The reporters and cameramen who followed him and his group of 8 others were honoring a solider by bringing his ashes to the peak of Mt Kilimanjaro, and it was just shown on ESPN's Outside the Lines, triggering me to make this post. If you want to watch the video you can watch it here: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=7638580
Anyways, I just felt that more people could be aware of a good story in the midst of a lot of negativity in most of the media today. He really makes no excuses for his condition, despite being born that way, and really wants to do things that even fully-able people can't manage. I can't help but feel like I take a lot for granted, but this story certainly puts my problems in perspective.
...and here I was, tossing and turning in bed over a quarter-life crisis, wondering if it is too late to accomplish something. I now know what I must do.
funny anecdote about him: My friend actually wrestled him and was shown in one of the famous "highlights" regarding his amazing skill as a wrestler. According to the friend, he lost because it was near impossible to perform any of the takedowns in wrestling on him because just that - he had no limbs. So in a sense he was given a hidden advantage?... I guess I'm a bad person for feeling compelled to take a little bit away from the backstory... Ahem.
His strength of will is amazing. If I had even half of it I feel like I'd be a much better (and skinnier) person. I mean,
On March 05 2012 18:16 SwizzY wrote: funny anecdote about him: My friend actually wrestled him and was shown in one of the famous "highlights" regarding his amazing skill as a wrestler. According to the friend, he lost because it was near impossible to perform any of the takedowns in wrestling on him because just that - he had no limbs. So in a sense he was given a hidden advantage?... I guess I'm a bad person for feeling compelled to take a little bit away from the backstory... Ahem.
His strength of will is amazing. If I had even half of it I feel like I'd be a much better (and skinnier) person. I mean,
there is this inspiration fiction that goes like: A man had a strong passion in Judo but one day an accident happened and he is only left with an arm. His master then taught him a basic technique. He trained almost everyday and eventually went into tournament which he got very far. Despite some hard times, he won the tournament and his master told him that: "The only weak point of this move is if he got hold of your other arm and which is why you, who practised this move thousands of times, would not lose this tournament"
surprised to see a real world example of this story
On March 05 2012 18:16 SwizzY wrote: funny anecdote about him: My friend actually wrestled him and was shown in one of the famous "highlights" regarding his amazing skill as a wrestler. According to the friend, he lost because it was near impossible to perform any of the takedowns in wrestling on him because just that - he had no limbs. So in a sense he was given a hidden advantage?... I guess I'm a bad person for feeling compelled to take a little bit away from the backstory... Ahem.
His strength of will is amazing. If I had even half of it I feel like I'd be a much better (and skinnier) person. I mean,
That doesn't take away from his accomplishment. How many quadrapalegic's do you think can wrestle? It's not really about wether or not he get some kind of advantage with his disability. It's like that runner that lost his legs and wanted to run in the olympics. Despite him being banned because they felt the spring legs he used gave him an small advantage, it doesn't take away from his long and hard work getting to the point where he could outrun most people in the world.
On March 05 2012 18:16 SwizzY wrote: funny anecdote about him: My friend actually wrestled him and was shown in one of the famous "highlights" regarding his amazing skill as a wrestler. According to the friend, he lost because it was near impossible to perform any of the takedowns in wrestling on him because just that - he had no limbs. So in a sense he was given a hidden advantage?... I guess I'm a bad person for feeling compelled to take a little bit away from the backstory... Ahem.
His strength of will is amazing. If I had even half of it I feel like I'd be a much better (and skinnier) person. I mean,
how does he pin you tho? im actually really interested to know how he scores points other then i think escaping things gets points
heres another question, if he HAD limbs would he be as motivated.
On March 05 2012 17:58 matiK23 wrote: ...and here I was, tossing and turning in bed over a quarter-life crisis, wondering if it is too late to accomplish something. I now know what I must do.
Cut off your arms and legs, then climb a mountain?
yea i watched that wrestling video. Not to be a dick but he is probably extremely hard to beat because... well how are you supposed to pin him without like sitting on him? But still big inspiration to us all.
On March 05 2012 18:16 SwizzY wrote: funny anecdote about him: My friend actually wrestled him and was shown in one of the famous "highlights" regarding his amazing skill as a wrestler. According to the friend, he lost because it was near impossible to perform any of the takedowns in wrestling on him because just that - he had no limbs. So in a sense he was given a hidden advantage?... I guess I'm a bad person for feeling compelled to take a little bit away from the backstory... Ahem.
His strength of will is amazing. If I had even half of it I feel like I'd be a much better (and skinnier) person. I mean,
how does he pin you tho? im actually really interested to know how he scores points other then i think escaping things gets points
heres another question, if he HAD limbs would he be as motivated.
Well I think the biggest boon for him is that the lack of legs means: - can't be taken down traditionally (I'd say so much as 85-90% of traditional takedowns won't work on him) - at such a low weight class, technique is MUCH more impactful than raw strength - looking at his speed in his videos shows he has more experience maneuvering/wrestling against full-limbed opponents than his opponents do him, giving him an incredible advantage. - lower center of gravity meaning throws are completely out of the question (not to mention what it would look like chucking a limbless guy across the mat) - he probably works out his core muscles like an absolute beast - meaning if you aren't under 8% body fat and he's on top of you you better get gimmicky or start pulling some emergency moves (neck bridges and flailing like a bitch because all of the traditional escapes you learned in practice aren't available to you)
The second question is a moot point really. That's like asking if Obama would've been our president if he wasn't black. It's just not worth even thinking about.
For those of you without time to watch the video, at the end it states that he wants to do an Ironman Triathlon do you think that really is too much for him to handle? I mean, climbing Mt Kilimanjaro I was skeptical of, but swimming over two miles, biking over 100, then running a marathon?
On March 05 2012 18:16 SwizzY wrote: funny anecdote about him: My friend actually wrestled him and was shown in one of the famous "highlights" regarding his amazing skill as a wrestler. According to the friend, he lost because it was near impossible to perform any of the takedowns in wrestling on him because just that - he had no limbs. So in a sense he was given a hidden advantage?... I guess I'm a bad person for feeling compelled to take a little bit away from the backstory... Ahem.
His strength of will is amazing. If I had even half of it I feel like I'd be a much better (and skinnier) person. I mean,
how does he pin you tho? im actually really interested to know how he scores points other then i think escaping things gets points
heres another question, if he HAD limbs would he be as motivated.
Well I think the biggest boon for him is that the lack of legs means: - can't be taken down traditionally (I'd say so much as 85-90% of traditional takedowns won't work on him) - at such a low weight class, technique is MUCH more impactful than raw strength - looking at his speed in his videos shows he has more experience maneuvering/wrestling against full-limbed opponents than his opponents do him, giving him an incredible advantage. - lower center of gravity meaning throws are completely out of the question (not to mention what it would look like chucking a limbless guy across the mat) - he probably works out his core muscles like an absolute beast - meaning if you aren't under 8% body fat and he's on top of you you better get gimmicky or start pulling some emergency moves (neck bridges and flailing like a bitch because all of the traditional escapes you learned in practice aren't available to you)
The second question is a moot point really. That's like asking if Obama would've been our president if he wasn't black. It's just not worth even thinking about.
It's not really a surprise. If all he does is practice against people with all their limbs and no one knows how to wrestle a guy with no limbs, it's just the metagame lol. If there were hundreds of people like him wrestling at his level I'd actually expect it to be figured out eventually.
They had a story about this on ESPN last night, it was crazy seeing him trying to climb pretty much a straight vertical of loose rocks on all fours. I think they said it took him 10 days, definitely makes me feel like I'm a bum.
EPT
