Unconventional Athletes Issue 8

BRUTAL RACING, TWO PROFESSIONAL SPARTAN PERSPECTIVES! 

ISSUE 8 7 VOLUME 1 1 

MEET AMERICA’S ORIGINAL 

MACE MAN AND FORMER 

CATCH WRESTLER! 

BUILD 

STUNTMAN 

STAMINA 

PRO STUNTMEN SHARE THEIR 

ACTION HERO FITNESS TIPS 

EMILIEN DE FALCO 

TOUGH AS TIMBER 

LUMBERJACKS! 

BUILD FINGERTIPS 

OF STEEL! 

KEEP MS IN CHECK WITH UNCONVENTIONAL TRAINING!

UNCONVENTIONALATHLETES.COM - NOT YOUR REGULAR FITNESS MAGAZINE 

WWW.UNCONVENTIONALATHLETES.COM

www.unconventionalathletes.com 

CONTENTS 

14 

UNCONVENTIONAL 

20 

HARMONISE 

24 

OVERCOMING 

28 

MEET 

32 

LIFE 

36 

STRENGTH, 

42 

SPARTAN 

46 

GET 

49 

FINGERTIPS 

53 

THE 

PREP FOR OBSTACLE COURSE RACING 

GET CONCISE AND EFFECTIVE METHODOLOGY FOR CONQUERING THE 

SPARTAN! INTERVIEW WITH STEPHANIE KEENAN 

MOVEMENTS FOR NATURAL POWER 

LEARN FROM AMERICA’S GOT TALENT SEMIFINALIST AND MARTIAL ARTS 

CHAMPION PHILIP SAHAGUN 

AND KEEPING MS IN CHECK! 

LEARN HOW TO COMBAT THE DISEASE USING UNCONVENTIONAL TRAINING! 

JENNIFER PARETTA GIVES US HER RECIPE FOR SUCCESS! 

THE ORIGINAL AMERICAN MACEMAN AND CATCH AS 

CATCH CAN WRESTLING FANATIC 

LEARN THE HISTORY OF THE GADA AND BRUTAL WRESTLING! 

AS A LEADING LUMBERJILL! 

FLIRT WITH DANGER AND GET AN INSIGHT INTO A VERY PHYSICAL SPORT - 

INTERVIEW WITH PRO COMPETITOR ERIN LAVOIE 

SPEED, AGILITY AND CONFIDENCE 

LEARN THE SKILLS OF AN ALL aROUND LUMBERJACK 

CHAMPION CASSIDY SCHEER 

RACING, WARRIoR DASH AND TOUGH MUDDER! 

MORE OBSTACLE SHINANIGANS! INTERVIEW WITH ELITE ENDURANCE 

ATHLETE CHRIS RUTZ! 

A STRONG CORE AND SHREDDED ABS FOR EXPLOSIVE POWER! 

Check out THE DANGEROUS WORLD OF STUNT ACTING! INTERVIEW WITH 

PROFESSIONAL ACTOR AND STUNTMAN EMILIEN DE FALCO 

LIKE TITANIUM! 

TECHNIQUES FOR SUPERIOR FINGER STRENGTH - AN INDEPTH 

APPROACH FROM DAN UNDERWOOD! 

REAL DEAL BEHIND FAKING FIGHTS AND FALLS 

Pro stuntman, Dylan Hintz, thought it would be cool to be 

BATMAN when he grew up. Now he’s pretending for real. 

3

introduction 

COVER ATHLETE: Emilien De Falco 

ISSUE 8 VOLUME 1 

CEO: Nigel John 

Staff writer and publicist: Sharon G. Jonas 

Marketing and circulation specialist: 

Daniel Schwartz 

Contributors: 

Stephanie Keenan 

Philip Sahagun 

Jennifer Paretta 

Jake Shannon 

Emilien De Falco 

Agent: Sandra Bedell 

Dylan Hintz 

Erin LaVoie 

Cassidy Sheer 

Dan Underwood 

Christopher Rutz 

Published by Unconventionalathletes.com 

INQUIRES: 

Sandra Bedell: Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/Monkey777 

Cell: +1 516 428-9315 

Disclaimer: 

UnconventionalAthletes.com ltd is a publication/magazine. 

UnconventionalAthletes.com ltd is an online publication/ 

magazine and makes no representation, endorsement, portrayal, 

warranty or guarantee with regards to safety or the efficacy 

of the products or the techniques of training methods 

that are spoken about, debated, or are conversed either by 

writing or pictures/videos that represent the articles or any 

advertisements present in this magazine. UnconventionalAthletes.com 

ltd makes no warranty, guarantee representation 

regarding the use of the techniques, equipment/products, 

purchase of services that are in the United Kingdom or elsewhere 

in the world. It is mandatory that you discuss with a 

health care professional your physical health before or if you 

decide to try the techniques/exercises and equipment featured 

and discussed both literally and visually in this magazine. 

UnconventionalAthletes.com ltd takes no liability 

in your participation from the information received in the 

magazine and thus any participation is considered voluntary 

thus cannot hold responsible either UnconventionalAthletes. 

com ltd or its partners, contributors or anybody or products 

featured in this online publication from any harm or injury 

that may result from participation.. 

ONCE WE ACCEPT OUR LIMITS, WE GO BEYOND THEM.” 

- Albert Einstein 

For athletes to rise to their next level of 

achievement they must first recognize 

their areas of personal weakness. Progress 

starts with awareness and builds by 

having the courage to consistently power 

forward through challenges. 

Knowledge is imperative. And inspiration 

from others can fuel an athlete’s fire. The 

astounding athletes featured in Issue 8 

can provide both. 

While you may never be called upon to 

quickly climb a 60-foot pole or rapidly 

axe through a block of wood, the focus 

and training approach that top competing 

lumberjacks, Cassidy Scheer and Erin 

LaVoie demonstrate is applicable to all 

athletes needing a versatile skill set. 

They show, and share, what professionals 

are made of. 

From the Spartan race world, relentless 

competitors and obstacle race coaches, 

Stephanie Keenan and Chris Rutz, reveal 

the mental and physical toughness 

required to take on grueling terrain 

and outpace others. Never giving up is 

more than a motto for athletes of this 

endurance sport. 

Pretending can be a dangerous game, but 

that’s what stuntmen Emilien De Falco, 

Philip Sahagun and Dylan Hintz live 

(and repeatedly die) to do. Using their 

martial arts backgrounds to choreograph, 

perform and teach techniques required 

in the high stakes game of actionoriented 

entertainment, their skill sets 

are anything but imaginary. 

Dan Underwood, a leading calisthenics 

practitioner outlines the specifics needed 

to build strength in one’s fingertips, 

showing that attention to every body part 

is essential. 

Jake Shannon, a Catch-as-Catch-Can 

wrestling fanatic shares his unique 

mentoring journey which led him to 

designing and manufacturing the 

modern macebell, an excellent tool for 

building stability, core strength, grip and 

shoulder girdle. 

For a dose of pure inspiration, Jennifer 

Paretta shows how to life a vibrant, 

athletically active life while battling the 

symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis or MS. 

Working around her limitations, she isn’t 

one to let this unexpected obstacle block 

personal fulfillment and gain. 

We hope you enjoy your journey into 

the world of these elite athletes, and 

welcome your comments and feedback. 

(unconventionalfit@outlook.com) 

Kind regards, 

Nigel John Leppington - CEO 

Contact 

Unconventional Athletes is growing fast. If you feel you want to offer your knowledge and you fit 

the criteria for writing in this magazine, or want to advertise please contact our agent SANDRA 

BEDELL at: 

SANDRA BEDELL on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Monkey777 

Cell: +1 516 428-9315 | Email: Unconventionalfit@outlook.com 

We are here to help and want to support unconventional training and a community of athletes 

open to learning proven, tried-and-true methods to improve themselves. 

JOIN OUR GROUP OF EXPERIENCED UNCONVENTIONAL ATHLETES: 

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Highoctanetraining/?fref=ts 

FACEBOOK BUSINESS PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/UnconventionalAthletes/?fref=ts


Nigel John 

Founder and creator of Unconventional Athletes.com 

Nigel John, the founder and director of Unconventional 

Athletes.com ltd, has created this magazine to help educate 

people and change the way they think about fitness. By 

recognizing the value of a more pragmatic approach - MAKING 

UNCONVENTIONAL=FUNCTIONAL - he hopes to promote 

fitness as a part of life, rather than a chore. 

Nigel strongly believes in the value of experience, and everyone 

featured in the magazine is vetted for their skill sets. By bringing 

together former Special Forces, calisthenics and strength 

experts, fighters, policemen, military veterans and 

athletes from a multitude of backgrounds to share their 

knowledge (not so-called gurus who have merely completed a 

week-long course on the subject of fitness), Unconventional 

Athletes gives you the real deal. 

In addition to this magazine, Nigel also runs the 

Facebook page “Unconventional Athletes.Com” bringing 

unconventional athletes from around the world together to 

share knowledge and get recognition. 

Well-known and highly regarded within the 

unconventional training community worldwide, Nigel 

has spent years developing a unique system called 

High Octane Training, designed to evolve fitness levels 

quickly on an elite level with multiple applications. Nigel has 

contributed to a number of publications including My Mad 

Methods magazine and Onnit Academy and is sponsored by 

Mass Suit. He is also committed to Unconventional Athletes 

providing valuable information about effective training 

equipment to avoid readers from getting ripped off or 

overcharged with gimmicks a trainer is pushing to sell! 

Prepare to BREAK OUT OF THE BOX! Read on, reap the 

knowledge and EVOLVE! The one-eyed man is king in the 

valley of the blind! 

Anyone wishing to contribute ideas, articles or advertisements, please contact our agent: 

SANDRA BEDELL on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Monkey777 

Cell: +1 516 428-9315 | Email: Unconventionalfit@outlook.com 

JOIN OUR GROUP OF EXPERIENCED UNCONVENTIONAL ATHLETES: 

http://www.UnconventionalAthletes.Com | FACEBOOK: UnconventionalAthletes 

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/unconventionalathletes/ 

5

Buy now at www.UnconventionalAthletes.com


CONTRIBUTORS 

STEPHANIE KEENAN 

NATIONALITY: AMERICAN 

Stephanie Keenan grew up on a small, rural farm in Missouri, USA. She attended college in Florida, competing 

in triathlons, lifeguard competitions, water polo and other endurance sports. After her education Stephanie 

served 6 years in the US Navy as a nuclear engineer, serving aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. 

Following her military career, she became a defense contractor and for 5 years shifted her athletic focus 

towards physique competitions. She then quit her job to launch her own online fitness coaching business. 

In 2014, Stephanie started to compete in obstacle course races known as Spartan Races with her team 

Charleston Warriors and will be competing in NBC’s Spartan Ultimate Team Challenge, airing this year. She 

began a second coaching business dedicated to obstacle course training. 

Website: www.skfitlife.com 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/stephaniekeenanfitlife?fref=ts 

Instagram: http://instagram.com/stephaniekeenan 

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/stephkeenan 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/skfitlife 

PHILIP SAHAGUN 


Philip Sahagun is a martial arts champion with a background in American Kenpo, Kickboxing, Wushu and Shaolin 

Kung Fu. Philip is a 7-time National Weapons Champion and a 3-Time International Martial Arts Council Grand 

Champion. Philip has been a semi-finalist on ‘America’s Got Talent’, as well as a contestant on two of China’s 

top-rated reality competitions, ‘Kung Fu Star’ and ‘Jackie Chan’s Disciple’. In 2008 and 2009 He toured as 

a martial arts performer for Tina Turner’s 50th Anniversary World Tour as a ‘Ninja’. He has taught martial arts 

extensively and represented America twice at the World Traditional Wushu Festival in China winning both gold 

and silver medals for the U.S. Team. In 2010 he founded the group ‘Kung Fu Heroes. an international martial 

arts team whose mission is to unite individuals seeking to become “heroes” and positive role models in local 

and worldwide communities. He currently resides as a head teacher at South Coast Martial Arts in Costa Mesa. 

» 2013 Head judge and translator for The First Shaolin Temple Cultural 

Festival in LA 

» 2013 Performed at Bercy Stadium for the “Festival of Martial Arts” in Paris 

France 

» 2012 Third Degree Black Belt in American Kenpo Karate 

» 2012 35th Generation Disciple of Shaolin Temple Master Shi Yan Xu 

» 2011 Taught Martial Arts abroad in seven different countries 

» 2010 Created the DVD Series Wushu Jumps and Falls with TC Media 

» 2010 Founder of the Internationally known Kung Fu Heroes Martial Arts Team 

» 2008 Silver Medalist, World Traditional Wushu Festival, Shiyan, China 

» 2007 Dragon Award, “Descendant’s of the Dragon” Beijing, China 

» 2007 Represented the USA in Jackie Chan’s “The Disciple” Beijing, China 

» 2006 & 2008 US Team Member Traditional Wushu Team 

» 2006 Success Award, “Wanna Challenge Show” Beijing, China 

» 2006 Gold Medalist, World Traditional Wushu Festival, Zhengzhou, China 

»» 

2006 Martial Arts Hero Award, Kung Fu Star Competition, Shenzhen, China 

» 2006 Runner Up, Global Kung Fu Star Competition, Shenzhen, China 

» 2005 Top 3 American K-Star Competition, Los Angeles 

» 3-Time International Level Grand Champion 

» 7-Time National Level Traditional Weapons Champion 

Facebook: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdcmf-F2BhQZGLyAOD8wOpQ | Website: http://www.philipsahagun.com 

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4lF8-FrgTSNE9WFs8uESRw | Instagram: @KungFuPhilip 

8


CONTRIBUTORS 

JENNIFER PARETTA 


Jennifer Paretta grew up in Long Island, NY, and has worked in the healthcare field since 2001. Through her 

education and career she has had the opportunity to research and manage several health-related endeavors. 

She received her bachelor’s degree in Bio-nutrition from Rutgers University and further explored the 

field at Long Island University, where she received a Master’s of biology education. Jennifer suffers from 

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and has found the motivation and strength to push through and continue with her 

training despite this huge obstacle in her life. She trains at least 4 days a week which includes kickboxing, 

Zumba, yoga and she also enjoys playing soccer with her 9 year-old-daughter. Jennifer has inspired many 

people during her personal battle with MS, including the members of her family, and is relentless in her 

battle to better herself and overcome anything that may stand in her way. 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.vasconiparetta?fref=ts 

JAKE SHANNON 


Probably best known as both the inventor of the Macebell (circa 2006) and the founder of ScientificWrestling.com 

(in 2003), Jake Shannon was also host of the acclaimed ‘Mental Self-Defense Radio’ program 

for three years on AM630 KTALK until retiring in 2013. In 2010, he ran for United States Congress on the 

Libertarian Party ticket and was subsequently elected Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Utah in 2012. 

Prior, Jake worked as a “Quant” in investment and mortgage banking (having earned his M.Sc. in Financial 

Engineering in 2002 from Golden Gate University), all while secretly moonlighting as a masked indy 

pro-wrestler for the San Francisco based Incredibly Strange Wrestling promotion. He earned his Bachelors 

in English in 1995 while attending University of Colorado at Boulder on academic and leadership 

scholarships. Jake is also a Rocky Flats “downwinder” and childhood cancer survivor that enjoys volunteering 

with various cancer charities in his spare time. Jake currently lives in Lakewood, Colorado with his 

wife, three children, two dogs, cat, and 3 lizards. 

WEBSITE: http://www.ScientificWrestling.com 

CHRIS RUTZ 


Chris Rutz, a resident of Scottsdale, AZ, and has been involved in many forms of training including Triathlons, 

Bike Racing, Yoga, Surfing, Rock Climbing and many more. Currently, his main passion is obstacle 

racing, In 2012 he earned a record of 7 Spartan Race Trifectas and has been on the podium over a dozen 

times. In 2013 he joined the Spartan Pro Team, and has raced in nearly 100 Spartan races to this day. He 

also specializes in providing programming and nutrition consulting to athletes around the world. 

Facebook: Christopher Rutz Tough Training 

Twitter: @ToughRutz | Instagram: Tough Training 

9


CONTRIBUTORS 

Erin LaVoie 


Erin LaVoie, 34, has competed in over 350 sanctioned international Lumberjack events since turning pro 

15 years ago. She continues to hold the World Record in the Underhand Chop set in August 2005, and 

made the Guinness Book of World Records for the most Christmas Trees chopped in two minutes. Highly 

skilled in a number of lumberjack events, Erin has won numerous top titles including Iron Jill World Champion 

2004, 2005 and 2006 and the 2015 Lumberjack World Championship’s overall top female competitor. 

