Hi, I'm Vic Braden. Welcome to another edition of Future Sport. On today's show, we'll concern

ourselves with your body. Here you see some typical gymnasium equipment. But, on this

show, you are going to see some sophisticated electronic equipment which is going to mold

tomorrow's athletes. Inside these doors, already working in the future, Dr. Franco Colombo,

former Mr. Universe, and current Mr. Olympia.

Hi, I'm Vic Braden. Welcome to another edition of Future Sport. On today's show, we'll

concern ourselves with your body. On this show, we'll concern ourselves with your body.

On today's show, we'll concern ourselves with your body.

In addition to Franco Colombo on today's edition of Future Sport, we welcome back television

sports journalist Charlie Jones and explore where sports and television are heading. We'll

also meet Brad Parks, an outstanding talent who overcame a physical handicap to become

an athletic champion.

On Future Sport today, I get a chance to talk to the man I've always wanted to meet. We're

exactly the same height, but that's where the body comparison's in. Dr. Franco Colombo.

Nice to see you.

Right. Former Mr. Universe. What a great bot. I want to ask you how you got started. How

does somebody, you didn't get started when somebody kicks sand in your girlfriend's face?

No, no. I used to do some other sports before. I used to be a boxer. I used to play soccer

in Europe and Italy. And then I went into a sport. I've always wanted to train to benefit

my body more, like to get in shape, look good. And I found out that weight training and bodybuilding

might be one of the best for that. And slowly I got involved. Without thinking I would be

a champion someday. And then I competed in one little contest, and I won, and I won into

bigger contests like that. That's how I got into it.

Now your body looks great, obviously. But don't you want to do something with your body

when you've got a great bod like that? Don't you want to get out and lift a roof off the

foundation or something, or just have people looking at you satisfied?

I do it all the time. I'm known to be the world's strongest man because I lift cars

when I walk on the street. Like if I can park my car, it's just pointed in there, and I just

lift up my car, park it in, and keep walking. I do it all the time.

Are there some myths about bodybuilding? Can people do the same thing you do to build your

body and use it for other sports, football, basketball, and so on?

Oh, of course. This is how the body works. Every movement we do today, every movement,

including eating and digesting, in any kind of sport, is done by muscle movement.

Okay? Now when you do a sport, I find that if you will check and say, yeah, I have strong

biceps and weak triceps, let's say, whatever the weak parts are, it's very important to train and

beat weights that people improve in the sport. And you can become a great athlete if you balance

the body. The key is how can you balance the body? Because every body has the antagonistic

muscle, which I mean the opposite muscle, like the front to the back, or unequal. And the key

is how can you balance it? And the only way to balance it is with weight training.

Now in the old days, we used to see the weightlifters and others who couldn't bend

over to get a drink out of the drinking fountain. Yeah. That is how the myth developed about being

muscle-bound and stupid and all that. And to tell you the truth, in the 1940s and 50s,

people used to just train to get big and used to walk around looking like monsters, you know?

And in that case, they gained muscle and fat. And the fat between the muscles and between the joints

in the body was interfering with movement, making them really muscle-bound. And then the myth came

through that when you get too many muscles, you get muscle-bound. However, if you get in good

shape like me, you see, muscular without fat, the body moves even better. I'm very flexible.

How long do you think it would take you to fix a body like mine and get it from being round

to looking like yours? Well, that will not take long. It takes between two years and two

generations. That's great. Well, anyway, we had a chance earlier this week to take a look at your

body and how it functions upon some special electronic mechanisms. So let's go into the

laboratory now and we'll take a look. The first exercise program that Franco demonstrated was a

new weight training device that for the first time adjusts to your body rather than making your body

adjust to the machine. This machine regulates resistance with a computer and it's based upon

your specific needs. Let's get to the inventor of this amazing machine, Dr. Gideon Ariel.

The computer will identify where to put the most resistance, will stop for one second and

then release. This is very unique for weight training. Ready? Go. All the way. And go. Push,

push, push, push. All the way. Okay. That's 294 pounds. Okay. All the way. 309 pounds. Let's go

all the way. Let's break that. 326. It's still going up. It's still going up. 325. Let's go all

the way. All the way. And push. Okay. 325. Another 325. Okay. That's it. That was the last one.

Now, if we look on the force that you did, look on that. We started 294, 309, 326, 325, 325, 302.

