Wresting Training - Broken

Back at Elite Fitness after a week away in the States, I had to prove that I'd taken more on board from my first visit here about fighting, than I'd taken on from the Americans about eating...though the slight spare tyre around my waist told it's own story...

I've managed to turn up with my £6 admittance fee this time and in plenty of time for the warm-up, which meant I'd be going head first into forward and backward rolls in front of folk who churned these out for fun, literally (Gymnastics was my worst sport at school).

The warm-up over and my pride still reasonably in tact; somehow I'd managed to get away with a few of those 'new' diagonal rolls that are all the rage in gyms these days, I was feeling good and ready to learn some fresh moves.

This time around when Coach Hales demonstrated the first move we were to practise through replication I was partnered with Danny and James; two very helpful lads, each the size of a barn door.

Coach Hales would allow us around ten minutes per move, for practise and to iron out any shabbiness in technique, this provided me just enough time to work out one move before being confused by the next and forgetting a lot of what I'd just done. The other members of the group seemed to soak up the move with one demonstration, though thankfully Coach would show us at least 3 times to ensure even I had a chance to get the basic gyst.

Coach Hales (green tee) shows us how it's done.

After being strangled, flattened and rolled into an uncomfortable ball in the name of learning - and loving every minute - we once again paired up for mini, 3 minute battles, played out to submission. Coach Hales said that I needn't get involved unless I wanted to. I got stuck straight in.

To begin with James and I practised some of the moves from the evening, which gave me the chance to refresh my memory and James the easiest opponent in the room. I really appreciated this gesture from the big man who I'd later find out had a real thirst for history and even takes part in historical battle re-enactments, though after two 3 minutes rounds I could tell he wanted the chance to face more resistance and so I switched to another opponent.

Ben was a slightly bigger build to myself, though far more solid and had been studying Wrestling far far longer. We matched up and that's when I got a little cocky; while I was by no means showing any sign of technical nouse, I did try to add some aggression and added force into my efforts - this simply indicated to my opponent that I was up for a similar approach back; it's fair to say he had more stock of each in his locker.

After a few submissions from yours truly we were nearing the end of this pairing when Ben pulled a move where my head was low into his chest as I was forced backwards and he rolled over the top of me. The pop, flash of pain in my chest and my subsequent 'aggghhh' as we hit the deck caused the other fighters to stop in their efforts and look our way. I explained the problem to Coach Hales and he diagnosed that I had a 'popped sternum', and instructed me to sit out the rest of the session - I wasn't going to argue.

Randomly, a chiropractor called Patrick, entered the room almost straight away; he'd turned up to advertise his services and had a patient instantly - Coach explained the issue and I was given some early treatment on the spot. Cheers Patrick!

Patrick the timely chiropractor

Ben apologised but I passed it off as just part and parcel of learning a sport like this, he felt pretty bad as he'd never injured anyone, though in my eyes he'd merely wanted to win - I knew he wasn't setting out to break me.

South Essex Wrestling Club, Coach Hales (green tee), The Everyman Olympian (broken and right of Coach Hales), Ben (second on from back right), Danny (back right), James (front right).

That night as I tried to sleep I was in a lot of pain; if I turned my head left it killed my back, if I turned my head two inches to the right, my chest flared up. I opted to sleep on it and see how things developed.

I've since been to a chiropractor nearer to home. The pain subsided but 2 days Sailing training and a full day moving awkwardly for The Beach Volleyball Challenge has taken it's toll on my recovery, here's what the 'doc' diagnosed:

Effectively I've 'pulled a rib' - which means I've damaged the links between one of the cartilage sections connecting one of my left ribs to both my sternum and my rib. It's not pleasant.

I'm currently sidelined from continuing with Wrestling for the time being, have been unable to start Hockey, and am having to rest rather than continue with Triathlon training.

68 days to go till the Olympics start...

The Wrestling Challenge - Training Day 1

With a trip to the land that invented burgers and dunkin' doughnuts on the cards for the week ahead I knew I'd need to top up on sports activities to remind my body that I've still got a long way to go in the quest of The Everyman Olympics, so this morning before work I went for the now customary 10k coastal run and this evening's choice of physical education? Well what be better than a spot of friendly Wrestling...

I'd learned of South Essex Wrestling at Elite Fitness in Rochford, Essex, through my pal Chris and when I emailed them to see if I could come along to learn, train and fight for The Wrestling Challenge, Coach John Rushton was straight back to me with an invite to come along one Friday evening to get involved.

When I arrived the session had already began so I found a space on the matted floor and followed the stretching exercises as delivered by the man I now know as Coach Hales, another John - round these parts they make their John's pretty sturdy.

Coach Rushton & Coach Hales - solid John's.

Both Coach Rushton & Coach Hales made me feel really welcome and wasted no time in getting me involved; they demonstrated a technique which the class studied a few times, then we partnered up and practised the move.

The fella I was matched with had been doing the sport a while and helped me to learn each exercise, we took turns leading the moves; after a good number of goes the coaches would show another technique and we'd go back to the mat to try them out.

Next up was a submission section, while the rest of class did this I was taught more in line with the Olympic methods; no submissions, with bouts ending in victory by pinning both an opponents shoulders onto the floor at the same time, or by collecting points. Both coaches granted me time to train one-on-one with them, and I also partnered up for the three minute sessions with various other fighters, all of whom helped me learn and try new techniques...all of them were built like rugby players.

By the end of the session I was covered in sweat, and yet some of the others opted to have extra fights...

The chap against the wall here must of had 4 additional bouts...dude loves a scrap.

If you fancy getting involved in Wrestling you can learn more about South Essex Wrestling or other Wrestling clubs here.

