Age hasn't slowed this pair of octogenarians at the gym

Landmark studies during the 1980s and 1990s at Tufts University showed that people in their 80s and 90s could add muscle and rebuild leg and arm strength with regular workouts, even when they were frail and living in nursing homes.

Fitness centers have responded by expanding their programs for healthy seniors who want to resist some of the usual declines of aging.

"I'm strong as a bull and almost twice as smart," Newell joked as he pulled his arms backward and raised 200 pounds 12 times on the seated rowing machine. He had just done 900 pounds on the leg press.

A resident of Randolph, Mass. for 43 years, Newell was a boxer during World War II when he was stationed in New Guinea with the Navy Seabees. After the war, he worked as a shipfitter at the Boston Naval Shipyard in Charlestown for 35 years and became a foreman.

A competitive weight lifter during the late 1940s and 1950s, he said he was named state champion in 1948 by the Amatuer Athletic Union. He also "did some wrestling" throughout New England under the name Irish Pat Murphy.

"It made me feel better," he said of all the exertion. "I always enjoyed competing against myself." At his peak, using a shoulder strap, he lifted more than 2,000 pounds.

"Now, of course, I don't lift as much as I used to, but I'm still respectable," Newell said. "Sometimes, I look at pictures of myself from years ago and think, `Oh, I look so old now,' but at 80, you're supposed to get old. One of the main reasons I like to keep going is I know I can't keep going forever. We all reach a point sometime."

He and his wife, Mary Catherine, have three children.

Leach didn't begin regular workouts until after he had retired and developed arthritis.

A Quincy resident since 1955, he worked as a supervisor in the mail department at the former First National Bank of Boston branch in Dorchester and retired in 1984 at age 65.

He walked regularly with his wife, Mary, 76, but still developed arthritis in his back, shoulder and arms. His doctor encouraged him to do other exercises for his joints and muscles. In 1990, he joined the gym.

"I figured that if I stretched out my muscles, it would be good, and it has helped me a lot," Leach said. His wife accompanies him to the gym three days a week and does her own aerobic and strength training routines.

As Leach and Newell finished up their workouts, they stopped to encourage one of the "kids."

"Keep it up; you'll get there," Leach said to John Bogue of Braintree as Bogue took a break between the resistance machines.

Bogue is 73. He began his strength-training two years ago after a physical therapist recommended exercises for his chronic back problem.

"It's been a big help," he said.

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Story Filed By The Journal-Bulletin, Providence, RI