alpinisto's blog

It was a bit of a surprise to me that I got to wrestle one more time this June. But only a bit of a surprise - as I had planned this potential wrestling session beforehand. For when I was in Dresden I had found that there also was a guy there who would like to wrestle me. And since I never say no to a possible challenge I had planned with horti that I should come to his place to wrestle in his garden the Sunday after I had arrived in Dresden. However, it turned out that we couldn't get to wrestle this day, as he had visitors in the garden that afternoon, but we could postpone it till Thursday. And since I was in Dresden for the whole week this could easily be done.

Horti was a big guy, and with his weight of 300 pounds he became the heaviest wrestler I have had a real match with so far! But I have never had problems wrestling the heavier guys, as with my limited experience I couldn't do much wrong with such solid guy. Also I had the impression that his wrestling would be safe and sound. From wrestling other heavy guys I knew that there was only one way to tackle this opponent, and this was to get on top of him - and remain there.

However, I have never been good to start a match, as I don't really know what to go for, and therefore mostly keep waiting to see what opening there could be from my opponent - and this was clearly a wrong move from my side! I soon was to know that horti had the same idea of getting on top of me and remain there. So I was pinned right from the start. But as expected wrestling with horti was safe and sound and he clearly knew what mighty weapon his weight was. For in general he didn't put his whole weight on me, but took some of it off with his legs.

Horti had previously told me that it would be quite a breathtaking experience for me if he put his whole weight on top of me, but since I was of quite sturdy build myself and I already was pinned I told him that he could just as well put all his 300 pounds on my body, so I at least could get an impression on how it felt. And indeed he was heavy, but I was still able to breathe. But would I be able to get away from under him? Not at all, and he only laughed about my futile attempts of getting away from under his heavy body. But it was quite a good lesson and once I had my breath back I told him that he had won our match.

But horti wasn't done with me yet. Before our match we had discussed what kind of wrestling we would be doing, and I had the idea that a big guy like horti would surely know a bit about Pro wrestling, and even though this was not his favorite he some times had done the Boston Crab. Which was interesting for me, for I had several times before tried to make this hold, but had never succeeded. But horti could easily put me in this painful hold, so if I was unable to do it myself I at least could be put in it. And with his heavy body sitting on my lower back there was no way I could move - I just had to accept it.

Once I was released he asked me if it had been too hard for my back, but surprisingly it hadn't, as I felt it more painful for my quads, and these are pretty strong on me. Therefore I decided that if I got another chance to be put in a Boston Crab I should accept it, and maybe even try again to do it myself, for it seemed so easy the way that horti did it. Though he had the experience.

This I maybe could do when I come to Dresden again next December, and until then I also have a friend in Rome who knows everything about holds like Boston Crabs and Camel Clutches. This guy maybe could become my next session so I also could get to wrestle in July. Though I have to admit that this much traveling for wrestling had put a bigger stress on my finances than I liked, so maybe I will just go to Berlin instead, as I had not visited my friends there since March. Time will tell. At least I now had succeeded in wrestling every calendar month for a year.

In 2015 I had been able to participate in the International Wrestling Camp, organised in Lindow by the Berlin wrestling club of Einsteiger, and as I had the chance to go there again this year I grabbed the opportunity to spend the Pentecost weekend in Lindow. Back in 2015 I had been delayed during the ride to Berlin, but this time I was in time and therefore could make use of all six training sessions in the camp. I had never had six training sessions in just a weekend, so this alone would be a challenge for me. But I started Friday afternoon and then I would see how it went.

I had signed in for the Intermediate group, but in the last moment I switched to the beginner's group. For even though I had been wrestling for more than two years I didn't feel experienced enough to be intermediate. For I have had too long pauses between the sessions, so I've always felt that I would have to start all over again when I wrestled. Therefore my opponents also seem to regard me as more experienced than I do myself, in spite of my 48 previous opponents. Though maybe this was my own impression, for with the few fights I had had I hardly would notice it if I was getting better. Maybe this camp could give me an insight in this?

The Friday afternoon training session gave me a good introduction to the Freestyle wrestling which is done in the Einsteiger club. I know there are different styles in wrestling, but I have always just been wrestling because I liked it and have a feeling that it is good for the recovery of my body. One of the things we practised during this session was how to force the opponent to open up from the Referee position, and this was something I remembered from the 2015 camp. But in the next session on Saturday it became a bit more advanced if the opponent was lying flat on his belly. For every time I tried I was about to put my opponent in a stranglehold, which is not allowed in Freestyle. So this just made it more confusing for me.

