Jusuf Alešević from Bužim is a successful athlete, a famous bodybuilder known even outside of the borders of BiH, despite being a 100% war invalid and not having one leg.
His life story can serve to many people to wake up from the state of stunting of body and mind and find inspiration for doing something healthy and useful.
Life of the 41-year-old Jusuf is much more than an ordinary story about bodybuilding and sports. His life is a story about limits, the power of will and, above all, motivation.
Jusuf says he is a family man, happily married and father to one child.
“It was war time and the country had to be defended. I was 18 then and already in 1993 I joined the special unit Gazije in Bužim. Near the very end of the war, I was wounded in both legs. Doctors were fighting to save my leg for eight days, but they did not manage to do it so they amputated by left leg,” Jusuf recalls.
After the war was over, he started a family and started solving existential issues. In that period, his health condition started deteriorating as well.
“After the war I was somewhat stunted. It often happened that I had health issues and had to visit doctors. I would go see a doctor like an old man, with a bag full of medicines, and I took medicines and lived quite an unhealthy lifestyle. Many people are still like that: they are 30, but they feel like an old, rusty pot. I could not allow myself get to that point and I started taking care of my body and health, but in entirely natural way. It makes me feel great,” Jusuf says.
Jusuf started actively doing bodybuilding in 2005.
“Bodybuilding is a lifestyle; you have to be in it for 24 hours a day. It is not just spending two hours in a fitness center. You have to eat only pure food: rice, potatoes, chicken, cheese, eggs. Juices are completely eliminated. Trainings usually follow this principle: if you potentiate the muscle mass for a day or two with training, then you have one day of rest. If you go for definition, you train three days in a row, and then relax for a day. With persistence and hard work the results are inevitable,” Jusuf says, adding that man will certainly feel both physically and mentally better after this.
Being a 100% invalid, it is not easy for Jusuf to perform demanding exercises which come with this sport. However, there are certain exercises with which he compensates for those which he cannot perform, and the results are more or less the same.
Jusuf even opened his own fitness club and teaches others how to do this sport, and makes some money along the way, too.
“Even if no one came and I had the fitness for myself, that would be enough for me,” Jusuf adds.
Jusuf explains that healthy people and invalids cannot compete together and that this is the main reason why he does not want to compete, in the basic sense of that word.
“It may sound weird, but I would love the most if I could compete with the capable ones because I see myself in that group. However, that is not allowed. Of course, that did not stagger me nor it will stagger me to quit doing what I am doing now. It never occurred to me at all. Simply, my aim is to motivate people and show them that there are no excuses, for anything in life. I know many people who, after seeing and hearing my life story, decided to do something in their lives,” Jusuf says.
(Source: klix.ba/photo: blogspot.com)
