arnold Schwarzenegger?

Dale
Pardon me?

Dennis
Yes.

Dana
OK, I just wanted to make sure, I was thinking about someone else.

Dale
Yeah, Arnold Schwarzenegger. The first, after the first year at competing they were going to put on this, they’re putting on, Arnold was putting on the Olympia in Columbus, Ohio. And there is a little ad in the muscle and fitness that Arnold was going to put the seminar on afterwards for four hours, a half a day. And if you send in your money and you could go to the seminar afterwards. And so I had my notebook and my pad and everything, and I was really excited about all of it.

Dale
And there was this big room that could have fit 300 people. And I got in there and I go, I thought maybe I was early or something. There ended up being less than 20 of us there.

Dennis
Wow.

Dana
Oh gosh.

Dale
And Arnold came into the room like the room was full. I mean, he wasn’t disappointed that the room…

Dennis
Good for him.

Dale
I mean, yeah, it always amazed me that he wasn’t disappointed or he just didn’t kind of cut it short or whatever. So I really got the chance to talk to him and really got a chance to spend some time with him. And I told him what my goals were. I mean, I hadn’t done anything at this point. I just I had a desire. I wanted to be Mr. Iowa and I wanted to be Mr. America.

Dale
And so the next year, he wasn’t doing it anymore. Why would he? It was total failure. I don’t know what the heck happened there. But now you couldn’t, you could fill a stadium if he were asked to do this again. But I walked down to him. I had this notebook. I had it full of a million questions I had for him. And I said, Arnold, do you at all remember me from last year?

Dale
I had, I ask you some questions. I went to your… He goes, yeah, you’re that kid from Iowa, right? And so I must’ve made an impression on him. But, Boyer Coe anyway, I was asking Arnold questions and he was kind enough to answer for me. I saw Boyer Coe on stage and go, Wow, I’ve always wanted to meet Boyer Coe. So I went backstage, because on the stage he looked like a giant. I mean, he look just as big as everybody else. I got backstage and he’s, you know, like like this to me.

Dale
And I’m I’m going, Boyer, I’ve always wanted to meet you. I’ve always been a fan. You know, I think you have an awesome physique. I says, I didn’t realize that, I mean, you look like you’re huge on stage. How do you do it with everybody else being so much taller and bigger than you?

Dale
And he says, I’m going to tell you what I do. He says while everybody’s on stage, we’re all standing in line, nonchalantly, I go out about an extra foot than everybody else.

Dana
Oh geeze.

Dale
And that way. When you’re in the seats and you’re looking up at me, I look about as big as everybody else out there.

Dennis
So he’s closer to the audience. Is that what you mean?

Dale
He’s closer to the audience. And so when you’re looking up at an angle and if somebody’s stepping out, even though you’re taller.

Dennis
Yeah, smart.

Dale
I learned, I learned it, and you know that, that helped.

Dennis
That’s great. You know, speaking of the line up and all, how, I imagine it has a big impact, but how much of an impact is the actual posing and how do you go about learning to do the poses? And, you know, is there coaching for that or how does that come about?

Dale
Just just practicing. You know, just I always looked at other poses in magazines of other bodybuilders and exactly how they were doing. We used to take one mirror that would be flat on the wall, but at the opposite mirror we’d have it angled. So when I was standing there facing that mirror, this angled mirror would be shown through that wall and I could see my back and just how I move my arms and where I put everything, how my back would look.

Dale
So, you know, I developed a way and I knew what actual felt and where I needed to be to accent, accent my poses to the best of my ability. So since I didn’t have a coach to be able to stand there and do this or do that, you know, I basically had to have those two angled mirrors to be able to see my backside so I could actually see what was happening, taking place.

Dale
It’s always, and not every pose looks good on you, not every pose looked good on me.

Dennis
I can vouch for that.

Dale
Well. Well, even for me, I mean, you know, I got a perfect score and I still thought that some poses just didn’t look good on me. It’s always better to do, you know, 10 poses that look great on you, as to do 15 of them and five of them not to be so good, because it’s usually the ones that kind of aren’t so good that the judges kind of go, ehh, that didn’t look all that great. So you always wanted to leave the judge with the best you had and maybe you can kind of hide a flaw that you may have, maybe by doing a different pose just a little bit differently and everything else.

Dale
But I mean, I’m telling you, when you’re on stage, that is, that is intense because every single muscle in your body, you are holding and keeping tight, whether you’re being judged out there or you’re standing back and you’re not being judged because they’re also looking at you. Well, should I bring him up and compare him to these two now? And if you’re just relaxed and standing around back there and you’re not watching what you’re doing, you know, a judge may just pass you by.

Dale
So you may be out there for an hour. An hour of holding your body like that. And nobody’s who’s ever done it, that is amazingly grueling. It may not sound it, but it’s majorly intense.

