The Inspirers: Disabled former soldier turns into world-famous weightlifter

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Weightlifting sounds like a sport which only belongs to strong people. But in today's special coverage, we introduce to you a former soldier winning medals around the world while sitting in a wheelchair. CGTN's Kitty Logan has the story.

He's one of the strongest men in the world. But Martin Tye is no ordinary sportsman. The former soldier will never walk properly again after suffering serious injuries in a bomb attack in Afghanistan. But his disability hasn't stopped him weightlifting – and winning medals around the world.

MARTIN TYE DISABLED SPORTSMAN "In disabled strongman, basically we do all the events that an able-bodied strongman will do, we just do them in a different way. So, if we're doing atlas stones it'll be in wheelchair, deadlift is a seated deadlift."

A workout doesn't get tougher than this at the gym: each barrel weighs around 70 kg. Martin trains without a coach and credits his partner for motivating him to overcome his injuries.

MARTIN TYE DISABLED SPORTSMAN "Mentally quite hard – just to get yourself out of bed and go and train for 2-3 hours a day. I'm not talking about training light. I'm talking about training really heavy, pushing your body to the limits. It is quite taxing on you. But I love the feeling I get when I'm competing in a competition."

Even if navigating the gym in a wheelchair can be tricky, but Martin doesn't see himself as disabled - just doing things differently. His determination has led him to discover a natural talent – and to lift a record-breaking 505 kg.

MARTIN TYE DISABLED SPORTSMAN "To get the deadlift record in the Guinness book of world records is amazing. My whole family have been shouting about it."

It takes dedication to win. Martin consumes eight thousand calories a day to build up his world-beating strength. But ten years ago, he almost died.

MARTIN TYE DISABLED SPORTSMAN "I was a vehicle commander in my Toyota Land Cruiser. We were doing a routine patrol around some of the civilian food suppliers and a suicide bomber drove into me and detonated."

Seven people died in the explosion, including a US soldier sitting behind Martin.

MARTIN TYE DISABLED SPORTSMAN "Apparently, I crawled out of this and then fell into a coma. How I'm here I still don't know. He struggled with survivors' guilt for a long time."

MARTIN TYE DISABLED SPORTSMAN "As time's gone on, I've learned to deal with it a lot better and actually, yeah, I am lucky. If people see my vehicle, when I show them a picture of my vehicle, they can't believe I am here and alive. So, I do feel very fortunate that I am."

Martin remained in a coma for months and spent four years in rehabilitation after leaving hospital.

MARTIN TYE DISABLED SPORTSMAN "I've severed my nerves behind my knees, so I've got no feeling from the knee down. I've got a drop foot on my left side, arthritis in both my knees. I've had a lot of operations, metalwork in my knees, metal work on my shoulder, a blast injury to my lung, a traumatic brain injury and smaller ones as well."

He still suffers from chronic pain.

MARTIN TYE DISABLED SPORTSMAN "What training does for me, it takes me away from thinking about the pain. I'm so focused on what I'm doing, you kind of push it to on side the pain and you don't really think about it."

But the physical pain was only part of Martin's problems.

MARTIN TYE DISABLED SPORTSMAN "I got diagnosed with PTSD which is quite natural for anyone that has been in that situation and witnessed something like that. I shut myself away, I became a bit of a hobbit, I didn't want to come out of the house. Then I found sport eventually and that's what pulled me out of that and basically taught me to enjoy my life again."

Martin has also won 11 medals at the Invictus Games in both Toronto and Sydney.

MARTIN TYE DISABLED SPORTSMAN "I get messages saying how I've inspired someone and I don't see myself as an inspiration to people. I'm doing what I love."

His advice to others with permanent injuries or mental health problems is to give sport a try…

MARTIN TYE DISABLED SPORTSMAN "It was very hard for me to take that first step to come in a gym on my own to train. But I guarantee you after that first step, every step from there gets a lot easier and eventually, it will make you a much happier person."

As ever, Martin's building up to his next challenge – he's already lifted 520 kg in a new unofficial world record. Kitty Logan, CGTN, Surrey.