Jim Arvanitis

Greek-American Jim Arvanitis is internationally-renowned as Greek pankration's "Renaissance Man." For the past four decades he has devoted his life to researching and rebuilding the ancient combat arts of his ancestors which had seemingly perished and remained defunct for thousands of years. Jim has used his skills as an athlete, competitor, world record holder, author, historian, and his constant media presence to carry the torch of pankration and educate the world of its influence on today's...See more

Greek-American Jim Arvanitis is internationally-renowned as Greek pankration's "Renaissance Man." For the past four decades he has devoted his life to researching and rebuilding the ancient combat arts of his ancestors which had seemingly perished and remained defunct for thousands of years. Jim has used his skills as an athlete, competitor, world record holder, author, historian, and his constant media presence to carry the torch of pankration and educate the world of its influence on today's martial arts styles. Arvanitis has written nine books and starred in over 30 instructional videos. He has been featured in hundreds of articles in the leading martial arts magazine and has graced the covers of many of them. In 2009 Jim was named Black Belt magazine's Instructor of the Year, and that same year was immortalized into the Martial Arts History Museum Hall of Fame in Southern California. An extraordinary athlete, Jim holds world records for his patented thumb pushups. In 1977 he completed 45 of them in 51 seconds, and three years later would top that mark on the internationally-televised Guinness Book of World Records Game Show with 61 in 47 seconds. Other superhuman feats include single-arm two-finger pushups, elevated pushups on his thumbs, thumb pushups with his arms extended in front of him, and his seemingly impossible one-arm thumb pushup. Arvanitis has taught professionally since 1971 at his academies and seminars in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. His students have included karate black belts, boxers, kickboxers, wrestlers, film writers, bodyguards, law enforcement and S.W.A.T. team members, and military special ops. In 1992, he personally trained the elite Army Rangers for Operation Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf War. In 2016, he was awarded the rank of Great Grandmaster/11th Dan by the World Pankration Dan Ranking organization. See less