alpinisto's blog

I had a knee prosthesis put in my body last October and then was told that I should expect to wait 6-9 months before I could begin wrestling again, but when I was to the final check-up in the hospital at the beginning of this month the surgeon told me, that I should be prepared to put my wrestling on the shelf, as a contact sport like wrestling would not be good for the more brittle prosthesis I now had. Which was not what I had planned for, as I have always had an active life, and I had undergone this surgery to continue my physical activities and not to stop them. Probably the surgeon was referring to boxing as a contact sport and not wrestling. In any case he had not taken BIGguywrestlerBE in his equation.

Since the surgery I had intented to return to wrestling after these six months inactivities though I was planning to have my first wrestling match in Berlin this March, which was only five months after the surgery. But a week after this last check-up in the hospital I was challenged by this big guy from New York, who was coming to Copenhagen for work. And this opportunity to wrestle him was a too good chance to miss, as I have never met other Danish wrestlers here so I had always had to travel to other countries to get to wrestle. Also had always loved to wrestle guys heavier than myself, and this guy was 70 pounds heavier than me!

My rehab after the surgery had finished mid-January and then I could return to my local gym, but it was only last Thursday I did my full program of 15 exercises with each three reps and increasing weights, which I had done before the surgery. Though this time I didn't put on more weights through the reps to make sure that I would be able to do all 15 exercises. And this worked, though I was pretty knackered the day after - but in a good way. So how would it work to wrestle this big guy on Saturday?

I had prepared myself for this first match the best I could. I had chatted with other wrestlers here on MeetFighters which have had similar surgeries, and none of them had needed to stop wrestling but had returned to wrestling after a period, and I had bought a special inflated 'rubber ball' knee pad to spare my right knee for potential problems. Also I had talked with my coming opponent that he needed to be careful with my right knee, because a direct hit would not be good for it. Finally I was happy that this match was to be a hotel fight, because when wrestling on the double bed there would be less chance to have a direct hit to my knee.

As we had agreed upon we met in the lobby of his hotel, and as I usually do I greeted him with a bearhug, though with wrestling we waited until we came to his hotel room. This guy was a bit shorter than me, but it surprised me that he should be 70 pounds heavier than me because he didn't look that heavy. We swiftly changed into our wrestling singlets and went down on the bed to wrestle.

Obviously I tried to do the moves I was used to from previous times, and for some time it worked quite well. I soon found out that this big guy had a weak spot, but as usual I tried not to make advantage of realising this. Because for me the most important aspect today was to have a good and sweaty match, as I usually see this as a sign that I have had a good match, so I had no wish to finish this match too soon - I was only happy that I seemed to be able to wrestle well though I clearly cold feel my lack of fitness and power. The new knee pad on my right knee worked excellent while the one on my left knee much too often slid down. I had a feeling that this was because of my left leg had become thinner after four months of doing nothing.

Although I had a feeling that I was wrestling quite well I much too soon felt my stamina lacking and suddenly I was caught in this big guy's steely body scissor. Even though he was 25 years younger than me he had more than hundred past opponents and besides wrestling he was also lifting weights. So there was a good reason why he had legs solid as telephone poles. Once he got hold of me in his scissors he could just lie back and relax while I, desperately gasping for air, tried to free myself from his steely legs. I have always liked solid legs, but these were a bit too close for comfort.

I had not expected to win this match against a guy 25 years younger than me and weighing 70 pounds more, especially after not having wrestled for six months, but was only happy that I had been able to wrestle him for nearly an hour. Though I can't avoid to feel that he had been kind to me because of my obvious weakness - but still happy that it seemed right for me that I had returned to wrestling and not shelved this activity just because my surgeon had recommended me to do so. I would probably have a sore body the next days - and this I had, though it was a good feeling of my body having done something which it is made for. Also I have the feeling that this big guy was happy to wrestle me as well, and as he might remain in Copenhagen for three more weeks I can only hope that I can get the chance to wrestle him again before he returns to New York.

And then I still have the intention to visit my wrestling friends in Berlin in March, so Berlin seems to become my next wrestling travel.