Jim Schmitz was born in August 1945 in San Francisco, at a hospital just down the street from where he lives today, in the eclectic and ever-changing Mission district. Some would say he was destined to become a weightlifting coach. His last name comes from the German word for "smith," a worker in metal. His first name sounds just like "gym," a place that has been his second home since he started lifting weights as a teenager and where he still goes to work as a coach today—six hours per day, six days a week, rain or shine. His gym had to relocate a few times since he started it in 1968, but he still calls it by its grand original name: The Sports Palace.
His small apartment is filled with weightlifting memorabilia collected over the years, as he traveled to over 50 countries to coach or officiate. There are medals, pins, tape cassettes, posters, and tons of pictures of the athletes he trained, some complete amateurs and some who got to stand on the podium at Olympic Games.
Jim competed as a weightlifter until he turned 75, when he started feeling what he calls "age-related weakness." His shoulders and knees became too stiff to quickly lift heavy weights above his waist. But his eye for coordination and balance remains intact, and people still drive from all over the area to train on his vintage-looking platform in the basement of a nondescript gym in South San Francisco.
Despite being 78, Jim Schmitz has no plans to retire yet. His business made it through Covid, when he had to coach people at city parks and even on parking lots. He knows Los Angeles will host the Olympic Games in 2028. He surely wants to stick around.
How does it feel to be 72?
Why did you retire or why are you still working?
Why did you retire?
Why are you still working?
I can't imagine getting retired. Weightlifting is my whole life. It's what I do. Every day I have a mission. I train people to become strong and agile bodies. It's very rewarding.
My athletes are like my family. Sports brings us together, although we come from all walks of life and span several generations, from teenagers to my oldest lifter, who is 75.
Thanks to the internet and the demand for Crossfit, the sport has grown so much. I want to see where it goes next. When I started, weightlifting was considered a bad sport. People would say it makes you muscle-bound. Strong men were part of a circus. Women weightlifting didn't even exist! In 1979, I set up a women's locker room at my gym so that my athletes wouldn't have to go to a bar to get changed. Some thought I was crazy to include them. But as I say: "if they can lift, they can lift".
Of course work also brings money and if I have money I can do more things. I don't do this because I want more money though. What would I do if I won the lottery tomorrow? I would remodel the gym.
What do you look forward to?
What is your biggest concern?
Life expectancy 2023
