Ads by Google
Inspiration From Josh Sundquist
Below is a photo that has recently garnered a considerable amount of attention on the web. I first saw the image on Facebook today and decided to share it on my own wall. The reactions were mixed. Many saw the image as extremely inspiring, while others chimed in to call the photo out as a hoax. The Photoshop experts shared reasons why they believed it was fake.
Shortly after, someone responded with the name of the individual. His name is Joshua Sundquist. I had never heard of him.
It didn’t take long however to find quite a bit about his life. For starters, Joshua Sundquist is a cancer survivor who lost his leg at age nine. He later became a member of the US Paralympic Ski Team and is now a best selling author and motivational speaker. A bio from earlier in his life can be seen below.
As for the picture above, it was taken in 2006. In that year, Joshua was a winner in the Body For Life challenge. You can read more about the contest at the following link:
http://bodyforlife.com/challenge/champions/joshua-sundquist
You can also hear directly from Josh regarding the authenticity of the photo. Take a look at his video response:
I particularly enjoyed his commentary around the 3:50 mark. His response at that time can be applied to countless online arguments and debates. Many people are quick to make assumptions that are based solely on speculation. While we are all entitled to an opinion, we should also keep in mind that our opinions aren’t always correct. This becomes particularly true when opinions are formed with little background information regarding a given topic.
In summary, I’m glad I stumbled across this image today as it opened my eyes to Joshua’s inspiring comeback from a rare form of cancer that almost took his life. His positive energy and zest for life despite the difficult hand he’s been dealt is something we could all learn from.
+++++
Most of our assumptions have outlived their uselessness. – Marshall McLuhan
9 Comments so far
Leave a reply
Thank you Ross for uncovering a truth that will hopefully inspire those who still believe in character and hard work. Those negative individuals who don’t and always want to bring everyone down to their level will hopefully see your post and STFU.
I honestly don’t see anything out of the norm with Josh’s transformation. I mean honestly his before photo shows someone that is certainly not out of shape but just maybe carrying a few “vanity” pounds around his waist. All he basically did was “cut-up” and define muscles that he already had that were hidden behind a little extra fat. Given his age, and his before conditon really not being that bad, this transformation is really nothing out the ordinary. There is an excellent video on Youtube titled “Bigger,Faster, Stronger” and one part of the video explains how in fact they do “doctor” a lot of those before and after shots you see in many fitness and/or muscle magazines. Just like Josh did in his before photo the person will actually be told to look depressed, or haggard etc. to emphasize the transition even more. But really in Josh’s case even though I congratulate him, I just don’t see why people would think that a 20-30 year old male couldn’t shed maybe 20lbs of body fat by going on a high intensity training program with lots of cardio for 3-4 months.
“SO MANY HATERS” Much easier to hate than create I completely believe in this photo. I have seen this type of tansformation time and time again. If only we commit to something and completely emerse ourselves into our dreams we can achieve anything. I train(motivate) people to these results regularly by instilling the proper belief system. So in closing “STFU AND BE SOMEBODY”
Clearly this guy probably went ultra-strict on his diet,and when combined with more cardio can easily shed the amount of fat he lost in 3-4 months. Shedding fat has more to do with diet than exercise but if you couple a low-carb diet with intensive training say like cardio 2-3 times a day you will definitely shed lard. Add some weight training and/or other resistance exercises to keep muscle mass to increase caloric burning while the body is at a state of rest, and you attack the problem from all angles. You can tell by the before photos of Josh that he did some resistance training or perhaps his skiing gave him some upper body mass in chest, shoulders, and arms. He could have accomplished the same look by going on the Atkins diet and maintaining whatever physical activity he had been doing all along in 3-4 months. How many times have you seen someone with lard hanging over their shorts bang out hundreds of full range of motion situps, we all know that a “six-pack” has more to do with dieting than actually having strong abdominals. Remember the the late great Olympic Lifter Vasili Alexeev with his huge stomach, but I guarantee you under all that surplus of lard was an extremely strong set of abdominals. The “ripped” look or fat loss has more to do with diet than exercise. Try seeing how many calories you burn off after jogging 10 miles? The answer is not that many and despite weightlifting boosting metabolism, fat loss is still more accomplished through dieting than exercising.
Count me among those who see nothing unusual in a progression from “fit” to “fitter” — except for the lacking leg, which is what makes this story all the more inspiring (since it is in fact true). Thanks for sharing!
lol that guy is intense
Would love to see his original set of photos that went with the one in the comparison since there’s prob more than one.
I think that this is inspirational. Joshua sounded like he has always been an athlete-which is great. It also shows that there is no excuse for not being able to reach even a moderate level of healthy living or fitness goals. Go Joshua!
Josh Sundquist has many videos posted on YouTube. A quick look will show everyone that here is a very active, dynamic individual who would have no trouble exhibiting the change that we see in the two photos.
Being one leg short of a pair has not limited Josh.