Last night I was watching HBO’s Real Sports and they had Kyle Maynard back on. They had him on 6 years ago when he was a wrestler in High School. The thing about this guy is that his arms end at his elbows & his legs end at his knee’s.
Last night they had an update about what has happened with him since he was on Real Sports and how he is now a motivational speaker, owns a gym, been on Oprah etc.
This is the reason for the post, the guy is now training to race an Ironman, not sure which one, but I would imagine they will send him to Kona as a side story for this years race.
I know that Rudy Tolson Garcia attempted it last year at Kona and then accomplished the feat at Arizona.
Rudy has arms and runs on prosthetic legs. Kyle does not have arms and I have never seen him use prosthetic legs. Not say he will not for the race, but it would suprise me.
I don’t know how the guy will be able to do this, I am not saying he can’t I will just be amazed when he does!!!
Here is a link to his website if you have never heard of this guy.
Found it unusual that “he is currently training for Ironman” was mentioned maybe 3-4 times but there was no video of S/B/R training - only strength training and his previous football and wrestling events. Maybe someone should advise him of the ST consensus re: strength training.
Not even seeing his S/B/R abilities I’ll give him better odds than that of last years human interest story Hoover and less than that of Garcia.
I mean, there’s no doubting this guys drive and motivation but I just don’t know…how do you swim arms that end at the elbow? Everyone talks about keeping a high elbow and having a good catch, well if this guy keeps a high elbow he’ll be a log in the water and there’s no such thing as a hand-less, forearm-less catch.
From there I guess it’s just a matter of prosthetic legs for the bike and run, and Rudy certainly showed it can be done…I just don’t know about the swim.
I don’t know what athletic commission gave him a license to fight MMA or sanctioned the fight, but if I was the other guy I would have refused to fight him. I respect him for wanting to give MMA a go, but lets be real…
IF I were him, I would get some kind of mono fin made to fit and dolphin the swim. If he has any abilities in the water he could go under an hour I would say. I think I saw him in a wheel chair, so he could chair the run no problem, 3+ hour range, but the bike would be a little more difficult. Probably some good made legs for a recumbant would be best…If he got all that together and had any knack for endurance racing, he could do a very fast time out there…
I had not heard this, but it is interesting. I have known Kyle since he was in middle school. He was on my wrestling team in high school and was good friends with my younger brother. He is a pretty determined kid and has accomplished some pretty impressive feats. He was a terrible wrestler when he started that, but kept working hard at it and figured out a system that worked for him and was able to go a long way with that. I am curious how he plans to approach the Ironman, but I am sure he has a plan. I am going to drop by his gym when I am home in Atlanta next week and ask him about it. Perhaps I can convince him to drop in on ST and answer your questions himself, he has certainly never been shy.
