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THE GYM — When I was around 12 years old, I realized I would never be really good at something. I knew I wasn't going to be a sports star and make it to the professional ranks. I knew I wouldn't be a brilliant scientific mind and win a Nobel Prize. And while I have always loved writing, I could tell by the scripts I wrote as a pre-teen that an Oscar or Pulitzer was undoubtedly not in my future.
At this point, I decided to focus my efforts on party tricks — silly things that someone would find interesting for 15 minutes and maybe ask a friend, "Hey, did you see that kid do that weird thing?"
That weird thing included stuff like pen tricks, solving a Rubik's Cube (I've forgotten that one), double-jointed fingers and having a clap so loud I angered many parents over the years.
While these things gave me brief popularity, I can only assume I would have easily been crowned prom king and "most likely to succeed" had I just mastered power juggling.
This video from 1985 features Valentin Dikul, a circus acrobat. It shows him power juggling 80-kilogram kettlebells. For those of us unwilling to accept the metric system, that's over 176 pounds. Watching him throw these weights around is impressive, but I think his story is even more incredible.
The description of the video states that Dikul "took a bad fall and broke his back when he was 17. Dikul declined a wheelchair and painstakingly rehabilitated himself, largely with the help of his trusted kettlebells."
In addition to juggling massive weight, he also powerlifted into his 60s. He is now 74 years young, and I bet he still lifts more than you — well, more than me at least.
But ... can he flip a pen around his thumb? Not likely.
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