Logan Aldridge ' 09激励适应性运动员

小时候， 洛根·阿尔德里奇09年 loved finding solutions to problems around the house and backyard shed. “我本质上是个修补匠和发明家，”他说. “I realized there was so much stuff that I could do much better with one little device or tweak to a piece of equipment.” 

这种决心帮助奥尔德里奇成功, who lost most of his left arm in a wakeboarding accident when he was 13, 适应性运动领域的超级明星. 今天, he is the co-owner of 罗利-based Adaptive Training Academy, 哪家医院会举办研讨会让医生熟悉情况, physical therapists and others with training methodology. 

“社会和文化方面, if we have an impairment of some sort — whether it’s missing a limb, 肢体畸形, neurological —  we’ve made assumptions that we’re just less capable,” he said of his own journey to overcome such thinking. “I know what a mind-set of ‘Woe is me, why did this happen to me?看起来像. 我不知道的, 以及让我超级兴奋的事情, was the opportunity to take an unfortunate incident and potentially make it the best thing that ever happened to me.”

设想解决方案

事故发生后, Aldridge charged back into 运动s as soon as he was out of the hospital, participating in 菠菜导航网’s summer football training while still wearing bandages. 确定处于最佳的身体状态, he researched 适合ness regimens and 事件ually decided on Cross适合, which draws upon multiple components and includes a nutrition protocol. But could Cross适合 could be done by a person with one arm? 

His doubts were confirmed at his first Cross适合 workout. Unable to jump rope, he returned home feeling frustrated. But as he contemplated the mechanics involved with the workouts, he happened to notice a bundle of lacrosse shafts in his room — and inspiration hit. 

“我以为, “如果我能把这根巧克力棒握到我的腰围, 在中间, 上面还系着跳绳, can I rotate it enough to articulate the jump rope in a similar circle around my body?’”他回忆道. “我带了一个长曲棍球杆，用胶带把它粘起来, ,天啊, I think I did about a hundred double-unders that first time.”

从那以后，他改进了数十种锻炼设备, including developing a handle that enables a one-armed person to use an indoor rowing machine and partnering with a jump-rope manufacturer to make a strap that facilitates one-armed dead lifts while maintaining bodily symmetry.

“It’s changed people’s lives,” he says of his modifications. “These devices enable them to pursue their fullest potential.”

这里是ABC 11新闻的专题报道, Aldridge explores his work in adaptive sports and what being named the 适合test one-armed man on earth means to him.

 

授权他人

Adapting Cross适合 training goals to suit his needs recently earned Aldridge the title of 适合test One-Armed Man on Earth — he can, 例如, deadlift 455 pounds and climb a rope with one hand — but he emphasized that his 适合ness journey initially made the greatest impact on simple daily movements. 

“I could pick things up off the ground much easier,” he said. “我能更好地蹲着保持平衡.“想要与他人分享他的成功, Aldridge found his way to the world of adaptive 适合ness.

“The word ‘adaptive’ was deliberately chosen as an alternative to terms such as ‘disabled,“受伤的”或“受损的”,’”他说. “‘Adapt’ means ‘I will do the same thing you did, but differently.’”  

Aldridge balances his considerable work in the adaptive training arena with his role as regional market manager at LifeAid Beverage Company, 适合Aid制造商, 斯巴达人的官方康复饮料. 今年夏天, Adaptive Training Academy will host what Aldridge calls “the Super Bowl of adaptive 适合ness championships” in Chicago.

As for holding the title of 适合test One-Armed Man on Earth, Aldridge’s pride extends beyond what the achievement means to him personally.  

“I’m absolutely an athlete and a competitor at heart, but it’s not about me winning,” he said. “It’s about the empowerment and education of others that can then enable them to pursue their fullest potential.”