Dana
I have seen somewhere, I can’t remember or it was not too long ago that bodybuilders in competitions, they look like they’re at peak strength when they’re on the stage. But traditionally and I don’t know if it was like this back then, but they dehydrate themselves for days before. So they actually feel incredibly weak while they’re up there. Is that was that your experience?

Dale
Well, no, it wasn’t. You know, some of these guys took diuretics, and other things to lose the water weight between the muscle and the skin.

Dana
Yeah.

Dale
Then they ended up cramping up on stage and causing all sorts of problems. Also, when you’re jacking with your electrolytes, your sodium, potassium mixtures and everything else, you can put yourself at risk of having heart arrhythmia or or, you know, even jacking with your heart so much that you could cause, you could cause yourself to die.

Dale
I mean, you know, what I always did is I always hydrated. I always hydrated. Let me let me explain this to you. If you step on a scale or somebody tells you that you have a hundred pounds of lean body mass on your body, 100 hundred pounds of muscle is on your frame.

Dana
Yeah.

Dale
Let’s, because it’s an easy number to work with 100 pounds, 76 pounds of that is water.

Dana
Sure.

Dale
Water.

Dana
Yeah.

Dale
Only 24 pounds of that is actual tissue. So how much do you want to deflate your muscles before you go out on stage?

Dana
Yeah, I feel that just give me a good excuse to not work out because it’s only twenty four percent, then geeze.

Dale
But it’s a hell of an important 24 percent.

Dana
That’s true.

Dennis
Right.

Dana
That’s true.

Dale
Maybe Bodybuilder’s had 30 percent, I don’t know, but it’s an important 24 percent. But it’s the hydration.

Dennis
But wait a second, Dale. I’m sorry to cut you off, but I’m going to call bullshit here because I heard you say that before, I don’t know if it was the Mr. Universe or which competition it was that you were drinking wine as pumping up for it, right?

Dale
Oh, yeah. Well…

Dennis
And that dehydrates you, doesn’t it?

Dale
Well, not in a half hour.

Dana
Well, that’s different. That was unintentional.

Dale
Not in a half hour.

Dennis
I would love for you to explain what that was all about, what you were doing with the wine.

Dale
Well, OK. Well, let me take you back about the water and then I’ll hit the wine thing.

Dennis
OK. Alright.

Dale
So for me to make middleweight, I had to weigh under 176 to make cut, make the middle weight cut. And I would probably start out sixteen months earlier than that, weighing about 190 pounds in the off season. So my nutrition, I didn’t cut anything out, but I just kept reducing portions, kept reducing portions, seeing how my body was tightening up.

Dale
Some guys tried to do it in a shorter period of time. And all they do is that their body not only burns fat, but it also eats away at their very precious muscle that they spent all year building. They lose it all getting ready for a competition. It just drove me insane. Why do these guys do it? It’s insanity.

Dana
Yeah.

Dale
So I would just slowly cut things out, but I’d always keep my protein intake up so that I would keep that muscle structure while I was losing that body fat. And if you don’t do it over a long period of time, like sixteen weeks, well, you’re probably going to lose a little muscle.

Dale
So it was a very grueling, 16 weeks. You wouldn’t want to do it. Food just became another thing I had to do. Nothing tastes good. It’s all bland. But it’s what I, it was the formula that I knew I had to do to win.

Dana
Yeah.

Dale
And so right at the contest, I would still probably be about six pounds overweight. So the night before I’d do a sauna, and I sauna and I’d shower to cool my body back down. I’d sauna, shower, sauna shower until I lost about that six pounds. And then for the rest of the night I might suck on a couple of pieces of orange, maybe a few ice cubes, but that was it. Then I would make weigh in. And then after weigh in, it was on. It was, it was apple pie, because but here’s the deal. Losing that much water took all the moisture between my skin and the muscle, so wrapped my skin into the muscle.

Dale
Now I’m going to do the carb up, which is going to give me all the blood sugar that I need to fill my muscle. So I’m pulling my skin tight and now I’m filling my skin. And it’s like taking saran wrap and wrapping it tight and it just made everything stand out tremendously. So from that point on, it was a piece of pie here, it was whatever.

Dale
Now at the competition, when you’re backstage pumping up for the competition, well, I hadn’t had any alcohol for six weeks. I had, you know, didn’t have anything like that. And what I was doing at that point is that the sugar in that from the wine made my veins like garden hoses, but it also relaxed me.

Dale
And, you know, so I’m backstage. I got this bottle of wine. I’m doing some weights. I got my wine glass sitting there, especially for the Mr. USA at Caesar’s Palace. People are looking at me, and what what’s with this guy? So. So anyway, I go out and I compete. It’s a two day competition. So I go out and compete. And I thought I did really well. But the next day’s the finals.

