September 14, 2006 Issue
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Classified Chestnut Hill Local Online Editor Don't Miss an Issue, Tell us what you see or ©2006 Chestnut Hill Local Winner of One |
Mt. Airy bodybuilder, 86, muscles in on fame
Dressed in a black tank top and stretch pants with gold Diesel sneakers, 86-year-old bodybuilding champion, Morjorie (correct spelling) Newlin, makes a striking appearance at just 5 feet tall. She is noticeably slim for her frame, creating a striking contrast between the world-class bodybuilder and great grandmother. Since 1992, when Newlin began lifting weights at the age of 71, she has won over 40 trophies in the masters class in just as many competitions. A Mt. Airy resident since 1959, she started training in Germantown at Rivers Gym in 1991 with the owner, Robert Rivers. It was Rivers, said Newlin, who encouraged her to enter her first Mid-Atlantic USA competition, just three months after she joined the gym. “I started in November of ‘91,” Newlin recalled. “But then my appendix burst in December, and I didn’t return to the gym until February of ’92, and my first competition was May 9, 1992 at Finley playground [in Mt. Airy].”
She won first place in the masters division, which is usually for contestants 35 and older. In fact, Newlin has only had one competitor even close to her age in all the competitions she has been in; that was that first one, and the other woman was 10 years younger. In her first year competing, Newlin won first place in her first three contests. She went on to place in the top three in competitions across the United States, including winning third place in the masters’ category of the World Physique Federation’s international competition, which took place at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Center City in 2004 and drew contestants from 130 countries. She has also competed in France and Italy. According to Newlin, when she first entered the gym she could not have foreseen her strength and aptitude for weight training. “I started bench pressing 45 pounds, and I never thought I would get those weights up,” she remembered. “Now I can bench press 90 pounds. and squat 130.” Newlin also did not let the fact that she was the only woman in the gym at that time deter her.
“There were no women, just great big guys,” said Newlin. “It didn’t bother me.” The publicity began rolling in from the beginning. She has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, the View, The Today Show, local newscasts and talk shows, in articles in the Essence Magazine, Women’s World, The Philadelphia Daily News and Philadelphia Inquirer and numerous others. She also regularly makes personal appearances around the country and even models exercise clothes in a fashion show in West Chester. “Sometimes I go to homes for older people,” she explained. “In the past they just sat around, and now they are trying to get them to exercise. If you don’t move, you won’t be able to move.” All of the attention Newlin has received came about because she “just wants to keep moving.” “I had been working out at the YMCA in Germantown,” said Newlin, who continues to work out for a couple of hours at least four times a week. “I was doing whatever exercise I could do with the equipment they had there. I was looking for a place where I could learn how to use the weights properly. I didn’t know what I was doing; I just knew that I wanted to pick up those weights.” During her 45-year career as a registered nurse, Newlin was never an athlete, although she was always physically active. “People always say ‘athletic,’ but in my day you didn’t play sports necessarily. We jumped rope. We walked everywhere we needed to go; we never took the car or the bus. We were always outside playing. We weren’t allowed to sit around.” The unique bodybuilder grew up in North Philadelphia, the daughter of immigrant parents from Barbados. She attended Girls High School for two years before graduating from Temple University High School. She earned her R.N. from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and then went on to receive her Bachelors in Healthcare Administration from St. Joseph’s University in Maine. Far from the well-toned, muscular figure she cuts today, Newlin always struggled to keep on weight. “I’ve always had trouble with losing too much weight,” she said, laughing. “I had four children, and I lost weight each time.” When she went to D.C. for college, her mother would send her boxes of cod liver oil capsules to help her keep her weight up. On average, Newlin weighs either 99 or 100 pounds. Even weightlifting hasn’t changed that. “The highest I have ever weighed is 105,” said the energetic octogenarian. “I don’t do any of the special dieting. I just eat food. I have never really liked fatty food or fast food, and I don’t like gravy. I can’t stand to see a plate of food swimming in gravy.” Newlin loves to cook the dishes her mother taught her to make, a skill she has passed on to her own daughters. “My girls know how to cook the food from the island,” Newlin said of her three daughters. Newlin also has a son, who currently lives in the Philippines. (“He calls like he’s next door,” Newlin said.) After spending time with Newlin, you realize that she takes as much pride in her family as in her unbelievable physique. She has four grandchildren and 7-year-old twin great-grandchildren, Tyriq and Tyara. She sees her family in the area several times a week and tries to make the trek to Barbados annually. Ironically, Newlin said, her husband Raymond, who died in 1990, worked for the railroad and yet refused to travel. Retired since 1987, Newlin’s goal is to be independent. She lives in the house where she and her husband raised their children, and she drives herself where she needs to go, and nothing will stop her. “People have a perception of what you should be able to do at a certain age,” said Newlin. “I just don’t see that.” |
