World's Strongest Man

Happy New Year to all my fans out there, OK, so there's not that many of you. I saw a T-shirt the other day that said:

More people have read my T-shirt than have read your blog!

Damn, right! Oddly enough that's not really a surprise. This is my journey, and if anyone wants to follow it, then they're welcome along for the ride. Passengers are not, however, essential.

It's 2009 already. The Earth seems to spin so much faster as I get older, though apparently it is actually slowing down. There was an extra leap-second added to 2008 to compensate for this fact. Apparently the Moon pulls on the oceans, and the tides cause friction on the sea bed and the whole effect is that every few years we get an extra second. I'll try not to worry about it.

Have you made your resolutions yet? How precise are you? Do you just say "Lose weight" "Exercise more" or do you say "Lose 30lb" and "Get to the gym 200 times this year"?

If you go for the latter, do you have mini-targets, say for each month? Or do you get to next December and realise that you still have to go to the gym 133 times?

The qualifying heats for the World's Strongest Man have been on TV all this week. The kids love watching it, for some unknown reason. I guess it is quite entertaining. They like to see who wins.

The men competing are amazing. They are these enormous specimens of muscle-bound humans. Their bicep measurements exceed the waist measurement of my 6 year old, and their heads appear to blend into their shoulders. You know what I mean.

Their endurance, however, is the most impressive. They train every day, and have done for years to achieve this enhanced body shape. The defending champion, a Pole with a name I have not a hope in hell of spelling, tore his calf muscle on the first event. Now, my friend did that very same injury a few weeks ago, and she couldn't walk for two days. The Polish chap went on to pull a massive truck full of tree trunks up a track straight afterwards, though his swearing in Polish gave you an idea of how much it hurt! In fact, even with just one good leg, he still went on to win the heat. How dedicated is that?

Thing is, he really wants to win. (Probably should be past tense). Anyway, the point is: he has that determination, and that is why he has been named the World's Strongest Man for the past 4 years.

If I could distill out an ounce of that dedication. I would have no trouble fulfilling my resolutions for this year. So, here's a toast to Polish strong men. May we learn from your example.


Jem xx