(In 2014, she came in 2nd by one point.) She secured a Bronze medal at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games 

2004 and is a 6-year member and current Captain of Team USA Lumberjill. A resident of Spokane, Washington, 

Erin is owner of Predation CrossFit. She is sponsored by Kill Cliff, a manufacturer of high-quality 

recovery drinks for athletes. 

INSTAGRAM: @the_lumberjill 

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/Erin-LaVoie-563865663679811/?fref=ts 

YOU TUBE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4oJqoE8GYY (Starting @ 3 min.) 

Badassadors - Erin LaVoie Lumberjill 

WEBSITE: www.the-lumberjill.com 

CASSIDY SCHEER 


Cassidy Scheer, 35, has been competing professionally in lumberjack sports for 20 years, winning 4 world 

titles in speed climbing and 10 medals at ESPN Great Outdoor Games and Stihl Timbersports Series. He 

is the current 60 ft. speed climbing World Champion (a title he has achieved 5 times), is 2nd in the 90 

ft. speed climb and is a 1 time Boom Running World Champion. Uniquely versatile, Cassidy placed in the 

2015 World Championship finals for speed climbing, log rolling and chopping events. His extended family 

is very active in lumberjack sports with 22 relatives holding a combined 30 world titles. Cassidy resides 

in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with his wife and infant daughter. 

This is the lumberjack entertainment venue I am in charge of: 

http://www.dellslumberjackshow.com/ 

Here is a video of me teaching lumberjack sports to Green Bay Packer Running back Eddie Lacy: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LG44SEFnxc 

This is the real estate project I manage in Costa Rica 

http://www.sierpedelpacifico.com/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cassidy.scheer 

10


CONTRIBUTORS 

DAN UNDERWOOD 

NATIONALITY: BRITISH 

Dan Underwood grew up in Cambridge, UK, and started his fitness journey just over 2 years ago. His 

interest in health and fitness was peaked after watching Frank Medrano performing difficult calisthenics 

movements on youtube. After a short time, Dan became proficient with his skills and caught 

the eye of his former role model. Medrano contacted Dan and offered him guidance, motivating him 

to push himself to even greater heights. Dan then joined his local street-workout crew. The older and 

more experienced group members provided him additional assistance and the opportunity to progress 

even faster. Dan has also entered into the Spartan Race Series and hopes to compete on the TV 

show Ninja Warrior in the near future. 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dunderwoodcalisthenics/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dan_calisthenics/ 

LS7 apparel 

Photography by Gerard Coville 

EMILIEN DE FALCO 

NATIONALITY: French 

Emilien is an Action Actor and Martial artist from France now living in Los Angeles, California. He started 

his career working as a stuntman in the French Action movie District B13 Ultimatum. After relocating 

to Los Angeles he has appeared in many U.S TV shows and Independent Movies and recently portrayed 

Alain Mersault in the NBC TV Show Crossbones, which also stars John Malkovich. Emilien started Martial 

Arts with Taekwondo at the age of 7. He also diligently trained acrobatics, stunts, and parkour during this 

time. He used his skills to start working in the entertainment industry, beginning his career in Europe by 

performing on live shows and commercials (FHM). He was featured on the cover of the largest European 

martial art magazine, Karate Bushido, which is the European equivalent of Black Belt Magazine in the U.S. 

Many articles about his experience, lifestyle and training regimen are regularly published in the international 

press articles such as Cosmopolitan, Muscle & Fitness and Men’s Health etc. 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emiliendefalco?fref=ts 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emiliandefalco/ 

Twitter: @EmilienDeFalco 

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdcmf-F2BhQZGLyAOD8wOpQ 

11


CONTRIBUTORS 

DYLAN HINTZ 


Dylan Hintz is an actor, stunt performer, fight choreographer, and media producer from Montgomery 

County, MD. He first got into combat training in 2005 and has practiced many different styles of martial 

arts, such as; Shaolin Kung Fu, Tai Chi Chuan, IKCA Kenpo Karate and many others. He is currently 

practicing Kali and JKD under Sifu JB Jaeger of the MDJKD Association. His training in the Society of 

American Fight Directors began in 2013 with CT Casey Kaleba, and received certifications through 

Tooth and Claw Combat Arts under both Kaleba at Round House Theatre, and at U. of Maryland College 

Park with CT Matthew R. Wilson. 

Dylan co-founded and has operated the DC Stunt Coalition (DCSC) since 2011 which produces live action 

stunt shows and workshops for conventions. The DCSC has drawn in talented teachers of various 

movement arts to train stunt people and help aspiring stuntees get their start in a highly competitive 

and challenging industry. 

His acting and fight performance career started with Six Flags America’s 2009 stunt show, and continued 

with stunts and coordination for local independent productions such as At Last, Ninjas Vs. Monsters, 

Swords of Insurgency, The Recursion Theorem, and THICK. In 2013 he joined SAG-AFTRA, and 

performed stunts on television shows such as “AMC’S TURN: Washington’s Spies”, “Banshee”, “Outsiders”, 

“House of Cards”, and stunt doubling a lead actor on the film BLACK MASS. 

In 2014, Dylan began training under major motion picture stunt coordinator and fight choreographer 

Chuck Jeffreys, owner of the Combattitude training method and has since partnered with the Atlanta-based 

training program: Act Tactical For Film, founded by Matt Clanton. Dylan joined the media 

production and education non-profit TIVA-DC as a board member-at- large. 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dylan.hintz1?fref=ts 

Website: http://dcstuntcoalition.org/ 

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DCStuntCoalition 

12




Who NeedS Video Games? 

TAKE THE ROUGH ROAD 

THE SPARTAN CHALLENGE 

INTERVIEW WITH OBSTACLE COURSE RACER STEPHANIE KEENAN 

Stephanie Keenan, a contestant on NBC’S Spartan Ultimate Team Challenge, is passionate 

about fitness – for herself and for others. Full of grit – and mud - this former Navy nuclear 

engineer seems to thrive by overcoming difficult pathways in life. 

What was life like growing up on a farm 

in Missouri? Did that lifestyle contribute 

to your athletic abilities? 

Growing up in the country with a 

brother and mostly male cousins 

definitely was the basis for my 

obstacle course racing 30+ years 

later. When I race, I feel like a kid 

again, running through the woods, 

down creek beds and across fields. 

There wasn’t much else to do back 

then. My closest neighbors were my 

grandparents who lived over a mile 

away. No video games and no cable TV. 

Playing in the woods was what we did 

for fun! Who knew it would turn into a 

sport? And who knew I would end up 

on TV doing this muddy sport? 

The men and boys in my life weren’t 

my only influences. My mom, her 3 

sisters, and my female cousins loved 

to play in the mud, too. I specifically 

remember an entire family mud fight 

when I was 6 years old. I can still 

remember everyone laughing so hard 

they couldn’t catch their breath. 

14


How did you end up in Florida? Did 

you always plan on enlisting in the US 

Navy? How hard did you have to study 

to become a nuclear engineer? 

I grew up in a land-locked state where the 

nearest beach was some 16 hours away. 

My dad was a professional fisherman 

and traveled to exotic locations to film 

fishing shows. I would look at his photos 

of the beaches and the ocean and knew 

that’s where I wanted to live. 

I knew I was going to have to pay all 

university expenses on my own and 

California was too expensive, so I 

decided to move to Florida. Enlisting in 

the US Navy came about after 2 years 

of studying and struggling to pay for 

school and living expenses. I had always 

wanted to be an engineer so to find the 

US Navy’s program that would both pay 

for my school and give me a paycheck, 

I thought, “sign me up!” Well, it wasn’t 

quite that easy… 

Nuke school was by far the hardest 

thing I have ever done. We had 40 hours 

of classroom instruction and I needed 

to study 35-40 hours per week on top 

of that in order to pass the courses. 

Rotating shift work was also a part of 

the training. Imagine trying to learn 

insanely hard subject matter while 

being constantly sleep-deprived. It was 

grueling, but in the end I finished “nuke 

school,” and once I arrived to my first 

aircraft carrier I was able to complete 

my bachelor’s degree while on active 

duty. I was also selected for a Radiation 

Health Officer position, but decided I 

had had my fill of deployments. 

How did you first get into fitness and 

what was your inspiration? 

I’ve always been active. I had to be 

to keep up with those boys growing 

up! When I turned 12, I can remember 

learning about genetics and weight 

gain. That’s when I shifted from more 

of an exercise for the sport or fun of 

it, to exercise for the aesthetic appeal 

of it. I played sports all through high 

school and college including swimming, 

cross country, track & field, water polo, 

duathlons, and triathlons, but I was 

always more focused on “chasing skinny”. 

It wasn’t until my 30’s when my primary 

objective shifted to performance. 

What steps did you take to gain the 

endurance for triathlons and the other 

grueling activities that you participated 

in during your early years? Were you 

naturally fit and strong? 

I was obsessed with chasing skinny. I 

had internalized the information in the 

magazines about how many calories 

were burned during an hour or mile of 

running, so I ran a lot. It wasn’t until I 

started doing physique competitions 

that I learned how to change the shape 

of my body through proper training, and 

about how much nutrition plays a part. I 

just thought if I could exercise more and 

eat less, I would be shredded! My mom 

will tell you I have been a beast from 

the beginning. Check out my delts when 

I was a wee little Spartan. 

How tough was it in the US Navy? 

What made you decide to quit the Navy 

and change direction? 

The Navy was challenging, but it was 

the field of nuclear engineering that 

was the most challenging. As you can 

imagine, there is no room for error. 

Every single day was grueling. The 

over-achiever that I am, I also served in 

several leadership positions including 

being on the Casualty Assistance 

Team for the Reactor Department. In 

addition to the day-to-day operation of 

the nuclear power plant, we also had 

additional exams and monitored drills. 

Being deployed to the Persian Gulf for 

6 months at a time was difficult as well. 

As a nuclear engineer, our sea/shore 

rotations are such that you spend 3-4 

years on sea duty, deploying for up to 

6 months at a time, then for shore duty 

most “nukes” are transferred back to 

a training command where they are 

working on rotating shift work for the 

next 3 years before heading back out 

to sea. While I certainly love adventure, 

that kind of constant flux wasn’t what I 

wanted to continue. 

I worked as a defense contractor for 5 

years, but in the end that wasn’t what 

I was looking for either. Long days of 

sitting behind a computer screen in a 

high security, windowless, florescentlit, 

white-noise-filled office wasn’t 

for me. It’s in my nature to be around 

natural light, outdoors, and with more 

movement. 

15


Things obviously went well for you as 

you decided to start your own business 

-helping and inspiring others with their 

fitness goals. How difficult was it to get 

things up and running? 

If I could use an analogy for my business 

it would be the equivalent of doing 

the Spartan Ultra Beast at the World 

Championships in Tahoe last year with 

freezing temperatures, insane altitudes, 

and winds that tried to blow athletes 

off the mountain. Only those athletes in 

the game can understand the pain endured 

that day, both physical and mental, 

while everyone taking it in via social 

media were comfy on their couches 

watching the impressive photos stream 

across their newsfeed. 

Owning and operating a business takes 

everything you’ve got - whether it is offering 

technical services or something 

sexier like fitness. Let’s just say my years 

of working in the nuclear field equipped 

me with the discipline that has been required 

of me since launching my business 

over four years ago. 

To circle back around to that analogy, I 

would also say there is great satisfaction 

in sticking it out, finishing what you 

start, and feeling like you actually made 

a real difference in someone’s life. If you 

start a business, you are going to want 

to quit. A lot. 

You have climbed over many obstacles 

in your lifetime, but what has been your 

biggest mental obstacle? 

My biggest obstacle landed in my path 

less than a year after launching my business 

and quitting my job when I discovered 

my then husband had been having 

an affair. We had been together for 11 

years, nearly all of my adult life. 

As if running a business wasn’t hard 

enough, my entire life as I had known it 

was crumbling around me. Thanks to a 

lot of love and support from my friends 

and family, especially my mom, and my 

resilience, I weathered the storm. It took 

me a couple years to pick up the pieces 

of my life, but slowly the cloud of 

sadness and depression started to fade 

and I had more good days than I had 

bad. The really cool thing about everything 

falling apart is that you get to put 

it back together just like you want it. I 

wouldn’t change a thing because I am 

the happiest I have ever been. 

Have you suffered any serious injuries? 

As far as injuries, I actually had a really 

deep bone bruise and risked completely 

detaching my Achilles tendon during 

the filming of NBC’s Spartan Ultimate 

Team Challenge. I had sustained it a 

month earlier when sand got trapped 

in my sock during a race and it hadn’t 

healed all the way. I re-injured it during 

the filming and continue to baby it to 

this day. 

You decided to enter Physique 

Competitions after much time training 

predominantly for endurance events. 

How did your training style change to 

suit this new path? Did you have to get 

stricter with your diet? 

I had a long history of binge and emotional 

eating and endurance training 

was my way to negate all of the extra 

calories I would consume in order to 

manage my anxiety and depression. 

Sure, I loved spending time in nature 

and in my own head during those long 

runs, but my real motivation was usually 

to make up for what I had eaten the 

night, day, or week before. 

The shift came when I was stationed 

on the USS Abraham Lincoln and was 

transferred to Seattle. Seattle meant 

lots of rain so I started spending more 

time in the gym. I didn’t want to just 

spend time on a treadmill, so I started 

reading Oxygen Magazine where 

I learned more about lifting weights. I 

also drooled over the fit, muscular bodies 

of their models and wanted to look 

like they did, so I hired a coach to help 

me learn how to compete in physique 

competitions. 

The biggest change here was that I 

stopped overeating and eliminated all 

diet foods. Who knew it was never bad 

genetics, but bad habits that I was always 

trying to outrun? My training also 

went from 90% cardio and 10% weight 

training to about 70% weights and 30% 

cardio. Once I made these changes, my 

body started changing pretty quickly. 

This is where my tag line and my entire 

fitness philosophy comes from. It’s not 

that I wasn’t working hard and eating 

healthy, it’s that I was doing the wrong 

style of training for my goals and fueling 

my body with too much healthy 

food mixed with man-made diet foods 

such as low-fat and fat-free packaged 

foods. For years I thought it was my lack 

of willpower or maybe I just needed to 

train more. You can imagine why I am so 

passionate about helping clients reach 

their goals in the most efficient way 

16


AT THE END OF THE DAY IT FEELS REALLY GREAT TO LOOK 

BACK UP THE MOUNTAIN AND RECALL ALL OF THE OBSTACLES 

WITH YOUR FELLOW CRAZY ATHLETE FRIENDS AS YOU 

STAND AROUND THE BONFIRE, PIG ROAST AND BEER TRUCK. 

possible. I think about all of that head 

space, energy, and time my chasing skinny 

quest took. 

What would be your advice to people who 

have not yet found the courage to step into 

a gym or fitness class because of either 

poor motivation or low self-esteem? 

You don’t need a gym. Start doing it at 

home or in your back yard. We live in 

an age where we focus so much on our 

brains, and very little on our bodies. It’s 

no wonder our left sides don’t talk to 

our right sides and we feel uncoordinated 

and awkward. My advice is to make 

sure you have proper form when getting 

started. It’s very easy to injure yourself 

when you are just getting started 

if you aren’t sure about which muscles 

are supposed to be firing. My business 

is based on virtual training where I provide 

video explanations of how to perform 

exercises. 90% of my clients never 

step foot in a gym, but that doesn’t stop 

them from getting a killer workout in. 

My other piece of advice is to choose 

something you actually enjoy doing, and 

do it on a regular basis. Consistency is key. 

Speaking of consistency, stick with any 

new program for at least 12 weeks to see 

how it is working for you. In this day and 

age of faster, easier, cheaper, our expectations 

have been warped, even ruined. 

Tell us more about the Spartan Races 

that you compete in. Are they as hard as 

they sound? What kind of challenges do 

they pose? 

Of all the sports I have played/participated 

in, Spartan Races are by far my favorite 

and most applicable to life. They 

are something Stephen and I get to do 

together and they are great for our relationship. 

You can choose to race on your 

own or as a part of a team. I do both! I 

also race to compete in some races and 

to participate in others. 

