A Good Age: Honored by peers, fitness guru Wayne Westcott 'stays stronger, longer'

QUINCY — Wayne Westcott, who has helped thousands of South Shore residents get fit, stay strong and enjoy a new lease on life, has been honored with the highest award of the New England chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine.

The Honor Award was presented Thursday at a regional conference in Providence. Westcott, 72, recently retired from full-time employment at Quincy College but continues as a professor and coordinator of the college’s exercise science program and fitness center.

Recently, he has been spending more time helping his wife, Claudia, undergo treatment for a recurrence of cancer.

"I'm going to be just fine," she said last week. The couple live in Abington, where they keep a horse named Valentine.

Fitness guru to hundreds of South Shore seniors, he is nationally recognized for promoting the benefits of strength training and has worked with professional athletes.

“For decades, Dr. Westcott has been a legendary presence both on our campus and in our community,” Richard DeCristofaro, president of Quincy College, said. “We thank him for his commitment to generations of students and to the good health of our region, and we congratulate him on this special recognition that comes from a lifetime of achievement.”

The annual award recognizes significant contributions to the professional group and the field of exercise science.

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Speaking to the group last Thursday, Westcott presented the results of four Quincy College studies that showed how to lose fat during weight loss while adding protein to the diet and building muscle so metabolism is not reduced or weight regained. 

“There is no more deserving recipient of our organization’s highest honor than Dr. Westcott,” said Peter Ronai, past president and clinical professor of exercise science at Sacred Heart University. “He is a passionate educator, an internationally recognized researcher, a prolific author and a gracious mentor who has always embodied the very best aspects of our profession.”

One of his oldest and biggest fans is Gladys Petkun, 92, of Quincy, who continues on her own to do the lower-back exercises he taught her 10 years ago.

"He is a wonderful man," she said. "He diagnosed what you needed and told you what machines to work on."

Petkun was in one of Wescott's favorite studies. It showed that people in their 80s and 90s could build bone with the correct strength training. Another research project found core strength training could help prevent lower-back pain. 

Westcott has written 30 books, published 95 peer-reviewed research and academic papers and has been a strength training consultant for the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Navy, six National Football League teams and many other groups.

"Wayne was always very upbeat about the exercise center and I always appreciated that," Vivian Quint, 88, of Waltham, said. "That exercise center was very much a part of my life when I was in Quincy and I miss it and Wayne very much."

Westcott also advised his own father, Warren, who worked out at the Quincy YMCA until he was 97 years old.

Westcott grew up near Binghamton, New York, where his father was a dairy farmer. He said he "wasn't great" at popular sports like baseball due to his eyesight, but he did excel at cardiovascular endurance and running. He went to Penn State for track, did his master's thesis there on strength training and obtained a doctorate in physical education in 1977 from Ohio State University.

He taught physical education at Penn State, Eastern Connecticut and Florida State, then gravitated from teaching sports skills toward his "real passion for physical fitness for everybody." In 1980, he joined the Old Colony YMCA in Brockton, then a leader in strength training. 

In 1984, he moved to the South Shore YMCA in Quincy and after 25 years retired as fitness research director in 2009. He soon started the Quincy College Fitness Center and the college's exercise science program.

Personable and articulate, he wrote hundreds of newspaper, magazine and journal articles including a bi-weekly column for The Patriot Ledger for 33 years. He embraced this as "a great way to reach the average person who might be willing to do the workouts at home."

At 72, Westcott is an icon of staying fit and youthful vigor. He weighs the same, 160 pounds, as he did 30 years ago and does strength training two days per week, cycles hills twice per week and runs sprints on a track one day per week "to keep my fast-twitch muscle fibers."

"I don't think I look old and I don't feel old," he said. "As you get older, I think you can still train hard and be pretty fit, but you do need more recovery time."

Amazing Gladys:At 89, she adds muscle to her legs and strengthens her back

He favors "active recovery." On non-training days, he walks for 40 to 50 minutes with Claudia and their dog, Joy.  

As for a bucket list, it's "staying stronger, longer."

Remembering Lillie

Lillie Durgan, whose 100th birthday on July 1 was celebrated by her friends in Rockland, died 10 days ago after falling ill at home. Her funeral service is at 11 a.m. Monday  Nov. 1 at Magoun-Biggins Funeral Home.

Lillie was independent and exceptional in spirit, and a joy to her friends June Newman, 85, of Braintree, and her daughter Linda Sylvester, Lillie's neighbor for 33 years. It was a privilege to meet and interview Lillie, who is greatly missed. 

Reach Sue Scheible at sscheible@patriotledger.com.

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