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Over the years I've been reading about some of the greatest athetes (specifically wrestlers) of all time, learning as much as I can about them as far as training techniques and daily workload etc etc. I keep running into the same problem. Some of these athletes are either superhumans or their stats and training routines have reached an almost mythical status that completely go against science and would break a normal human. How much of this can really be true??
For example. The Great Gamma. Supposedly the greatest wrestler to ever live with a record of 5000-0 (obviuosly inflated). He traveled the world taking on all challengers and some of europes best wrestlers at the time. From what I can gather, his daily workouts went as such: he would routinely do thousands of hindu squats and push ups a day, would wrestle 40 different partners, would also dig his hands into a pot of thick clay and mash it between his fingers for grip training. he would bear hug tree stumps and attempt to rip them out of the ground. All of which was done without the aid of animal meat, because he was hindu. But he was known to drink lots of milk. he was 5'7 almost 260 pounds.
Aleksander Karelin- In his prime he supposedly zercher deadlifted over 400 pounds. Yes the man was an absolute freak of nature. He's the man in my av but standing over 6 foot tall a zercher deadlift of over 400 pounds is unreal for a man of that height. he was a wrestler, not a professional powerlifter.
Dan Gable- There are too many crazy stories to add. where would I even start? But how many of these stories are slightly exaggerated? I read an interview from one of his olympic training partners that said on any given day gable could walk into the wrestling room and beat any guy in there in any weight class. he wrestled at 149 and he could beat an olympic heavyweight???
Herschel Walker- one of the greatest running backs of all time supposedly never lifted weights. he did sit ups, push ups, and chin ups for thousands of reps every single day without taking days off. REALLY???
See what I'm getting at? 3 out of 4 of these athletes are still alive, one of which still competes. Either people completely over exaggerate the work ethics of some athletes or none of us are working hard enough. How do we seperate fact from fiction? the greatest athletes of our time nowadays couldn't keep up with those stats without completely overtraining and hindering performance.
For example. The Great Gamma. Supposedly the greatest wrestler to ever live with a record of 5000-0 (obviuosly inflated). He traveled the world taking on all challengers and some of europes best wrestlers at the time. From what I can gather, his daily workouts went as such: he would routinely do thousands of hindu squats and push ups a day, would wrestle 40 different partners, would also dig his hands into a pot of thick clay and mash it between his fingers for grip training. he would bear hug tree stumps and attempt to rip them out of the ground. All of which was done without the aid of animal meat, because he was hindu. But he was known to drink lots of milk. he was 5'7 almost 260 pounds.
Aleksander Karelin- In his prime he supposedly zercher deadlifted over 400 pounds. Yes the man was an absolute freak of nature. He's the man in my av but standing over 6 foot tall a zercher deadlift of over 400 pounds is unreal for a man of that height. he was a wrestler, not a professional powerlifter.
Dan Gable- There are too many crazy stories to add. where would I even start? But how many of these stories are slightly exaggerated? I read an interview from one of his olympic training partners that said on any given day gable could walk into the wrestling room and beat any guy in there in any weight class. he wrestled at 149 and he could beat an olympic heavyweight???
Herschel Walker- one of the greatest running backs of all time supposedly never lifted weights. he did sit ups, push ups, and chin ups for thousands of reps every single day without taking days off. REALLY???
See what I'm getting at? 3 out of 4 of these athletes are still alive, one of which still competes. Either people completely over exaggerate the work ethics of some athletes or none of us are working hard enough. How do we seperate fact from fiction? the greatest athletes of our time nowadays couldn't keep up with those stats without completely overtraining and hindering performance.
