Back to the Roots
By Peter Yates
The Darwen Weight-Lifting Club was founded in England by Maurice Ainsworth, Jack Ainsworth, and Chris Howson in 1950. Photograph courtesy of Peter Yates.
In September of this year I travelled to Sweden to teach a seminar at an acupuncture school. As it had been two years since I had visited England I decided to tack on a few days after the seminar in order to catch up with friends and relatives. I especially wanted to reconnect with some of my old training buddies in the strength world and in martial arts.
First and foremost was spending time each day with the man who has influenced my own training more than anyone else — Maurice Ainsworth. Maurice, along with his brother Jack and best friend Chris Howson, founded Darwen Weightlifting Club around 1950. Maurice then founded Darwen Karate Club in the early 1960's. He was an inspiration for many young men to take up weight training and martial arts. As I am planning a future article on him and his training methods we spent many an afternoon in his backyard, soaking up the sun (yes sun in England in September), drinking copious amounts of tea and chatting about old times. At 84 Maurice now trains mainly with cables.
The author (left) poses with Wright Shaw and Jimmy Dearden in Karate G1. Photograph courtesy of Peter Yates.
As I also wanted to get in some quality training, next on the agenda was contacting my friend David Parker. David is one of the few remaining members of Darwen Weightlifting Club. Now in his early sixties, David still trains hard and heavy four times a week.
I always feel something special when I pick up weights that I used to train with as a young kid starting out. Some of those weights now are over 80 years old. I especially enjoy pressing the 56lb block weights in the seesaw press. At 16 years of age I could do a total of 50 reps, 25 each side. Since recovering from a shoulder injury I have been working to build up my press, both two arm and one arm military style. The best I managed with the 56ers was 20 total; but, wait 'til next time.
Allan Kershaw, now in his late 60's, can deadlift over 500 pounds with ease. Kershaw is an original member of the Darwen Weight-Lifting Club. Photograph courtesy of Peter Yates.
I was somewhat saddened though to see the conditions they are now training in. The building is now derelict; the electricity has been cut off; and, the roof leaks. And sadly, the landlord has the premises up for sale and will spend no money on repairs.
As there are now so few members and rents are so expensive, moving does not seem an option. Still these guys are original dinosaurs, and as long as there is plenty of iron to lift they can put up with a bit of discomfort. Problem is how many young fellows today can or will?
I did have a couple of good sessions and my workouts consisted of front squats, dead lifts, power cleans, 56lb seesaw press, chins and dips.
Allan Kershaw, one of the other original members and now in his late sixties, likes to train late, so I made a special trip there at 9pm. I found Allan cranking out some heavy incline presses in the glare of a hurricane lamp. Allen at around 180lb body weight was able to dead lift over 500lbs in street clothes — no belt, no wraps, no straps. He could on almost any occasion tear two packs of playing cards in half.
The author is shown here doing seesaw presses with 56-pound blocks. Photograph courtesy of Peter Yates.
My next stop was Darwen Karate Club. Since Maurice retired from teaching this has continued under the expert guidance of two original members, Wright Shaw, now in his seventies, and Jimmy Dearden, today in his mid sixties.
I found out they were teaching in a local church hall, and on a windy, rainy night (yes we did get some rain; after all it is England) I made my way over to see them.
These guys are as keen or crazy about martial arts as ever. Over the years besides the original karate they had learned they have also trained in Kempo and Chinese martial arts, combining everything into a nice progressive system of martial development.
The author with his mentor, Maurice Ainsworth. Ainsworth influenced Peter's training philosophy more than anybody else. Photograph courtesy of Peter Yates.
Once again I was a little sad at the poor turnout of students. Yet again it is understandable as these guys teach old school. Every single thing they do has a meaning for combat, self preservation and self improvement. The training is by no means easy. It is a sad fact, but in both the world of weights and martial arts many will seek the easy way. Unfortunately, the easy way does not lead one very far.
Anyway, the students who were in attendance certainly knew they were being taught something out of the ordinary on a stormy night in a church hall in a north of England Industrial town.
I also had a visit from Jack Ainsworth's son, David. Just turning fifty he still works out in his garage gym three to four times a week. His favorite training medium is dumbbells. He brought me a special surprise in the form of old physical culture magazines that had belonged to his Dad.
David Parker, one of the few remaining members of the Darwen Weight-Lifting Club, shows his might while performing the seated barbell press. Photograph courtesy of Peter Yates.
Included were 2 bound volumes of the whole year of 1925 Health and Strength magazine. Also included were Bernarr MacFadden's British editions of Physical Culture and Physical Development, magazines ranging from 1910-1915. There were also a few copies of Eugen Sandow's Magazine from 1903-1904. Finally, there were two books by Sandow, Strength and How to Obtain It (1897 edition) and Bodybuilding. These are valued additions to my collection.
Last, but by no means least, on the night before I returned to the USA, I was visited by grip master Paul Shaw. Within the first five minutes of entering the house he had bent double a six inch nail in about three seconds, quartered a pack of playing cards and tore a piece out of another pack with his thumb. All of this was accomplished with a smile on his face. I wonder what he can do if he really tries. We spent an evening talking martial arts, strength training, philosophy and about our favorite old timers.
These old physical culture magazines once belonged to Jack Ainsworth, brother of Maurice. Photograph courtesy of Peter Yates.
Two other highlights of the trip were long walks taken in the woods and along the moors out skirting the town and a daily pint of real milk. Growing up I spent a lot of my childhood playing on the moors, and around ten years of age I would lift rocks in an old stone quarry situated there. I also grew up drinking the milk from the local farm. At that time it was delivered by horse and cart. Although the cart is now motorized the same family runs the farm and the cows can be seen eating grass to their hearts content in the meadow. In addition, the milk still comes in one pint glass bottles with the cream floating to the top and it tastes as good as ever. While I would routinely drink from four to six pints a day of milk in my teens, I kept to one per day on this trip and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Jack Ainworth gained much of his body-building knowledge from Health and Strength. This magazine was first published in 1898. Photograph courtesy of Peter Yates.
All of the above combined with my sister's hospitality and her good home cooking made it a very worthwhile and rewarding trip back to my roots, and I'm looking forward to next time.
About The Author
Peter Yates began his training at the age of ten lifting rocks and branches in the local countryside of Darwen, England. Joining the Darwen Weightlifting Club at age twelve, he came under the guidance of Maurice Ainsworth who taught him weight training and martial arts. He spent around fifteen years living in the Far East where he sought out masters of various martial disciplines and also learned acupuncture. He now lives on Long Island, N.Y. with his wife, MaDong, and his son, Robert. Peter runs an acupuncture clinic, trains in his garage gym, and he has a small group of dedicated martial arts students. In addition to Muscles of Iron, Yates is a contributing author to The Dinosaur Files. He has also written one book and several articles about Chinese medicine and martial arts.