Strength & Health, Page 42, September 1964
JUST like the ancient Egyptian mythological bird, the phoenix, that was consumed by fire and then arose out of its own ashes to fly away and live another long life, so Chester Yorton climbed out of his own severely shattered bones to transform himself into the marvelous physical specimen he is today.
The story of his success reads like an exaggerated tale of a fantastic creation and yet everything you shall now learn about him is bona fide and can readily be verified.
But let me go back to his 18th year of life after he had graduated from high school. During his school days he participated only in baseball and basketball upon occasions. His hands had never touched a weight. His bodyweight at that time was 160 pounds.
Today Chester Yorton is 25 years old and stands 5 ft. 11 in. and weighs 220 lbs. And he owns 19 arms, 18 neck, 51½ chest, 32½ waist, 26½ thighs and 18 calves. He is strong, too. He can full squat with 500 lbs., bench press with 425 lbs., do strict curls with 205 lbs., and those so-called cheating curls with 230 lbs. And he can make an Olympic total of 800 pounds.
He has been using weights during the past five years only, and yet, amid these five years, he took two layoffs of six months each, therefore, his actual total of training with barbells boils down to but four years of actual weight training.
He is extremely fortunate in having a body that possesses perfect metabolism and he also has wonderful recuperative powers. The two combined may be considered great aid towards muscular improvements, and yet these organic qualities can be obtained by most everyone who lives properly and who treats his body as he would value life's greatest possession ever to be owned.
Chester Yorton was in a terrific auto smash-up. After he had somewhat recuperated from a total physical wreck of broken and also shattered bones, serious multiple lacerations, concussion, and also escaping by only one-eighth of an inch from death, he developed himself so rapidly despite such handicaps, that within two years of exercising he won the title of Mr. Wisconsin, and also in the same affair won an extra award for being the most muscular. Such seems to be somewhat of a record--to become a prize winner within two years after a start from physical profundity.
But to make everything clearer and reveal a misfortune which none of us would ever care to endure, shall now
Let Chester Yorton Tell His Own Thrilling Story
"I was not athletic in my younger days although I played a bit of baseball and basketball in high school. When I was out of high school I was involved in an auto accident that started my road to bodybuilding.
"One night as a friend was driving me home and while hitting a speed of about 40 miles per hour, he missed a curve in the road and the car struck a tree which was but two blocks from my abode. I braced myself against the floorboards but the impact drove my hips out of their sockets. I flew up hitting the dashboard, shattering my thighs. I was thrown against the windshield, smashing it, and cutting my left eye, right through the eyeball. I also ripped open my left forearm from the elbow to the wrist. But that spear of glass that penetrated my eyeball was the most serious of all. And afterwards when I became conscious in the hospital in Milwaukee, I was told that had this glass penetrated my eyeball just one-eighth of an inch further I would have been dead as it then would have pierced my brain. But the nearest I came to that morbid state was a brain concussion.
"I lay in the car for half an hour until the police arrived and pried the doors open with crowbars to release me. The ambulance rushed me to the St. Francis hospital where the doctors then debated about amputating my right leg, but not consenting, they then performed surgery on it for four and one-half hours, putting in a five-inch steel plate and eight screws around my right thigh bone. Three days later they performed surgery on my left thigh bone and at which time they inserted a stainless steel rod about an inch in diameter, inside the femur bone of my left leg from the hip to knee by cutting my hip open and drilling out the hollow where the rod was to be inserted down the center of the thigh bone.
"I was put in casts from hips to toes in traction where I lay in this position for a month. The cast was then taken off my left leg when physical therapy started for its benefit. When I was able to bend my left leg sufficiently the surgeons allowed me to walk on crutches supporting my bodyweight on my right leg that was still in cast.
"I hobbled around on crutches and finally was allowed to go home. There I continued hobbling around on crutches for some time, and one day, I accidentally lost my balance and fell down the porch steps. This fall bent my left leg ,nd also left thigh bone into a 45 degree angle! So back to the hospital I was taken for 17 more days under further surgery and then confined to a wheel chair for over four monthes. I also had to undergo further treatments for still another month and so I had to later learn to walk on crutches all over again.
"But it was the going through all this pain and suffering and hospitalization and also incapacitation that finally led me to the point in my feeble existence, to get well or bust, so to speak! It was very hard at first as I was exceptionally weak after about one whole year of physical helplessness.
"However, while in the hospital in a wheel chair I spied a pair of very small dumbells in a corner of the room, and so I asked one of the surgeons if I might ever use such things for benefit. He exclaimed heartily that some mild, but very mild at first, weight exercises would benefit me. At least this offered me some encouragement and I applied such extremely light weights as soon as I was out of my right leg cast and also felt a spark of energy within me. It was very hard at first as I was so exceptionally weak but gradually I saw a little improvement and later on, much more of it. I even surprised myself during the next two years by first gaining 55 lbs. in bodyweight in the first seven months and then making a total gain of 80 lbs., until I found myself at 240 lbs. two years later and in good muscular shape! However, I found this bodyweight a bit too heavy for physique competition so I reduced to 210 lbs."