This is a workout like Judo, you're using body weight, brains, strength and stamina - if I could train like this in the States next week I could eat like the locals!

Winter Warmers

With the weather here in the UK looking to show early intent that we're in for a harsh and drawn-out Winter I'm looking to move my focus to indoor sports, so what sporting options do I have available for The Everyman Olympics?

Swimming I've just bagged (report to follow soonish...I know I owe you a few) so what else do I have left to tackle in The Great Indoors?

Fencing - a sport I've been keen to start for a while; its got swords and cool outfits, plus the added benefit of decent war wounds - what more could a lad ask for? Having just noticed I'm being followed by @britishfencing on Twitter I've sent them a message, fingers crossed they'll come back with a way for me to get started!

Wrestling - I've a tenuous link to this one: a pal of mine works with someone connected to the GB team for Greco Roman Wrestling - if you read this Chris, lets talk more on this when I visit Friday.

Basketball - 'Pat Ball' as my ol' Grandad used to say (bless him). Apparently a girl very close to me knows someone who may know someone who can help, but you know how those kind of contacts tend to go...

Football - OK so really this is an outdoor sport but I'm up for a game of indoor footie soon if YOU are? (Hoping to bag this one in December)

Water Polo  - @GB_WaterPolo have got back to me on Twitter and I may be able to hook up with the actual GB teams in late January (thanks to both Ollie from the BBC, @BBCSport_Ollie.and Una - @aqua2swim - for the contact via Twitter)

Diving & Synchronized Swimming - here's hoping Una and Lauren can help me here too x*

*Over-friendly kiss - hoping it helps!

Handball - I've no links whatsoever for this one...HELP!!!!

Boxing - Rocky famously trained outside on some occasions but the beatings usually take place in a warm and 'cosy' ring (Pete Puma - insert gag 'here')

Track Cycling - I'm in need of getting to Manchester Velodrome, or waiting till the actual Olympics one is finished in nearby London - then hoping the very helpful Karim of @catchsport can convince Lord Coe to let me use it (I see the great man follows you on Twitter)

Taekwondo - If you're out there and can help with this one, please get in touch!

Gymnastics - Artistic, Rhythmic or Trampolining - I'm even up for these if you can point me in the right direction y'all?

Volleyball - Isn't this just Netball for boys? (Just kidding ; )

So if you can help me with these Winter Warmers please GET IN TOUCH... email me at theeverymanolympian@googlemail.com or send me a tweet on Twitter

I look forward to hearing from you soon x*

The Everyman Olympics: Re-Galvanised

How 12 Events became EVERY Sport in the Olympics...

As the buzz of The Canoeing Challenge settled I started to envision putting together an event around my next task, so as to get more people involved all together in one glorious day...though this wasn't the only thing taking up my spare time: word of my tasks had started to get me noticed and this attention lead me to re-think the core idea at the very heart of my challenges - this is the story of how The Everyman Olympics became Re-Galvanised.

As you may know, this is how I first layed down the rules to myself:

• One challenge to be set every month for a year, based on a different Olympic sport

Because I work in a job where I travel around 35,000 miles per year by car, and have various trips abroad and would be organising the whole thing myself I thought that this would in itself be plenty to keep me busy.

You might also recall that my reasons for doing this series of tasks were purely targetted at weightloss - more specifically I wanted to lose a stone of the fat stuff.

Oh and there was the slight matter of beating my pal Carl in the race to lose this stone....some of us will already know how that story ended.

Back to the point in hand...

A few days after hooking up with Graham, who I'd met on The Cycling Challenge I received a phone call from Mike Miners, a journalist for the local paper - The Evening Echo.

Mike had heard of my sporting challenges through a mutual friend of his and Grahams and wanted to write a report on me.

I was already in training for my next event at the time and so after a telephone interview we agreed to meet at Southend Leisure & Tennis Centre for some photos to be taken of me in action.



The Everyman Olympian (Me)


A few days later I was staring at myself on Page 5, here's a link to Mike's great article:

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/8382831.Olympic_Games__I___m_in_training_for_every_event/

Literally the day after this came out I was contacted on Twitter by the very delightful Shana Pearlman, a producer for BBC Essex Radio no less!

Shana invited me onto the Dave Monk Show to be interviewed live on air - naturally I lept at the chance (being an 'Olympian' and all).

(Unfortunately for some stupid reason Blogger won't allow me to upload the recording I have of this interview - if anyone out there has any tips on how to get this on, please let me know)

Before I did this chat on the radio I looked back at the interview for The Evening Echo and realised that Mike Miner's had printed a quote from me which I hadn't really taken in:

“Originally it was a 12 month project, but now I hope to try every sport before the 2012 games in London.”

EVERY SPORT??!!!....I. Must. Be. Bonkers!

Realising that I'd clearly got excited in the moment, I took the bull by the horns, marched into BBC Essex Radio HQ and ran with it.

So there you have it, the London Olympics in 2012 will feature 26 Sports (though some are broken down into more events) - I've now completed 8 of them and have 20 months left to do the rest.

Here's a list of the sports I've yet to tackle:

Archery
Basketball
Beach Volleyball / Volleyball
Boxing
Diving / Swimming / Synchronised Swimming / Water Polo.
Equestrian - Dressage / Eventing / Jumping
Fencing
Football
Gymnastics - Artistic / Rhythmic / Trampoline
Handball
Hockey
Judo
Modern Pentathlon
Sailing
Shooting
Taekwondo
Triathlon
Wrestling.

If I'm going to achieve this I Need Your Help - leave your details in the comment box below or email me at theeverymanolympian@googlemail.com to find out how YOU can help me and get involved in The Everyman Olympics.

Thanks in advance,

The Everyman Olympian