Here's how the best train.

[Ford Prefect]

Very true. Football is sprint - rest. Usually expending your max energy in a sprint for 10 seconds, resting 35-40 seconds and then doing it again on average 14 more times. I got his numbers from the combine:

6' 211 lbs
40: 4.37 seconds
bench: 225x31
Standing long jump: 10' 9"
Vertical Jump: 39"

Side note: Best squat was 663x1 and bench 530x1. This was in 2001 too...

He busts his butt to be on top just like Rhadi though. Here is a quote from him about his training:

"I just try to go to bed every night with the attitude that nobody put in more time or worked as hard as me that day."



That sums it up right there. The competitions are the easy part. Prepping for them is the hard part.

[Merryprankster]

Absolutely true!

At that level it's not an issue of "better." It's an issue of "what are you training to DO?"

I expect that if their sports were switched they'd be posting similar numbers, but in reverse.

The will to succeed is the will to prepare.

The true dichotomy I've identified is simple, but not easy:

You have to prepare like it's the most important thing in the world. You have to compete like you just don't care what's in front of you.

It's very difficult to master that.

[norther practitioner]

Wow at that one single leg...

about the 10' thing, it's not like he was saying he tossed the guy over a 10' bar, but think about it, if he got a double leg, picked the guy up to his arms at shoulder height around the other guys upper thigh, and the other guy is 6' tall, thats got to be 8' right there (the guys head elevation).

[WanderingMonk]

is the US judo trial going to be on TV?

USA supposed to be airing a bunch of Olympic trial events.

Anyone know if the judo stuff is one of them?

[YinYangDagger]

I don't think so WM. I can never find any combat type sports on TV during the Olympics. No judo, TKD, or even fencing. It's a fu(ked up deal, you'll see plenty of water polo, gymnastics, etc, but not the cool stuff

[YinYangDagger]

Also, if the football thing don't work, I'm sure he could get a good Muay Thai trainer and turn the MMA world on it's ears. Pride could be calling any day

[CaptinPickAxe]

Fencing isn't an Olympic sport?

[Ford Prefect]

CPA, he means he can never find it on tv. It's an olympic sport though.

[Chang Style Novice]

It's usually possible to get a little of the wrestling and boxing. It ain't everything, but it is something.

[Liokault]

This guy is truly amazing, but he makes me think two things.

1/ If this guy had decided to do tai chi (could be hung gar, TKD or even Wu Shu!) no one would ever doubt its combat effectivness again.

2/ Then I thought; This guy is going to be a messed up, probably devorced little old man, who needs a stair lift at about 55.

You pays your money you takes your choice.

[qeySuS]

No doubt it's unhealthy, but that can be said about ANY pro athlete. There´s nothing healthy about heavily competitives sports. Training that hard ****s your body up pretty bad, but you gotta do it if you want to be competitive at that level.

Btw Rhadi is really inspirational, i can´t see it inthat article, but i believe he´s working for a PhD in something really hard (i'm assuming this is the same article i read on MMA.tv), in that article it says something like "Physical Education" or something like that, no offense to that study, but i think i read in Lloyd Irvins email list that he was going for something crazy, like a PhD in Chemistry or Physics or something like that.

If you an be an Olympian AND a PhD in Chemistry etc, you are truly an all around badass.

[IronFist]

^ Holy **** it's qeySuS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where have you been, dude?

[qeySuS]

I´ve been around, went to USA again and such. But i´ve always been lurking around :P Full time MMA.tv ***** now.

[red5angel]

I find this extremely interesting, especially coming from you MP.

At first glance one might take this as inspirational until :

He lives at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, 2,000 miles away from his wife in Rockville.

Pain often keeps him from sleeping and forces him to endure two hours of treatment each day. He's so deep in debt that he refuses to spend money on anything other than his sport, judo.

The irony comes when you examine these statements, statements that would get MP's blood boiling and warrant a 5 page tirade:

"He takes brutal beatings," his strength coach said, "that most men wouldn't even survive."

Once this year, he picked up a 220-pound opponent and threw him 10 feet into the air.

then we can move on to the really not so inspiring:

So far this year, Ferguson estimates that he has "popped 25 arms" or dislocated 25 shoulders.

Judo has left some lasting marks on his body -- early signs of arthritis, a finger so swollen his wedding ring won't fit

and let's go with the not so smart:

Instead, Ferguson woke up at 5 a.m. after his surgery and hobbled into the weight room on his crutches. He lifted upper-body weights for more than an hour, until a combination of pain and anesthesia made his so nauseous he went to the bathroom to vomit.

I could go on but what I see is an obsessive individual who is dangerously and destructively driven. There are many more people at the top of their fields that have balance life, much more so then this guy, and are a lot more smart about the way they train.
No, I don't see a good measure of how to be or how to train in this individual, sure he wins, but destroying yourself isn't necessary for that.

[ShaolinTiger00]

Olympic judo will be shown on the Bravo channel this year as part of all the NBC networks attempt at "complete" coverage of the games.