Dale
And I walked back into Caesar’s Palace and I’m running a little late and I look around and there’s guys drinking wine everywhere. I mean, I’m looking around and these guys are going (thumbs up), and before they were making fun of me and laughing at me. But that was before I took my sweats off, and that was before they had to compete against me that day. But it just was so comical to me that all these guys drinking wine, like the wine was going to do it for them that day.

Dale
And so so anyway, that’s that’s the wine story. But I did that for every competition.

Dennis
Do you see other people doing that nowadays?

Dale
No, no. Here is the thing. I trained 365 days a year to get ready for a contest. Very grueling, very demanding. You know, I never let my head hit the pillow without doing my very best every day.

Dennis
Sure.

Dale
And the day of the competition is my day of celebration.

Dana
Mm hmm.

Dale
I made it. Nothing’s going to change it from here. That wine is only going to make me look better. It’s my way of celebration. And this is a day of celebration for me. It’s not a day of stressing out. It’s not a day of worrying about what the other guy’s doing or, you know, how I might stack up. I never went into a competition I didn’t think I was going to, I wasn’t going to win. And so it was a day of rejoicing. It was a day of celebration for me. It was a day to show the world what I had accomplished up to this point.

Dale
So it was a very happy, exciting day for me. I wasn’t stressing out or flipping out like other bodybuilders. This was my day and I was going to have fun.

Dennis
You know, I know it’s completely different, but ironically, you and I met through the pageant world, and in the pageant world there is a Miss USA and a Miss America. And they, they’re distinct, at least I know they’ve changed the format in recent years, but it used to be one of the biggest distinctions was that in the Miss America Pageant, they had a talent section. Now, I know it’s not the same, but what is the difference between the Mr. USA in the Mr. America contest that you were in?

Dale
Nothing

Dennis
Nothing. Same competitors, same judges, different sponsors?

Dale
Well, yeah, it’s a, it’s a different promoter. It was basically it. The year that it became the America, see the AAU had the rights to the title Mr. America. And then there was the NPC, and they created, I believe, that the USA came basically by the NPC because there was this tiff between the NPC and the, it’s just affiliations. It’s just, that’s all it was. So they created this USA for the NPC and the, the Mr. America was the AAU.

Dale
So then they ended up calling it the National Bodybuilding Championship, but everybody knew it as the Mr. America. And so that’s the only distinction that, that I can tell you about the two of them. But it is the Mr. America or the National NPC by winning those weight classes, there’s four weight classes, heavy weight, light heavyweight, middleweight lightweight. By winning that, that got you to the World Bodybuilding Championships, you made the team then to to gain the World Bodybuilding Championships, which was actually the Mr. Universe.

Dennis
Right.

Dale
So you had to win that one to be a part of the team.

Dennis
So what I guess the equivalent of Mr. America would launch you into the equivalent of Mr. Universe.

Dale
That would get you, that would put you on the team. Kind of like for the Olympics. You have to win a certain event before now you qualify for the Olympics. Our Olympics is the World Bodybuilding Championship.

Dennis
Got it. And that is what you won in 82?

Dale
Yes, in 1982 is when I when I won the Mr. Universe. Well, I won I won the Mr. USA at Caesar’s Palace that year. Then three months later, I won the Mr. America at Radio City Music Hall. And then a week later, week and a half later, whatever, then you’re set up and that’s the Mr. Universe, the World Bodybuilding Championships.

Dennis
And just so everyone understands, the distinction too, that is all an amateur level. Those are all amateurs. Very high, high end, obviously. But then, as I understood it, if you did well or if you won, I guess at the Universe level, you could launch into the professional ranks and compete at Mr. Olympia, right?

Dale
Yeah, that’s correct. Back when when I was competing, you had to win the Mr. Universe to get your pro card to be able to compete at the level that Arnold was and the other bodybuilders, the pro bodybuilders were, at that point. You didn’t get a pro card unless you had won the Mr. Universe. Now they hand them out like candy. I mean, you could win, you could win your card by winning the Central USA and or getting placed third, you can win your pro card.

Dale
It’s all about the money now see it cost you for your cards now. Back when I was winning it, you know, they handed it to you. They were happy to get some more bodybuilders that were competing at the pro level. But the, but the pro card really meant something back then. Now there’s hundreds of pro cards all over the place. I mean, it’s like candy they’re handing out. So, you know, it’s just a little bit disappointing to think that, yeah, I got my pro card. Oh, really? That’s kind of how I see it. But OK, yeah, you’ve got your pro card. Fine. Yeah. You placed third in Iowa. All right. OK.

Dale
So anyway. My little beef.

Dennis
Well when you, when you moved on to the professional ranks was that, was was there a lot of money at stake? Were you able to make money doing that?

Dale
No.

Dennis
No endorsement deals? Or…

Dale
Oh, endorsements. I mean, you know, you know, you get endorsements and things. And it allowed you, you know, like these state competitions. What they would do is they bring in someone like me, put them me on the venue, on the card. I do a guest posing. I may do a seminar there. You know, I charge people, you know, so much a head to come to my seminar. Or the promoter would pay me so much to do a seminar and he’d charge them. But they would pay me so many grand to come in and do five minutes of guest posing in the middle of the competition to get a lot of fans to come there.

