Fitness Icon: Clark Bartram

Fitness Icon Clark Bartram Is Still Rockin’ the Industry at 50—and He’s Not Slowing Down!

by Sandy Collora • Photography by Michael Neveux

Every now and then someone comes into your life whose influence is so profound, he or she helps define who you are. Some years ago, when I was planning to make a short film about Batman, I was fortunate to meet such an individual. Clark Bartram walked into my production office, and from the moment I saw him, I knew that we were going to be friends for life.

Eleven years, four films and hundreds of workouts later we have a friendship that transcends just working together. I feel a deep kinship with him—sometimes it seems as though we are the same person, traveling similar but just-a-bit different paths. He is working tirelessly to spread the benefits of health and fitness, and I’m working hard to make art and the films that we are both so very passionate about.

Now age 50, Clark is a fitness icon in transition. From cover model to motivational speaker to actor, he hasn’t missed a beat. He’s having a blast—and he shows no signs of slowing down.

SC:  Let’s start with your basic principles of fitness. Simply put, what do people need to do to be healthy and fit?

CB:  The mind is extremely important in every aspect of person’s life—certainly when it comes to  being fit, healthy and strong. There is no lack of information available on diet and exercise, especially since the explosion of social media. Everyone is an expert with a new and improved way of getting fit, but in all honesty there are only a few ways to do a biceps curl or bench press and only so many ways to prepare whitefish and asparagus, but nobody is gonna wake up and spin for an hour standing up unless he or she has a strong mental resolve. So to me “defining your why” is the biggest and most overlooked aspect of any fitness program.

I’ve written a book called, Where Your Mind Goes, You Go, and this is a great place to start. It’s not a fitness book necessarily, but it definitely deals with the things I feel hold people back from living in the body of their dreams. I also recently created an app called, “The First 10, Where Your Mind Goes, Energy Flows,” and I’m excited about it. It’s going to change many people’s lives; it certainly caused me to rise to a new level of effort as I researched and recorded it.

SC:  At your age, how do you stay in such phenomenal shape while being all natural?

CB:  As I age, it seems my answers to these types of questions get cornier and cornier, but what I’m about to tell you is the truth. The way I stay in great shape is my attitude toward everything I do. I’m 50, but I seriously feel 20, I act 20, I talk like I’m 20 (my wife doesn’t always like it, but I do), and I sometimes forget there is a generation gap between me and the kids I coach in football.

How many times have I said to you, “I feel like I can run through a brick wall”? I think you believe I can now because I’ve said it so many times. It’s even got to the point that I hear you saying it all the time, and I believe you can, because you believe you can.

Another way I stay youthful and full of energy is, I hang out with 12-to-20-year-olds coaching football. Most every weekend I’m out running routes for quarterbacks and acting like a crazy person. I run hard, finish my routes. I clap and laugh and scream at the kids, “Who’s having more fun than me right now?”

They just look at me like, “That old dude is crazy. He’s a beast, but he’s crazy and he’s having fun.”

SC: You sent me some pre- and postworkout supplements,  PTF7 and MRF7, and the stuff is amazing. My workouts are insane right now; one hour on the Spinning bike, no problem; and, yes, I feel like I can run through a wall! Did you help create them, and what makes them so good?