I can only post videos of skinny guys running in circles for so many week before its time for a change. This week, let’s watch some videos of a Jordan Jovtchev* the 39 year old Bulgarian gymnast who competed in his sixth Olympic games this year in London.
As an old dude, I always root for the grey beards in sports. I’ve been fascinated with Jovtchev since I read this article about him in the lead up to the summer games. Like many an aging athlete, he competes through pain, as he says in the Times article, just like the rest of us he’s trying to find that balance between doing too much, and not enough. Unlike the rest of us, he’s an incredibly gifted athlete. He also seems like a totally decent guy.
My climbing gym has a set of rings, and I fuck around on them from time to time. Perhaps I should do some more serious workouts on them, maybe modeled off these video Jovtchev shot in his younger days. (Excuse the awful effects, it was the long time ago)
But as with everything else I have going on in my life, where will I find the time? How do I strike the balance? After my climbing session this weekend, I’ll sneak in a little time, and think about the incredible things this old dude can do.
*Or is it Yordan Yovtchev? I’m going with Js since that is what the paper of record uses. Transliteration is a fraught and complex business, someone should write a blog post about that.
I love your “Friday Inspiration” posts, Sean (I always wonder what can I call you, by the way)
As for me, I do not want to get any close to what Yordan achieved (ahem, that is a lie, I would love to, but seems like there is “no way”). I would still love to get tighter abs, bigger biceps, and some more health! I am not sure if this is feasible, but I am not planning to stop trying soon.
At my gym, we don’t have rings, by the way. But we do have a push-up equipment that seem to be doing the same task, still I never touched it.
Thank you for keeping us enthused and excited, keep up your inspirational stories, I love them.
Adam
Thanks Adam! You can definitely call me Sean. I wish I could find a video for Friday inspiration which was about studying Hebrew!
Is there among all those guys you feature, someONE that you really envy? Going like “damn, I wish I could do this, I wish I could look like that”?
Adam
For me, I definitely envy the skill or Yordan, the tenacity of Meb, and grace of climbers like DeGuilian. I wish I was half as good as any of the athletes I’ve featured!