Dale
And I’d sign autographs and pictures and do those sorts of things to promote, to promote, to promote lower events like Central USA or you, you know, those kind of competitions. So that’s kind of where you made your money. The the only money that was being handed out back when I was competing was I think you could win $50,000 if you won the Olympia and they weren’t paying down at all.

Dale
So it wasn’t like golf. So most of these guys were, were living with each other, you know, you know, two or three guys per room out in California, training at Gold’s Gym, you know, barely able to afford the food that they’re eating. They might be a janitor someplace.

Dale
So that was kind of how it is. Now today, yeah, you can you can make a million a year doing the sport today. I mean, you know, they’ll, they’ll make seven, eight hundred thousand for winning the Olympia today and and break it all down to the top ranks. And a lot of that came, I’ll have to give it to Arnold as a promoter. I think he felt ripped off all the years that he competed.

Dale
And, you know, now they’re paying out. It’s kind of like Pat Miletich.

Dennis
He kind of did all right, though.

Dale
Who? Arnold? Yeah.

Dennis
He kind of did OK, eventually.

Dale
Thank God he got that, you know, acting, you know. But before that, I don’t know about that. But, yeah, you know, acting, acting really helped him out. And he’s, obviously he’s done great at it. So…

Dennis
And you mentioned Pat, so…

Dale
Yeah. And Pat, you know, back when Pat, Pat was competing, I was competing. You were making nothing. Look at what these UFC fighters make today. I mean, you know, Pat, Pat would never have to work a day in his life. He was a legend, my God. There was no weight class back then. He was the winner overall of all the weight classes. That’s that’s a crazy thought anymore. That’s why he’s a legend.

Dennis
Right. Now, I know in 1984 something terrible happened. And I want to talk about that in a moment. But between the Mr. Universe and that tragedy in ’84, you did tour professionally for a while. You did do the Mr. Olympia, correct?

Dale
Yeah I did. I did do, I did do the Olympia the year, right, right after winning the Mr. Universe. I did compete there. I placed, what was it, thirteenth in the pros. Now you have to understand, I competed at a body weight of 173 and a half all the way up through my whole amateur career. And now I’m going on stage with, you know, the guys that are, you know, weigh in 240, 250.

Dennis
Sure.

Dale
And there’s no way classes anymore. So when I’m on stage, I’m on stage right next to these guys. And so I just realized at that point that I was going to have to go and regroup and I was going to have to get big. I was going to have to get a lot bigger to compete with these guys.

Dale
So, you know, I started training not so much heavier, but I was getting bigger and, you know, like I said, you know, 45, 50 grams of protein every three hours, you know, to, you know, gain the size that that I thought that I needed to to, you know, compete at that level.

Dale
Unfortunate. Here I am, the critic of everybody else training and the right form with my clients that I have today. I preach form, form, form, form the right mechanics. I keep it joint friendly. We move forward, but we move forward unless, until, unless they can do it correctly. Unless I’m happy with the way they’re performing.

Dale
Back when I was training, I was kind of like the bull in a china shop. You know, I, I had good form, don’t get me wrong. But I always push myself to the wall every time. I mean, even getting ready for the Mr. USA and the Mr. America, you know, as a body weight of about 180 or so, you know, getting ready for these competitions, maybe 190. I was squating 635s. 635 pounds, you know, for squats. My last set for two reps.

Dennis
That’s almost as much as I can.

Dale
Yeah. Yeah. It’s crazy weight. The bar actually bows with that much weight on it when you get underneath it. So I really wasn’t very kind to myself, but I was doing flies in the gym one day, getting ready for the, in 1985, for the Olympia and I just stretched out my arm just a little bit too far and I snapped my bicep off of my forearm bone.

Dale
So so that kind of took me out of it. And what usually happens then is that bicep shrinks up your arm and and really your, your bicep is never the same again. And at that level of competition, there’s not too much forgiveness at that level. And I was just getting to the point where hopefully I could make some money at this and and that, you know, I could provide, you know, the kind of lifestyle, you know, I wanted for my family.

Dennis
Now at that at that point, you’ve been very open and vocal about the fact that you did take some steroids back then to I guess.

Dale
Yeah.

Dennis
Probably try to get bigger.

Dale
Oh, yeah.

Dennis
Do you feel that that had anything to do with the bicep issue that you had?

Dale
You know, Dennis, I can’t say that, I can’t take it out of the equation. You know, I just can’t take it out of the equation. Obviously, what it does is it allows the muscle cell to pump fuller, more water in it. The harder you can get that muscle cell full of water, the stronger you are.

