Strong and Vital No 4

My early years in the fit ness and health industry, from 1979 until today

Ben Weider (centre, 1923-2008) visited Switzerland in 1988 and the Shark Fitness Shop in Wettingen (opened in 1987 by Hans Hadorn and myself, at the time the largest shop in Europe with 750m2). Hans Hadorn visited the IOC in Lausanne with Ben and myself and in 1988 the first «Wei der Gym» in Europe in Brienz.

Cory Everson visited me at the DAVID stand at the FIBO trade fair (1988) in Cologne.

The above signatures on my WAKO certificate were not there on 26 February 1977 and joined WAKO later: Ennio Falsoni (Italy), Jan Willem Stoker (Hol land), Georg Canning (Ireland), Mike Haig (England). If you take the time to GOOGLE the above personalities who signed the WAKO certificate 44 years ago, you will be amazed that most of them are still active MARTIAL ART EXPERTS today at over 70! As a founding member of WAKO World, I then founded the WAKO Association Switzerland with Josef Sturm and Kathi Fleig helped wherever she could. I then became Vice-President of WAKO Europe and WAKO World. After that, I organised numerous national and international competition tournaments. I ran my own martial arts school for years. On YouTube my TV appearance on Swiss television with world champion Peter Harbrecht after the WAKO World Cup in Basel in 1978: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yXJoNvoF1M My commitment was of course voluntary and therefore a form of volunteer work not only in the sporting but also in the social field. In this way, I wanted to make my sporting skills available to young people and offer them the oppor tunity to take martial arts courses in their free time and thus get them off the streets. During my long business life, I have founded many other companies, a computer company, two trading companies, a health centre called DAVID GYM and a publishing house. I sold all of them successfully time and again. After publishing the Fitness Tribune magazine for over 28 years (1st issue in June 1989) and selling it in 2017, I decided to embark on a new project a year before my retirement. This is how the www.starkvitla.tv magazine for people 60plus came out in 2018. My latest project STRONG LONGEVITY SELF DEFENCE will be launched soon, i.e. people who want to achieve a 1st Dan black belt from the age of 60plus.

Bill Kazmaier was long regarded as the strongest man in the world. He demonstra ted his strength at the Shark Fitness stand at the FIBO in Basel, 18-20 October 1991.

Lenda Murray and Dorian Yates with the Fitness Tribune issue from 1992.

STRONG and VITAL No. 4 - 2024

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