This story is about a 375 pound man

I spent the past 5 months at a whole in the wall gym in Columbus Ohio

Training with and learning from some of the strongest people in the world

I learned more than I ever thought I would and saw and heard about things I never dreamed could be true.

I came home with enough stories to fill this blog for the next two years, but today I'll focus on one thing I saw that I still can't believe I did.

...........

He had the face of a 14 year old boy

Rosy cheeks and an uplifting spirit, he had a great outlook on all things.

He was a young kid trapped in the body of a giant.

He stood 6'5" and weighed 375 lbs

That is after he kicked his shoes off and placed his well padded feet on the cold metal scale.

This giant possessed a skill, a skill to lift weights

Which made him the alpha male as soon as he stepped into the weight room.

As he lifted others looked on in awe

The sheer power of his movements made the hardest tasks look simple

His strength and dedication and developing his strength had already made him one of the strongest men ever to walk this earth.

He held a world record by squatting 1,250 lbs

He did it in early '08 and was ready to go for more.

It made sense for this man to lift in this gym.

This gym has an aura, and attitude, a group of men who push themselves to such an extreme that most can not handle.

Many fall off, many get hurt, and few last the toughest test of all

The test of time.



In the middle of the summer, the gym was having a great day.

It was a day to lift heavy weights and most people in the gym were doing far more than they anticipated and looked wonderful doing it.

With most lifters having hit personal bests, and feeling the pressure to live up to his alpha male status, our chubby russian began his lifts.

He started by squatting 1,000 lbs.

A lift that looked a bit unstable, but he still powered through it with relative ease.

On to 1,100 lbs and now a little more unstable and a little more shaky.

And for the next lift, an unheard of jump to 1,300 lbs

Keep in mind, at this time, the world record was still 1,250 lbs

Held by the chubby russian himself, just a few months earlier.

ANd it was done in a competition setting, with plenty of rest, on a perfect day, in a much more competitive environment.

But in this gym the word can't or don't never made it in the door so it couldn't be thrown out the window

Prior to the lift, the gym became eerily quiet..

Everyone knew we were about to see something... Nobody quite sure of what...

Either success or failure in its simplest form.

The gym is about to explode with enthusiasm, admiration, and pride

Or the gym is about to see it's top lifter smashed to the ground with 1,300 pounds of steel on his back

To be honest, I didn't want to watch because i looked up to and respected this man, and didn't want to see what could happen, but I couldn't look away. Part of me, a big part of me, wanted to tell this man that this was a horrible idea, and to take some pounds off the bar.

But it wasn't a big enough part of me.

I still believed it could be done.

However could is a tricky word, when the risk is as high as it is in this situation.

And the giant russian was nearly prepared to lift.

The weight was waiting for him on the bar.

There were 10 men gathered around to spot and support the weights if there was a mistake.

There were people helping him assemble his lifting suit and wrapping his knees with ace bandages for extra support.

His legs so stiff from all the extra support of a squat suit and the tightly wrapped ace bandages, he waddled to the bar.

He sniffed some ammonia to fire him up

He stood under the bar and began the lift.

He began to squat back back back and back.

And close to the bottom of the lift, his eyes became large, extremely large as if he was a cartoon character.

It was an instant, a freeze frame, that I will never forget for the rest of my life

He knew he was fucked

His body had gotten slightly out of position, and he tried to correct his form.

however, it's not easily done with 1,300 lbs pressing you down into the ground.

In an instant, his knee buckled

His ACL and MCL acted like snapped rubber bands and shot his knee directly to the ground.

He fell to the ground in a most awkward position and the weight toppled on top of him.

A HOly SHit I"m gonna vomit feeling came across me and I'm sure several others of the people that were in the gym that day...

I stood there watching a man potentially end his career crying and moaning on the ground

The gym took care of this man to the best of their ability, and he was ambulanced to a hospital.

And once the ambulance left, everyone went back to working out.