Dale
Anybody who’s ever gone on vacation for a couple of weeks and has come back and they find themselves a little bit weaker because they didn’t work out, it’s the millions of muscle cells that you have in your body. And if each one of those just dissipates that water just ever so slightly, you’re not as strong. And it’s when the water, the muscle cell is tight is it can be is when you’re your strongest.

Dale
And so part of what steroids does is it helps fill that muscle cell as tight as it can be. So you’re artificially, you know, stronger in a sense too. And, but I was always underneath doctor’s care. My doctor from when I was young was my doctor who guided me, helped guide me through this. When I, when I became a pro, I knew that I was going to have to take steroids to get as big as these guys are getting.

Dale
There’s no one, believe me, no one on the professional stage that isn’t. And if they are, they’re lying.

Dana
OK, I have to ask you, they are if you are aware, I’m sure you are being in that circle. Greg Valentino, the guy whose bicep exploded.

Dale
Well, some of these guys are just injecting it right into their bicep, and they’re in there doing it, just, you know, it’s just insanity with some of these. And it’s it’s not even actually a steroid that they’re injecting. You know, they’re injecting some saline solution that artificially pumps their arm. I mean, some of these people are just so whacked out. It’s it’s just unbelievable. I mean.

Dale
You know, the whole steroid issue, you know, I’m going to take it from my point of view, I don’t know when man has ever not used something to enhance him or her. We do it with cars. We do it with rockets. We do it with Teslas now. I mean, anything that hass advanced, man, we have taken advantage of it. We’re not riding around in horse and buggies.

Dana
Right.

Dale
Would it save more lives if we didn’t have horse, if we had went back to horse and buggy? Yeah. But we ain’t never going back to that. I mean, let’s let’s face it.

Dana
Yeah.

Dale
So my doctor, we were under a really good understanding. I had blood workup done every three months. We knew exactly what my heart was doing, my liver, my kidney, my, all my organs. We stayed on top of it. And in my sport, I’m going to tell you what was shocking to me was at the pinnacle of some of these guys careers, I mean, the very, very best in the world, some of these guys weren’t under their doctor’s care at all. They had no clue what they were doing.

Dale
See, you get the mentality that, OK, if I take two CCs and it’s going to get me this big, well four CCs could get me twice as big, right? No, it doesn’t work that way. It doesn’t work that way at all. You can’t take a steroid and sit on your couch and get any bigger than what you were. Alls you possibly could do is damage your liver and your kidney. That’s what you could be doing.

Dale
You still have to tear the tissue. You still have to put in all the hard work. And what it does is help us repair and reheal that at a much faster, significant rate. It doesn’t mean anything else.

Dale
Well you took steroids. Hah. Come to the gym one day and train with me just just once. Just try it.

Dana
So these guys that do that and they get monstrously huge. I mean, is there even at some point, do they lose the benefit in the competition or is it just the bigger, the better?

Dale
No, it’s it’s still, well, today, I can’t necessarily say it. They have a classic division. And then they got this off the wall over the chart division, which guys look like construction workers. They got, they got guts that that pump out and they breathe and yeah, they got big arms, big legs. But if that was the look back when I got into this, I would have never got into it.

Dale
So they call us the classic look now where we got the narrow waist and, you know, the big lats and, you know, you look proportionate and you look pleasing to the eye to, well, most people anymore.

Dennis
Right.

Dale
But these, these guys, they’re taking growth. They’re, they’re taking human growth hormone. They’re, they’re taking thousands of milligrams of tests and all sorts of stuff. They’re off the charts doing this. My doctor, who is my family physician, we were under the understanding, he always told me, Dale, just because this much is going to get you this big, doesn’t mean twice as much is going to get twice as big. Twice as much could just do damage to your kidney, your liver and other things.

Dale
So we always cycled up and cycled down off. We always let my own natural hormone come back up because your body will always try to adjust, it’ll shut down your own hormone if you’re off of, on it too long. So everything had to be in perfect balance. So I never had to take a lot of the stuff.

Dale
And, you know, I have pro bodybuilders that would say, hey, Dale, what are you on? And I would tell them, you know, a really great friend of mine, Lee Haney, you know, he asked me one time, he says, you know, what are you on? We were in the sauna. It’s just me and him. And believe me, I love the guy. He’s just he’s just the best.

Dale
So he asked me and I told him and he kind of got upset with me, like, OK, Dale, you know, if you don’t want to tell me, fine. You know, whatever. Lee, this is what I’m taking. OK, fine. Let’s just change the subject. Lee! You know…

Dennis
He thought you were doing more than you were admitting to, is that the issue?

Dale
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. But, I used common sense with with everything I do and, you know, I’ve got friends in the sport that are no longer here. They’re no longer here. And that’s sad because they use themselves as guinea pigs. And, you know, they really, they really weren’t being smart.