Tremendous amount of power. Now, if we want to look on the force curve, what we see here that

we really overload him in a specific, specific angle. So if you want, yes, the strongest year

where the bar stopped and which was about 10 degrees. So many times when you want as long as

450 pounds, 450, 450. When I'm getting stuck, this type of exercise equipment allow us exactly

to train the master at a particular angle so he can train himself in any range that he wants to

train. You know, Franco, when I watch people like you and Dr. Ariel, it just makes me feel so bad

that I look like a grapefruit. However, I've learned one thing for you people. I gotta lay

off those low-cal donuts. That's all there is to it. Yeah, you do have to watch the diet a little

bit. That's true. But you're in great shape. I see you playing tennis. You play great. You play

much better than me. Anyway, super. I hope that you'll come back and join us again. Thank you very

much. I love you. I guarantee I'm going to look like you the next time. Okay. I'm waiting to see

you. All right. Here's some tips to remember. Muscle size is no correlation to physical

conditioning. No shortcuts to fitness. Good conditioning is hard work. Boy, you better

believe that. And exercise as many minutes per day as you eat. That's a good tip. We'll

join sports journalist Charlie Jones when Future Sport continues.

Welcome back to Future Sport. On an earlier edition, we first met television sports journalist

Charlie Jones and talked golf. Even compared to swing to Jerry Pate. Today's subject with Charlie

are sports, television and the future. I am delighted to welcome back to Future Sport

telecaster, sports analyst Charlie Jones. Charlie, nice to be back. Buddy, I have not slept since

you were here the last time and you made a statement that in 10 years from now sports

are going to change because television is going to dominate. Can you elaborate? Well, let's let's

start. Obviously, there's several levels of sports, but let's start first at the professional level.

And we see it, the handwriting on the wall with the creation of the new football league,

United States Football League. That football league has been created for television because

in the first quarter of the year, you know, January, February, March and the second quarter,

April, May, June, there's really not that many exciting events. As as you get to the second

half of the year, the second half year, you have the World Series, you have college football,

you have the National Football League all leading to the Super Bowl. But in in live,

exciting sports, we get where the big money is. There's only one man in Russia who's a commissioner

of all sports, right? And so all the Russian athletes are amateur athletes, according to the

Russian code. Right. Now they get into the Olympics. This is a different level and they

win so many of the events because they're playing against our so-called amateurs. Do you see our

world changing from the amateur level? Those Olympic athletes, are they going to get a chance

to have families when they're 30 and still compete on behalf of this country? I think that they

should. And I think to be competitive in that world, I think that we have to be. But I think

there's a way to do it in our society, which is a capitalistic society, which is a free enterprise

society. And I think that we're seeing the first step in a way at the Olympics in Los Angeles in

1984. And that is the corporate backing of the games. We've never really seen that in the past.

And now they're getting involved. But I think that's the way to go. And I don't see anything

wrong with it. I don't believe there is a pure amateur after the sixth grade.

No, Joey, everybody wants jobs. I mean, the whole theme now is get a job, get a job.

But every high school coach wants a job. But the fact is, that's where the big money is.

There's only one man in Russia who's a commissioner of all sports, right?

And so all the Russian athletes are amateur athletes, according to the Russian code.

Now they get into the Olympics. This is a different level. And they win so many of the

events because they're playing against our so-called amateurs. Do you see our world changing

from the amateur level? Those Olympic athletes, are they going to get a chance to have families

when they're 30 and still compete on behalf of this country? I think that they should. And I

think to be competitive in that world, I think that we have to be. But I think there's a way

to do it in our society, which is a capitalistic society, which is a free enterprise society.

And I think that we're seeing the first step in a way at the Olympics in Los Angeles in 84.

And that is the corporate backing of the games. We've never really seen that in the past. And now

they're getting involved. But I think that's the way to go. And I don't see anything wrong with

it. I don't believe there is a pure amateur after the sixth grade. You know, Joey, everybody wants

jobs. I mean, the whole theme now is get a job, get a job. But every high school coach wants a job.

But the fact is, if he doesn't win in high school football, he probably is out of a job now. It's

getting more and more professionalized. This, that's one of the bad things of sports.

It seems to be that at the coaching level or the participation level that you cannot enjoy it

if you don't win. And I understand that. But participation is also very, very important because

only like one half of one percent of the football players that graduate from high school can ever

make it to the professional level in any form. So you've got to be able to enjoy it. I think we have

to get away from the concept of the winning at all levels. But the thing, if we take the television

step, if what I believe is going to happen happens, then there becomes a downward progression.

What then happens to college football or college athletics? It becomes, in my mind, on the level

that we now see professional athletics. Because the college athletes, they are paid. They're paid

$10,000 a year for their scholarship and their money. And that's really not enough. They should

be paid more for the money that they bring in. They're entertainers. Then in the same 20-year span

is what we see now in college football going to come down to high school football. And I think I

will. You see it in some forms in some of the hotbeds. In West Texas, for example, I did a show. I

don't want to name the city. But they have a facility for the Mean Green Machine. And it is

80 yards long. It is enclosed, Astroturf. And they practice all year round. And that's high school.

I recently did a telecast around a tennis tournament. For the 14 and under division,

there were nine agents sitting on the side watching. How many of them were professionals

already? Because, you know, at 14 they start turning professional, particularly young ladies.

