Yesterday, I wrestled in the 2010 Greco Roman World Team Trials and won. I am very happy to be able to represent the United States again in the world championships this coming September in Moscow, Russia. This will be the fifth world team that I will compete on, but this is time is unlike any other time that I have been on the team. I feel like I appreciate the sport so much more than I have in times past, and I am very grateful for the opportunity to be wrestling at this level. But, before I get in to what I am so grateful for, I will give you a quick update on how this year’s competitions have played out.

I was able to win all of the tournaments in the United States that I wrestled in this year, and I was also able to win the Pan American Championships. One of the highlights for me was after winning the Pan Ams and standing on the medal podium and being able to hear the United States national anthem be played. It was an emotional moment for me, and I couldn’t help imagining how it would feel to hear that same anthem being played at the world championships or Olympic games. I will be training to make that happen, and yesterday was a step in helping me get closer to that.

Now moving on to what I am grateful for. It is so interesting how something that can be so painful and devastating can provide for so much growth and satisfaction as time passes. What I am referring to is how painful losing the 2008 Olympic Trials was, but now I see how it has worked in the benefit of my family and I. I know that I have written about how painful losing the final was so I don’t need to go to far in depth as to how it affected me, so suffice it to say that it hurt. At the end of that summer, I moved with my wife Sarah to Evanston, Wyoming where I worked with hydrovac trucks. There were some great people that I met in Evanston, and I still keep in touch with some of the friends that I made there, but I did not like the work. A typical day looked like this, wake up at 3am drive 3 hours to the job site, work all day, drive 3 hours back, get home at 9pm, spend an hour with my wife, go to sleep to rest before doing it all again. With that schedule I had no time at all to train for the Olympics, and I was about ready to just give up on the dream. However, fortunately for me, a friend that I wrestled with in high school, Russell Brunson, called me out of the blue and asked me to help him put together a wrestling team and start working for him. It literally was an answer to my and my wife’s prayers. Probably a week or two before Russell called me, my wife and I had started praying for a way for me to be able to wrestle again. Russell called and our prayers were answered. It was truly a miracle.

So I am very grateful for what Russell has done. Not only did he recruit me, he recruited one of the best coaches in the world, Ivan Ivanov, as well as some of the best wrestlers in the United States, and he put together a great facility for us to train at. This ride has been a fun one, and I am looking forward to the Olympic trials in 2012. But, until then, I am grateful that I was able to make the 2010 Greco Roman world team, and I am looking forward to competing in Moscow. Thank you Russell for making this possible.

I also want to thank my wife Sarah for her support. There is no way that I could do this without her blessing. She is the most amazing wife, and best friend that anybody could ever ask for. She puts up with so much and has sacrificed so that we can do this. She is also a great sports psychologist, even though she isn’t one by trade. When I get the pre-match jitters, she helps me to look at things for what they are and see the big picture. That helps to calm me down and focus. She also is a great mom and gets up with our daughter Brinklee when she is having a hard night so that I can sleep. Brinklee is great too. No matter what happens, she always has a smile for me.

I am also grateful for the New York Athletic Club and their support. I am proud to represent the winged foot and all of the NYAC members.

Thank you to everyone who has been a part in helping me get to where I am today. It is an awesome journey, and I hope that I make you proud.

In less than an hour I will be getting on a bus to go to the airport to start my way back home to Boise, Idaho. I have been in Russia this last week, and I had the opportunity to wrestle in the Ivan Poddubny wrestling tournament. I had fun while I have been over here and I also got to see some great wrestling and learn some things. I didn’t wrestle as well as I wanted to, but I guess that is part of the sport sometimes. I wrestled two matches against Russian opponents and lost to both of them. The experience was good though, and I am getting a better idea of where I need to be to compete at the world class level again successfully.

I didn’t get to see many sites on this trip. We were traveling quite a bit, and we stayed in a couple of places that weren’t what I would call touristy. I did, however, get to enjoy some freezing cold weather that reminded me of the time that I spent working in Wyoming. I am grateful not to be working outside in that type of weather anymore.

Yesterday when we were flying from Tyumen to Moscow, we boarded a bus that drove us out to the plane and dropped us off. Apparently there was some sort of communication breakdown between the people who were sending us to the plane and the people who were receiving us. We were not allowed to board the plane at that time, and we had to wait outside in the freezing cold weather for about fifteen minutes before they sent us back to the terminal to wait until they were ready for us. We were all blindsided by the cold, and it was not pleasant. It was one of those situations that you would never expect to be in, but after you are, you can’t help but laugh about it. I took some video of the experience, and I am sure that in the future some of my friends and family will be able to look at it and have a laugh with me.

All in all this trip was a good experience, and I am glad that I was able to come on it. Sure I would liked to have won my matches, but hey you win some and you lose some. I should be on the winning end next time.

Justin Ruiz in Haparanda, Sweden, originally uploaded by jbar2008.

I made it to haparanda, Sweden yesterday in the early afternoon. We
packed everything up from Pajulahti and took a bus to the airport in
Helsinki. After that we flew to a small airport in Kemi and got a ride
to Haparanda.