For the wrestling on Saturday I was matched with the Parisien guy Patrick and he was more to my age and also seemed to be more experienced. Which maybe also was one reason why I was unable to flip him from the Referee position. His experience also showed that while he immediately knew how the elements should be made I needed considerably longer time. After the three first sessions and thus half way through the camp a list of the elements so far was put on a noticeboard. And then I realised that I had only been able to do half the elements we had practised so far. Like continue the building of a house before the foundation is ready.

Even though I only had been able to practise half the elements so far the training continued and new elements were added. Thus on Sunday we practised the first body throw: the shoulder throw. I was a bit anxious that maybe my legs would not be able to support the weight if I was to lift my opponent on top of my own weight, especially after my knees had collapsed under me when wrestling the previous month. But even if I was not able to do the throw proper I could feel that the movement seemed logical for me, so if only I could get the strength back in my knees I would also be able to do this. And I soon found out that this also would be needed, for when I practised with my roommate he landed with his 300+lbs body on my right arm!

In the afternoon session I was matched with Terry from London. He didn't have any rush and with him I was able to split the throw up in segments so I could train it bit by bit and right now avoid the parts that my knees were not ready for yet. With my physio at home I had made a change in my exercises after last month's collapse during wrestling, and I could feel that this would help me so I rather soon would be able to do the throw fully.

So after I had felt a bit depressed following the Saturday realization that I only could do half the elements we had practised during the camp, I now had the feeling that it wasn't so bad at all. And during the last session on Monday we were introduced to another throw with a backside attack to the opponent's legs with my shoulders. And this seemed that I was able to do even though I had to bend down in my knees to do this. Though I found it a bit dangerous to dive with my head in between my opponent's legs to push him over with my shoulders. I could not avoid thinking of the danger of getting my head between my opponent's legs, for then he rather easily would be able to headscissor me!

Yet I was not headscissored when I did this, and thinking about it subsequently, it dawned on me that I had not seen any scissors being done at all. Which I found a bit strange, as I had always found scissors a good thing as the legs have the strongest muscles of the body, and mine used to be quite good following the many years I had had as a mountain climber and a marathon runner. I discussed this with one of the trainers after the camp and then was told that scissors were not allowed in Freestyle wrestling! Which was a bit sad to hear, but on the other hand I had not felt the need to make use of scissors during the Open Mat sessions. And this way I probably have learned more new techniques than if I had 'just' been doing my scissors.

It had been good to participate in this International Wrestling Camp again, even though my right arm now looked as if it had been run over by a steam roller. I knew that within a week or so I would love to have the chance to practice again - which I can't do as for me Berlin is too far away. At least I hope that I maybe can remember a bit of it when I get to wrestle again. Which maybe already can be later this month when I go to Dresden.

I had successfully followed the idea of wrestling every calendar month throughout the winter, but after I in March had been wrestling every month since October this aim had been reached, I started to think: why stop here? For it seemed that wrestling not only was good for my body, but I also had had some good experiences with wrestling, so maybe the next aim should be to work for a full year of wrestling. Which should be quite easy, for I had now wrestled every month since July - and actually I could have had the full year done now, for I had wrestled every month since April last year - if it hadn't been because of the strikes in Paris which had forced me to cancel that trip in June last year.

A good help for reaching this aim had been my friendship with kleiner kerl in Berlin, for at his place I not only had a place to stay overnight, but he also had mats to wrestle on and several mates who could come by his place for a mutual wrestle, which I saw as a win-win-win situation. But in my eyes I shouldn't make too much use of his hospitality, I thought, and this May I could see that I would have severe trouble getting to wrestle at all that month, as all this traveling had put some stress on my finances. Again help arrived from a somewhat unexpected side.

A friend of mine had returned to Denmark for the summer and was getting ready to move into his summer house. And when I became invited to spend a few days there with him I saw this as a wrestling opportunity as I had wrestled him there a few times before in the past years. This guy Peter had in former years been working in London and there had attended a local wrestling club, but didn't really felt that he could fit in with the lads there. And after increasing back problems he had stopped wrestling there. Which also is the reason why he is not to be found on this site. But I could wrestle him as long as I didn't gave him too heavy bearhugs.

Yesterday morning we started wrestling, and I usually need some time to warm up - which we didn't do this time. So it didn't take long before he had me under his control in a grapewine. Maybe I should have tried to find a way out of the situation, but I generally prefer to tap instead of spending too much energy in fruitless attempts to move on - so I tapped.