Dale
And some of the guys are the cream of the crop, the best of the best were not under doctor’s care. It just, it shocked me because you don’t get to the top of a sport without being pretty smart in any sport you’re into. You have to be a pretty intelligent person. You have to have things figured out, you know. And so it was just surprising to me that, you know, very many guys were not.

Dale
So, you know, but, you know, thank God I’m here and, you know, I made it through it. And, you know, I’ve been you know, I’ve been clean for 30 some years now or more, you know, 35 years or whatever. I’m not counting it anymore. You know, I, you know, I’m not I’m not even I’m not even taking the stuff that the doctors say, hey, come on in and get it yet. And, you know, there may be some day I end up doing that, you know, just because I kind of like to know where my testosterone level is.

Dale
But, you know, I don’t, I don’t feel any differently at 68 that I am today than than than when I was 40. I really don’t. I still feel just as good.

Dennis
You know, speaking of, after you had the biceps tear, I know that you did return to competition briefly up through, I think ’86 maybe.

Dale
Yeah, I competed in 1985. I thought it was 86, too. But when I really thought about it, it was 1985 and that, I had Doctor Rick Rippinger from this area, incredible orthopedic, reattach my right arm to, to my forearm. I wish he was still practicing now, but he just recently retired. I just don’t know where I go if I tore something else, because I had such faith in him. And he was affiliated with ORA.

Dale
But it never usually comes back. It’s never usually as full. And when Doctor Rippinger, before the surgery went in and they were they were going to cut my arm from here, they’re going to come out around, they were going to bring this whole “S” shape. And I said, Doc, I know where it’s at. I know the end of my tendon is right there. It’s right there. And he looked at me and he laughed. He went, Oh, yeah.

Dale
And I said, Please, doc, just make that first incision. Don’t cut up my arm like that. If you find it there, we’re good, right? He goes, all right. So he opened it up, and I knew one of the nurses that was on his staff in the operating room, and he goes, he looked down at me, I’ll be damned, there it is. So I was right. So they didn’t have to make that huge incision, but they still had to drill holes in my forearm bone and reattached my bicep back down to it. And, you know, I had to walk my fingers up the wall with my hand at beginning. And then, you know, finally it was two and a half pounds.

Dale
And, you know, the arm usually never comes back and, so it was a, it was a scary time for me. You know, I planned on making some money at it at this point from now on. And, you know, bodybuilding is in a sense, for as much time as I had to put into it. You know, I was also working at Alcoa 56 hours a week, 48 to 56 hours a week.

Dale
You know, I was working, you know, and then I still had, you know, time to, you know, go to the gym. And I had two young boys. So, so anyway, you know, it was. So anyway, I, I you know, I was driven, you know, I wanted to compete again, I still had yet something to prove to myself.

Dale
And so the night of the Champions was coming around in New York City. And, you know, I built my arm back and it hadn’t shrunk up. I built my arms back. I mean, I’m telling you, I built my arms back. I was getting the tuxedo, a suit made for myself because Rick Wallick a good friend of mine, was getting married.

Dale
And I didn’t I didn’t want to go to the rehearsal dinner with a pair of sweats on, you know, because I was you know, I couldn’t get the jacket to fit. If a jacket, fit my my pants would get folded in half and pockets would fold open. You know, I, it just didn’t work. So I had a tuxedo made from Vicks, Victor’s Tuxedo Shop down in Bettendorf.

Dale
And I’ve never measured myself before. I’m standing there and and I got my arms cold down at my side. And he says, do you know what your measurements are? I got I really don’t. I really don’t. So he’s measuring my arm around with my arms just flat at my side, not pumped, not flexed. And he says, he says, well, you’ll want to know what this is. And he goes, I go, what is it? He says it’s 22 inches.

Dale
Now Arnold’s pumped and flex for 21 and a half. So my arms were 22 inches cold at my side. And I says, wow, cool. My waist was a 31 and my thighs were 32s each.

Dennis
Wow.

Dale
And, and so that’s why I had to have a suit made, shirt made everything else. So the night of the Champions was, was coming up and I competed it at the night of the Champions that night in New York City. And that was my first time back. You know, everybody told me it couldn’t be done. My arm would never be the same, you know, that my career was pretty much over, so.

Dale
That was, that was an emotional night for me, because…

Dennis
It seems like it’s still emotional.

Dale
Yeah, it is thinking back upon it because I went through a lot of brick walls to get there mentally, physically, I put myself through a lot of brick walls to get back and the roar of the crowd that night when I was posing. I just, I felt it right through my body, and it was one of the greatest, greatest feelings of my life. It really was, you know…

Dennis
And I can feel that I can feel like coming through as you’re telling the story, I imagine that had to have been amazing to, you know, been on the on the precipice and then have this tragedy befall you and work your way back to the point where you can get back on that stage and hear the roar of the crowd. Had to be amazing.

