Blood, Sweat and Lots of Fun

After recovering from lower back injury, life was physically wonderful. As there was no way of turning back to powerlifting (at least for a while) I started to do lots of cardio training and dropped calories. As powerlifter I had eaten around 5500 calories per day. I started roller skating which was such a fun. I could feel wind against my face, get plenty of good exercise and occasionally some flirting from ladies passing by. I was young and fit after all! Now, heh! As I mentioned I started practicing Hokotoryu ju-jutsu at the cable factory in Helsinki. That was great!

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Blood, Sweat and Lots of Fun

I also started to visit London to see my mates again. They had some great surprises for me. After first visit to the “city of big fog” James introduced me to two chaps, I call them “Fred” and “Ed”. These two gents were true pros in hand-to-hand combat and Fred was also expert in paramedics. Both chaps were in their late forties with large number of years’ experience. My motto was and still is, “you have to live a lot”! Some say, “live a little”. Little is not for me. I don’t why it’s always been the way that if I’m doing something, no matter what it is, I’m doing it either 200 miles per hour or not doing it at all. There’s not halfway to me. Pretty quickly Fred and Ed named me as “Crazy Finn”. I never cared do I got my nose bleeding in the heat of training; how big the bruises were. Nor I didn’t care how heavy hits I got. When I had a chance to train with master’s I wanted to see how many bangs I can withstand. Back in Finland one martial instructor stopped me several times during sparring with him by saying, “Jyrki. If you hit hard, I’m going to hit hard back”. Each time we continued, I was hitting harder and each time he was hitting harder back. After sparring this sensei looked at me, shaking his head and said, “Jyrki. You’re crazy”! That was me. I wanted to live the fullest and experience fullest, not a half ass version.

Since September -97 my visits to England were like weekend long or long weekend lasting martial arts and training camp. Young chap who loved action, martial arts, speaking English and learn. Guess what? That was heaven for me! Some point I accounted that during those weeks when I was visiting London, I had 14 hours of martial arts training alone! I got fit. I remember once doing 288 push-ups in row in the middle of regular workout! I did hundreds of sit-ups, squats with my own weight, some more with training partner lifted to my shoulder (fire fighter style) and so on. I ?must admit I went absolutely crazy of martial arts, but it was such a fun. But it was equally great to learn plenty of new skills how to help out people in different scenarios. I have never summed up in so much in numbers, but I remember some point reading from world famous coach Brian Tracy that you can self-study equal amount of PHD studies a year if you keep on doing self-studies year around steadily. I dunno, I guess I can say that I have studied? a lot over the years then. I read 5-6 non-fiction books every week. That I have done, ever since I was a young kid. Thanks to James and fellows I had a great opportunity to learn so much stuff I wouldn’t ever had a chance to learn in Finland. I’m ever grateful for it and so much more for James and my other American friends. For a single guy like me who I was back then, that lifestyle was great. Working, training, and having fun. When the sun went down it was time to relax and have fun. Good food, great company, and stories.

Then in -98 I finally made the decision to move back to London and this time permanently. But that’s another story.

To sum it up. Thanks to my American friends I had a chance to live a life which was like a dream and learn a lot.