"Incorporate some swimming. Great overall workout, no stress on your joints. Maybe use an elliptical as well."
Becoming Batman
No, I'm not asking how to become Batman.
I saw an odd, if interesting, story in the Arizon State Press (I think it is the Arizona State University paper) about a 20-year-old kid's quest to "become Batman".
http://www.statepress.com/2011/08/22/becoming-batman/
I'm not entirely sure if this kid deserves admiration ... or a straight jacket. To summarize -- a kid who was abused by his father and brother, and whose mother died of cancer, bought "The Batman Handbook" at age 14 ... and decided that he would work become Batman (or "like Batman"). That was six years ago. In the ensuing time, he got two black belts in Tai Chi and Kempbo, did up to 12-hours a day of martial arts training, graduated high school two years early (age 16), and is, at age 20, studying for a degree in "justice studies" for an unknown career.
An excerpt from the article ... starting with his reaction to his mother's illness ...
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[...] “Batman could handle the situation easily, he would just. . . he would be Batman!” Blumenshine says. “He would be controlled, he would be calm, he would think his way through it, he would think of what he would need to do, he would take care of his mom, he would take care of his brother — he would get stuff done.”
From this moment, Blumenshine was Batman. He started thinking like Batman, he told people to call him Batman, and if Batman would do something he would try to do the same, he says.
He reused survival skills he had learned in defense against his brother’s abuse and harvested his fighting skills from his father who, despite the abuse, taught Blumenshine how to throw knives into a human-shaped target and how to walk without making noise at a young age.
And his mother taught him compassion; her career as a therapist engendered in her son a belief of rightness and goodness in the world.
“When I see something wrong, I focus in on it and I use it to drive me,” Blumenshine says. “And I use it to create passion for myself so that I can become a better person and try to change it.”
And so the training began. Blumenshine would train when he woke up in the morning and before school, then during martial arts classes at school, during lunch, at the martial arts dojo after school, and finally for two or three hours after work. This schedule added up to sometimes 12 hours of martial arts training daily, particularly in the summer. [...]
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Sounds like a good kid who's trying to find a way to be a better man. His methodology is certainly interesting, and his obsession with Batman a bit odd. Certainly needs to work on the "secret identity" part. Like I said, admiration or a straight jacket?
[Here's a link to The Batman Handbook, for any confused Dark Knights out there ...(http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Handbook-Ultimate-Training-Manual/dp/1...)].
JB
Tags: Batman
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Victor E. Franklin on -
I think the kid is just trying to better himself, and how he does that is up to him. Also, where did you see about the abuse? I read the article and it doesn't say he was abused and his mothers not dead....
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Permalink Reply by Steve on -
More power to him, I say.
We need more people with positive drive like that, who follow what they want to do and what's right no matter if other people think they look crazy or not.
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Permalink Reply by Carl Monster on -
Mostly admiration.
How many other guys that age work that hard on bettering themselves? He seems way ahead of the game.
But I hope he outgrows the superhero worship and channels his aspirations to something productive, otherwise he may end up a publicity-craving oddity like Underdog Woman:
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Permalink Reply by Carl Monster on
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How about Assman?
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Permalink Reply by Loki on
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hey he puts on some more muscle and becomes a playboy billionaire he can totally be ass man.
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Permalink Reply by Native Son on -
Have the previous posters considered the (published elsewhere) thought that Batman and his various criminal nemesi (sp?) are all nut cases? (This would also explain Mr. Bale's portrayals, as he has a career history of protraying whack jobs.)
Having perused the linked article, the fellow reminds me of a number of collegiate "Criminal Justice" students I shared a dorm floor with back in the day. Mr. Blumenshine merely carries some of those fellows' noted behaviors to a slightly more extreme level.
I speak only of a few well-known eccentrics at my alma mater. I will not name names, but there were a couple of fellows majoring in "Criminal Justice", as it was called back then, who were renowned for their particular martial enthusiasms and personal eccentricities.
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