Dale
It was. Just one thing I want to say about that is at that point when I was on the stage, every emotion runs through your body, or it did for me. I mean, I wanted to laugh. I wanted to cry. I wanted to run and never stop. And it was, other than the birth of my children, it was probably one of the most incredible highs that I had ever experienced in my lifetime, and I am, I thank God and I am blessed for the lows of my life because I really am blessed.

Dale
I see those as opportunities. Those were the things that drove me to levels that I didn’t even know that I possibly had in me. And I would have never been able to appreciate that high without going through the trials and the lows of my life that made that high worth it. And it was yeah, I. I’m back there right now. I feel that that feeling that I went through and it’s an incredible experience.

Dale
Most people go through their life, they just kind of go through the motions. They’ve really never challenged themselves in their life to really see what they’re capable of or what, you know, God had in store for them. I mean, they’re just kind of existing and just kind of mucking their way through life.

Dale
And and I never just really wanted to live that way. I wanted to I wanted to know what in this field, what my possible potential could be. And there’s so much negativity in the world and people are told they can’t because of their race or, you know, because of who they are or whatever. So defeating of a purpose. You know, people are cutting down people. It’s because, you know, you’re black or you’re this, or you’re that. And just, it’s, it’s insanity to me.

Dale
Everybody has a God-given potential in them, if they would just see it for themselves or if others would see it for them. You know, kind of like, you know, my dad, he was just of that generation where, you know, he you know, he you know, if he would have told me that I was great, then he thought to himself, well, maybe I’d let my, maybe I’d let my guard down.

Dale
And, you know, you know, and I might not try so much. There’s that part of that, you know, generation. You know, the first time I ever heard my father say he was proud of me was after I won the Mr. USA at Caesar’s Palace and the crew was interviewing him and my mom and…

Dennis
You know, I can I can say this, Dale. With the knowledge that you have of the sport of fitness in general and the passion that you have and this philosophy about the abilities that we all have and how you can persevere to bring that out, you’ve got to be the best personal trainer out there I swear.

Dana
Seriously.

Dennis
Absolutely.

Dale
Well, my people my people like me, you know, I’ve got guys and I got men and women I’ve been, you know, training for more than 15 years or so. They still come to see me. I mean, they know how to do this stuff. But what I bring to the table is, I love the fact that someone comes to me and they’ve had three or four trainers or five or six trainers before they’ve ever seen me, because then they understand what I bring to the table. If I’m their first trainer, they go, OK, everybody treats, everybody trains like this, everybody knows this.

Dale
No, I don’t, there’s probably only maybe maybe a couple of people in the Quad Cities that I would let train my mom. I mean, there just isn’t that many of them. As I as I watch them train people, even the ones with the college degrees, the mechanics and the positions that they put people into, down the road, it’s going to cause injuries, it’s going to cause challenges.

Dale
And, you know, people people think, OK, you’ve got this training certificate or you went to college, you study kinesiology and and people blindly follow trainers, as if as if they’re all that knowledgeable. And I’m probably going have a few people in the Quad Cities angry at me, but, oh, well, you know, I’ve never held back from saying what on my mind.

Dale
But the fact is, is, is that the mechanics is is wrong and what and what they’re sharing with people and they’re putting, you know, clients in danger. And and here’s a little trivia that you might not know of. There’s there’s over about 400 certificates that you can get for personal training in this country. Everywhere from going to college and, you know, getting a degree in kinesiology and or going online and, you know, taking this little, of course, and answering one hundred and fifty questions at the end, and get this nice little golden plaque that you can put back up here on the wall, you know. Or as far as I’m concerned, getting one out of a box of Cracker Jacks.

Dale
But I mean, people do more research when they buy a car, they when they get a trainer. Oh, here’s your trainer. Oh, OK.

Dana
Yeah.

Dale
You know, he’s telling me to do this. Oh yeah. He must know what he’s doing. Oh, wow.

Dennis
Yeah. Yeah. No I hear you. You know, you asked yourself that question at the beginning of the interview about, you know, how long you’re going to continue to do this. And I think it’s clear that you still have this this passion and obviously the knowledge to be able to do this as long as you feel up to it, as long as people are responding and reacting the way that you want, you know, get them to show up and do the work, I think that’s great.

Dale
Yeah.

Dennis
Now, I want to kind of shift gears and lighten things up a little bit because we got a little intense.

Dale
Yeah.

Dennis
Which I love. I love. And I know Dana is always a good one for some of these these questions, but there are two little games that we’re going to play. One is a new one, and I’m just going to call this Uncommon Convos. And the other one I mentioned before, we’ll play, the would you would you rather game.

Dennis
So Uncommon Convos. What’s the weirdest food that you enjoy?

Dale
I’m a pretty plain and simple guy. I mean, I really, I really don’t have any exotic, crazy food that that I like that people go, yuck. I mean, you’re eat, you’re eating that. I mean, my wife doesn’t like to eat mussel, but she’ll cringe when I’m having a slimy mussel I’m sliding down my throat. But but other than that, you know, I don’t think there’s much of anything. How about chewing liver, all the liver tablets? And sitting over the sink because the gag reflex about every 5th time I did that, I had to regurgitate it back in the sink. How about that one?