What an ordeal Chester Yorton really had! It is almost shuddering!
However, I must add that I have in my possession the full photostat copy of the doctors' report from the St. Francis hospital to the insurance lawyer, and Chester has modestly left out many items. One of these rests in the surgeons' word when pertaining to his femur bone of his right thigh--several times the word "comminution" is used. And this word means in any dictionary "pulverization." Hence Chester's thigh bones were smashed to powder in the center part. But what makes him all the more marvelous today in the fact that he can make full squats with 500 lbs. on his shoulders despite steel plate and steel rod in each of his thighs for the rest of his life. It sort of makes you think a bit!
Yet he had not undergone all the suffering he might never have obtained his longanimity during his incapacitation and which, in turn, might be somewhat responsible for his initial interest in bodybuilding.
He Trains Six Times Weekly With Alternate System
Chester is a very hard worker, too. He performs all his leg work one day and the upperbody work the next day and such is known as the alternate system. And he believes in getting his muscles pumped-up at the very start of his routine and to then keep them pumped throughout his entire training program. He usually does four sets for 8-10 reps in most of his exercises with the exception of his calves which get 30 reps and four sets and with 550 lbs. resistance.
He also works each body part thoroughly before going into the next section. And he generally uses the maximum weight that he is able to use even if he sometimes must drop to 8-9 reps as he begins to tire. But he is extremely particular in performing strict style and full movements so as to get the most stretch possible.
He Surely Is a Hearty Eater!
At the time I interviewed him for this report he was in heavy training and he informed me that during such sessions he increases his food intake as he finds himself always hungry. Hence he eats six times every day! However under ordinary conditions when he trains to just keep in condition he eats the normal count of three meals daily. But just mentally digest the following:
He usually eats six to eight eggs for breakfast and two glasses of raw milk, plus soybean powder with brewers yeast. For luncheon he has a light snack of one pound of rare ground beef, some vegetables and a gelatin salad plus his usual two glasses of raw milk, soybean powder and yeast. And for dinner he devours one pound of liver, chicken or steak, or sometimes fish, together with lots of vegetables and a salad, and as usual soybean powder, brewers yeast and two glasses of raw milk.
He obviously has remarkable metabolism. And I might also add that he eats no salt or other seasonings, no starches or dough; never tastes potatoes, bread, noodles, or cake, pie, ice cream, candy, gum or soda drinks.
Chester Yorton Is a New Bright Star That Has Ascended in Muscledom
One thing which everyone can say about Chester Yorton is that he is a gentleman. His unassuming manner reveals him as a fellow who has not lost that common touch and which is so valuable to one who walks in the spotlight of life. He has intelligence and seems very well versed upon any conversational topic. He impresses as being absolutely indifferent to his own physique and seems void of all vanity. He is always in a state of relaxation and when he speaks he has a well modulated voice and appears always calm and collected. He is a fine asset to the game and a fellow who commands attention and interest because of his own interest in all others.
I personally think he would make a splendid Mr. America. And maybe someday soon he will possess that big title, who knows? Photographs of him do not do him justice. One must behold him posing under lights to really become thoroughly impressed and join in the mighty applause after he completes his posing routine.
Every time one sees him he seems a bit different. This is due to the continuous improvements he is making here or there around his physique.
The world is before him -- how far will he go? How largely muscled can he become? Chester Yorton would enjoy knowing the answers himself.
- Chester Yorton receives trophy for winning the 1963 Mr. Los Angeles physique title from lovely Linda Carbenter, Queen of the Contest. Chester is 25 years old, is 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 220 pounds. In spite of a severe accident to his legs, of which the scars are still visible, he can squat with 500 pounds! He bench presses 425 and can do a strict curl with 205 pounds. His bodybuilding routine and his diet should be studied by readers who want the ultimate in muscularity.
- Chet captured third place in '64 Mr. California contest. In '62 he competed in the Mr. America contest.
- Chester sports 19-inch biceps. He won the Best Arms award in the '64 Mr. California contest.
- Formerly from Milwaukee, Chet now makes Los Angeles his home. He appearance in Muscle Beach Party movie kept him out of 1964 Mr. America contest.
- Chet's routine includes Press Behind Neck, Regular close grip Press, Full Squat On Toes, Pulldown on Lat Machine, Peak Contraction Curl on Curl Machine, Hack lift on Hack Machine, Raise on Toes on Calf Machine.
- Concentration Curl pumps up Chet's 19-inch biceps.
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