I watched Reuben Hughes retain his Armgods 95kg title belt last weekend. He let it be known a month ago that win or lose, he was retiring from Armwrestling after the match. He’s been an inspirational person to watch – stoic, focused with no fanfare or bragging before a match or after a victory. He has some records in the grip world too and it is only from seeing his name on the lists that I knew – he never mentioned it. His dedication to improve has been impressive. I’ve known him run up the mountain in his donkey jacket to keep his weight inside his class for a match and I’ve enjoyed some good battles with him over the last few years. I lost them all. He has travelled all around the UK to train and compete and won the Roadwarrior Belt I commissioned last year for the Warzone League. He’s become such a regular on the circuit that it seems unthinkable that he should leave it especially on top. Many people go on longer than they should, fighters, strongmen – sometimes they hope to repeat the success of the past or to create a bigger legacy. Other times the reasoning is much less ambitious.
Evander Holyfield, after his first loss (which was to Riddick Bowe for the World Heavyweight boxing championship) was asked by a TV interviewer “well, you’ve had a great career and have a lot of money in the bank now – surely it’s time to be thinking about retirement?” Holyfield was not having any of it. “I’m a boxer,” he declared. “I like the training, the people, the culture. I’ve had one bad day at the office, that’s all.” He went on for many more years. Some say too many – but who are they to know what he should do? The man in the middle, and all that.
I often watch a short film made by the National film board of Canada about Doug Rogers who was first Canadian to win a medal in the Olympics for judo in 1964. The training montages are great, the dialogue even better. Describing leaving home to go to Japan he says that it was hard to explain to even himself that he “wasn’t running away from anything but running towards something.”
That’s a concept that a lot of people don’t always realize. You can be great at something and want out. You can be failing and still want in. I have been exercising hard for most of my life. The direction I have taken, and the focus of the training has changed many times – but the basic exercises to power it all have been there throughout. A farmer I worked with a long time ago declared me to be “A student of physical culture.” I think that might be the best description of me – it encompasses everything I’ve done and includes what I’ve yet to start
I don’t know what Reuben is planning to do next – it’s not my business. What I do know is it has been a pleasure to watch him improve, battle anyone put in front of him with the strength of character to always be himself. It’s made him a champion. Whatever he does next will be well thought out. Good luck Reuben.
See you down the road.