We are staying at a hotel called Cape East. The other two times that I
have stayed in this city we lodged at the Stadhotel which was in the
middle
Of downtown. However this hotel is located a mile or two out from the
city so we have to take a cab to town. Fortunately we have wifi at the
hotel in the lobby. Having Internet access is a great benefit. The one
challenge that comes with the host city is that there is very little
daylight here. By 2 o’clock in the afternoon it is already dark. It
makes for a long day and it is easy to be confused as to what time it
really is around here.

Last night to help pass some of the time I spent some time in a sauna
last night shown here in the picture above. This sauna has a
woodburning stove which heats it. There are three saunas like this
located outside of the hotel. Myself and a team mate started a fire in
one of the saunas last night but I ended up hopping into another one
that was much hotter. Making the fire was a lot of fun. It made it
feel like I was camping.

I got a little carried away in the hot sauna and put too much water on
the rocks that sit on top of the stove. My ears and the rest of my
skin felt like they were on fire and I had to step out for a minute
but it was fun. I am looking forward to that same sauna later tonight.

This weekend is kind of a bust because I won’t be wrestling. I hurt
myself in the tournament last wekend and won’t be competing thus
weekend. I am dissapointed but also
I understand that is part of the sport. Hopefully I will heal quickly
and be ready to wrestle again soon.

Justin Ruiz at the Vantaa Cup, originally uploaded by jbar2008.

Today I wrestled in the Vantaa Cup. Unfortunately for me things didn’t
go as well as I would have liked. I wrestled a Swedish opponent in the
first round of the tournament, and during the match I hurt my neck
and shoulder. I had one of the worst stingers that I have ever had in
my life. As I write this my hand is still numb and if I move my head
to the right or backwards I get shooting pains down my arm. Anyway
this slowed me down a little bit during my second match against
Ukraine, and I lost the match. After that match, I injury defaulted
out of the rest of the competition. Hopefully I will feel better to
compete next weekend and train some this week as well.

Even though things didn’t go as I had planned, I still feel that this
tournament was a good experience overall. I was able to polish a
couple of techniques during this week’s training as well as get in a
couple of good international matches. It is all part of the process to
be able to get back on top.

As far as the US team, we had some wrestlers do well. Dremiel Byers
won the tournament defeating Brandon Rupp in the finals. Chas Betts
won second place and we have several other wrestlers who are competing
this session who are going for third. There are also some good
wrestlers who are competing in the finals tonight. I am looking
forward to watching some good matches.

As a side note, from this picture it looks like I need to shave my
head when I get home. There is a litle too much shine on the top of my
head. Oh well.

Justin Ruiz in Finland: Day 2, originally uploaded by jbar2008.

Today I had the chance to walk around Helsinki. We walked to the 1952
Olympic Stadium and got to peek inside a little through a window but
the stadium itself was closed so I took a picture with the map of the
complex. While I was there I thought about all of the athletes that
trained for their entire lives to be able to compete in those games.
They were once doing what I am doing now. It was a very motivating
experience.

While walking through Helsinki I also saw a couple of buildings with
amazing historic architecture as well as visited a couple of churches
that were built a very long time ago. I took a whole bunch of video
but not as many pictures as I thought I did. I will take some more
tomorrow when I walk around tikurilla which is the town we are staying
in.

After walking around all day I went back to my room and took a nap. I
was trying to fight it but I just couldn’t resist. I hope that it
doesn’t through off my schedule for tonight. After the nap I got a
workout in and sat in the sauna. They have some nice saunas here. It
got so hot yesterday that I though my was were going to melt. Lucky
for me they didn’t.

Take care and fight for your dreams,

Justin Ruiz

Justin Ruiz and Family in NYC, originally uploaded by jbar2008.

This last weekend I had the opportunity to compete in the NYAC
international open in New York. This competition along with a Friday
night dual meet before the tournament was my first competition since
the 2008 Olympic Trials. It was a long road, well longer than I would
have liked, to get back on the mat, but I am glad to be back in the
swing of things again. My wife and daughter were both there to support
me on my comeback, and I am so glad that they were there. We had a
great time while we were there.

Now I am actually writing this post from Finland. There is the Vantaa
cup tournament this weekend, and next weekend I will be wrestling in
the Haparanda cup. It gets so dark here so early that I hope that I
can stay awake during the day. I should be in bed right now but I am
wide awake. This is so much fun to be doing this again.

One important lesson that I was reminded of this weekend is that of
reviewing your work and evaluating your progress. I took some time to
watch some film from the tournament today, and I noticed some things I
did well, however, I also noticed some thing that I need to improve to
be the beat in the world. If we don’t take the time to evaluate
ourselves, then we are really shortchanging ourselves.

Thanks for your support and I will be checking in throughout the week.
I wish you the best of luck and fight for your dreams!

Justin Ruiz

Everything at the gym is coming together great! We have a great group of athletes out here in Boise who are working very hard in the gym and in the office. We have office space in the second level of the gym where we train out of, and the office is equipped with everything you need to run a successful online business; computers, cubicles, chairs, the works! Internet marketing is new to a lot of the guys who are out here, but they are definitely understanding the process and are eating this stuff up. I am so excited to have our site up live and running so everybody can look at what we are putting together!

Make sure to check out our site next Tuesday September 15th when our site will be live to the world. I think that you will be impressed and we will have some of the greatest exercise and fitness tips out there. Mark your calendar to check it out!

Here is a little wrestling video that has some awesome highlights.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJgiKN_tYNY