Dennis
That’s I think that’s pretty good one. OK, so and Dana, chime in if you have some. But, you know, back in the ancient times, people would be buried with certain items that they thought that they would need in the afterlife, so if that were the case, what items would you want to be buried with so that you’d have access to them in the afterlife?

Dale
A chainsaw.

Dennis
Why a chainsaw?

Dale
I, I am so claustrophobic. You can’t believe how claustrophobic I am. Oh my God. My, my wife says how am I ever going to get you in the casket, even dead you’re not going to want to get in that thing.

Dennis
Well, that kind of that kind of leads me to the answer the next one, which would be what’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve bought? And that’s probably a chainsaw for your coffin.

Dana
And if he hasn’t, he’s going to stop at Lowe’s on the way home.

Dennis
OK, I came across some, some would you rathers that I think are fitting for someone with your background. So would you rather never be able to eat meat or never be able to eat vegetables.

Dana
Oh that’s easy.

Dale
Never able to eat vegetables.

Dana
Mm hmm.

Dale
And here’s why. You can’t build a brick wall without bricks, and you can’t build a body without protein.

Dennis
Gotcha. OK, so would you rather be balding but fit or overweight with a full head of hair.

Dale
Balding and fit, because I can always wear a baseball hat. But as you can see, I’m doing pretty good.

Dennis
You’re doing pretty good on both accounts. OK, would you rather have out of control body hair, or a strong, pungent body odor?

Dale
Oh, I don’t know if I could handle the body hair. I just, you need one of those rakes to get the back and stuff like that.

Dennis
Right. Right.

Dale
I, I could probably cover up the body odor.

Dennis
There you go. All right, this is my last one. And Dana, if you’ve got some. Would you rather clean the rest up toilets or work in a slaughterhouse for a living?

Dana
No.

Dale
Aww man. See, I think working in the slaughterhouse sooner or later gets to your mind.

Dana
Yeah.

Dale
No, I couldn’t do the slaughterhouse. Yeah.

Dennis
I agree with you. What do you got, Dana?

Dana
Yeah. So who’s the most famous person you’ve ever met?

Dale
Oh, jeez.

Dana
I mean, you and Arnold are friends, we know.

Dale
Yeah, you know, I suppose it would, it would have to be, Arnold would be right up there. Uh, Lou Holtz, you know. I would I suppose it’d be probably those two.

Dana
Okay. Have you met Bill Murray?

Dale
No.

Dana
OK, he’s my best friend and we have to figure out a way to let him know that, so.

Dale
Oh, ok.

Dana
That’s a question that I ask everybody.

Dale
I would like to meet him too. Don’t get me wrong.

Dana
All right. All right. I’ll let you know when we can make that happen. So which month a year, of the year do you think would best describe your personality?

Dale
Well, I think it has to be February because I’m an Aquarius, my wife’s an Aquarius. So I think that’s probably it.

Dana
I did not think you were going there when you said February. I thought you were going another direction.

Dale
No.

Dana
That’s funny.

Dennis
Is that it, Dana?

Dana
That’s all I have.

Dennis
Well, because that, her second the last question prompts this, this final question, Dale. I’m going to put you on the spot and your answer is going to prompt us to follow up with whomever you name. So which of the people that you’ve known throughout the years do you think would make an interesting guest on this podcast? And we’re going to reach out to them.

Dale
You mean from here? From our area?

Dennis
From anywhere? Anywhere.

Dale
Anywhere. Well, Arnold, but I don’t think he’s going to show up.

Dennis
That’s what Zoom is for.

Dale
That’s what Zoom is for.

Dennis
Thank you so much, Dale, for being here.

Dale
Absolutely.

Dennis
It was definitely fun catching up with you. I appreciate everything that you had to say. Do you have any last thoughts?

Dale
Well, I do. If you let me just plug it. I mean…

Dennis
Absolutely.

Dale
If you’re interested in getting in great shape or just knowing whether you’re using equipment right or not, if you want to make sure that it’s joint friendly, your nutrition is spot on or whatever, you can always reach me at daleruplinger@yahoo.com.

Dennis
And that’s definitely an email you guys are going to want to write down and follow up with.

Dale
Yeah.

Dennis
So thanks again so much, Dale. We’ll hopefully talk with you again soon.

Dale
Alrighty.

Dennis
Thank you all for joining us. Please like and subscribe to Uncommon Convos. And if you’d like to reach out to us, you can email us at info@uncommonconvos.com .

Dennis
You can catch the video broadcast of this podcast at Vlaw.com. And also, don’t forget to check out Legal Squeaks.

Dennis
Hope you’ll all tune in next week. In the meantime, have a great day. Stay safe. I love you all.