The Road to LA: My American Gladiators Journey
In case you haven't heard, I tried out for American Gladiators this past weekend. While the results are still to be determined, I figured I'd give you some updates as to what went on.
As I mentioned here, I have been a huge fan of American Gladiators since childhood. So of course when I found out that they were doing an open tryout in New York, I jumped at the chance.
I must admit, the chance to be on TV was a motivating factor for me. I know I don't quite have the size or the skill to be a running back for the Giants, I'm too old and not tall enough for the NBA, I'm not crazy enough to start drama on a show like The Real World, and Simon Cowell scares the heck out of me, so I figured that if I had a chance at the spotlight, I might as well take advantage of it.
More importantly, though, I think it's good to have some kind of competition every once in a while. I think it's important, not just for my own training, but also to know what my clients are going through. You have to push yourself to the limit every now and then.
And while $100K and a truck won't get you much these days, it would be kind of nice to win that big prize.
The first step in the process is the application, which comes out to a whopping 28 pages. Much of that is just waiver and contact information, but a substantial part is meant for the casting crew to get to know the applicants better. Some of these questions are the basic ones, like "What is your motivation for trying out for American Gladiators?" or "What would you do if you won the $100,000 grand prize?" or "Give an example of a hardship you or your family has overcome."
And then there are the gems.
One of the sections involves rating yourself on a 1-7 scale on how good you are at certain things (1 being Never Done It and 7 being World Class). Now, some of these are pretty basic and relevant, like Working Out and other athletic things like that. Then you have things like Street Fighting, Manipulating People, and Tempting the Opposite Sex. I wonder where the World Championships of Tempting the Opposite Sex are taking place this year, and who's the reigning champ?
Then there are some other ones, like "Write a short poem or rap" or "Draw a picture of yourself." Now, I don't know about you, but I know that I don't care how well contenders can rhyme or draw.
My favorite question, though, was "What do you think of the new Contenders/Gladiators? Whom do you like/dislike?" Here was my response: "I like Fury because she went to Cornell, which was where I graduated from. Titan kind of scares me though. I know he has a hot wife, but I can't imagine many straight men with perfectly gelled hair even in competition, and who would pose for a photoshoot in purple underwear."
As for the tryout, we were instructed on the application not to line up until 8 AM, which was two hours before the tryout was officially supposed to begin. Of course, people didn't listen.
I had thought about camping out, but I decided against it for two very good reasons:
So I arrived at around 7, and already a substantial line had formed. Luckily for me, my friend Paulvalery Roulette (who came all the way from Boston), had been there since Midnight, and I was up at the front with him. The guys right behind me didn't seem to mind that I was with him, since they knew that we knew each other, but as other people started to cut the line people were complaining. The line eventually grew so long that it wrapped all the way around the block, to the point where the back of the line merged with the front of the line.
They eventually did resolve the issue of the line merging, but then a small group of people showed up and were let in to try out before anyone else. One of the guys in front got pissed and nearly got himself kicked out. I feel bad for the guy, especially since he waited so long. The people running the tryout told us that those people were "VIPs" who apparently knew people working for NBC or something. It did upset me that we knew nothing about this ahead of time.
Though waiting on the line was a pain, we did meet some cool people. One was a powerlifter who was featured in a couple of magazines. Another has won a championship in a women's football league.
Overall I felt that the line was poorly managed. If they didn't want us to line up more than two hours before, they could have at least made some kind of effort to actually enforce that rule. And they could have come prepared with barricades or something in the inevitable event that the line would get as long as it did. And of course they could have let us know about the "VIP" situation ahead of time. I am especially surprised at how poorly this was run considering that this is already the second season, which means that they've done tryouts like this before.
With all the people that were trying out, they wanted to get us through as quickly as possible. That meant that they wouldn't even give us time to warm up after standing in the cold for hours (which led to comments that there would be a lot of pulled hamstrings).
As we were finally allowed into the gym, we handed in our applications, quickly undressed into our T-shirts and shorts, and posed for a quick photograph. Then we lined up, and one by one each of us would be supervised by a member of the staff as they would take us through our physical tests.
If you saw the YouTube video of Titan's American Gladiator tryout, the first part of our tryout was basically the same, minus the fact that we were indoors on a cold day rather than outdoors on a warm day. We also didn't do the 40-yard dash (likely because we didn't have the space for it).