The next rounds were better. In one I successfully had him headscissored with my legs and in another one I managed to do the 'schwitzkasten' hold which my Berlin friend kleiner kerl often used to defeat his opponents. But in the next round he made a counter-attack which I was not prepared for.

In order to keep the fight under control on the small size of the mattress I always start in the kneeling position, and this position has some advantage as I then hardly get any unexpected falls, but it also has disadvantages, which I soon was to learn. For when I was in the kneeling position my knees were locked in position on the mattress, so when Peter unexpectedly moved forward to bring me out of balance my body tumbled back, thus bending my knees fully. A jolt of pain sprang through my body, for my knees had not been bent like this since my youth, so this became a sudden end of our match.

After a few minutes relaxing on the mattress I could stretch out and conclude that it seemed that nothing seriously had happened, but I still had that dull pain in my right knee. It was somewhat similar to the January match I had had with Xxlbear in Berlin, with the exception that I then had been able to pull him with me so that he became the guy mostly affected by my fall. Maybe my knees had not been locked in a similar way then - and probably I should stop kneeling down before the start of a match and squat down instead. Which I also have been working on with the physio the recent month. Apparently a squat start is more safe than a kneeling start.

I will have two weeks to find out, for June will probably give me the most serious wrestling this year, for not only will I attend the international wrestling camp in Lindow in the Pentecost weekend, but also I plan to meet a guy called horti when I two weeks later am spending a week in Dresden. And this 300-pound guy will not be the heaviest guy I will encounter the next month - I better get my knees prepared before then!

A new month - and a new wrestling fight. Last month I had the impression that I in April would have two opponents to choose between this month, but I never got to wrestle any of them, for the first guy also planned to attend the International Wrestling Camp in Lindow coming June, and since I would be going there myself I could wrestle him there. While with the other guy I could not decide the day for a meeting this April. So I had to think of other possibilities - and that possibility came from a much unexpected angle.

Last year, in June, I had planned to meet several other wrestlers during a trip to Paris, but I was then forced to cancel that trip because of strikes in Paris, and since then I had kept a note of those guys I had planned to wrestle then. Much to my surprise one of these guys, Stoker, was not living in Paris, France but in Naples, Italy. Thinking that I maybe had got his name wrong then I contacted him again to find out if he was still a potential opponent for me - and indeed he was!

However, he had no plans of coming to Paris again in the near future, but he would be coming to Frankfurt am Main for Easter, and if I could get to Frankfurt he would be happy to wrestle me in his hotel room there. I knew that it was relatively easy for me to get to Frankfurt, and since I had most of the Easter days free I could easily come down to Frankfurt for a match with him.

I arrived in Frankfurt in the late Friday evening, and then it would be too late to wrestle. But right the Saturday morning we cleared the mattress of pillows and duvets and started wrestling. Stoker didn't compress me or minimized the fighting space just like my Berlin friend kleiner kerl did, so compared to him the fight with Stoker was more open. But I could not use that extra space for much, for Stoker was immensely strong and he probably was the strongest wrestler I had ever fought. I was taller than him and also 20 kgs heavier, but with Stoker I felt like a puppy in his hands.

Our fight was intense but short. Stoker sent me tapping out two or three times, and only once I got him in a head scissor, which he had no problems freeing himself of. Suddenly Stoker stopped wrestling because I was bleeding from my head. I had not noticed this, for I tend to never notice small wounds, and as I had not felt anything unusual it probably was just a small cut. But Stoker had several times before had opponents bleeding. Actually he told me that he had a growing interest for such tough fights. He was going to meet two guys this May in Scotland, where he hoped that he could have some very intense matches. I was only happy that I had met up with Stoker before he had become even stronger!

Stoker had not come to Frankfurt with the aim of wrestling but for holiday - but of course he had been happy that he could have another wrestling opponent while here. My cut wouldn't stop bleeding, probably because of the medication I am taking after the blood clot, so we stopped wrestling this day and hoped we could have a second match the following morning. Instead we could use today as tourists, for none of us had been to Frankfurt before.

We never got to wrestle the following morning, for we had to pack up and check out from the hotel before noon - and maybe it was better so, as he the day before had told me that after this next match I would cease to exist. I had the impression that this threat had never been real, for in such case I knew that I would be able to defend myself. But while on the flight home I was thinking if wrestling was the right thing for me after all. For I had never been a fighter, and with this attitude how should I ever become a better wrestler? I had always wished to be wrestled by the better wrestlers, but Stoker had showed me that wrestling such strong guy was maybe not so desirable. Probably there is a reason why it is recommended to choose opponents with similar stats.

