Two Lakeland men are hoping to accomplish a nearly life long dream. They want to win national amateur bodybuilding contests that would allow them to turn pro and get their pro cards.

  • Lakeland men in their 60s compete for bodybuilding pro card
  • Ron Benash, 66, & Roger Puffer, 60, have been training for over 14 years
  • Benash, Puffer lasted competed in 2014; came out of retirement for one more go

Ron Benash and Roger Puffer have trained together for about 14 years at the south Lakeland Gold’s gym.

Ron Benash is 66-years-old. He has been training for more than 40 years and started competing in bodybuilding contests in his early 40s. Roger Puffer will soon turn 60 and has competed in more than a hundred contests.

Both men have come very close to winning national shows in their age groups that would allow them to get a pro card.

They competed in their last national contests in 2014 and didn’t win and they both decided to retire from the sport. Then Ron saw pictures of the winners in the over 60 age groups for 2015 and the competitive juices started to flow again.

“And I looked at the pictures of the condition Roger and I were in, in 2014, and I said man we could have won that,” said Benash. 

He got Roger to look at the pictures and the two men decided to come out of retirement.

Ron will compete at the Masters National Championships in Pittsburgh on Saturday and Roger will compete at the North American National Championships on September 2. If they win their age divisions they will finally get their pro cards.

Both men are confident of victory but are not ruling out a comeback if they don’t win. Ron even joked that maybe they’d some day be competing in the over-70 age group.

“That’s it. That’s the bottom line, said Puffer. “We are going to do it this time Rick!”