The first part was pull-ups in 30 seconds. For this they used a Gravitron machine, but with a 45 lb. plate on the pad to take away the assistance. I mentioned this because I've noticed it's harder for me to use momentum to my advantage on these, because there is less room in front. One thing I learned from this is that kipping pull-ups are a skill that needs to be practiced in order to take advantage of them in a test like this (as impressive as Titan's 35 pull-ups were, they were not strict in the least). I just tried to see how little of a lock-out I could get away with, but as a result my person didn't count all of mine. I did at least 20 according to my count, though I know some of mine didn't count and eventually I stopped counting, and she wouldn't let me know what my final score was.
Then came 30 seconds of Burpees. My first two repetitions didn't count because I didn't do the push-up at the bottom, but after that I was able to get a nice rhythm going. Again I wasn't counting and she didn't tell me what I got but I knew I got somewhere in the high 20s/low 30s.
The ladder part was quick but a little confusing (this part was hard to see in Titan's video). Basically you had to crossover step into each rung of the ladder one way down and back. It's much quicker to do than it is to explain.
And then came the shuttle run. Two cones were spaced about 5 yards apart and you had to run to each of the cones for a total of 20 times. At the very end I slipped and fell, coming away with a few bruises, but as I fell I reached for the cone and managed to touch it, making for a fun finish.
At that point I was pretty tired, but at least I didn't puke. I immediately made my way to my stuff, grabbed my water bottle, and started chugging on the thing as I was escorted to the hallway where I was to wait to be interviewed. In the application they did suggest bringing a workout towel and water, and while I didn't feel like I needed a towel, the water bottle was a definite must. You don't want to be going into an interview dehydrated.
Interestingly, some of the people who went before me were still waiting in the hallway when I got called for my interview, which means that either they wanted to get rid of me or they saw something they liked. The interviewer did give me the impression that this was the latter, though.
Overall I thought I did well. I did the physical tests well enough, and I did seem to give the interviewer a favorable impression. I did get a glimpse of a blank "scoring sheet" and saw that they were judging the applicants' looks and personality as well, and there wasn't really much I could do to prepare for either one.
So what now? There will be call-backs, and they said they would notify me if I were to be called back. Some people on forums have said that they've already gotten called, which does make me a little nervous, but they did their tryouts in different regions (there were tryouts in a number of different places that day, but the New York one was the only one in the Northeast), and I know the New York one took a VERY LONG time (according to some stories they still had a substantial line well into the evening).
The process has been a lot of fun so far. Hopefully you'll hear another update from me!
As I mentioned here, I have been a huge fan of American Gladiators since childhood. So of course when I found out that they were doing an open tryout in New York, I jumped at the chance.
I must admit, the chance to be on TV was a motivating factor for me. I know I don't quite have the size or the skill to be a running back for the Giants, I'm too old and not tall enough for the NBA, I'm not crazy enough to start drama on a show like The Real World, and Simon Cowell scares the heck out of me, so I figured that if I had a chance at the spotlight, I might as well take advantage of it.
More importantly, though, I think it's good to have some kind of competition every once in a while. I think it's important, not just for my own training, but also to know what my clients are going through. You have to push yourself to the limit every now and then.
And while $100K and a truck won't get you much these days, it would be kind of nice to win that big prize.
The first step in the process is the application, which comes out to a whopping 28 pages. Much of that is just waiver and contact information, but a substantial part is meant for the casting crew to get to know the applicants better. Some of these questions are the basic ones, like "What is your motivation for trying out for American Gladiators?" or "What would you do if you won the $100,000 grand prize?" or "Give an example of a hardship you or your family has overcome."
And then there are the gems.
One of the sections involves rating yourself on a 1-7 scale on how good you are at certain things (1 being Never Done It and 7 being World Class). Now, some of these are pretty basic and relevant, like Working Out and other athletic things like that. Then you have things like Street Fighting, Manipulating People, and Tempting the Opposite Sex. I wonder where the World Championships of Tempting the Opposite Sex are taking place this year, and who's the reigning champ?
Then there are some other ones, like "Write a short poem or rap" or "Draw a picture of yourself." Now, I don't know about you, but I know that I don't care how well contenders can rhyme or draw.
My favorite question, though, was "What do you think of the new Contenders/Gladiators? Whom do you like/dislike?" Here was my response: "I like Fury because she went to Cornell, which was where I graduated from. Titan kind of scares me though. I know he has a hot wife, but I can't imagine many straight men with perfectly gelled hair even in competition, and who would pose for a photoshoot in purple underwear."
As for the tryout, we were instructed on the application not to line up until 8 AM, which was two hours before the tryout was officially supposed to begin. Of course, people didn't listen.
I had thought about camping out, but I decided against it for two very good reasons:
- Sleep deprivation is not something you want when you have to take physical tests and you want to perform well.
