ISLE PROFILE
Despite late start, 79-year-old has become world-class powerlifter

By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer

Sonny Ronolo, 79, said he began lifting 12 years ago as a way to change an unhealthy lifestyle. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

The 79-year-old Ronolo has set 35 world bench-press records since he began lifting 12 years ago and is believed to be Hawai'i's oldest competitive bench-press, world-record holder.

Next month, the 5-foot-6, 163-pound Ronolo will attempt to break his personal best bench-press record of 325 pounds at a tournament in Reno, Nev. Ronolo's feats are considered above average in a sport where bench pressing equal your weight is considered an acceptable goal for normal people.

Weightlifting has given Ronolo fame, friends and a new life. A retired Pearl Harbor pipefitter, Ronolo said he started weightlifting to improve his unhealthy lifestyle.

"I used to drink a lot, smoke a lot of cigarettes and play a lot of golf," Ronolo said. "The 19th hole was busting me up all the time. I got pneumonia and landed in the hospital. I thought I was going to die. While I was in the hospital, I said, 'gee, I gotta do something with myself.'"

So Ronolo started lifting weights at age 67. He said didn't know how to lift weights initially but he learned from different people.

"My mind came good, my strength came good," Ronolo said. "I said I might as well stick to this. People told me to enter tournaments. I was doing 225 (pounds) 11 or 12 years ago. They thought it was good and told me to enter and I would win."

Ronolo has been winning tournaments ever since. He said he has no local competition in his age bracket, and about 10 or 12 opponents in Mainland competitions.

"Every year, I've been breaking my own records," said Ronolo, who co-owns a sports nutrition store called Sonny's Supplements Inc., in Kailua. "I have about 35 world records, maybe more. What I have to do is compete against myself."

Ronolo said the secret of his weightlifting success is his practice-makes-perfect technique and positive can-do attitude.

"You need a good mind," Ronolo said. "The moment you think negative, you'll never do it. Then there's no sense of going to the gym.

"When I'm onward to the gym, I'm thinking about what I'm going to do," Ronolo continued. "By the time I get there, my mind is strong already. I'm not going to guess what I'm going to do. I know what I'm going to do, how much I'm going to lift."

Ronolo, who suffers from diabetes and high-blood pressure, was told by a doctor to stop weightlifting four or five years ago because the doctor feared Ronolo would die lifting weights one day.

"Every three months, I would have a check-up with him," Ronolo said. "He asked me how much I'd been lifting. He said, '100 pounds?' I said, 'no, 300 pounds.' He called his nurse and said, 'You see this guy? He's a hard head. He's going to die someday lifting.' So I changed doctors."

Friends said that's typical Ronolo. They said that Ronolo would never give up weightlifting as long as he's able to do it.

"The two loves that he has is the passion for lifting and the passion for people," said Wes Chun, who trains with Ronolo. "That's what made him so great. A year and a half ago, he was sick. He had to get angioplasty and couldn't lift for couple of weeks. It made him depressed. He said, 'If you take away take away my lifting, then I'll die sooner.' Doctors have been wanting to take away his lifting for years."

Chun, who is 148 pounds, credited Ronolo's training and inspiration for helping him achieve his personal best bench press of 405 pounds.

"I would love to be lifting at his age," said Chun, 32, who is an AAU world record-holder himself. "Sonny is unique. I don't think there'll be another Sonny. He just shows that anyone can do the unthinkable. He's living proof."