One of the best parts about Spartan 

Race is that there is ALWAYS something 

to improve on. You have unlimited 

measures for success, and as a 

recovered scale-watcher, I can tell you 

that it is much healthier and more fun 

to measure your success based on how 

17


much you have improved on your obstacles 

than it is to watch that number 

on a scale. 

If you read the founder, Joe De Sena’s 

book, Spartan Up, you will see he created 

this race as a way to help people develop 

obstacle immunity. When you spend 

your weekends conquering a mountain, 

that busted grocery bag or daily traffic 

doesn’t seem like such a big deal. 

He also has a goal of ripping people off 

the couch and getting them involved 

with Spartan Race, and the obstacles reflect 

that. If you are just getting started, 

have limited mobility in your body, and 

are carrying an extra 20, 50, even 100 

pounds, you can decide which obstacles 

you complete. I should also mention 

there is a 30 burpee penalty for 

not completing an obstacle, but let that 

serve as motivation to tighten up that 

nutrition and get your training in. And if 

you really can’t do the burpees, it’s totally 

fine! We see all levels on that course 

and it is so inspiring. 

Elite athletes are challenged too! You 

see cross fitters who may kill the obstacles, 

but struggle on the running 

portion during the 3-17 mile courses. 

You see runners take advantage of the 

running portion but struggle with the 

obstacles requiring them to hoist pretty 

much their own body weight. 

These races really are what you put 

into them. At the end of the day it feels 

really great to look back up the mountain 

and recall all of the obstacles with 

your fellow crazy athlete friends as you 

stand around the bon fire, pig roast, 

and beer truck. 

I have to say that the NBC Spartan Ultimate 

Team Challenge was intentionally 

created to be extra challenging. We are 

used to running 5-15 miles on a course, 

but the show took place in just 1 mile. 

That was the hardest sprint in our lives! 

Another point to make is that you will 

never have to climb the bodies of your 

fellow Spartans in order to get over a 

slip wall either. 

Can you tell us any training methods that 

you employ to get powerful legs for running 

up hills like on the obstacle course? 

I have taken my training techniques 

from my triathlon and duathlon days 

and combined them with everything 

I learned while becoming certified as 

a Spartan SGX Coach. One of the first 

tips I give to someone getting started 

in these races is to take advantage of 

the downhills and flats for running. Hike 

the uphills if necessary and make sure 

you are engaging those glutes, not just 

using your quads and calves or you will 

end up with cramps like you have never 

experienced. Walking on an incline with 

proper form is one of the best ways to 

train for this because it builds up the 

muscle memory and automates proper 

form when you are racing. Proper form 

is mandatory in training, but is usually 

forgotten in the heat of the moment of 

racing. Throw a sandbag on your shoulder 

so you are also practicing the awkward 

feeling experienced during the 

sandbag obstacle and don’t worry, all 

sandbag carries include a nice incline. 

Any time you are running uphill, over-exaggerate 

the pumping or driving motion 

in your arms to let momentum carry you 

up and forward. We live in Charleston, 

South Carolina, where it is 10 feet or 3 

meters above sea level. We don’t have 

much for hills to train on so we spend 

a lot of time performing hill repeats on 

our high bridges. If you are feeling extra 

adventurous, you can strap a weighted 

vest on or carry something heavy up 

and down that incline like we do with a 

heavy bag typically used for boxing. 

Do you employ any Plyometrics in your 

training regime? 

I am the queen of plyometrics. Once I 

discovered plyos were helpful in shaping 

my body, I was hooked. Pretty cool 

that they also help performance on the 

Spartan Race course. 

Jump lunges, jump squats, and burpees 

are some of the best plyos to incorporate 

into Spartan training. Jump lunges 

are performed by starting in a lunge 

position, then explosively jumping up, 

quickly switching which foot is in the 

front and back and lunging back down 

before explosively jumping and switching 

feet again. I love doing this for as 

many reps as possible during a 30 second 

interval, then resting for 30 seconds, 

and repeating, always recording 

the number of repetitions competed 

during the 30 seconds so you can challenge 

yourself to complete more or at 

least keep up. 

I recommend doing the same 30 seconds 

of work, 30 seconds of rest intervals 

for jump squats and burpees. Jump 

squats are exactly as they sound. Do a 

squat and then explosively jump up. The 

key here is to make sure you are pushing 

through your heels and engaging those 

glutes versus exploding through your 

toes and putting pressure on your knees. 

You will know if you aren’t doing it correctly. 

The knees don’t take long before 

they hurt if you aren’t pushing through 

your heels. 

Burpees are another explosive body 

weight movement where you drop 

down into a push-up position, let your 

18


chest touch the ground, push back up, 

bring your feet up to your hands, then explode 

up making sure to raise your hands 

above your head. The trick here is to get 

your feet into a good position so that you 

are not adding a squat to the movement. 

Like I said before, perfect in practice, but 

when it comes to race time just make 

sure your chest is hitting the ground and 

your hands come up over your head. 

Do you employ any unusual/unconventional 

training? 

I mentioned our highly cerebral nature 

of modern life earlier. The best way to 

get our left sides to talk to our right 

sides and tops to talk to our bottoms of 

our bodies is by doing the simple bear 

crawl. It more closely resembles a baby 

crawling with alternating hand and foot 

placement. This also helps on obstacles 

such as the barbed wire crawl. 

What do you do for stamina and endurance? 

Three miles is about the longest I will 

run for training. After all of those years 

of pounding the pavement, I really start 

to feel the pain in my sciatic nerve, IT 

bands, and lower back. I spend more 

time on the step mill and with kettle 

bells to make up for my lack of long 

distance running. I also incorporate 

various HIIT workouts in my training. 

These can be sprinting, plyometrics, or 

jumping rope. 

Do you incorporate any grip training? 

I am always training my grip strength 

since the time under tension for a race 

can be significant and I’m no lightweight. 

This training is performed on 

the monkey bars at a playground, on the 

rope at the gym, and doing farmer carries 

with kettle bells. 

How do you mentally prepare for the races? 

Are you nervous before you compete? 

If I am “competing”, I am much more focused 

than if I am simply participating. 

Spartan Race offers 3 different categories; 

Elite, Competitive, and Open. I’ve 

set my level for nervous so high through 

all the things I’ve done in my life that I 

didn’t even get nervous when we were 

filming the NBC Spartan Ultimate Team 

Challenge. Or maybe my nerves were 

just frozen that morning. It was cold! 

Once you’ve been on an international 

physique competition stage to be 

judged next to some of the world’s fittest 

bodies it’s pretty hard feel like a kid 

again. Excited is the word I would use to 

describe how I feel on a crisp morning 

next to some of the strongest and fastest 

women getting ready to leave it all 

out on the course. 

LIST OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: 

» NBC’s Spartan Ultimate Team 

Challenge Season 1 Contestant 

» Spartan SGX Coach 

» Fitness Magazine Cover Model 

» University of Florida grad 

student, Masters of Science in 

Entrepreneurship 

» Media coverage includes: Good 

Morning America, Natural 

Muscle Magazine, Fit & Firm 

Magazine, Oblique Magazine, 

Charleston Magazine, Philly Fit 

Magazine, and STRONG Fitness 

Magazine 

» Host: Stop Chasing Skinny and OCR 

Radio 

» 2015 OCR World Championship 

Qualifier 

» www.SnakePitUSA.com 

Nutrition & Conditioning Coach 

» Physique Competition History: 

» 2011 WBFF World 

Championships Fitness 

Model Top 5. Bikini Model 

Top 10 

» 2011 Fitness America 

Pageant, New England, 

Bikini & Figure, 4th 

» 2010 WBFF World 

Championships Figure, 3rd 


Pageant, Atlantic, Bikini, 3rd 

Place 

» 2008 Fitness Universe 

Pageant, Miami, Bikini & 

Figure, Top 10 


Pageant, New York, Bikini & 


» 2010 Fitness Universe 

Pageant, Miami, Bikini & 


» 2003 Duathlon World 

Championship Qualifier 

» US Navy Nuclear Engineer 

WEBSITE: www.theathelite.com, www.skfitlife.com, and www.stephaniekeenan.com 

FACEBOOK: TheAthElite (https://www.facebook.com/The-AthElite-309815569186305/?ref=settings) and SKFitLife 

(https://www.facebook.com/skfitlife) 

INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/theathelite_hisst and www.instagram.com/sk_fit_life 

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/the_ath_elite and https://twitter.com/skfitlife 

YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCttJl2MRMf__Zw2O6vITYYQ and https://www.youtube.com/channel/ 

UCOFIb8tC_eLjtasv0z5aHcQ 

Here is a link to a training video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDW0YztrCTs 

19


PRESERVING KNOWLEDGE THROUGH 

DIRECT TRANSMISSION 

UNITE THE PHYSICAL BODY, THE MENTAL BODY, THE 

ENERGY BODY AND THE SPIRITUAL BODY AS ONE! 

INTERVIEW WITH MARTIAL ARTS PERFORMER PHILIP SAHAGUN 

Philip, how did you first get into martial 

arts and what was your motivation to 

get into fitness? 

When I was young I didn’t know what 

I would do as a profession. My father 

and mother were both in the martial 

arts and I began training in Kenpo 

Karate and kickboxing from an early age. 

Despite the fact that I was born into it, 

I didn’t seem to have any physical talent. 

If I fought, I lost. If I jumped, I wasn’t the 

highest. And if I ran, I certainly wasn’t the 

fastest. Basically I had no prospects for 

the martial arts until in my later teens. 

During that time something clicked. It was 

like I discovered how to use a key that I 

had carried all along. I started to excel 

in physical training and eventually my 

personal life. Twelve years of training had 

passed and I began to consider martial arts 

a possible career. 

20


OUR ART BREAKS 

DOWN INTO FOUR 

FUNDAMENTAL 

BODIES: THE 

PHYSIcAL BODY, 

THE MENTAL 

BODY, THE ENERGY 

BODY AND THE 

SPIRITUAL BODY, 

EACH WITH 

THEIR OWN 

MEASUREMENTS 

OF STRENGTH AND 

POWER 

What were your initial intentions when 

you started practicing martial arts? Did 

you always intend to gravitate towards 

weapon training and performing in 

front of crowds? 

In the beginning my martial arts training 

revolved around the combative sport 

aspect of it, so performing wasn’t really 

a major focus in my training. My family’s 

school specialized in stand-up fighting 

such as Boxing, Kickboxing and Kenpo 

Karate. It wasn’t until the age of 16 or so 

that I got heavily influenced by weapons 

training, before that it was mainly a hobby. 

Performing in front of crowds evolved 

from a need to promote the school. 

Did you encounter many hardships in 

your journey towards your accomplishments? 

Any injuries? Would you do anything 

different? 

I’ve had a few, but the major ones would 

be a torn hamstring and damage to the 

lower back. Over time you learn how 

to rehab and take care of yourself. I’ve 

found that when dealing with injuries, 

preventative thinking works best when 

followed by preventative action. Respect 

where you end up from any set back and 

eventually continue to move forward. 

Could you tell me more about the 

mental preparation needed before 

performing in front of huge crowds. Do 

you get nervous? 

I don’t usually get nervous unless I’ve 

made some changes to an act or routine. 

Now I build an anxious energy that helps 

put emotional content into a performance. 

Are there any dangers when performing 

with weapons in Wushu competitons 

and similar arts? 

Of course! Even though the weapons 

are typically light, the danger is still 

there. There was a story recounted by 

Jet Li that while performing with the 

Beijing Wushu Team, he cut open his 

head while performing broadsword in 

front of a live audience. Although I’ve 

managed to avoid large injuries, I’ve 

personally cut my arms, legs, waist, had 

countless bruises from the practice of 

weapon-based arts in fighting sets and 

in solo performances. 

You have been selfless in your journey 

and taught many people around the 

world, and inspired countless people. 

How important is this to you? 

It’s important for me because I come 

from a lineage of great teachers. My 

mother and father taught professionally 

and through the years I’ve worked with 

many wonderful coaches and masters. 

I feel that if they put in the time to 

positively effect my life through their 

teachings, then I should do something 

positive with the gifts given. Also, in 

the martial arts there’s a tradition of 

preserving knowledge through direct 

transmission - this is a type of teaching 

without words and must be given 

directly from master to apprentice, so in 

order for our arts to survive sharing this 

information is a must! 

What would you consider to be the first 

steps for someone who would like to 

follow in your footsteps? 

Follow your heart, put in the work, get 

as much information as you can handle 

and train, train, train! 

21


How often should you practice martial 

arts in your opinion? Do you consider 

healthy eating to be mandatory? 

Five days a week of daily practice is 

enough to see improvements in skill, 

in order to speed along the process, 

healthy eating is a must. 

You obviously have to be flexible, fast 

and strict with your movements, but 

how much of your skills come down to 

strength? 

In martial arts we have a different 

definition of strength and power than 

most other arts. This is most likely 

because our art breaks down into four 

fundamental bodies: the physical body, 

the mental body, the energy body and 

the spiritual body, each with their own 

measurements of strength and power. 

For most martial artists, technique is 

emphasized over strength. This includes 

proper alignment of the joints (waist, 

hips, elbows, knees etc.) and proper 

alignment of thought, breath, feeling 

etc.) In the martial arts, we have to 

harmonize our movements before 

power can move naturally. In this sense, 

we are seeking power which is not 

the same as strength. We also classify 

various types of energies produced in 

a movement such as dead energy and 

living energy. The basic idea being, if you 

practice with too much dead energy, you 

have a higher risk of bringing injuries 

into your practice, if you practice with 

living energy then you will see positive 

increases in your power and energy 

production. So more important than the 

exercise is the methodology used to 

practice. 

What exercises and routines are vital for 

your performance? 

When performing it’s important that 

movements carry energy, the energy has 

to be allowed to expand or contract, to 

express outward, and in an instant, turn 

inward. It may sound very strange, but 

my routine focuses more on where I 

place my mind rather than any physical 

movement. Also stretching is a must! 

IN MARTIAL 

ARTS, WE 

HAVE TO 

HARMONIZE OUR 

MOVEMENTS 

BEFORE POWER 

CAN MOVE 

NATURALLY.” 

22


What are your future goals? Do you 

wish to continue teaching? 

I would like to continue teaching, 

but currently it isn’t a priority. I want 

to spend a few years developing 

myself in other areas of life before 

I enter back into that full time. It 

can take a lot out of you and I think 

it’s important to reset your clock so 

that everything stays fresh. I will 

however continue to give seminars 

and training camps if time allows. 

Currently, work at Cirque du Soleil 

and life with my family here in Vegas 

is keeping me more than busy. 

Could you list at least 2 exercises that 

you perform to remain agile? 

Martial artists requires a lot of leg 

strength and mobility, so for most 

athletes, the development of strong 

and powerful legs is a must. This 

can include, stepping, hopping, 

running, kicking, jumping, etc. I 

developed my own personal method 

for training legs through my time 

spent travelling abroad and working 

with different masters. Currently, 

the movements are indexed and 

include a large series of animalbased 

movements off the frog and 

scorpion. 

How do you remain fluid with the 

weaponry that you utilize? 

Grip training with a staff or spear, 

dynamic tension exercises, this 

ensures good control and redirection 

of the weapon I am using. 

You can check out Philip’s amazing feats by following the link below! 

Website: http://www.philipsahagun.com/ 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/philip.sahagun/?fref=ts 

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/kungfuphilip/ 

23


WRESTLING WITH MS 

THE WINNING APPROACH OF 

A VIBRANT LIFESTYLE 

When Jennifer Paretta 

was diagnosed almost 20 

years ago with Multiple 

Sclerosis, she geared up to 

grapple with this lifelong 

opponent. Acknowledging 

the reality, the 42-year-old 

mother of two lives by the 

rule that in life you really 

can create the best version 

of what that can be. 

Can you explain to us what MS is and how 

it affects day-to-day living? 

Multiple Sclerosis is an autoimmune 

disease where your body attacks the 

myelin sheath surrounding your nerve cell. 

Lesions are formed in these areas, exposing 

the nerve and may lead to permanent 

nerve damage or hamper the body’s ability 

to allow for proper neurological signalling. 

For 19 years, I have suffered with the 

relapsing-remitting form of the disease 

which includes periods of “flare-ups” and 

recovery. Through the years, I have come 

to realize and recognize the impact of 

stress on my MS. Stress can be in the form 

of emotional, mental or physical which is 

why finding various methods or paths for 

stress reduction is vital for my health. 