- This is New York City we're talking about. I didn't want to risk getting mugged.
So I arrived at around 7, and already a substantial line had formed. Luckily for me, my friend Paulvalery Roulette (who came all the way from Boston), had been there since Midnight, and I was up at the front with him. The guys right behind me didn't seem to mind that I was with him, since they knew that we knew each other, but as other people started to cut the line people were complaining. The line eventually grew so long that it wrapped all the way around the block, to the point where the back of the line merged with the front of the line.
They eventually did resolve the issue of the line merging, but then a small group of people showed up and were let in to try out before anyone else. One of the guys in front got pissed and nearly got himself kicked out. I feel bad for the guy, especially since he waited so long. The people running the tryout told us that those people were "VIPs" who apparently knew people working for NBC or something. It did upset me that we knew nothing about this ahead of time.
Though waiting on the line was a pain, we did meet some cool people. One was a powerlifter who was featured in a couple of magazines. Another has won a championship in a women's football league.
Overall I felt that the line was poorly managed. If they didn't want us to line up more than two hours before, they could have at least made some kind of effort to actually enforce that rule. And they could have come prepared with barricades or something in the inevitable event that the line would get as long as it did. And of course they could have let us know about the "VIP" situation ahead of time. I am especially surprised at how poorly this was run considering that this is already the second season, which means that they've done tryouts like this before.
With all the people that were trying out, they wanted to get us through as quickly as possible. That meant that they wouldn't even give us time to warm up after standing in the cold for hours (which led to comments that there would be a lot of pulled hamstrings).
As we were finally allowed into the gym, we handed in our applications, quickly undressed into our T-shirts and shorts, and posed for a quick photograph. Then we lined up, and one by one each of us would be supervised by a member of the staff as they would take us through our physical tests.
If you saw the YouTube video of Titan's American Gladiator tryout, the first part of our tryout was basically the same, minus the fact that we were indoors on a cold day rather than outdoors on a warm day. We also didn't do the 40-yard dash (likely because we didn't have the space for it).
The first part was pull-ups in 30 seconds. For this they used a Gravitron machine, but with a 45 lb. plate on the pad to take away the assistance. I mentioned this because I've noticed it's harder for me to use momentum to my advantage on these, because there is less room in front. One thing I learned from this is that kipping pull-ups are a skill that needs to be practiced in order to take advantage of them in a test like this (as impressive as Titan's 35 pull-ups were, they were not strict in the least). I just tried to see how little of a lock-out I could get away with, but as a result my person didn't count all of mine. I did at least 20 according to my count, though I know some of mine didn't count and eventually I stopped counting, and she wouldn't let me know what my final score was.
Then came 30 seconds of Burpees. My first two repetitions didn't count because I didn't do the push-up at the bottom, but after that I was able to get a nice rhythm going. Again I wasn't counting and she didn't tell me what I got but I knew I got somewhere in the high 20s/low 30s.
The ladder part was quick but a little confusing (this part was hard to see in Titan's video). Basically you had to crossover step into each rung of the ladder one way down and back. It's much quicker to do than it is to explain.
And then came the shuttle run. Two cones were spaced about 5 yards apart and you had to run to each of the cones for a total of 20 times. At the very end I slipped and fell, coming away with a few bruises, but as I fell I reached for the cone and managed to touch it, making for a fun finish.
At that point I was pretty tired, but at least I didn't puke. I immediately made my way to my stuff, grabbed my water bottle, and started chugging on the thing as I was escorted to the hallway where I was to wait to be interviewed. In the application they did suggest bringing a workout towel and water, and while I didn't feel like I needed a towel, the water bottle was a definite must. You don't want to be going into an interview dehydrated.
Interestingly, some of the people who went before me were still waiting in the hallway when I got called for my interview, which means that either they wanted to get rid of me or they saw something they liked. The interviewer did give me the impression that this was the latter, though.
Overall I thought I did well. I did the physical tests well enough, and I did seem to give the interviewer a favorable impression. I did get a glimpse of a blank "scoring sheet" and saw that they were judging the applicants' looks and personality as well, and there wasn't really much I could do to prepare for either one.
So what now? There will be call-backs, and they said they would notify me if I were to be called back. Some people on forums have said that they've already gotten called, which does make me a little nervous, but they did their tryouts in different regions (there were tryouts in a number of different places that day, but the New York one was the only one in the Northeast), and I know the New York one took a VERY LONG time (according to some stories they still had a substantial line well into the evening).
The process has been a lot of fun so far. Hopefully you'll hear another update from me!