Masahiko Kimura (木村 政彦, Kimura Masahiko, September 10, 1917 – April 18, 1993) was a Japanese judoka and professional wrestler who is widely considered one of the greatest judoka of all time.[1][2][3] He won the All-Japan Judo Championships three times in a row for the first time in history and had never lost a judo match from 1936 to 1950. An author said,” In the history of judo, no one is the strongest before Kimura and no one is the strongest after Kimura.”[4] He has often been described as the strongest judoka in history.[5] In submission grappling, the reverse ude-garami arm lock is often called the “Kimura”,[6] due to his famous victory over Gracie jiu-jitsu founder Hélio Gracie. In the Japanese professional wrestling world, he is known for the controversial match he had with Rikidōzan.
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I enjoyed this episode but a lot of the details about Kimura’s life discussed on the podcast seem to be impossibly fanciful.
For example, if we are to believe Kimura’s description of his routine at face value, appar He was training nine hours a day, every day and sleeping for only two hours a night. He was also apparently known as a heavy drinker and smoker. Additionally he’s doing crazy intense weightlifting sessions on the daily. It just doesn’t stack up mate.
Go to any rural area (especially back in the 30’s) and you’re going to find guys mining coal, hauling nets, felling trees, etc. for 9+ hours a day while being alcoholic chain smokers. It isn’t that far fetched to believe a young athlete could pull a similar schedule on the mats and in the gym, at least for a while.
I do think the “two hours of sleep” thing was a bit of a psyop though, haha.
This video has a lot of good details.
Kimura is someone who reserve a anime