From the Easy Reader
Ultimate fighter gets Manhattanites into shape
by : Dan Bialek
“How are we feeling?”
” Mighty good!”
It’s 6 a.m. on a cold Monday morning. A dozen groggy bodies are gathered in a semi-circle at the base of the Manhattan Beach Pier. They are being led through calisthenics by their trainer, Ultimate Fighter Joe Charles.
It’s still dark outside. The moon is out, but the sun has yet to poke its way up behind the hill on Manhattan Beach Boulevard. Joe tells his students to take a trip up to the top of the hill and back. They trudge off in unison, some more reluctantly than others do.
A group of soccer moms walks by as Joe accompanies his students on their jog.
“Good morning ladies,” he says through his omnipresent smile as he strides past, rounding up stragglers and leading them up the incline.
When the students return, they do sets of push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, and dips. Joe encourages some to use the pier railings to make their workouts more strenuous by propping them up during push-ups. Others use the bars for supports to lean on between repetitions.
An hour later, a group of sweaty, but smiling, students are sprawled out on the sand doing cool down exercises. Their bodies are tired, but their faces look happy.
” How we feeling?” Joe asks.
” Mighty good!” they reply.
This is the world of the Joe Charles bootcamp. Joe leads one-hour classes three times a day every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on and around the Manhattan Beach Pier.
Smiling teacher, hidden dragon
The bootcamp workout is structured around the same routine that Joe uses to train for his other profession as a Ultimate Fighting Championship competitor.
“I choose to have my camp in Manhattan Beach because it’s the same place one of my Navy SEAL buddies dragged me through the sand to train me for one of my fights,” Joe said.
Joe has had over 25 professional fights. Some have taken place in the US, others in countries such as Japan, Russia, and Israel. Joe said that with his training he is prepared to fly to anywhere in the world on a moment’s notice to fight.
Although Joe’s day job entails beating his opponents into submission, it’s hard to imagine him hurting anyone when watching him with his students. He encourages them to push themselves, but he’s never intimidating nor does he scream at them like a military sergeant.
Joe said that his bootcamp isn’t about getting people to do things that they don’t want to do, but helping them find what they are looking for inside themselves.
“My biggest thing is that everyone accomplishes what they’re working towards and that it’s something that changes their life in a positive way,” he said.
Joe said that he’s proud of all of his students in his 6 a.m. class just for getting out of bed that early.
“That right there deserves some recognition, because it’s cold on that beach and it takes a lot of heart to commit to making yourself a better person,” he said.
Joe shows a lot of respect to his students, and they give him the same in return.
Nicole, 34, is one of Joe’s students. She said that Joe’s class was not only fun, but that he helped motivate her to stay with it.
“He’s a great disciplinarian, in a nice sort of way,” she said. “He makes you get down and growl at your workout and not give up.”
Oliver, 35, is a journalist and was at the class for his fourth bootcamp session.
“He works you hard and motivates you to push harder. He’ll even give you a wake-up call in the morning to make sure you get out of bed,” he said.
Joe said that he hopes to begin offering a Weekend Warrior program in the spring, and to start his first bootcamp classes for kids sometime this summer. For information on these or any of his other classes call (310)836-9339.
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