Lex Libertas

Wrestling

Many of you may not know that I wrestled in high school. I was never very good at it, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I wrestled my 9th, 10th, and 12th grade years. In my senior year, I wrestled junior varsity, something not commonly done. Usually, if you don't make varsity by then, you just quit. I enjoyed it enough to keep on trodding along. Note: I'm already expecting comments along the lines of "You like to roll around on the floor with sweaty men!", so have at it.

Anyways, that was six years ago. Back then, I used to wake up every morning at 5am, go to the gym for an hour before school, and then wrestle for 2-3 hours after school let out. Let's just say that recently, my physical regimine has loosened up a bit. During high school I wrestled in the 152 then 160 lbs. weight class. I've been at 195 since Freshman year of college, though I'm probably less now - it being Russia and all.

Today, I went to wrestle with some of the kids from the dorm. Apparently, wrestling is the national sport of the Caucases, and they start in kindergarden. So it should be no surprise that Nusret, the Dagestani, threw me around like a ragdoll. The Aussie I was with had done some Jiu Jitsu and Judo, but was almost as out of shape as me. The other American did wrestling from Junior High, and wrestled varsity in high school. Though he hasn't practiced in many years, he retained his technique, and once he gets in shape, he'll be quite good.

The real surprise was Peter, a Russian from the Southern Urals. He works as a security guard at the dorm (along with the Nusret), and is the one that, from outside appearances, seems the most innocuous. When he got out on the mat, he destroyed all of us. After the workout he lets slip that four years ago he was some sort of European Champion. Makes me fell a bit better about being tossed around.

I'm sure that I'm going to be very sore tomorrow. I'm so out of shape that I barely lasted 20 minutes. We are planning on practicing at least three times a week, and I'm looking forward to it. It's in a crazy, run-down Soviet building. Is there any other kind? I'll take pictues and get them up next time I go. Finally, some physical activity to get me in a shape other than round.