Keep Moving How to Overcome Extreme Obstacles
[Music]
my name is alberto crane
i’m a former ufc fighter and brazilian
jiu jitsu champion
my entire life has been one of a
physical nature
mainly on the mat teaching training
competing and
fighting it only hurts if you lose
in 2012
before one of my cage fights
the doctors did a routine medical exam
on me
which is the typical protocol
they called me into their office to talk
privately with me
after conducting neurological tests
and showing me that i had lesions in my
brain
they they diagnosed me
with multiple sclerosis
or a mess for short
the doctors were sympathetic towards me
they apologized for giving me the bad
news
and they told me i’d probably be in a
wheelchair for the rest of my life
i was handed a stack of prescription
drug catalogs and asked which ones i
wanted to take
after some research i discovered that
the drugs
might not even help me
i was treated as if my life was coming
to an end
needless to say this news was the
bombshell
for me and my family
a million thoughts raced through my mind
what was life going to be like if i
became completely unable to function
normally
how was i going to support my family
is there anything else that i can do
i didn’t have the answers
but i knew my heart that there had to be
another way
i was not going to give up i was not
going to let this diagnosis ruin my life
and my family’s future
i’m a fighter and that’s what i was
going to do
so what i did next was completely
unconventional
it may come as a shock and may come as a
shock for some people
i decided to go on a world tour and
compete in as many jiu jitsu tournaments
as i could
all around the world for the next three
years
treating every tournament like it could
be my last
i travel to places like berlin
rome
london
abu dhabi and brazil
i faced some of my toughest challenge i
faced some of my toughest challenges on
the mats
during this time i learned a lot about
myself
with this new mindset and belief
i realize that i can win and win against
some of the best most talented athletes
in the world
and i can win it and i can win against
ms
during this time i won 90 matches
32 medals
and one world championship
[Applause]
i proved to myself that i can overcome
extreme adversity with my new will to
fight against all the odds
i kept moving forward despite the
doctor’s outlook on my life
i even began to launch new businesses
during this time
i opened up three more jiu jitsu
academies in the los angeles area
on top of the three i already had
i was determined to continue achieving
as much success as i could despite
having ms
i refused to succumb
to the disease and would not resign
myself to a wheelchair and become
defeated by it
i kept moving forward with intense
determination
however
soon after my ms diagnosis
i began to experience his physical
symptoms
sometimes i would have difficulty
talking
walking
and everything began to hurt when i
moved
often
i would be so fatigued that i just
wanted to stay in bed
it’s painful to even think about it now
how i miss playing with my kids like i
had before
i also suffered neurological symptoms
where my speech and memory became
greatly impacted
most of the time i lost the ability to
learn
and read new information
and strangely there was a 10-year period
of time where i had stopped having
dreams when i slept
ms was beginning to take control of me
yet my will to overcome this disease
was very strong was still very strong
three years after my mass diagnosis i
had my aha moment
i remembered how in 2007
one of my mentors scott sonnen helped me
with my strength and conditioning for
one of my ufc fights
during preparation for this particular
fight
i was thrown on my head and badly
injured my neck
usually
the time is four to six weeks
and involves sometimes pain pills
and there’s talk about surgery
to help me recover scott conducted some
assessments
and showed me some specific movements as
well as when i should do them
so i did exactly what he told me
and to my surprise
my neck got better in only one week
because ms seemed to be closing in on me
i became
i became determined to try something
different
remembering my experience with scott
sonnen and the time i recovered from my
neck injury through movement
i reached out to him for guidance
he invited me to he invited me to attend
one of his physical exercise courses
called tac fit
where i would learn about specific
breathing techniques
biomechanical movement efficiency
and why and how movement matters
after two weeks of training with scott
i began to feel things changing within
me
some of my pain
began to decrease
i was beginning to feel much better than
before
i also began to dream again
i knew i was moving in the right
direction
so i decided to go all in on this system
of movement
i signed up for every class every
workshop
and every certification that was offered
all around the world
i felt something changing within me
a stronger connection between my brain
and body
improving with every breath and every
movement
my new lifestyle was demanding a change
of diet
to support my workout schedule
so i cleaned up my diet even more
i cut out wheat
i ate a high protein high fat
diet with lots of greens
and also began to intermittent
fast i was making such incredible
progress that i just had to know why
this was happening
so i went on a mission to learn about
the neuroscience
of this type of exercise
and how my brain and body are connected
from my own research
and with the help of scot sonnen i
discovered something fascinating
the complex movement exercises at
moderate intensity i had been doing were
actually helping my brain make
improvements
this benefit to the brain
has been studied by dr john rate
senior clinical psychologist at harvard
medical school
in his book
the new science of exercise and the
brain
the workouts i had been performing were
developed by scott sonnen
and put into a program called takvit
he developed as a result of his own
struggles with dyslexia
scott’s recipe for practicing complex
movements at moderate intensity is under
continued research at his laboratory
where by the way he operates as the
senior principal scientist
in charge of human performance
for the us department of energy
that said
scott and his team are only at the
beginning of understanding the human
brain’s power
to overcome great obstacles when we keep
moving
it is very exciting to think that one
day movement exercises could be a viable
intervention to help people all over the
world
overcome physical challenges as i’ve
experienced
listen
i’m not a doctor
and i’m not providing any any medical
advice
please consult your physician
for your specific health challenges
what i have shared today is my specific
journey
and of course individual results may
vary
[Applause]
as i reflect on that fateful day in 2012
when i was diagnosed with ms
i had no idea what the future would hold
for me and my family
but i knew one thing
i’m a fighter and i was not going to
give up
i kept moving and i discovered something
remarkable that has really helped me
tremendously
i will leave you with this
my idea worth sharing
perhaps you are struggling with
something now or perhaps you will face
an extreme obstacle in the future
no matter what it is
don’t give up
keep searching for solutions
keep fighting
and keep moving thank you
[Applause]