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]