October 28, 1998

Brothers pump iron for Big Brother/Sisters

By Garret Leiva
Herald staff writer
     
      Big seems a weak excuse for an adjective when describing Jeff and Vern Gauthier. After all, these local bodybuilders have legs the size of Sequoia tree stumps, calves closer to a Brahma bull and deltoids that could shoulder Atlas.
      But this Saturday these brothers showed that, aside from 21 inch biceps, they are big hearted as well.
      Pumping iron for a purpose, the Gauthier brothers bench pressed their body weight as many times as humanly possible in an effort to raise money for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Michigan. Filling several pledge sheets with sponsors, Jeff and Vern Gauthier raised more than $7,000 during the bench press fund-raiser held at the Grand Traverse Mall.
      The idea for the bench-a-thon began when a gym member approached the operators of Fit For You about sponsoring a child. While the Gauthiers considered the offer, it was decided they could raise the bar even further.
      "One of my clients works for Big Brothers Big Sisters and we were approached about sponsoring a child. So Vern and I sat down and talked about ways in which we could possibly raise more money and we came up with this idea," said older brother Jeff, of Grawn, who bench pressed 215 pounds 25 times while his sibling put up 184 pounds 30 times in a row.
      Given the success of the first year fund-raiser, Jeff Gauthier noted that the bench-a-thon will likely become an annual event ; a choice that seems only fitting for these bodybuilding brothers.
      Looking back at the early days of his career, Jeff Gauthier joined a local gym at 24 years old for the simple purpose of getting in shape. After only a month of working out, he was encouraged to enter a "little local gym contest" where he took home a second place award. From that day on he was hooked on the sport.
      "I started competing and winning events, it got it into my blood and I've been competing at the national level now for about 7 years," noted the heavyweight class bodybuilder, who recently finished fourth at the North American Bodybuilders Championships in Detroit and is preparing for next month's nationals in Atlanta, Ga.
      For Vern Gauthier, watching his brother's gains prompted this Williamsburg resident to get involved with the sport of bodybuilding. Following a similar path of early success, Vern quickly move up the Northern Michigan ranks then into state competition, all of which culminated with a first place victory at nationals in 1991. Competing in the professional ranks proved grueling for the 5 foot 4 inch bodybuilder, especially being stacked up against the 250 and 300 pound competition.
      "There is no more weight class in the professional ranks and being one of the shorter competitors I just couldn't compete against these guys coming in at 290," said Vern Gauthier, who retired from the pro ranks in 1993 but continues to train at competition level with his brother, who is still seeking his pro card.
      Training for these two means an hour and forty-five minutes of sheer tendon torture. "By the time I'm done training a muscle, it's trashed and it needs 7 days to recover," said Jeff, who adheres to a 5 day a week training regiment that concentrates solely on one body part per day.
      Being brothers, however, there has been a great deal of friendly competition going on inside the gym as well. Sometimes the sibling rivalry has proven too intense.
      "When Vern was competing, during the last two or three weeks before a competition we'd stop training together. We'd just get too competitive in there," said the elder Gauthier.
      While the spirit of competition has at times come between these two brothers, both bodybuilders find that changes in the sport have made them reconsider the adage: bigger is better.
      "I'm not real happy with the changes in the sport where they have moved from more sculpted, more artistic bodies to big bulky bodies," remarked Jeff, whose 21 inch biceps, 55 inch chest, and 19 inch neck make him no shrinking violet.
      For Vern Gauthier, many of the bodybuilders competing on stage today are truly imposing figures but somehow the body has been lost in all this massive bicep building.
      "The sport has gone into these mass monsters - and although they are incredible to look at - it doesn't show the body lines like I think it should," said the former professional bodybuilder, who has performed his own incredible feats on the leg press by putting up 1,500 pounds at eight repetitions.
      "They're just monsters - its just not that pretty of a sport now."