How hard is it to train with MS compared 

to being a non-sufferer? 

As an individual with relapsing-remitting 

Multiple Sclerosis, training is harder, but 

not impossible. Under the supervision 

of and with permission from my doctor, I 

have the ability and desire to recognize 

24


my deficits and direct my training 

accordingly. The unpredictable nature of 

the disease forces me to either protect 

myself from getting hurt or push 

forward with confidence. The key is to 

know your body better than anyone else 

and listen to your instincts. 

Does physical training help control the 

MS by keeping the symptoms in check? 

After my diagnosis of and living with 

relapsing-remitting Multiple Sclerosis, 

I have learned that although I cannot 

control the course of my disease, my 

disease does not have to control me. 

Physically training, being active, living a 

healthy positive lifestyle is beneficial for 

everyone, however for me, it is essential. 

Endurance training using soccer allows 

me to be a kid, live life and laugh while 

building strength, maintaining my 

coordination and having fun. By using a 

skill I presently possess, playing soccer 

allows me to spend quality time with 

my daughter, Alexandra, and prove to 

my children that my relapsing-remitting 

Multiple Sclerosis is NOT winning, I AM. 

ways to compensate for most of my 

deficiencies. My main focus when 

training is change. I do my best 

to increase my neuroplasticity by 

creating a routine that incorporates 

strength, endurance and flexibility. 

This method has allowed my body 

to maintain my current lifestyle and 

quickly adjust when necessary. 

Can you give us a few examples of your 

specialist training so that athletes are 

able to follow your techniques? 

Core strength training is essential for my 

strength. I do a minimum of 3 sets of 50 

crunch, leg lifts and oblique side crunches 

5 days a week. Even if my disease is 

active or if my fatigue is bad, I can do my 

abdominal work in bed while watching TV. 

Arm strength training is also a key for 

my success living with this disease. For 

me, my limitations have impacted my 

legs. At any time, even during a workout, 

my legs can go numb or feel heavy. I 

rely on my upper body strength to carry 

me if my legs are weak plus I love how 

they make me look and feel. I focus on 

doing a minimum of 3 sets of 20 bicep 

curls, hammer curls, tricep kickbacks 

and tricep dips 4 days a week. You can 

normally catch me doing tricep dips 

anywhere - as long as there is an edge, 

it will get done. 

What is the most important aspect of 

your training that combats the severity 

of MS? Do you concentrate more on 

strength, stamina, endurance, etc? 

The word severity can be subjective. 

Some people view severity by not 

walking, but what about the fatigue... 

it’s just as debilitating. People have a 

tendency to say to me, “but you look 

so good.” I respond simply by saying, 

“Thank you, everyone has something.” 

Yes, my body and I are fighting 

a battle that we do not control; 

however, I’m not going down without 

a fight. I find that through practice 

my body allows me to find different 

Can you give at least one example of a 

routine workout? 

In addition to soccer, boxing, and body 

sculpting I make sure to take Zumba © 

and yoga which allows me to obtain my 

maximum flexibility and increased my 

range of motion. 

Some MS sufferers combat such things as 

memory loss and weakness on one side 

of the body. Does your unconventional 

approach to training strengthen your 

neuro system? 

My unconventional approach strength 

training allows my body ability to 

compensate by being open to new 

challenges, new experiences and paying 

it forward. While at my daughter’s soccer 

practice for 1 1/2 hours, I could sit and 

watch, instead I inspired other moms 

to join me and we talk. Your mind is a 

muscle just like the rest of your body 

and you have to use it or you will lose 

it. Learning something new every day is 

25


extremely important for me to maintain 

my cognitive abilities. I have also 

incorporated various memory training 

exercises, like word association into my 

life which I have found made a difference. 

How do you train to combat the fatigue? 

Do you go past your limits to combat 

this, so you come back stronger next 

time, does this work for you? 

The definition of fatigue is different 

in Multiple Sclerosis. MS fatigue may 

include an individual having a complete 

lack of an initiative. This is something 

many people with MS face including 

me. I combat this by setting routines 

for myself which include exercise. My 

family understands and fully supports 

my need to make fitness a priority. 

Another aspect of fatigue is muscle 

fatigue. There’ve been many times 

during my training that a particular 

muscle, like my left leg, is tired and 

weak. I still continue to work out, but 

I make sure to listen to my body and 

understand that this is a real feeling. I 

may not to be able to finish my work out 

completely, but I do stop and restart. I 

always push myself and fight through 

it safely. My safety is always the most 

important thing. 

Being completely mentally and 

physically tired is another type of 

fatigue that people with MS face. I make 

sure to utilize my energy in a proper way 

throughout the day. I’m not sure I would 

use the word strengthen however 

utilizing multiple muscle groups is key 

to my success. 

With regards to stress, would you say 

the training you do helps? Can you give 

an example of a workout you would do 

to combat this? 

Stress is a major factor with my Multiple 

Sclerosis. The best way I can describe 

the importance of training to me is by 

explaining this story. Two years ago after 

my son was diagnosed with MS and my 

father passed away, stress was at an 

all-time high. I was concerned about my 

MS flaring-up because I needed to be 

strong and present for my family. I made 

an appointment with my neurologist 

and the first thing he said to me was, 

“are you working out?” and “are you still 

kick boxing?” Although it may sound 

strange, at that point, my doctor could 

tell how I was doing from my response. 

“Of course, I’m still working out, not 

punching as hard and bit weaker in my 

left leg. I can’t work out as hard, but my 

kicks are still solid.” 

Fortunately, I did not have an 

exacerbation, but my old MS lesions were 

acting up allowing my old symptoms 

rear there ugly head again, but my 

positive fight attitude was still there. 

26


With regards to balance, can you share 

any physical training tips for fellow 

sufferers that could help them? 

Like many people with MS, there are 

days where I struggle with my balance. I 

find that yoga and core strength training 

has significantly improved my balance. 

I use yoga as a tool to help me know 

my body. In a peaceful setting, I breathe, 

begin my yoga practice and identify 

the areas of weakness. Once I find an 

area, I make sure to challenge that side 

in multiple ways and try to reignite my 

strength. Body awareness is key. 

THIS IS NOT A BATTLE THAT SHOULD BE 

TAKEN SITTING DOWN. THIS IS MY FIGHT 

TO LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST. 

Has your coordination improved with 

your training? Can you talk about where 

you were, and where you are now, with 

regards to your physical training and 

well-being? 

I can honestly say today, I’m in the 

best physical shape of my life. I’m not 

saying that my neuro muscular system 

is perfect, as my physical therapist will 

attest to, but by incorporating fitness 

into my life, it has allowed my body to 

compensate for its limitations. 

I have also redefined my attitude 

in regards to the success. Anyone 

can do anything on days they feel 

incredible, it’s how you treat yourself 

on the days you DON’T feel good that 

makes the difference. On days where 

my body requires more rest, I will not 

allow myself to obsess and feel bad for 

myself over what I can’t do. I listen to 

my body and redefine my version 

of success for the day which maybe 

walking my dog around the block once 

or making dinner for my family. I have 

to be proud of what I accomplish on 

any given day. 

Has your specific type of training given 

you a more positive outlook on life and 

coping with MS? Do you get the feel 

good feeling after a real gritty and hard 

workout? 

There is nothing more satisfying than 

playing soccer with my daughter on 

my front lawn. Every morning I make 

a choice to bring forth a positive cando 

attitude. This shapes the outlook 

on to the rest of my day which allows 

me to cope with any obstacles from my 

Multiple Sclerosis. Playing soccer allows 

me to laugh and live life. After sweating 

like a complete animal, out of breath, 

dirty while playing against my daughter, 

I feel alive, like I can do anything. 

Overall would you say your physical 

training has improved your symptoms 

of MS and made you stronger then you 

ever have been? 

Being diagnosed at 23, I never pictured 

myself at 42- years-old to still be as 

active as I am today. Living a clean and 

healthy lifestyle is important for any 

one, however after living with relapsingremitting 

Multiple Sclerosis for 19 

years, I find it imperative to look at ways 

to better myself, get stronger and fight. 

This is not a battle that should be taken 

sitting down. This is my fight to live life 

to its fullest. 

Can you offer any positive advice to 

other sufferers? 

I don’t necessarily like the word sufferers, 

so my advice to any individual 

living with a disability is to never give 

up. You have a choice every morning 

to wake up with a positive attitude 

regardless of your circumstance. Surround 

yourself with positive spirit and 

find ways, no matter what your disability 

level, incorporate fitness into 

your daily life. Make it fun and make it 

a healthy habit. Do a “most number of 

crunches” challenges with your family 

in between commercials, use a punching 

bag to release frustration, or have 

a catch on the front lawn. Always remember, 

we are all in it together fighting 

Multiple Sclerosis. 

27


GETTING TO GRIPS 

WITH THE GADA 

THE HISTORY BEHIND 

THE MODERN MACEBELL 

INTERVIEW WITH THE ORIGINAL 

MACE MAN JAKE SHANNON 

Interview by Sharon G Jonas 

Jake Shannon’s quest to learn all he could about Catch 

Wrestling led him to Karl Gotch, the legendary Olympic 

wrestler who trained in the Indian art of Pehlwani. 

Introduced to the Gada by his mentor, Shannon 

redesigned the ancient weapon and training tool, taking 

it to a new level of design and popularity. 

Issue 08 - Volume 1 | 2016 

28


I INVENTED THE MACEBELL FOR MYSELF – FIRST 

AND FOREMOST DUE TO KARL GOTCH’S BELIEF IN ITS 

EFFICACY FOR TRAINING COMBAT ATHLETES 

Jake, you were one of the first to get into 

Mace training in the US. How did that 

happen? 

Yes, I was. Back in 2004, I was fortunate 

to befriend Karl Gotch, a famous wrestler 

that had competed in the Olympics, 

traveled the world as an elite, professional 

wrestler and inspired the nascent MMA 

scene in Japan in the 80s and 90s. 

I was on a quest to learn everything I 

could about an obscure style of wrestling 

known as catch-as-catch-can (aka “catch 

wrestling” for short). I’ve been involved 

with wrestling in some capacity my whole 

life, since my mother put me in pee-wee 

wrestling at the age of four. Anyway, 

Karl had a reputation as a fearsome and 

knowledgeable catch wrestler, so I did 

some research and sent him a letter. 

I honestly expected no reply since he was 

known to be a bit of a curmudgeon and he 

didn’t suffer fools lightly. I had included 

my phone number in the letter and much 

to my surprise I received a call in early 

2004 from Karl himself. I was absolutely 

shocked and thrilled. We really hit it off 

(perhaps he could sense my sincerity, 

I am a huge catch wrestling nerd) and 

remained good friends until his passing 

in late July 2007. 

What is Catch-as-Catch-Can Wrestling? 

‘Catch-as-Catch-Can Wrestling (or Catch 

Wrestling) is a style of wrestling that was 

first recorded in the Lancaster region of 

England in the 19 th century. While rules 

varied from bout to bout, the common 

denominator was that competitors could 

win via a pin or a submission hold. All 

submissions are permitted and the pin 

count, with both shoulders touching, is 

for a full count of 3. Matches are best 2 of 

3 falls. Using a win, lose or draw format, 

it is a no-point system. Olympic freestyle 

wrestling, modern Mixed Martial Arts and 

slam-bang Pro-Wrestling all have their 

roots in Catch-as-Catch Can Wrestling. ‘ 

What was training with Karl Gotch like? 

The Christmas before his passing I visited 

him at his apartment in Florida. This was 

my first experience with swinging the Gada. 

It was a very powerful experience for me. 

Very few people can say they were shown 

how to swing the Mace by Karl Gotch. 

He really had a funny sense of humor, but 

he was famous for not teaching people 

anything unless they could fulfill his 

conditioning requirements. 

I showed up early at his apartment, so 

eager to learn that I skipped breakfast that 

morning. However, instead of exercising 

right away, he insisted we share a cigar 

and some plum wine and chat. Mind you, 

I wasn’t much of a cigar smoker and I had 

never tried the overly sweet wine before. 

After finishing the cigar and plum wine 

on an empty stomach, I was feeling a bit 

sick to my stomach. 

That’s when I said we should get to 

working out. 

I had no calories in my system plus I was 

nauseous from the nicotine and sweet 

alcohol, but I wasn’t about to pass on 

an opportunity to learn firsthand from 

a hero of mine. He grabbed a deck of 

cards and started to walk me through a 

workout known as Gotch’s Bible. 

Basically, each suit represents an exercise 

and each value represented the number 

of repetitions of said exercise. He told 

me hearts represented Hindu push-ups, 

diamonds represented half-moon push-ups, 

clubs were Hindu squats and spades were 

for jumping Hindu squats (you can see these 

exercises on Karl’s infamous Conditioning 

for Combat Sports DVD with my very good 

friend Tom Puckett demonstrating). Red 

cards you did repetitions based upon the 

face value (e.g., 7 of Hearts means do 7 

Hindu push-ups) and black cards meant you 

doubled the face value (e.g., Jack of Clubs 

meant you did 20 Hindu-squats). 

As we approached the end of the deck, 

I must have been turning visibly green 

or something because he made me quit 

with about 10 cards left. I was so relieved. 

I’m sure he didn’t want me puking in his 

backyard. Like I said, he had a pretty 

funny sense of humor. (By the way, 

Gotch’s Bible later became the favorite 

workout of my clients at my box gym in 

San Juan Capistrano, Crossfit Beach Cities 

circa 2007. We’d do it twice back-to-back). 

Anyway, the workout was far from over. He 

then led me inside where I did bridging 

exercises for him. The only compliment 

I’d ever heard him give was when he 

said I was pretty agile after being able 

to kick over from front to back bridge a 

few times. 

Once my warm-up was over, he walked 

me over to his Joris and Gadas. He insisted 

I give them a go. I was afraid because my 

coordination had degraded a bit from 

the exercise and nausea and his Gada 

29


was made of wood. I didn’t want to drop 

it or crack it! He showed me how to get it 

going and voila, the rest they say is history. 

Karl was famous for saying, “Conditioning 

is your greatest hold.” He certainly lived 

it. He learned about Gadas, Joris and the 

other Hindu exercises from an Iranian 

and loved them. He’d make his students 

do 500 Hindu squats, 250 Hindu pushups 

and 3 minutes of bridging gymnastics 

minimum before he’d coach them in 

wrestling. He was a very hard-core and 

inspiring person. 

How did you follow-up from there? 

Once I got back home to California I searched 

for Maces. There were none to be had back 

then. I am a pretty vigorous researcher (I 

have my M.Sc. in financial mathematics) but 

couldn’t find any Gadas anywhere. 

Karl told me he had to get his made and 

sent me some specifications so I could 

get one made, too. As I researched, I 

started to notice a few interesting things. 

First of all, getting one made out of 

wood was just as expensive as having 

one made of metal. I also realized steel 

was better than wood because durability 

meant more functionality. 

I’d also had interest in the Highland 

Games as well, in particular the 

Scottish Hammer toss. One of my client 

athletes at the time, Mitch Wickline, was 

a former Marine and very much into the 

Olympic Hammer Throw. He helped me 

with testing. I came to find out that the 

weight that Karl used with his Gada was 

10KG; this was also the weight used in 

the Hammer Toss in the Highland Games! 

At this point I realized other people would 

likely be interested in this form of exercise, 

especially given the popularity of Kettlebell 

sport at the time. So I researched and found 

a great manufacturer, Torque Athletic. The 

owner, Odis Meredith, was receptive to my 

idea so we put them out in 2007. 

So while I didn’t invent the Gada, the 

Pelhwani/Kushit wrestlers from centuries 

ago did, I don’t think it is controversial 

to say that I did invent the Macebell, and 

had I been hit by a bus before I introduced 

the Macebell then very few would be 

doing these exercises today (except the 

Gada specific exercises done in the dusty 

ashkaras of India). My concept updated 

the design and materials so that the 

Macebell is a bit more than just Gada. It 

is equal parts Gada, Scottish hammer, and 

a sledgehammer (when used with a tire). 

One afternoon I was out in my front yard 

practicing with it and this guy drove past. 

I heard the screech of tires and saw him 

slam his car in reverse. He was a seasoned 

kettlebell guy. I had just been certified in 

kettlebells by Valery Fedorenko so we 

chatted and I asked him if he wanted to 

try the Macebell. He loved it. 

What motivates you? 

