Bruce Hoffman had a birthday the other day (9/14/20) and to
celebrate Robbie McLendon came up with a special “74” workout for the day’s
YMCA Bootfit Class. And as those who know Bruce for his physical abilities,
they will not be surprised at the way he inspired others in these for time
reps. And, you might also not be
surprised to note that he went up the 20 footrope three times to warm up for
the “74”, which no one else doing this workout did that day. In fact, a couple of days before turning 74
Bruce set sort of a PR by during 20 trips up and down the rope in about thirty
minutes. Try that some time – no matter your age or physical prowess.
FITNESS JOURNEY
For lots of people who are involved in their physical
journey at the Hartsville YMCA and particularly in Robbie’s Bootfit, Bruce is a
daily role model for what you can do well beyond things you ever thought your
body could do. And, Bruce has been
making a life of being physically fit since he was about 15 when he started
running in his hometown of New York City. He learned to swim around the age of
six at Camp Chipinaw in the Catskills of New York. And he can still be seen doing swimming in
the Hartsville YMCA pool these days as part of his multi-pronged,
multi-activity approach to his life-long fitness regime.
20 MARATHONS - STILL RUNNING AND BIKING
Bruce enjoyed those early years of running and became very
involved in the sport helping him accumulate more than 20 marathons at the peak
of his running career between 1977 and 1992. His best time was 3:30 at one of
his two marathons in Baltimore, Maryland. Those marathons include an unofficial
run in Boston in 1977, four NYC Marathons, seven in Charlotte and others in
Frederick, MD, Columbia, SC, Long Island, Hinsdale, Illinois. And to
demonstrate that his versatility has been pretty much a career he remembers a
70 mile bike ride from Bayside Queens to East Hampton, Long Island when he was
about 20. He thinks he might have gotten
in shape for that as he was doing 30-mile training runs with a buddy of his,
Larry Cunningham.
REMEMBERING DENNIS
It was a little later in life, however, that he adopted a
working out for life practice to honor Dennis, his brother, who died from diabetes at the age of 42 in 1982.
Dennis, who was four years older than Bruce, had a serious fall from a horse at
the same summer camp that severely injured his pancreas and caused the diabetes
that required daily insulin. But, persistence in a Hoffman characteristic and
Dennis was an all-around athlete playing baseball, basketball and running. Bruce adopted his “working out thing” as a way
to keep his brother’s memory alive.
Bruce had another reason for staying at the physical
activity to keep himself healthy because in 1985 he was diagnosed with celiac
disease that altered his eating habits.
START NOW - START SLOWLY
While he is not one to offer un-asked for advice you will
find that if you do ask how you or someone else might get into this lifestyle
he will first tell you to “start slowly.” His reason for that being number one
on the list is because he says the most important thing for all of us is “to
keep at it no matter how you fee. You will feel better after the workout. He will tell you not to worry about seeing
someone do things you cannot now do – like scamper up a climbing rope, but to
concentrate on what you might do and Start now!
Another thing he will probably mention is that he finds himself a
creature of habit and the habit of the YMCA Bootfit classes with the
camaraderie of working out with others and basking “Robbie Motivation” make it
easier to keep it going day by day. Bruce is a veteran of the United States
Army having served from 1969 to 1971 as a medic. He is retired and during his career he was
working for ESAB Welding in Connecticut
and they offered him a transfer to their Florence, SC plant in 1989. He
lived in Florence for about 10 years and then after marrying his wife Bonnie, he moved to her hometown of McBee where they
now reside. And just so you know he has lot more to do than just work out, he
was a couple of minutes late for this birthday workout because he had to get
their lawn mowed before heading into town.
In addition to the YMCA workouts, Bruce can be found splitting wood and
doing pull-ups on his McBee property; daily home exercising that keeps him
primed for the rope climbing.
BRUISER 74
Now, back to that Birthday workout designed by Robbie to
celebrate Bruce’s 74th birthday, "Bruiser 74"
Let's celebrate the birthday of a humble but tough as nails 74 year old that we
all love and respect!!!! Bruce "The Bruiser " Hoffman!!!!
Reps can be broken up as needed!!!
For time
74 box jumps (step ups)
74 jumping pull ups(bent rows)
74 kb swings
74 walking lunges (el)
74 knees to elbows (toes to box)
74 push presses
74 back ext
74 wall ball
74 burpees
74 double unders
Or
222 singles
Cash out (optional)
74 ft of rope climbs
Bruce had an elapsed
time of just over 50 minutes for the birthday Bruiser bash.
WORK AND WORKING OUT
Bruce Hoffman has been a long-term YMCA member, having
joined first in 1974 at the Vanderbilt YMCA in New York City and then having
memberships in Chicago, Connecticut and Florence. He joined the Hartsville Y in
2010. And, not many remember that YMCA’s used to offer affordable short-term
rooms in many cities and Bruce even lived at the Y in Hollywood for a time in
1971.
He spent a 26-year career primarily in credit and
collections with Union Carbide in NYC, Cherry Hill NJ, Chicago Illinois Danbury
Ct and Florence SC. He then spent seven more years from 2007 to 2014 with
Sonoco in Hartsville.
Bruce will tell you that Bonnie is his biggest fan but if you
visit the Y when he there you will find there a lot of other hard-working
athletes of ages hoping that someday they can be in the shape that Bruce is at the
young age of 74.