Maybe I would find out when in June I would participate in this wrestling camp in Lindow. But I also knew that it wouldn't take long before I would look forward to my next wrestling match - and I still had not made any appointments for May...!

I had done a mistake. For inspired by the approaching spring's warm weather and an attempt to get fit again I had increased my running, yet had not realised the consequences of running a distance longer that I had been used to the previous two years, and also doing so across the highest hill in the local neighborhood. And remaining immobile the day after for the nine hours' bus drive to Berlin didn't help me either. Still I felt fresh when I the following day was to meet Sperling for wrestling.

I had wrestled him when I had visited Berlin two months earlier and then I had made several pictures of our fight, as I thought that this could give me an idea about how to counteract his well planned control attacks on me. But little did it help, for every time I caught him between my legs he always managed to press free, this way opening an invitation for him to even more control of me. I had hoped that my fitness could be a bit better than his, but apparently I had destroyed my readyness with the hard run I had done a few days before. So even though it now was the third time I had wrestled Sperling he again could claim his victory.

Just like the last time, Sperling's friend Tom now wanted to have a match with me while I was there. This time we started relaxed so he didn't flatten me out like he had done when we had wrestled back in January. I was better prepared this time, as I now knew how strong he was, and I actually managed to have a good match with him. Obviously I again lost to him, but for me it is always a pleasure to wrestle a strong and muscular body as Tom had.

As always when I am in Berlin I stayed the days with my good wrestling mate kleiner kerl, and it had become usual that several of his wrestling friends showed up for a match on Saturday, so this day becomes my main wrestling day while I am there. Usually one or two of these guys are some I had never wrestled before, and so it also was this time, with Martin from Brandenburg as the new guy. Of course kleiner kerl had previously wrestled him, but I had never done so. We had about the same weight, and he was a bit shorter than me - and therefore more compact. Also he was five years younger than me and more trained, so it should be no surprise that I also lost this match. Still I had a good fight, for it is always a pleasure to wrestle a safe and sane guy like Martin.

Xxlbear came next. Back in January I had succeeded winning over him following a small accident he had had in the initial stages of our fight. But I had always felt that it was wrong that I had won over him, for he was 30 pounds heavier than me - and even though he is two years older than me he looks very young for his age. I had heard around that he should be a very strong guy, so it shouldn't come much as a surprise that he this time could defeat me. In some way it felt good that our situation now was as it was as it should be. Hopefully I can have an equal match with him next time.

One good thing with staying my Berlin days with kleiner kerl is that he is always ready for a match when I come, so he is probably the guy I have wrestled the most with. It is now nearly a year ago since we had our first match, which he clearly won - but since then his victories had not been so easy, as he every time says that I have grown stronger since last time. Maybe he can be right, but half a year before he had selected one of my leotards to be a leotard of luck for him, for every time we had wrestled, the wearer of this leotard had won our match. I had been so happy that I with him had a place to stay in Berlin, so therefore I this time gave him one of these leotards as a gift, maybe it could be just as good for him as the other leotards had been for me.

So when we were to wrestle he came on me as if shot from a gun - later he told me that he thought this was to be the only way that he could get on top of me. Or maybe sportynord had told him that I had used the same technique when I had been wrestling him the previous month. Anyway, this strategy worked quite well for him, and after that he defended himself like just kleiner kerl can do. Probably I will have to wear one of my similar leotards next time we wrestle.

My last opponent this Saturday was Bernd a.k.a. catchbear1. I had always felt good wrestling him, for with him I several times have managed to win over him. Though it didn't really feel right, for Bernd is both stronger and heavier than me - and also more experienced. But his wrestling goes more on catching, that sometimes he is on top and sometimes his opponent is. While I always try to win any match and therefore are happy the few times I succeed in this. Today was one of these good days, for apparently I this time managed to defeat him. But not for long - for towards the end of our second round he kept me all under control and I couldn't do much against him.

So far I have wrestled every month through the winter season, which had been my plan since October - and actually I have wrestled every month since last July. But why stop here? There are two strong heavyweight guys who have challenged me a year ago, and they both want to have a match with me next month. They both can easily crush me, but I think I will enjoy putting my body to their challenge. Though I probably only can afford visiting one of them coming April.