My love of fitness came the hard way. I 

was very ill as a child. Before my 16th 

birthday I had survived both gangrene 

poisoning (the result of a botched 

appendectomy) and Hodgkin’s lymphoma 

(a form of cancer). The radiation therapy 

left me with a host of neurological and 

muscular atrophy issues. I have been very 

fortunate to have been illness free for 

nearly three decades now (due to proper 

diet and exercise). 

Have you been involved in competitions? 

I’ve always been a better gym wrestler 

than competition wrestler as my health 

problems precluded me from excelling at 

the elite levels I worked towards, but I think 

my work ethic, gameness and savvy earned 

me the respect of some of my world-class 

heroes. I’ve been very lucky and proud to 

have worked closely and learned from 

men like Karl Gotch, Billy Robinson, Wade 

Schalles, Brandon Ruiz, Joe Decker, Navy 

SEAL John MacLaren and others. 

I was in my mid-thirties when I invented 

the Macebell. This was after I had toured 

the United States as a professional 

wrestler (the 2001 Van’s Warped Tour) and 

I was working in investment and mortgage 

banking as a quantitative analyst. 

30


How did you spread the word about the 

Macebell? 

To be honest, I have poured nearly all 

of my efforts into spreading the gospel 

of Catch-As-Catch-Can wrestling and 

haven’t given the Macebell the attention 

it deserves. This is why I am so grateful 

for the efforts of people like Rik Brown. 

I invented the Macebell for myself 

first and foremost, due to Karl Gotch’s 

belief in its efficacy for training combat 

athletes. The traditional Gada exercises 

are tremendous for stability, grip 

strength, core and the shoulder girdle. 

These are crucial areas for a wrestler 

to develop. Once you get to swinging a 

10KG Macebell for 100 repetitions (either 

10-to-2’s or 360’s) you are just beginning. 

To get people practicing, I offered a 

free certification online for years. The 

criteria was simple but rigorous; you 

had to demonstrate core competencies 

with the basic exercises (shown on the 

Macebell Strength Training Basics DVD) 

and demonstrate 100 repetitions nonstop. 

It worked pretty well, now there 

are thousands of Macebell videos on 

YouTube. 

What’s the hardest training move you 

have pulled off with the Mace? 

I think the hardest move has been 

singlehanded 360 swings with the 15KG 

for reps. I think Rik can still best me on 

those though. I think my PB was 5 swings. 

How often do you have to train with the 

Mace to keep yourself on top of the game? 

Not as much as I used to. I owned my 

own gym in Southern California for a 

few years, but closed it down when my 

wife and I moved our family to Salt Lake 

City. I re-opened a wrestling gym with 

my friend (and grappler extraordinaire) 

Brandon Ruiz, for a little more than a year 

here in Salt Lake, but eventually arthritis 

and nerve damage from a C2 and C5 injury 

has forced me to slowed down a bit. I still 

swing a few times a week for mobility 

though. It’s fun, and hard to stop, ha ha! 

What are the main benefits of the Mace? 

The Macebell comes in 5KG, 7.5KG, 10KG, 

12.5KG and 15KG. From a strength and 

conditioning perspective, the Macebell 

is greatest for grip strength. The 

centrifugal force generated by 10KG at 

that distance is formidable, especially 

for high reps. Tangentially, athletes 

develop stability from the non-linear 

motion and full ROM in shoulder socket 

without overloading the joint. 

How do you keep yourself in shape? Do 

you follow a special diet? 

When I was younger, I used to just do 

grappling for my conditioning, but after 

years of disregarding my physician’s 

advice I finally had to stop. A few years ago 

my arthritis became debilitating. Years of 

impact and twisted joints had caught up 

with me, plus a pretty bad neck injury from 

wrestling really had me in a lot of pain. 

I started doing Bikram yoga and it really 

complimented the bodyweight exercises 

I had learned with Karl Gotch. So I do 

yoga, a lower rep version of Karl’s routine 

and the Macebell. 

Where’s your favorite place to train? 

I definitely prefer outdoor training. The 

years I was in Venice Beach 

and Dana Point were the times of my 

greatest fitness levels. Moving to Salt 

Lake has been a bit of a disaster for me 

due to the cold weather and horrible air 

pollution here. 

What is your favorite training method? 

I do kettlebells (snatches mostly) and 

Macebell stuff routinely. Also, I am a 

big believer in Hindu squats. I like the 

compound exercises that build both 

stamina and strength simultaneously 

(well, except burpees, lol). 

What do you foresee for your future? 

What are you goals? 

I plan to maintain my health and fitness 

with my unusual regimen. I love doing 

the odd exercises; they are challenging 

and keep me stimulated. I continue to 

coach wrestling as well. 

As the Macebell continues to explode 

in popularity I hope to be available for 

coaching. I’ve dedicated myself so much 

to Catch Wrestling that I’ve neglected 

coaching the Macebell and I plan to fix that. 

Do you have any instructional DVD’s or 

manuals that people can follow to learn 

from your extensive knowledge? 

Yes, thank you for asking. I’ve produced 

a decent amount of material and it is 

available at ScientificWrestling.com. 

In addition to creating the Macebell in 2007, Jake Shannon is the inventor of many of the Mace-related exercises and terms commonly 

used by today’s Mace athletes. He is also the founder of Scientific Wrestling, the leading resource for the best in Catch Wrestling 

coaching and competition. In addition to his interest in unconventional athletics, he’s earned a Master of Science in financial 

mathematics, is the author of more than a half-dozen books, and currently writes for the entertainment website FnordU.com. He 

lives with his wonderful wife, three children, two dogs and cat in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

WEBSITE: http://www.ScientificWrestling.com 

31


LIFE AS A 

LEADING LUMBERJILL 

DEDICATION, DRIVE AND A SUPERLATIVE SET OF SKILLS GIVE TOP CHOPPER ERIN LAVOIE 

THE WINNER’S EDGE 

Can you tell us about your athletic history? 

I’ve always been competitive in every sport I played 

growing up - soccer, volleyball, and football, when 

my mom wasn’t looking! In baseball, I was the 

only girl in the league, and I was the pitcher, which 

was pretty cool. Everything that was available I’d 

jump in and try it. Gymnastics, too. 

How did you discover the sport of lumberjack? 

I started in college. I was going to school 

for Forestry and the school had a team that 

practiced down the hall from my classes. I 

stumbled in one day and loved it. My first 5 

days after I joined the team, I placed in the top 

3 in all events I entered. 

32


You have been competing in the pro circuit since 2002. Are 

there a lot more women competing now? 

Definitely. When I first started there were no girls - maybe 

one other girl - and we would compete against the guys. 

Slowly there were more and more and it’s steadily growing. 

As the owner of a Crossfit facility, how much time do you 

spend working out there as part of your fitness plan? 

I workout at Crossfit 5-6 days a week and yoga one day a 

week. But I’m always training for my sport. Either with practice, 

working out or just thinking about events and how to perform 

best at them. I like keeping it well-rounded instead of just 

focusing on what would mimic the event. It works for me. 

You hold two World Records for the Underhand Chop - one 

in 2005 for 11” white pine at 27.795 seconds and one in 

2006 for 11” aspen at 29.68 seconds. What the trick to 

being the best? 

Repetition is how you get better axe placement. You also 

need to be able to read the wood quickly and know how 

to respond to it. That just comes with experience. I try 

to practice chopping at least one day a week during the 

season and just before the season- but this depends on 

how much wood I can find. 

Also, I don’t like to suck at things. So, if I do something, I go 

all in. It seems I’m a natural, but I put in my time and have 

given up a lot to be as good as I am today. And mostly, I 

just love the sport and really like to win. Who doesn’t? 

How much travel is involved in competing? 

I’m usually away every 2 to 4 weekends a month during 

our season which is March-April through September. Some 

years I go down to Australia in the off-season, so I could go 

year-round, but it’s a bit much. 

You’ve won a lot of championship titles (see bio for complete 

listing) including multiple Iron Jill World Championships and 

the 2014 Lumberjack World Championship. Can you explain 

the points system that determines the top champion? 

Pretty much every competition is single events, but you do 

get points per event towards being the All-Around Winner. 

The way the Iron Jill played out you had to do 5 events and 

you’d get points per event which added up to determining 

the All-Around Winner. 

Does the World Championship in Wisconsin have an All- 

Around Winner? 

Yes, and that’s what I’m gunning for. I won it in 2014 and 

last year I was just 1 point behind. The only problem is… 

there’s a Single Buck, an Underhand Chop, a Jack and Jill and 

a Jill and Jill, so there are 4 events available to get those 

points, but half of them are dependent upon a partner. And 

this year my (Jill and Jill) partner may not be able to make 

it, so if that happens, I’m pretty much out. She’s currently 

competing in Canada and if she makes the finals, they run 

on the same day as the World Championship event. 

33


You compete in other events in other competitions. Which 

ones have you entered? 

I also do the pole climb, obstacle pole race, stock saw, 

choker, standing chop and whatever else they can come up 

with. I like to do it all. At the World Championship I’ll just 

do the single buck, underhand chop, Jack and Jill and Jill 

and Jill as there isn’t much time to do more. At different 

competitions…I’ll also do log rolling and the boom run. It’s 

so much fun! 

In the videos of log rolling, competitors look at each other’s 

feet. Are you trying step in reaction to what your opponent 

is doing as well as actively try to knock them off? 

If you are a newer log roller it’s basically just trying to stay 

on the log, but when you do it longer you want to watch 

their feet. That way you can try to see which way they are 

trying to move the log so you can respond quicker. But you 

also see when they are getting off balance and when that 

happens, you can throw them in. 

How often do you practice with a partner? 

That’s the tough part! There aren’t a lot of people around 

me. Most of the big competitions are in the East, so I travel 

there a lot. So with Jason Lentz, my partner who lives in 

West Virginia, when there’s a competition near him, I’ll 

go out two days early to train. It’s hard because some are 

husband and wife teams and a lot of people have been 

together for years. You try to team up with someone who 

is a good single sawyer and you do what you can! 

What are some mistakes people make when sawing? 

I’ve sawed with a lot of girls who get the “yips” I call it. 

They freak out on GO! and they tense up and try too hard, 

or there’s too much adrenaline. You need the strength and 

the chillness of it. 

It’s tough with the guys too because there’s definitely 

a dominant factor. The guys cut the men’s Double Buck 

together so there are two guys on a saw and that’s some 

power. So for a guy to cut that then step down to a girl, 

and we aren’t as strong but can still saw, they carry that 

mentality that they’re stronger and pull you through the 

log and that’s trouble too because it’s a team and you can’t 

overpower somebody. And…a lot will try to Single Buck 

you which means they really put an angle to it so they are 

up higher and then you can’t do anything but stand there. 

What’s your least favorite event? 

The axe throw. I get the yips really bad. I think I had 3 

or 4 years of constantly hitting the dirt and it’s the most 

frustrating thing. Now this year I’m actually getting really 

good. I’ve put some hours in trying to work through it. I 

had 4 years of practicing wrong…so I kept switching things 

and I’ve finally found something that really works. 

So you were self-taught? 

Originally I learned in college, but over the years I’ve picked 

up tips and tidbits from travelling so much and talking to 

others doing what you love to do at competitions. You take 

from that what works, put it all together and practice it. 

Have you ever been injured? Seems like there’s a lot of 

opportunity for that in this sport! 

I haven’t been injured too terribly. I did have someone pull 

a crosscut saw across my leg at the finish of a Jill and Jill 

event. She was new, and that was the last time I cut with 

someone newer in a competition. 

Common injuries are nicks from axes and saws. Bigger 

injuries come from scooping in the chopping events 

and cutting into the feet/legs with the axe. Sometimes 

taking toes off. I’m also very aware to try to avoid that 

situation. 

34


It seems I’m a 

natural, but I 

put in my time 

and have given 

up a lot to be 

as good as I 

am today. 

What do you see doing for your future? Do you have any 

goals or things you’d like to accomplish? 

I should have a plan, but I don’t. I’m really happy with 

what I’m doing now. I just created an online store where 

I’m selling shirts and safety gear like chopping guards, 

which are chainmail socks for choppers which are worn 

under the shoes so if you slip with an axe you don’t cut 

your foot off. 

To see how Erin did in the 2016 World 

Championship (July 28-30) check out her results on 

our website: www.unconventionalathletes.com 

WEBSITE: www.the-lumberjill.com 

35


LUMBERJACK 101 

LOG ROLLING: Two competitors, or birlers, step onto a floating log while holding onto 

poles held by attendants on the dock until they steadily reach a safe distance from the 

platform. Upon “Go”, the birlers drop the pole and attempt to maintain their position on 

the log while trying to throw an opponent off balance into the water, a feat appropriately 

called ‘wetting.’ Should no one fall within 3 timed sessions, competitors move onto a 

smaller and more difficult log until one person takes the plunge. There are separate 

men’s and women’s log rolling events. 

BOOM RUNNING: Two competitors run on parallel booms in a timed race across a 

40-50 yard span of water. When the runners reach the dock on the far side, they circle 

a stationary post and run back across the boom to the staring dock. Booms are 

made of the same logs used in the log rolling event, but chained end to end to create 

a floating racetrack. This is a timed event (within tenths of seconds) and the runner 

with the quickest time wins. There are separate men’s and women’s boom run events. 

36


JACK AND JILL: This is a male and 

female partnered sawing contest. 

Sawyers work as a team to saw 

completely through a 20” white 

pine log. The World’s Record set 

in 2005 is 6.17 seconds. 

The male partnered version is 

called the Double Buck. 

THE LUMBERJACK 

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: 

RICH IN HISTORY, SKILL 

SETS AND PRIZES! 

UNDERHAND CHOP: This is a timed 

event where a chopper stands 

on foot holds (flat-chopped out 

sections) made on either side of an 

11” white pine or aspen log. Lines 

are measured out so choppers 

chop half way through the wood 

with an axe then spin around and 

chop the back side until the log 

splits. There are separate men’s 

and women’s underhand chop 

events. For those over the age of 

50 there is a separate Master’s 

Underhand Chop event. 

The Lumberjack World Championship began 

in 1960 in the small town of Hayward, 

Wisconsin. Rising from the rich history of 

the U.S. logging industry and the skills of 

lumberjacks who once chopped, sawed and 

climbed American forests, the sport offers a 

myriad of exciting and difficult events. 

POLE CLIMB: There are 2 sizes 

of pole in this category – the 

60 ft and 90 ft. In both climbs 

competitors scale cedar poles 

to the top and back down to 

the ground with the fastest 

time winning. Upon descending, 

lumberjacks are required to 

touch the pole every 15 feet. Top 

competitors reach descending 

speeds of up to 40 mph. Spurred 

shoes and steel core climbing 

ropes are used as gear. 

SPRINGBOARD CHOP: Contestants 

use both chopping and 

climbing skills in this event. Two 

notches are chopped to hold 

boards which competitors stand 

on to rise higher up a 9 ft pole 

to reach and chop through a 12” 

log mounted on the top. 

This annual championship has steadily 

grown in popularity and now draws over 100 

pre-qualified male and female competitors 

from around the world. Last year’s event 

attracted over 12,000 spectators – more 

than twice the population of the hosting 

town of Hayward. 

This year’s 57 th annual championship (July 

28-30) will showcase over 21 events, from 

log chopping and sawing to speed climbing, 

axe throwing, logrolling and boom running. 

Demonstrating a wide range of elite athletic 

skills including strength, endurance and 

agility, dedicated professionals compete for 

more than $50,000 in prize money - one of 

the largest purses offered in the competitive 

lumberjack world. 

37


‘SCHEER’ 

ATHLETICISM! 

LIFELONG LUMBERJACK CASSIDY 

SCHEER CLIMBS TO THE TOP 

STRENGTH, SPEED, AGILITY AND CONFIDENCE: 

SKILLS OF AN ALL-AROUND LUMBERJACK CHAMP 

You come from a family dedicated to the sport of Lumberjack. 

What was it like growing up immersed in this unique culture? 

I always identified with [the sport] from a young age. I had 

my own “lumberjack arena” in my backyard for my own 

“lumberjack shows”. Seeing my father and other relatives 

compete was always a lot of fun. My father, Fred, is a 4 time 

World Champion. In my extended family there are 22 world 

titles in log rolling and speed climbing. And, of course, I 

wanted to emulate them. 

I started logrolling at the age of four. I started tree climbing 

and chopping at the age of 15 and started placing in pro 

events a few years later. I took it very seriously. Through my 

college years and a few years afterwards I worked in a family 

lumberjack entertainment business. 

