For many athletes, the gym is more than just a place to lift weights, it is an escape from life’s many challenges, its therapy sessions lathered in sweat.
The gym is the place for an adrenaline rush, a place to release endorphins, the feel good hormone, it’s the sanctuary of gains, the second home for many.
However, as the world grapples with the pandemic, COVID-19, gym doors have shuttered and many athletes have been forced to improvise and come up with other coping mechanisms to their daily routines.
One such athlete is Carlos Peterson-Griffith, world renowned, decorated powerlifter and Guyana’s strongest man.
Under his normal circumstances, Peterson-Griffith would be grunting and banging out reps of deadlifts or squats upwards of 500 pounds at Space Gym.
His current coping mechanism: fishing.
Said the strong man yesterday “The virus has affected me in every way possible, but I am taking this time off to rest my mind and body, to recharge and when this passes, I will be ready to go again. At the moment I just do some free hand exercises and jogging, but I love to go fishing.”
Peterson-Griffith added: “Fishing relaxes me and eases my mind from whatever stress and I plan to go tomorrow (today) since it is a holiday.”
The behemoth who was suspended from competitive powerlifting for 12 months last May, stated that he is gunning to compete at the 18th NAPF Regional Championships in the Cayman Islands in July and the South American Powerlifting and Bench Press Classic Championships in Peru in December.
A check of the IPF’s calendar showed that those events have not been canceled to date.
The 26 year-old stated that: “My Coach and I know where we are at, all what we have to do is pick up right where we left off before the pandemic situation. However there are quite a few people that have been supporting me in and out of the sport and we are looking forward for this to pass so we can continue going upwards”.
Coincidentally, his 12-month suspension expires today. It should be a great day for fishing.
