Peary Rader (October 17, 1909 – November 24, 1991) was an American early

bodybuilder Bodybuilding is the practice of progressive resistance exercise to build, control, and develop one's muscles via hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. It is primarily undertaken for aesthetic ...

, Olympic lifter, writer, and magazine publisher from

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

. He was the founding publisher of ''

Iron Man Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appearan ...

'' from 1936 to 1986.

Early life

Rader was born on October 17, 1909, in

Peru, Nebraska Peru is a city in Nemaha County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 648 at the 2020 census. Peru State College is located in Peru. History The first attempt to settle the community took place in 1853, by some residents of Peru, Illi ...

. He grew up near Hemingford in Box Butte County, Nebraska. He started lifting weights as a teenager and later shifted his emphasis to heavy, high repetition

squats Squat, squatter or squatting may refer to: Body position * Squatting position, a sitting position where one's knees are folded with heels touching one's buttocks or back of the thighs * Squat (exercise), a lower-body exercise in strength and co ...

, building his bodyweight up to 210 pounds within about a year (he eventually reached 220 pounds).

Career

Rader was victorious in a number of local and regional

weightlifting Weightlifting or weight lifting generally refers to physical exercises and sports in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells, barbells or machines. People engage in weightlifting for a variety of different reasons. These can ...

contests, and also became proficient at a number of other lifts (such as the one-hand clean) and feats of strength. Rader was the Midwestern Heavyweight Champion for seven years, with official lifts of 220 pounds in the one-hand

clean and jerk The clean and jerk is a composite of two weightlifting movements, most often performed with a barbell: the clean and the jerk. During the ''clean'', the lifter moves the barbell from the floor to a racked position across the deltoids, without rest ...

, 280 pounds in the two-hand clean and jerk, and a squat of 450 pounds (without support gear). Rader founded ''

'', a bodybuilding magazine, in 1936. It was initially called ''Your Physique''. At its peak, the magazine had a circulation of 40,000. Rader published ''Iron Man'' through the September 1986 issue, which included a number of letters from prominent people in the field to celebrate the magazine's fiftieth anniversary. In 1986, Rader sold the magazine to John Balik, who repositioned it as a hard-core bodybuilding magazine. Rader also published ''Lifting News'' for many years. He authored approximately 1,300 magazine articles; most were in ''Iron Man'', but some were also published in ''Strength Athlete''. Rader was the chairman of the National Body Building Association. He was inducted into the Body Building Hall of Fame and the Power Lifting Hall of Fame. In the 1950s, alongside Bob Hoffman and

Joe Weider Josef Weider (; November 29, 1919 – March 23, 2013) was a Canadian bodybuilder and entrepreneur who co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB) alongside his brother Ben Weider. He was also the creator of Mr. Olympia, Ms. Ol ...

, Rader was a "pioneer" in the commercialization of

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

as a

bodybuilding supplement Bodybuilding supplements are dietary supplements commonly used by those involved in bodybuilding, weightlifting, mixed martial arts, and athletics for the purpose of facilitating an increase in lean body mass. Bodybuilding supplements may contai ...

Personal life and death

Rader married the former Mabel Kirchner in 1936; they had two sons, Jack and Gene.Peary and Mabel Rader Collection, 1931–1989
/ref> Rader died on November 24, 1991, in

Alliance, Nebraska Alliance is a city in and the county seat of Box Butte County, Nebraska, Box Butte County, in the western part of the state of Nebraska, in the Great Plains region of the United States. Its population was 8,151 at the 2020 census. Alliance is ho ...

, at the age of 82.

Early life

Career

Personal life and death

References

Further reading