So you turned pro at an early age which means you’ve been 

at this for some 20 years. Can you give a brief outline of your 

athletic career? 

The first phase of my lumberjack sports career peaked with 

a win in the “Superjack” event at the 2005 Great Outdoor 

Games broadcast on ESPN. This event was an Octathlon of 

lumberjack sports where competitors needed to be proficient 

in all lumberjack disciplines and the margin of victory affected 

scoring. Winning was a big deal. First prize got $23,000, which 

was a lumberjack sports record at the time. 

The Great Outdoor Games were cancelled the next year, 

and much of the money in the sport dried up. I continued to 

compete at a high level in speed climbing, but due to work 

and relocation to Costa Rica and Atlanta, GA, I wasn’t very 

involved in the sport. 

PHOTO CREDIT 

TO ‘APERTURE BY 

STEVE DAVIS’ 

In 2011, I moved back to the Midwest and in 2014 I became 

involved in the lumberjack entertainment industry again. At 

the same time I started to compete seriously again… Now I 

compete in 3 to 5 competitions a year; only the bigger ones 

with money and prestige. The majority of my income comes 

from my work [in real estate development], but lumberjack 

competitions and my work in the lumberjack entertainment 

contributes an amount that I am happy to have. 

38


I WILL OFTEN CHANNEL THE 

FEELINGS OF paST victorieS Before 

COMPETITIONS. IT WORKS. 

What are your current goals in the sport? 

My duel goals for 2016 are to win the allaround 

points title at the Lumberjack 

World Championship - a feat never 

achieved by someone who is not a sole 

specialist in chopping and sawing – and 

to do well enough…to qualify for the Stihl 

Timbersports Series, the premier international 

chopping and sawing competition. 

How much time do you spend training 

each week? 

About 10 hours of active training. Set-up 

and gear prep probably takes another 5 

hours. 

What kind of exercises do you do to 

keep your upper body strong? 

I stick mostly to a core of pull-ups, 

shoulder presses and bench presses. I do 

a variety of compound movements that 

involve the upper body like thrusters, 

ball slams, sledge hammer swings and 

rope climbs as well. 

Did you develop your own training 

program? Who coached you? 

I follow the Crossfit football program 

for my off season training. The physical 

needs and time domains of football 

are pretty similar to lumberjack sports: 

size, power, speed, balance over shorter 

periods of time, but in repetition. 

Off season training consists of 4 weekly 

strength sessions, 2 sprint or plyo 

sessions and 4 metabolic conditioning 

sessions. 

During the competitive season I strength 

train twice a week, sprint once, and do 

1 or 2 short duration lactic threshold 

pusher conditioning sessions consisting 

mostly of heavy kettlebell power cleans 

and sled work. I get plenty of extra 

cardio in my event specific and skill 

work. Finding the time to adequately 

train for all lumberjack events without 

over training is difficult, but is part of 

being an all-around lumberjack athlete. 

How do you train to develop balance for 

the log roll and boom run? 

The best way to develop balance 

needed for the log roll and boom run 

is to just do it a lot. Precision in posture 

and position, combined with foot speed 

is what keeps you on the log. Any sort 

of training or activity that helps develop 

body awareness is good, but there is no 

substitute for spending a lot of time on 

the log developing the muscle memory 

necessary to deal with quick direction 

changes. Most of our practicing occurs 

on carpeted logs or the Key Log, which 

is a plastic log. We use simple flat soled 

shoes with soft rubber. In competitions 

we use a soccer shoe that has logging 

spikes inserted into the sole. 

PHOTO CREDIT 


STEVE DAVIS. 

39


Are there actual moves one learns when 

log rolling to throw an opponent off? 

There are a few different strategies one 

can undertake in a logrolling match, and 

just like a boxing match, the strategies 

will change based on who you are rolling 

and what theirs and your strengths are. 

Larger rollers, like myself, tend to be 

more aggressive. We use our weight and 

strength to manipulate the movement of 

the log in a way that gets our opponent 

off balance. I also make prodigious use 

of the water kick, literally kicking a blast 

of water in my opponent’s eyes. It is risky 

in that you take a foot off the log and 

cede control for a moment, however, 

if you hit them with a high velocity 

blast of water right in the eyes it can 

completely discombobulate them. 

While I’m a more aggressive roller, 

there are light and fast rollers who will 

simply just try and ride out the match 

and won’t go on the offensive. World 

Championships have been won using 

this strategy, so it is legit. 

Most rollers will try and stay loose 

and fast, maintaining control as much 

as they can, and then wait for an 

opening to make an aggressive move. 

Patience is definitely a learned skill. 

Endurance can play a substantial role 

in a match as well. Because of my size 

(more weight makes the log faster, and 

consequently, matches shorter) and 

aggressive nature, endurance doesn’t 

come into play as much. 

How does a World Champion like you 

train for speed climbing? 

I’ve been speed climbing for so long now 

that the mechanics are routine. While I 

do climb 2 days a week or so, I can make 

the most gains with my training away 

from the tree. Things like sprint and 

plyometric training, along with building 

supreme leg strength is what allows me 

to go faster. 

Speed climbing is also unique in that 

your body power to weight ratio plays a 

significant role in how fast you can go. 

I try and lean out a bit in the months 

leading up to the competition, but it is 

hard to do and not sacrifice some of the 

power output you need for the other 

events…at a competition. 

As a top athlete, is there some advice 

you can give regarding reaching one’s 

full potential? 

The thing that has helped me progress 

in the sport most is to be very 

analytical in assessing which area of 

my performance or preparation had the 

most room for improvement. Early on 

it was my strength training, later on it 

was nutrition and rest, and recently it 

has been in my gear preparation and 

procurement. I try to be realistic in the 

assessment of my abilities and will seek 

the knowledge of those with a good eye 

to give me a critical review. Often times 

this means training in the events I don’t 

like as much or doing things I have little 

interest in like axe grinding or saw filing. 

Do you train your mindset for focus or a 

mental advantage? 

I’m a believer in “if you feel good you 

will perform well” mentality. I make 

sure I look good. I’ll monitor my body 

language and facial expressions in 

order to boost confidence. I will often 

channel the feelings of past victories 

before competitions. It works. 

PHOTO CREDIT 


STEVE DAVIS.’ 

Have you ever been injured? The tree 

climb looks intimidating – as does 

chopping fast with sharp axes! 

I cut my foot pretty bad chopping when 

I was 14…44 stitches, although the 

accident was more the result of being 

young and careless than anything else. 

Once you get skilled at the axe work, 

the risk of cutting yourself becomes 

pretty minimal. Most everyone wears 

chainmail socks and shin guards 

these days. It is a bit uncanny how 

often people will cut fingers while 

sharpening or handling axes or saws 

though. 

Logrolling results in mostly lots of shin 

bruises, scuffs and mild ankle damage 

occurs. Tree climbing is where the 

big bones break or severe soft tissue 

damage occurs. I’ve seen three guys 

break their backs over the years along 

with a handful of ACL and meniscus 

tears and the occasional broken ankle. 

I’ve been fortunate to avoid anything 

too serious – lots of slivers, small cuts 

and mild sprains, pulled muscles and 

an occasional climbing spur [sharp 

gear on shoes] into the buttocks. I work 

really hard on my strength, flexibility 

and posture. Safety measures have 

come a long way, too. The crash pads we 

use for climbing have improved from a 

pile of mattresses to pole vault quality 

landing pads. Top climbers descend at 

a rate of 35- 40 mph, so impact injuries 

have dropped probably about 90 % 

[because of the landing gear.] 

What are your longer term future goals? 

In the near future I will continue to 

put an equal effort into all of the 

various disciplines, but at my age of 35, 

I will start slowing down in the climb 

and logroll regardless of my training 

regimen. I’ll keep on logrolling and 

climbing as long as I feel good about 

the efforts and their effect on my body, 

but shifting my focus towards chopping 

and sawing will allow me to continue 

competing at a high level for another 15 

years at the minimum. 

In chopping and sawing I can actually 

continue to improve as these disciplines 

are about accuracy and technique, 

instead of speed and sheer athleticism. 

It’s not uncommon for guys to peak in 

their 40’s and still compete at a high 

level in their 50’s. 

To see how Cassidy did in the 2016 World Championship (July 28-30) 

check out his results on our website! www.unconventionalathletes.com 

40


42


TOUGH 

TRAINING 

LEARNING TO ENDURE FOR OBSTACLE RACING SUCCESS 

As an experienced, elite endurance athlete, Chris Rutz knows 

how to navigate the multitude of challenges of ORC. Now he’s 

passing on to others the knowledge he’s gained as an Ironman 

Triathlete and Spartan Race Pro Team member. 

Can you give us a background on yourself and how you got into your sport? 

Obstacle Racing has come a long way in the past few years. 2010 was a year of birth or 

incubation for major race promoters like Spartan Race, Warrior Dash and Tough Mudder. 

These races were just getting started with a handful of races sprinkled across mostly 

the US, Canada and the UK. I discovered the sport in late 2010 and got my feet wet, 

literally, in 2011 with a dozen Tough Mudders, a couple of Spartan Races and any other 

“mud runs” I could find in my state. 

I was coming from an extensive endurance sports background having been an Ironman 

triathlete, road bike racer and general outdoor fitness enthusiast. Immediately prior 

to my jump into OCR I had discovered CrossFit and integrated this into my endurance 

training. I found that my training was perfect for this emerging sport. I began racing 

Spartan Races across the US, delivering results that put me on the podium and earning 

a record 7 trifecta medals in 2012. In 2013 I joined the Spartan Race Pro Team and Team 

Inov-8. It was about this time I started Tough Training as a resource for athletes looking 

to enter the sport of Obstacle Racing. My goal was to provide a diverse pool of athletes 

guidance on how to get into and perform well in the sport. 

On average how many obstacles are there in the more extreme events? How exhausting is it? 

The obstacle count varies by race distance, but there are three main types of Spartan 

Races: Spartan’s shortest courses are 3+ miles and 20+ obstacles. If you fail an 

obstacle along the way, you must do 30 burpees before continuing on. The Super is 

8+ miles, 24+ obstacles, and often hosted on a tougher terrain. The hardest of the 

three races is the Beast: 12+ miles and 30+ obstacles. Any of the three options are 

exhausting, especially when you are racing against tough competitors and against 

the clock. There is a fourth style of race which takes place in a stadium. It is similar 

to the Sprint, but adds in many more CrossFit style tests along the way. While this is 

the shortest, I find it the most exhausting. 

43


Why are you drawn to this sport? 

My main interest in the sport was the 

combination of endurance and strength. 

My upper body strength had traditionally 

been a weakness. Not anymore. I have 

focused on developing my upper body 

strength through my Tough Training. 

What’s your take on this sport’s 

popularity? Are you a member of any 

special group? 

A recent report from the Running USA 

trade organization estimated that there 

were 4 million participants in alternative 

types of running-related events in 2013, 

while another report from Active.com 

showed that 53 percent of those types 

of events were mud runs or obstacle 

course races. And it’s not just in the 

U.S.—it’s a worldwide phenomenon with 

an estimated 5,000 events and as many 

as 10 million participants in more than 

30 countries in 2014. 

I have my Tough Training athletes. We train 

together a minimum of 3 days a week. In 

addition I am a member of the SISU Pro 

Team - group of racers around the world 

that race Obstacle Course Races. 

What’s the hardest obstacle course race 

you have done? 

One of the hardest races I have done 

recently was an event called TPK 

Endurance. It was less an obstacle 

race and more of an Adventure Race. 

Here is a link to a recent blog on that 

event. http://livethetoughlife.com/tpkendurance-what-is-that 

How often do you have to train to keep 

yourself on top of the game? 

I train 6 days a week, with one day off for 

rest and recovery. On the training days 

I may do one Tough Training workout 

and add yoga or bouldering at the gym. 

Other days may be an hour long Tough 

Training session. 

Do you ever fear getting injured? 

No, I am pretty cautious and know my 

limitations. When I try something new 

I ease into it so as not to cause injury. I 

know how long recovery from and injury 

can take and I do not want to miss out 

on any of my Tough Training. 

How do you keep yourself in shape - do 

you follow a special diet or both? 

Tough Training is my methodology of 

training for overall fitness and optimum 

performance. It combines principles 

learned via my professional education 

in Spartan SGX and Crossfit Endurance, 

and I add in my experience in over 

100 obstacle races. From a nutritional 

perspective I believe in eating real 

food. I eat very little processed foods. 

My diet is full fresh vegetables, fruits, 

nuts, and lean protein like chicken and 

salmon. I will also include rice and oats 

from time to time. 

FOR ANY 

ENDURANCE 

EVENT, 

TRAINING 

THE MIND IS 

THE MOST 

CRITICAL 

COMPONENT 

OF TRAINING. 

44


Where’s your favorite place to train - do 

you prefer indoor or outdoor training or 

both? How do you prepare for obstacles? 

Outside, definitely outside. There is 

a mountain here in Arizona called 

Camelback Mountain, it is my favorite 

location to train endurance and speed. 

It ascends 1280 feet in about 1.3 miles. 

I will incorporate weighted carries, pullups 

and push-ups along the way. 

KEEP PUSHING FORWARD – ONE 

MORE STEP, ONE MORE HEALTHY MEAL, 

ONE MORE TRAINING SESSION. 

How do you train mentally for these 

grueling events? 

For any endurance event training the 

mind is the most critical component of 

training. You have to control the mind 

in order to achieve the results you want. 

Every day you have to be focused on your 

goals and not let anything get in the 

way. On the race course the same things 

applies. You are going to want to stop at 

some point along the way, in training and 

in racing. Staying focused on the task at 

hand is essential. Keep pushing forward 

- one more step, one more healthy meal, 

one more training session. 

This all comes from consistent training 

overtime and setting your goals. 

Everyday your mind gets stronger as 

your body gets stronger. 

Which skills are most critical for 

excelling in obstacle course racing? 

There are so many movements integral 

to Tough Training and preparing for an 

obstacle race. Running is one of the most 

important, but not just distance running. 

You need to incorporate intervals along 

the way. Short and long repeats. Upper 

body and grip strength comes next. I 

do a lot of weighted carries with kettle 

bells, buckets, and barbells. In addition, 

spending time in a climbing gym is a 

great way to train for the rigors of OCR. 

What do you foresee for your future? 

I will continue to race, but my main focus 

is to get others prepared for the rigors 

of the sport through my Tough Training 

program. I am currently working on 

taking my programming to the next 

level both in depth and breadth. That is 

a project I am currently working on. 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/toughtraining. 

Facebook: Christopher Rutz Tough Training 

Twitter: @ToughRutz 

Instagram: Tough Training 

45


RESILIENCE, CORE AND 

EXPLOSIVE POWER! 

A MAN of ACTION: BUILDING STUNTMAN STAMINA! 

INTERVIEW WITH PROFESSIONAL ACTOR AND STUNTMAN EMILIEN DE FALCO 

After professional stuntman, Emilien De Falco, explosively pummels an opponent, jumps off of a 

moving train, tumbles from a building, repeatedly kicks an attacker only to end up bloody and 

dead, he gets up and does it again. And again…. 

When did you start training and what 

does your routine involve? 

I started training at 7-years-old so I 

have been training for more than 20 

years. My inspirations were Bruce Lee 

and Jean Claude Van Damme when I 

was a kid. Then I got inspired by many 

other “action actors”, but those were 

the first. I don’t really train MMA, 

but I train in many different styles of 

Martial Arts. 

I train for two to three hours a day, 5 to 7 

days a week. I like to split my training in 

two sessions of 1 to 1 and a half hours 

a day. My first session is early in the 

morning on an empty stomach and the 

second session in the late afternoon or 

early evening. By doing so it allows me 

to really put a lot of intensity into my 

workout, mixing bodyweight training, 

weight lifting, calisthenics, circuit 

training and martial arts drills with 

mitts, shield, pads and paddles. I don’t 

really have a favorite body part I like to 

work out, but I love to train my core for 

explosive power. 

46


What was the most physically 

demanding film you have been in and 

how did you prepare for it? 

My most physically demanding film so 

far was “Boyka Undisputed” (2016). I 

only had a week’s notice to prepare for 

it, and when you know you are going 

to be fighting shirtless against Scott 

Adkins, who portrays Boyka, you have to 

level up your game. Although I always 

train and stay in shape all year, I always 

want to look my best for the screen. So 

I went on a strict diet for a week while 

rehearsing - eating a lot of protein and 

very few carbohydrates. 