Well, Charlie, that's it for high school. For the amateur athlete, the Olympic hopeful. That's it

for pro football. And what about you? You have an agent. Where are you going? Oh, I'm just having

a good time. Just like always. Thanks for being with us. Thank you. We'll meet a very unique man

in a moment. This accomplished tennis player and outstanding athlete, Brad Parks, will join us with

Future Sport return.

Chair champion in tennis and track, Brad Parks. Brad, let's start with the obvious.

How did you lose the use of your legs? Sure, I was in a skiing accident about six years ago.

And I was freestyle skiing. And I overthrew a backflip, landed on a hard pack, hard snow day.

And it just severed my spinal cord. And from then on, I've been, you know, no feeling from the legs

down. Well, then what got you up, buddy, to say, hey, look, because you were an athlete, you lost

that big chance. Now what made you realize you're still an athlete, you got to go for it, but just

with a little different approach? Well, I felt I was just too young to, I was 18 at the time,

I was too young to not enjoy the thing that I love, sports. I wanted to still get out there

and do the same things that everybody else was doing that I always loved. So I just decided the

best thing was to take that attitude, to go out there. And I felt there was some incredible things

that I didn't think I could ever do possible on skis and, you know, some of the things that

gymnasts do. The triple flips, the twist, all those type of crazy things. And if they can do

some incredible things and possibly, you know, be in a wheelchair, being paralyzed from the waist down,

maybe I can do the same thing. Right, sometimes when people watch you play, and I've watched you

for a pretty good while, they think that, well, maybe this guy has partial use of those legs. But

do you? No, absolutely not. I'm completely paralyzed. I have no movement, nothing. And I've

been, you know, people have thought the same thing because I do use some leg braces on my

legs, and that gives them some bulk and some stability. And it also gets me around on crutches

and things. But there's absolutely nothing. It's all just in the chair and just control and balance

things that I've developed, you know, since my injury. Brad, had you played much tennis before

the accident? Well, actually, I hadn't. And it was something that I really wanted to start playing. I

wanted to, you know, in the off season of skiing, wanted to start playing a little bit of

tennis. And when my accident came, I thought, well, you know, maybe tennis could be a sport

that I could do, because I could probably do it with able-bodied people and with friends. And

so when I, in fact, when I called you, I called you and talked to you, and when I really

started playing, I came up to your college, you invited me up to your college back then, and that

was really one of my starts. That was where I really developed my skills, because before that,

I didn't even know a grip or anything. Well, I'll tell you, normally, like when you saw those things

that you and I hitting, and I got to tell the people, in wheelchair tennis, you get two bounces.

Well, when I play you, you toad, I don't give you two bounces, because you two talk on me with one.

You really handle pace. Well, it's, I do better with pace, because actually, the faster ball,

I can generate that trampoline type effect off my rackets, and I can get it more pace, and it

really makes a better game for myself. Well, you have a great future, obviously, but also a lot of

people who have lost the use of their legs have a great future in sports, and especially in tennis,

but you do some other things. I was involved in things like scuba diving, and then, of course,

one of my great loves was the track and field, and I raced in the track and competed two years

on the International Wheelchair Olympic team, and I guess my greatest thing was the, in the 1,500

meters, when I won the metric mile in 4.24, and so, but even since then, that's been two years

now, and guys are breaking that left and right, and I think probably the most incredible thing

was this year in the Boston Marathon, where a guy named Rick Hansen won the Boston in one hour and

48 minutes. He was a Canadian guy, and so it's just phenomenal what guys are doing now. You know,

a lot of it's the technological advantages of the chairs and then just the training technique. Well,

we're always tickled to have you out at Cota da Casa, but the fact is, you've been all over the

doggone globe. Where have you been? Well, we just came back. I was in Australia for the second time

last October, where we set up an organization. Now they have the New South Wales wheelchair

tennis association. I was in Sweden last summer doing a week-long tennis camp for a lot of junior

wheelchair borgs coming up who are going to be great, and then all over the country, just setting

up programs from Albuquerque to New York, and it's growing. The sport's growing, and you know, like I

said, I think we have probably a thousand players now. We have 300 active competitors, and I remember

you said there's going to be, in fact our first national championships when you spoke, you said

before long in a couple years there's going to be a thousand guys entered in this tournament,

and I think you're right. Well, anyway, Brad, I just can't say enough nice things about you,

because you do what anybody has to do. If you want to become great at anything, you have to pay

your dues, and also you show us that everybody has some handicaps, but you have to just take advantage

of what you have, and you have an awful lot of strength. You have a great brain, but also you're

just a beautiful person. Well, thanks. We'll be back with a final word when Future Sport returns.

Let it make a happy glow for all the world to see.

Special thanks to Brad Parks, who shows us all how important the human spirit is

to worthwhile participation in sports.