alpinisto's blog

Last Thursday I boarded the bus to Berlin where I was to meet my friend kleiner kerl in Spandau. He had a double bed who he was willing to share with me and he also had 2x3m mats to wrestle on - what more do you need as a wrestler? Naturally we had our first wrestle when I had arrived to get the travel stiffness out of the body, and as usual he was controlling the match which he won. But he also knew that the next match could turn out different as I got warmed up.
I would stay there for the weekend, and we had planned to have a small tournament at his place. When in July I had visited him last time I had tried to invite other guys to wrestle while I was there, but this failed because the information came much too late. So this time I three weeks earlier had invited ten other Berlin guys to wrestle us while I was there.

Apart from wrestling I also had other things to do in Berlin. On Friday my host would have to be away to work, and I went to Schöneberg to have breakfast with my bondage friend there. He had known me since long before the blood clot and now it was maybe two years since we had seen each other. Immediately he noticed that my walking had improved since last time he had seen me, and maybe he was right. Maybe my impression, that wrestling is good for my body, was right. I hope so. But there is still a long way to go to gain the fitness I once had, if possible. Though as long as I can wrestle I can only be happy.

Saturday arrived and my host had told me that he also had put up a match request here on MeetFighters. Which was good, for so far none of the ten guys I had invited to wrestle had showed up, even though six of them had confirmed that they would come. Yet my host had better luck with attracting other wrestlers to come to his place, for this day three guys showed up. One was catchbear1, a nearby friend of my host and one I had wrestled here back in July, the other ones were WrestleBear from Münster and Stringringer from Rostock.
Thus Stringringer was my first opponent this day. He was eight years older than me, but if I had expected a sedate match with him I was wrong. For he was much more agile than I had expected and soon it became a serious fight. Every time I thought that I had the grips on him he managed to escape from my holds and I could start all over again. But in the end I managed to put him down with his shoulders on the mat and stretch his arms and now he could not escape.
One point to me, and now I was warmed up I decided that it would be time for a second attempt on my host, kleiner kerl. I knew pretty well how he fought, for with his small build I could not rely on my good legs which usually is my main weapon. Though if I managed to catch him with my legs I knew he would be in trouble. So I could only try to find another way around to him. So it became a long battle where we rolled around a lot, sometimes with me on top, sometimes with him on top. But in the end I had cornered him and I successfully had my revenge from Thursday.
Now I was ready for the big guy. WrestleBear was weighing 124 kilos (270 pounds) and by far the heaviest guy I had wrestled. But he was shorter than me and I was not expecting him to be as fast as the two other guys. Though if he managed to get on top of me I would simply get crushed, so I would have to get on top of him and do it fast. I had read from his profile that he was more a jobber, and that appeared to be right. For he was not attacking me from the start, and therefore I rather easily could get him down and get on top of him. Apparently he was most into ground fight, but I was the same, so in this respect we were rather equal. Though even though I now was on top of him he didn't want to give in and started rolling from the side to side in an attempt to shake me off. And several times he actually managed to do so, but I was very aware of this and every time returned to my former position without giving him time to get up again. Keeping that big guy down kinda wore me out, and after a while doing this I asked WrestleBear if he would give up - and luckily he did, for now my knee pads also had slid down, and they were essential for me to keep this big guy in position.
After that match I left it to the other guys to fight on the mat. I had only once before wrestled three guys on the same day, and this was in 2014 when I had visited Perseus in England, and I had not expected to do more wrestling that day. But Stringringer wanted it otherwise, for he now wanted a revenge, and since it had ben a pleasure to wrestle him previously and he had travelled all the way from Rostock I accepted the challenge, even though I was too tired for that. Naturally also Stringringer had done some wrestling while here, but he was not as exhausted as I was now, so this time he rather easily made me submit to him. Apparently four matches in a day was too much for me. It seems that I will have to have a third fight with Stringringer one day to find out who of us is the champion.

Had I thought that I did quite well on Saturday then Sunday got more serious. Now two other guys turned up, one being Kuschelringer and the other one being BenAlHürxe. Ben was taller than me, twelve years younger, and even though his profile showed less previous opponents than me I knew that I would be in for trouble with him. For like me he had also participated in the Einsteiger wrestling camp in Lindow, but unlike me he had continued training in the Einsteiger wrestling club afterwards - which I had not. And probably had wrestled more guys than I had. So I soon found out what difference a year of wrestling training did to a body. It didn't take more than 15 seconds before I was down with my shoulders on the mat. I have never been afraid of losing to the better guy so we continued wrestling, even though I technically already had lost. But these further attempts didn't bring much, I maybe could keep wrestling for 20 seconds before I was back with my shoulders on the mat. He really was a formidable wrestler, and I saw that when later he was wrestling my host. Amazing that he was able to get down so low when he was in the bench. He sure would be good dancing lambada too!
The other guy, Kuschelringer, was more 'human'. He had enjoyed the pictures I had on my profile of me in my silver leotard, so for him I had brought my black leotard. This was a 'one size fits all' size, but I had always doubted that it would be solid enough to wrestle in. But this evening I would find out. For I liked the sleek and shiny spandex material, and hopefully Kuschelringer also did. He came on me like a raging bull and soon we were in a tangle on the mat. I tried to pacify him with my bearhugs, but he only seemed to enjoy this. While I were shedding my powers to no use. I had to think of something else, and surely I could have done so if I had had the experience of Ben. But I had not, but at least he didn't make me tapout. I have never had much interest in who is the winner and who is the loser, for me I just love building a sweat with another guy. And sweating I did wrestling Kuschelringer. So we will probably have another wrestle some other day.
The fight could have ended here, for I was now pretty tired after all that wrestle, but my host wanted a final match with me, and sure I could try to give him one, though I wasn't expecting too much. I had learned from him that his major weapon was a 'schwitzkasten', some kind of headlock, and I tried to lock that on him - but it only worked temporarily, In the end he managed to break free and then the tables were turned and soon he was on top of me. This had been another day with three matches, and in total I had had three matches with kleiner kerl, and he had won two of them. But he also told me that I apparently had appeared stronger this time than in July. Maybe another sign that wrestling is good for my body.

It had been a tough weekend, but I was still surviving, and so was my sleek black leotard. So on Monday morning I boarded the bus back to Copenhagen. It would be good to get those seven hours' rest time on the bus, and I seriously needed this rest time to recuperate from the tournament in Berlin. Next wrestling will be in November when I am invited to Wales for wrestling GymGladiator - another tough challenge.