METHOD 1 

Four sets of the following exercises, no rest between exercises 30 seconds rest 

between sets 

10 Ball slams 

with a 10 to 

20 pounds ball 

(according to 

your level) 

30 double under 

with the jump 

rope (single for 

beginners) 

The shooting days were pretty physical 

as well. We were doing long takes at a 

very high intensity. 

10 burpees squat 

jumps (Knees 

up for advanced 

practitioners) 

15 kettlebell 

swings (pick 

weight according 

to your level - 

you have to be 

able to swing 

the kettlebell 

properly and 

stick with it for 

the four sets) 

METHOD 2 

Four sets of the following exercises, no rest between exercises, 30 sec rest 

between sets 

10 burpees to 

box jumps 

15 spiderman 

push ups 

30 seconds battle 

rope shuffle 

10 squat jump 

knees up 

It looks like stamina and explosive 

power pay a massive part in your 

training regimen. Can you share some of 

your workout? 

STAMINA, CORE AND EXPLOSIVE 

POWER! 

To train for stamina and the core for 

explosive power here are two of my 

favorite drills: 

47


The drills above are what I use for 

core and shredded abs. I simply add 

Martial Arts training on top of it. The 

video in which I am doing a series of 

double mid-kicks to a heavy bag comes 

from Tae Kwon Do, which is my base. 

It is for stamina, core and explosive 

power. It is very hard to do it at a high 

pace and I usually do it for 15 to 30 

seconds. I recommend it for advanced 

practitioners only. 

Can you give us examples of action 

movies that took a lot of takes? 

Almost every movie I worked on took 

a lot of takes to be honest. That’s why 

you need to always stay in shape and 

have good stamina. The public only sees 

the final result and often don’t realize 

all the work behind a fight scene or 

action scene. How many times you have 

to do an impressive kick or take a fall 

which is going to be a few seconds 

long in the final edit. How many times 

you have to go throughout an intense 

fight sequence to cover it from as many 

angles as possible. It is hard to get when 

you watch it on the screen. That’s why 

I train stamina and explosive power as 

much as I do. 

Have you had to do any dangerous 

stunts? 

Most of my work and stunts involve 

fighting, falling, breaking glass, 

acrobatics, running on dangerous 

surfaces, jumping from one thing to 

another… there is always danger, but the 

risks are calculated. One of my recent 

stunts was to jump from a moving pick 

up truck to a moving train then go on 

the top of the train and run/jump from a 

wagon to another. I felt confident doing 

it, but we had to do it so many times 

that in order to stay safe I had to stay 

really focused for every take. 

Do you discipline your mind to go past 

your limits? 

Yes, I either work out very intensely or 

don’t work out at all. It is not always 

easy to find motivation, but when you 

are in the middle of your workout it’s 

one of the best feelings in the world. 

My advice is simple. If you want to pass 

your limits you’ll need to find the right 

training partner. Someone that will push 

you. Emulation is very important. If you 

don’t have someone to train with, go to 

a place where there is a lot of energy 

and people train really hard. Motivation 

is contagious. Plus by going there on a 

regular basis, you might meet the right 

person to train with. 

Do the plyometrics you do help with 

explosive movement? 

Every exercise that I have mentioned 

before helps with explosive movement. 

80 per cent of the training that I do 

is to increase explosive power. Squat 

jump knees up, ball slam, burpees squat 

jumps. I’ll start posting a lot of videos 

on my Instagram and youtube that will 

help in the matter. @emiliandefalco 

or Emilien De Falco on youtube. 

Stay tuned. 

We are intrigued to know about your 

diet. What’s on your plate? 

I try to avoid processed food as much as 

I can. I eat a lot of veggies, nuts (almonds 

and almond butter) fruits such as 

mangos and bananas. For protein I eat 

poultry, fish, beef, egg whites and vegan 

soy-free protein powder. I don’t consume 

dairy on a regular basis and don’t eat as 

much meat as I used to in the past. After 

a workout I like to have a protein shake 

with fruits and nuts. I think everybody is 

different when it comes to diet so you 

have to try out different types of diets 

and see what seems to work for you and 

then adjust it regularly. 

THERE’S ALWAYS 

DANGER, BUT 

THE RISKS ARE 

CALCULATED 

Can you offer advice to fellow athletes 

aspiring to do the action acting you do? 

Where can they start? 

First, you have to really want to do this and 

get ready to train hard and be dedicated 

to it. Then get your social media going, 

it is really important nowadays to have 

a big presence online. You might book 

jobs out of it. Move to a big city where 

there is work in your field. Go to the gyms 

or places where people in the business 

train and hang out. Have a demo reel 

ready and submit yourself to agents via 

email or mail. There are no rules or right 

way to do it. Create your own path and 

don’t try to copy anybody else. 

What are you doing next? 

I am working on a few projects that I 

can’t really talk about, I will post about 

it on my social media accounts. All I can 

tell you is that I am now more focused 

on booking leading roles and supporting 

roles rather than stunt roles. Besides 

that, “Boyka Undisputed” will come out 

in September as well as the “Perfect 

Weapon” - make sure you catch them! 

“Virtual Revolution”, an Independent 

French sci fi movie I worked on is in 

festivals all around the world at the 

moment and winning multiples awards. 

I am really excited about all this and 

I hope my career, my training regime, 

inspire a lot of people around the world 

to train hard and find their own path. 

Interview by Sharon G Jonas 

Facebook Emilien De falco 

Instagram @emiliandefalco 

Twitter @EmilienDeFalco 

48


Building 

Fingertips of 

Steel through 

Calisthenics 

Dan Underwood 

49


1. Basic finger strength: 

Starting out with finger based variations requires a solid foundation. The 

size and delicacy of the joints in your fingers means it is all too easy to suffer 

an injury. Start with a good warm up of your fingers and wrists with rolling 

movements and fully stretching and retracting your fingers. You may find your 

joints will ‘pop’ or ‘crack’ but this is okay as long as it doesn’t cause you any pain. 

Finger pushups are a great starting point. Hand position varies for everyone so 

experiment with close finger and wide finger placements. Ensure the flat parts of 

your fingers are in contact with the floor, do not bear weight near the fingernail. 

Start by holding yourself at the top position of a pushup for a certain duration, then 

try holding yourself at the bottom part (chest close to the floor). Once you can bear 

weight on your fingers without them slipping out from underneath you, then you are 

ready for push ups. As your strength should already be sufficient for push ups, start 

with sets of 5 reps with as much rest as required in between sets. When starting out, 

it will make your fingers ache so don’t overdo it at first! As you progress, make your 

way up to sets of 10. You should be able to complete these easily before you move 

onto the next step. Building finger strength takes time and cannot be rushed. It is 

different to building up your biceps or back muscles. Flex your fingers after every set 

to help avoid strain. 

50


2. Fingertip tuck planche 

Once you are comfortable with fingertip pushups to the point where you can do equal 

amounts of reps and sets with both fingertip and flat palm variations, you can move onto 

Finger Tuck Planche. If you cannot do a regular tuck planche, look back at Will De Leon’s 

tutorial on the straddle planche in Issue 4 of Unconventional Athletes. Start with your 

fingers in the same position as you were using in your pushups, lock your elbows out to 

allow full extension off the floor. Then, with your feet 

behind you, lean forward into a planche. As you lean, 

you will start to feel the pressure on your fingers. 

Hold this position to allow your joints to adjust to 

the weight pushing down on them. As you feel more 

comfortable, raise your hips into the tuck position 

and hold for as long as you can. You will notice the 

balance required to hold this position is different 

to the flat palmed variant, play around a little with 

it and find your balance point like you would with 

the normal tuck planche, before progressing onto 

further movements. Try to hold it for at least 25-30 

seconds whilst maintaining good form. 

3. The Goal- Straddle Planche on Fingers: 

The intermediate step for this is an advanced tuck planche or one legged variant 

which follows the same guidelines as the tuck planche shown previously. Once you 

have maintained good form for 20-30 secs you should feel ready to move on. As with 

learning the normal straddle planche, start in a straddle position on the floor, leaning 

forward onto your fingers. Do this whilst keeping your hips high 

and engaging your quads and lower back, creating full body tension 

to stabilize you. Start off with holds of 1 second, 

then 2 seconds…3……4…. etc. Holding 5 seconds 

is an incredible feat so do not feel disheartened 

if it doesn’t seem long. This takes patience but 

it is totally worth the wait once you master it. 

Another method of moving into the straddle 

planche is from a tuck position. This takes more 

balance as you are shifting your weight about 

more. Experiment and find what works for you! 

51


Other Advanced Moves: 

Handstand on fingers: 

Providing that you are skilled with your handstands, you may want to try a fingertip 

variation. Use assistance such as a wall or a friend to reduce the chance of injury. I 

would advise using a tuck press or straddle press onto your fingers as they allow a 

smoother movement for your joints and allow you to control the transition better. If you 

would prefer to kick up into the handstand, use caution as the sudden impact on your 

finger joints could result in dislocation, fractures or even breaks. Whilst on your fingers, 

you cannot use them to balance yourself as in a regular handstand, so I use my hips 

to gently shift my weight to keep my balance. Keeping your legs in a straddle position 

allows better distribution of your bodyweight, therefore making it easier to control. 

With regards to exiting the handstand, I would advise against tucking your head and 

rolling forward, as you may crush your fingers during the tangle. I would either twist 

and stand up or simply drop your legs down so you end up where you started. Have fun 

and be patient with the progressions, your fingers are small and delicate and require 

strengthening before attempting any of these advanced movements. 

L-sit on fingers: 

A challenging variation of the L-sit which requires greater balance and muscle 

activation. Start by sitting on the floor with your legs stretched out in front of you. 

Place your hands next to your hips and push into the floor, you will feel your hips raise 

slightly. This is where you need to pull up with your abs to maximise the distance 

off the floor. It does not matter if your back rounds slightly, the goal is to hold this 

position for 15 seconds. 

Tips, Precautions and Strength Builders: 

Building finger, wrist and forearm strength can be done 

in many ways. Using a pullup bar and hanging with 

only your fingers greatly improves your grip strength. 

Exercises such as farmer’s walks, pullups and chin-ups 

or anything which requires holding a heavy weight 

will also help. For those who do not have access or 

the means to gym equipment, simple exercises such as 

squeezing a tennis ball improves the strength in your 

hands. Here are some pointers to keep in mind: 

» Remember to train both hands as a dominant side 

will hinder your progress. 

» Using athletic tape around your finger joints can 

help with support and reduce the strain. 

» STOP training if you feel pain or sharp sensations 

through your forearms. Fingers do break! Do not 

overdo your training, once a week is fine for a 

beginner but no more than 3 times a week if using 

intense exercises like this. 

» Look after your joints - fingers and wrists need warming 

up before, and stretching afterwards to reduce potential 

damage. Always practice on a flat, smooth floor, rubber/ 

foam matting may be tempting but you will struggle to 

plant your fingers on the soft surface. 

» These are ADVANCED movements and should only 

be attempted if you are comfortable with planche 

progressions, pushups and handstands. Look 

through previous issues for tips and advice on their 

basic variations. 

Thank you for reading and I hope it helps you with 

your progression in bodyweight training. You can find 

me on social media: 

Facebook: Dan Underwood Calisthenics 

Instagram: dan_calisthenics 

Clothing supplied by LS7 Apparel 

52


THE REAL DEAL 

BEHIND FAKING 

FIGHTS AND 

FALLS 

Pro 

stuntman, Dylan Hintz, thought it would be cool to be Batman when 

he grew up. Now he’s pretending for real. Stuntman work is dangerous, 

demanding intense physical skills and complete mental presence. Dylan 

shares with UA his methods and the community he created to support 

up-and-coming “action heroes”. 

53


You have done an extensive amount of 

stunts and combat-related work during 

your career. Could you tell us what first 

peaked your interest in fitness and 

combat during your younger years? 

As a kid, I was introduced to fight scenes, 

action, and martial arts as dramatic 

concepts early on. Like many stunt 

people of my own generation, I grew up 

watching Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, 

Mortal Kombat and more. I would playfight, 

pretend to do martial arts, practice 

anything I saw on TV, and try to recreate 

scenes I loved before I even knew what 

a fight choreographer was. I even was 

putting on “stunt shows” and actionpacked 

spectacles in my back yard with 

the neighborhood kids when I was 7. 

I had an overactive imagination, and 

somehow that led me to be in charge 

of a lot of the backyard fantasies. I 

watched Batman obsessively, had all the 

toys, movies, posters from various action 

shows, movies and cartoons, and didn’t 

yet know that all of this was just “study” 

for a future career. 

Eventually, I saw a Batman stunt show 

at Six Flags America and a Cowboy 

Show at Universal Studios, and I just 

kept falling more and more in love with 

the possibility of doing something like 

that. In 2009 I ended up in one, and for 

the first time in my life things felt like 

they had come full circle. 

I didn’t manage to get into martial arts 

until I was 17, and by then it was a little 

late for me to be a gymnast or acrobat, 

so I focused on the biomechanical 

movement and study of Shaolin Kung 

Fu and Tai Chi as taught by my teacher, 

Fundi John Weeks. My first class with 

him taught me the greatest lesson of 

all - self motivation and self-control. My 

teacher put me on his back porch, gave 

me a single movement, and said “do this 

until I come back”. For the first time in 

my life, a teacher put the ball in my court, 

and my only witness was myself. I’m 

still not a perfectly disciplined training 

machine, but personal accountability is 

the hardest lesson to learn, and the one 

I feel led me to pursue this career. 

As I studied Kung Fu and learned more 

of the art, I fell in love with the martial 

arts movie genre, and discovered that 

two things I loved, films and martial 

arts, actually historically went hand in 

hand. That’s about the time I decided, 

subconsciously, that that was the career 

I wanted to pursue. I started with acting, 

but eventually came to the conclusion 

that those goals weren’t as in line with 

the kind of physical and mental selfactualization 

I wanted to achieve, but 

stunts were. 

Ask almost any stunt person my age, 

and they’ll pretty much tell you: “When 

I wanted to grow up, I wanted to be 

Batman”. 

Do you follow a typical workout routine, 

and how often do you get to train? 

Currently, I train as often as I can - I 

don’t have a normal schedule and can’t 

promise my instructors that I’ll be at 

regular classes. My goal to excel often 

gets shortchanged by that reality, so I 

have to pick specific things to work on 

to help me grow my skillsets on my own 

or with training partners. 

Oddly enough, for general conditioning, 

I find pushups, pull-ups, squats and 

running to be the most essential things 

anyone could do. I used to do CrossFit, 

and I did the Murph two years in a row for 

Memorial Day. Year two was drastically 

different from the first - and those are 

the 4 things you do in the Murph. It’s a 

great litmus for overall physical fitness. 

And that’s more or less all I have to say 

on “working out”. 

For years I have maintained, to various 

degrees, the Shaolin Kung Fu basics 

I learned in my teens, developing 

dynamic flexibility and power 

generation as the base for all my other 

movement arts. Eventually, I gathered 

other training modalities from the 

various martial arts I’ve come across. 

I’ve been constantly taking different 

elements and highlighting them to 

develop what I consider the best allaround 

“action hero” curriculum. It’s 

still in development, but basically the 

idea is that if I had 3-4 hours every 

day, what would I NEED to do to get 

myself to move like an action hero, 

both for aesthetic performance and for 

practicality. 

If I have a free day, I go to one of my 

martial arts teachers or a senior student 

and typically focus on developing one 

or two BASIC skills. Once I feel confident 

in that skill, should the teacher give me 

permission, I go and try to transmit it 

to someone else - my brother, a close 

friend, another stunt performer, so that 

I not only learn the skill, but I learn 

the mechanics of it clearly enough to 

be able to intellectualize the concepts 

and continue perfecting the technique. 

If someone tells me “don’t show this to 

anyone else” - I absolutely don’t. I don’t 

ever claim to be an expert in anything, 

and always recommend anyone I teach 

seek out my teacher or someone who 

is more senior to me to learn from 

should they be interested in pursuing a 

specific art or technique. 

54


If I had to call that method anything, I’d 

call it the “White Belt Training Method”. 

Martial arts is essentially Mexican food - 

all the basics exist in every system if you 

dig deep enough, and they are just the 

same ingredients arranged in different 

orders. If you can learn the basics of as 

many curriculums as possible, you can 

train them to be VERY useful tools, and 

discover their “hidden” purposes usually 

from another martial art’s perspective. 

This could be considered cheating, but 

because of how my life has been, this 

methodology was a requirement. 

A large majority of my training 

comes from studying the different 

biomechanics of various weapons and 

martial arts systems, and trying to 

discover training regimens that could be 

built around them. When I first learned 

a Kali flow drill called “sinewali”, I broke 

it down in every way I thought possible - 

using sticks of different lengths, knives, 

swords, empty hands. I eventually came 

to the conclusion that if I trained backand-forth 

between doing it with steel 

pipes for strength and control, and then 

PVC pipes for speed and rhythm, I could 

develop the skill much quicker. I can 

then apply that idea to different sword 

styles, weapons, etc. And then, oh hey, 

one day I find out that one of the single 

greatest martial artists and teachers I’ve 

ever had the pleasure of training with 

developed his stick fighting training 

in a similar way. It’s not about ancient 

secrets, as much as it is about finding 

connections in natural study. 

Every Sunday at our action gym in 

Rockville, MD, I put together curriculum 

that involves fight choreography and 

ground-and-pound. The same kind of 

falling and crashing that you would do 

in Judo or Aikido, but for stunts. A lot of 

it would look like pro-wrestling. There’s 

a lot of great ways to condition yourself 

by getting thrown to the ground. 

Eventually, it pretty much becomes and 

internal martial art and you learn how 

to control your mass and impact. 

I also believe in mental-endurance 

training. Meditation and Tai-Chi have 

been a cornerstone of my training 

philosophies, and extend into certain 

training. One of the most unconventional 

things I do in this regard is a simple two 

mile run. But the unconventional part is 

I do not use headphones or music when 

I run - if a workout sucks, the only way 

I truly believe to get good at it is to do 

it without any distractions, or anything 

that could make it fun. This also applies 

to training for fight-performance. 

You have to be able to get “in the zone” 

regardless of how you feel, because as a 

stunt guy, one day you might have a bad 

take and get shaken up, but you can’t finish 

the scene if you carry that shake-up to the 

next take. I’ve learned the hard way that 

you have to do everything slow, critical, and 

smooth it out like Tai Chi. You gotta train 

your mind not to make you nervous. 

How important is nutrition to you? Do 

you favor healthy food or do you just 

grab what you can because of time 

constraints? 

Nutrition is important, but being 

healthy is hard. Over the years I’ve 

broken my diet down to basics - meat 

and vegetables, limited carbs, low-levels 

and only natural sugar if I can help it. 

Once you cut soda, you don’t miss it. 

Once you realize you don’t have to make 

every meal a sandwich, you find salads 

a lot tastier. Eat less stuff from cans, 

eat less microwaved meals. Eggs for 

breakfast every day. Protein and a fruit 

shake every afternoon. It’s not just about 

eating that way - it’s about cooking that 

way, and knowing what goes into your 

meals was a conscious choice. 

Don’t get me wrong though - I will eat 

junk food regularly if I’m craving it. The 

good news is after a while of not making 

it the go-to, junk food will actually 

make me ill if I have too much, so I’ve 

conditioned myself to avoid it unless 

necessary. Sometimes it’s worse to be 

hungry than it is to eat garbage. I used 

to cram 7-11 pizza and donuts. Now it’s 

protein bars. I’d use to get whatever 

junk was on the Taco Bell menu. Now 

it’s just the simplest chicken-burrito 

on the menu. No McDonalds. Period. As 

there are too many around and the food 

is too addictive. Avoid things you find 

questionable. And when you need quick 

protein, a can of tuna and an avocado 

can be your best friend. 

Do you feel that your diverse combat 

training plays a large role in your ability 

to perform as a choreographer and stunt 

performer? 

Absolutely. Post-college, I went through an 

intense 2 year martial arts training phase 

that included 4 completely different 

styles: Keysi Fighting Method, Bujinkan 

Budo Taijutsu, and Kenpo and Sport 

Karate - all at the same time (5-7 classes 

a week). It was a ton of muscle confusion, 

didn’t get me good at any one art, and 

totally burned me out. If it wasn’t for 

my preparation earlier in life with Kung 

Fu and Tai Chi, I don’t think I would have 

had the physical or mental conditioning 

necessary to keep up the way I did. 

On the other hand, it made it possible 

for me to constantly adapt when a 

teacher or choreographer would show 

me something “new”. I tend to find 

“lightbulbs” in different martial arts very 

quickly - this kind of random training 

made me aware of connections between 

different movement arts. It also gave 

me a very good basics background in 

striking, being thrown, fluid movement, 

exploding with aggression, and 

returning to relaxation in between 

rounds or takes. By the end of it, I could 

fluidly transition from one art to another 

the second I stepped onto the different 

mat. I learned adaptability, and how to 

not let habits surface uncontrollably, 

which has been key to me doing my job 

as a stunt and fight performer. 

55


Learning a lot of different (and even 

conflicting) stuff in a short amount 

of time didn’t necessarily make me 

a good martial artist, and was key to 

eliminating the ego, because I was 

never plateauing or assuming I was 

REALLY good. It taught me early on that 

the journey never ended, and made me 

more coachable, because I had to learn 

not to compare things, rank things, and 

just do what I was told by a different 

“boss” every night. It opened my ears 

and shut my mouth. 

Learning how to teach martial arts, 

specifically karate for 5-year- olds, also 

taught me so much about how to break 

down training into learnable systems, 

and make concepts and choreography 

easy to digest and learn for myself and 

for others. Obviously I’m still learning, 

but this has always been a huge boon 

to training actors or helping stunt 

performers learn a new fight skill. 

Once I started training with the Society 

of American Fight Directors, I learned 

more about creating “systems” for 

choreography, including targeting, 

acting and reacting in the moment, and 

GOOD partnering. There was a great 

workshop I took called “Art of War” that 

was all about creating fights, and it lit my 

brain up to all sorts of creative concepts, 

and ways to create “training games” that 

I have taken to workshops and shared 

with DC Stunt Coalition members. 

Fight choreography and stunts is more 

of a dance than an actual fight, and 

learning how to quickly interact and 

perform with another person, and not 

just develop yourself, is key to being 

good at this job. Adaptation is key. This 

is one of the reasons why I started the 

DC Stunt Coalition - so I could always 

find a variety of different people at 

different skill levels and with different 

backgrounds to play with, learn from, 

and constantly adapt to. 

This is one reason why my training with 

the Maryland Jeet Kune Do Academy 

has recently become so critical. Every 

training session has been based around 

partnering, and developing skills in a 

very “alive” environment. There are no 

katas, and solo drills are only used for 

warm-ups. It’s purely about interacting 

with other moving people in various 

emotional states. As this came full 

circle, I’ve come to notice how JKD has 

filtered everything I’ve learned about 

every aspect of fight performance into 

one practical, and aesthetically relevant, 

training method. 

It must be mentally taxing, as well 

just being physically-demanding when 

involved with so many projects. How 

do you prepare mentally for the work 

you perform? Do you find much time to 

relax? 

There is almost no time to relax right 

now - I’m young in my career, and I have 

sort of allowed the career to take me 

where it wants me to go. This job is about 

hustling, and the hustle never stops. You 

build your skills, and approach every 

opportunity with hope and humility. I 

find it helps to relax to know you have a 

purpose to serve. So if one doesn’t present 

itself - create one. 

Months can go by without a job, and you 

can get burnt out, but then you get the one 

you didn’t even know you were hoping for, 

and it reconfirms for your direction. You 

can’t relax - you have to stay busy, stay 

active, and maintain your skills. Instead of 

relaxing, try to learn something new every 

day, or improve something you already 

know. You can never be too good. In my 

case, I have to be qualified to represent 

an industry, my own community, and any 

other community I become a part of. 

I think that’s why having both the DC 

Stunt Coalition and Maryland JKD 

Academy have helped me so much. On 

the one end, I have to constantly think 

about creating and maintaining my own 

training, as well as considering what 

kind of training I’ve found would be 

useful to others. Having a community 

to build can keep me mentally and 

emotionally satisfied. On the other, 

I get to, help build someone else’s 

community by improving my skillsets 

and my resume in ways that are likely to 

help attract new students and improve 

my teacher’s organization. 

What would be the first step for 

somebody looking to become a 

stuntman? Are there any Do’s or Don’ts? 

Find something physical to train in 

and get good at it -boxing, martial 

arts, dance, gymnastics, parkour, etc. 

Research the career. There’s a lot of 

good “getting started” books out there. 

I highly recommend Angela Meryl’s 

“Stunts: The How to Handbook”. Get on 

some local independent films, learn how 

movies are made, do some background 

work on a major TV or film production 

and see what a real set is like. Learn 

the difference. Learn professionalism. 

Develop the skills you have, and learn 

the ones you don’t. Fill in the gaps. 

Learn humility early on, because you’re 

going to eat a lot of initial hazing and 

crap. It’s an industry for people that 

take themselves seriously, and they try 

to filter out wannabees very early. But 

above all, do NOT try to prove yourself 

by doing anything dangerous or risky. 

You have to learn safety; you have to 

learn attention to detail and how to 

present yourself professionally. 

56


Groups like DC Stunt Coalition have 

started popping up all over the country. 

Find one, and ask what you can do to 

“crew up”. After a few weeks, you should 

be able to make the decision about 

whether or not you’re committed. Are 

you ready for bumps, bruises, broken 

bones, scars, and potentially getting 

knocked unconscious? Because if you’re 

not, this is not the job for you. 

Could you tell me more about the DC 

Stunt Coalition that you co-founded? 

What was the initial purpose of this 

company and was it hard to set up? 

The DCSC was founded in November 

2011 as a Facebook group that evolved 

into a meetup group that evolved into 

a weekly training session that evolved 

into small community. The initial 

purpose was to create a forum where 

local aspiring stunt professionals, 

coordinators, choreographers, and 

action actors could discuss safety 

on sets and training methodology, 

and spread awareness in the local 

filmmaking community that we wanted 

to do things better. It was a potluck, 

where everyone would contribute, no 

one would be immediately senior to the 

other, and it would be cost-effective so 

everyone would have an opportunity. 

It was initially kind of a slog to set up 

- finding a training space was really 

hard. In the DC/MD/VA area, what we 

do is really unique, and in some cases 

bizarre. Certain gymnastics facilities 

wanted to kick us out for scaring the 

cheerleaders and their parents with 

our “yelling” and “aggressive” behavior. 

Not everyone had context for what we 

were doing when we did it. No specific 

place felt like home. 

We needed a location, and more 

importantly a time, and it wasn’t until 

early 2013 that we found one where we 

wouldn’t be getting in other people’s 

hair, and would have the freedom to train 

without interruption. Because so many of 

us were “starving artists”, we needed to 

keep costs low and motivations to come 

in and train high. When MarvaTots N Teens 

in Rockville Maryland, and later Tough 

Temple Crossfit and Annapolis Defense 

and Security, offered us time and space, 

training took off to a whole new degree. 

Issue 08 - Volume 1 | 2016 57


We’ve been blessed with all this 

community support - we’ve had both 

affordable and free spaces to train in 

safely and with the permission of some 

of the best teachers and coaches in the 

area. Without that, we wouldn’t have 

been able to even a 10th of what we’ve 

accomplished in the last few years. 

Have you suffered from a lot of injuries 

during your stunt career? Could you 

explain how learning to fall has helped 

you perform day after day and the 

importance of such training? 

I am very blessed to have not been 

critically injured or hospitalized for 

a stunt while on the job. I blew my 

knee out in training once, and have 

since recovered through training. I 

consider learning to fall as the ultimate 

“self” defense. Stunt training, for those 

interested in it as an alternative 

workout, can actually help you to 

prepare for random slips, falls, and trips 

that happen to the everyday person. 

For a career, it’s absolutely critical that 

you are certain you can perform the 

most basic fall competently 100% of 

the time. If you can only do it 9 out 

of 10 times, that one time might be 

the one that gets you. Don’t just train 

perfect - train until you get it wrong, 

and learn to reverse-engineer every 

possible mistake. 

The key to training physical stunts is 

the same as gymnastics and martial 

arts. You must learn self and spatial 

awareness. The unique aspect comes 

in knowing how you look on camera 

or stage. You learn how to imagine 

yourself from the perspective of a 

camera, or an audience member, which 

adds an extra element to your ability 

to be aware of your environment. It’s 

almost like learning how to switch 

from First Person to Third Person view 

in a video game! 

I have heard that becoming a stuntman 

is a fairly tough journey and it is very 

competitive. Did you personally find it 

difficult? 

It is simultaneously the hardest 

journey, and the best, I have ever 

considered and encountered. There 

are huge rewards, and they’re rare. But 

when you get them, after all the work 

and training and hustling, there’s very 

little that’s quite as satisfying. 

The people you meet along the way 

can initially seem arrogant, egotistical, 

and perfectionistic. At the bottom of the 

totem pole, it’s likely that you will just 

have to deal with it. You might at times 

feel under qualified and get stressed 

out. The best guys in the industry will 

expect the best from you, without B.S. 

and without excuses. It’s extremely, 

extremely emotionally taxing, especially 

if you haven’t been in that kind of 

militaristic environment before. 

Once you get over the initial shock 

of the industry, sometimes including 

some initial bluntness and roughness, 

58


ARE YOU READY FOR BUMPS, BRUISES, 

BROKEN BONES, SCARS AND 

POTENTIALLY GETTING KNOCKED 

UNCONSCIOUS? BECAUSE IF YOU’RE NOT, 

THIS ISN’T THE JOB FOR YOU. 

you realize that being a part of it is a 

huge privilege. It requires dedication, 

humility, courage, and a ton of heart. 

You have to have your head in the right 

place, take direction, prove yourself, 

and earn your stripes. And if you do, 

over time, those who you were unsure 

of will become your best friends, 

brothers, and sisters who you’d risk 

your life for if they found themselves 

in a bind on or off a set. We have to 

look out for each other, and have each 

other’s backs. In the right community, 

everyone tries to level up together. 

Competition can get you down, but 

you have to make it about something 

bigger than that. Having a goal for 

self-actualization, and helping to build 

your local community, building your 

connections with the people you want 

to work with is the hugely rewarding and 

opposite side of the competitive coin. I 

can say with zero exaggeration that 

joining this community has changed my 

life for the better in every way possible. 

What are your future goals? 

Be a great stunt performer. Work on 

some cool projects and help others 

who are as dedicated as I am to start 

their careers. One day, it’d be really 

cool for me and the people I’ve worked 

with to make our own movies. Part of 

me is still a filmmaker and storyteller 

at heart, and I’m hoping this path can 

take me there. If I had a gym, a studio, 

a facility, or something of the like to 

cram all of my knowledge, experience, 

and friends into and make something 

cool out of it, that’d be ideal. We’ve 

already managed to make huge stage 

shows and short films on no budgets - 

imagine what a group like DCSC could 

do with some proper business smarts 

and backing. 

I’d also love to take everything I’ve 

learned about the physical side of 

the training and help others who are 

looking to get into “action hero” shape 

find a new, creative, and fun way to 

get healthy, strong, and feel confident 

about themselves. There are things 

in the works on this end, but they’ll 

require me to keep improving myself 

and building my local community 

before I can make that happen. 

As well as having fantastic coordination 

for combat training and 

stunt work, could you tell us some of 

the exercises you use to keep flexible 

and strong? 

Dynamic Shaolin Stretch Kicks and 

Savate Kicking Drills 

10 Pull-ups while smiling (for stunt 

endurance - both physical and mental/ 

acting) 

Sword and shield Training with heavy 

trainers like cold steel gladius 

Gymnastics conditioning 

Basic Kali, Kung Fu, and training 

Kung fu Form = Shaolin Youth Fist 

Also, which exercises/drills could 

you use if you were a beginner? Are 

there any progressions or assistance 

exercises for these? 

Beginners need to practice basic 

boxing, punches, mechanics, and 

reactions and falls. Throw 1-2K 

punches per day, and when you have a 

chance at a gym, learn to roll and fall 

and practice it as often as possible. 

What’s the best stunt you have achieved 

and how did you prepare for it? 

One of my favorite fight scenes was 

with internet legend and personal 

hero, John Soares. It was my first Kung 

fu-styled fight, and to this day still my 

personal favorite. 

59

Unconventional Athletes Issue 8

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?