Wrestling championship titles come and go, however for the remainder of his life, the title of American Gladiator can by no means be taken away from Jessie Godderz. However for the athlete now often called “Metal,” one lapse in technique virtually let that chance slip away.
Godderz, nonetheless, proved that Metal could bend, however on this case, it absolutely didn’t break—and as a father, it’s a lesson he hopes his children can be taught from. He was chosen, together with 15 different athletes, to compete on the basic present—which drops its Season 1 finale on Might 1 on Prime Video—and the remaining might be streamed for eternity.
“I went for broke each time,” he says. “I simply outperformed all people on the occasion proper earlier than it. They knew what they have been going to get out of me.”
Relishing his new Gladiator function, the shredded sports activities star is maybe finest often called the previous 12-time OVW wrestling champion—aka “Mr. PEC-Tacular”—or the arrogantly entertaining unhealthy man from his stint on Massive Brother almost 20 years in the past and most up-to-date actuality present Home of Villains. Love him or like to hate him, whether or not he’s hoisting considered one of his belts within the air or making actuality TV housemates cringe with each double-biceps flex, one factor has at all times been sure: Godderz is set to maximise each second of each alternative.
Nevertheless, as he shares, on this one second going all out can backfire. He admits that in a body weight problem portion of the American Gladiators football-combine-style auditions, giving 100% almost value him the possibility to place his identify alongside Gladiator legends Nitro, Malibu, and Zap. Godderz says he dominated the pushup and pullup portion of the tryout, knocking out round 100 pushups in a minute, adopted by 46 pullups.
Then got here the third occasion—a excessive rope climb—that left him with nothing however noodle arms, unable to finish the ascent. Fortunately, he says, his general efficiency was sufficient to offset the rope blunder.
“I used to be like a cheetah after operating 70 or 90 miles an hour—after which there was nothing left,” he recollects, laughing. “There was a couple of zero p.c likelihood that I used to be getting up that factor. If there was ever one thing that’s going to hang-out me for the remainder of my life, that was it.”
He can snicker now, standing alongside Gladiator teammates reminiscent of Bull, Mayhem, and Neon for the primary season of the present reboot, however getting ready for American Gladiators’ demanding 10-episode schedule was no joke. And because the area’s elder statesman, this time he was going up in opposition to opponents almost half his age, though you’d be hard-pressed to see the hole in his nonetheless PEC-tacularly flawless and seemingly ageless physique. The lifetime of good points he says are the outcomes from greater than 20 years of regular weightroom work.
“I’ve stayed fairly constant my whole life, and I encourage or implore anyone to attempt to discover a unhealthy photograph of me or with out abs,” he says. “That’s two-plus many years of getting abs, and I’m very pleased with that,” he says.
To tug off the function of Metal, Godderz says he needed to shift his coaching from bodyslams, energy bombs, and his signature “Adonis Crab” to studying find out how to navigate occasions just like the Joust, Powerball, and the Gauntlet. Each competitions demand elite athleticism, however changing into leaner, quicker, and extra highly effective grew to become new aims. And like he’s carried out at every stage of his profession, Godderz got here up massive on the proper second.
“I simply solely wished to give attention to this as a result of I didn’t need to lose,” he says. “It’s such an honor to be an American Gladiator. I wished to actually go on the market and be sure that when anyone stated my identify they usually knew that they have been going up in opposition to Metal, it was a kind of like, ‘Not this man.’”
The Gauntlet: How Jessie Grew to become an American Gladiator
He could now be 40, exhibits no indicators of slowing down. And Jessie Godderz would be the first one to let you know this.
“So far as I’m involved, I can nonetheless be booked as a 20-year-old,” he says. “Simply throw some lipstick on this pig and ship me on the market.”
His tryout tribulations have been removed from the primary time the one-time bodybuilding champion pushed himself to the restrict—Godderz has been giving this sort of max effort for many years. Take a look at some basic YouTube clips and also you’ll discover the previous two-time TNA World Tag Workforce Champion—then one-half of the BroMans with companion Robbie E—blasting again with bodybuilding legend—and former American Gladiator Mike O’Hearn, aka Titan—banging out minute rounds of high-rep pullups. So it was becoming that O’Hearn was one of many first to congratulate him on his new function.
“He simply stated, ‘Welcome to the household. Do us proud,’” Godderz recollects.
Going from Mr. PEC-Tacular to Metal required Godderz to tweak his tried-and-true bodybuilding-style exercises. “I didn’t need to stray away or lose the dimensions that I’ve had, as a result of that’s what introduced me to the present,” he says. “I used to be at all times doing a bro science bodybuilder break up my whole life.” Chest day. Again day. Arms. Shoulders. Legs. Heavy weights, excessive quantity, one relaxation day.
His new function required a extra specialised method. Exercises have been damaged down, he says, into A and B days—one centered on power, the subsequent on pace. For the primary time, Godderz was incorporating devoted footwork into his routines. Sprints, cone drills, ladder work, and sport-specific actions helped him adapt to shifting on slim overhead beams, a far totally different process than merely proudly owning the highest rope in wrestling. Whereas he nonetheless prefers to throw down when wanted, this new sort of coaching ready him for the thrilling, overhead battles Gladiator followers anticipate.
“Mr. PEC-Tacular was extra floor and pound,” he says. “For American Gladiators, I undoubtedly needed to faucet into my interior Jeff Hardy. When you begin climbing up on prime of stuff—we’re 30 or 40 ft up within the air throughout an occasion just like the Joust—it’s simply mano a mano. You may have 30 to 60 seconds and it’s important to go vast open. You might want to be whole full-body exhaustion, or so far as I’m involved, you didn’t strive onerous sufficient.”
Consuming Like A Metal From OVW Champ to Full-Pace Metal
Aside from revamping his coaching program to fulfill the calls for of an American Gladiator, producers left it as much as the contestants to determine what sort of physique they might deliver to the sector. In any case, it was their already-ripped athletic our bodies that helped pave the way in which for this legendary alternative.
Whereas wrestling was extra hectic as a result of journey and unpredictable schedules, changing into a Gladiator required a tighter, extra structured diet plan. Godderz employed nutritionist Tyler Garceau to assist him put collectively a program that allowed him to each keep each bodybuilder shredded and athletically agile. “I wished to be as full as attainable. I wished to be as massive as I presumably might at my body and nonetheless be capable of transfer my ft,” he says.
He stored his energy between 2,200 and a couple of,700 per day, with the upper quantities reserved for high-intensity days. His protein stayed constant at round 212 grams each day.
Not like the grind of wrestling—the place a few hard-boiled eggs from a deli might cross for a protein-packed meal on the go—catering on the Gladiators set made it simpler to remain locked in. “They handled us like kings and queens over there,” he says. “They did an outstanding job of making an attempt to protect all people’s vitality and diet. couldn’t have requested for something higher.”
On occasion days, this timing grew to become vital. Godderz added fast-digesting carbs, like Vitargoearlier than taping to remain pumped and highly effective for these 30- to 60-second bursts. “I used to be taking, like, full servings earlier than, so I’d need to pump up and be as full as attainable as quickly as we began,” he says.
Sustaining a Legacy and Sharing Classes
Changing into an American Gladiator has been a dream come true for an athlete-celebrity who continues to reinvent his profession whereas sustaining the youthful physique that helped launch his wrestling and tv run almost 20 years in the past. Like the whole lot else he’s earned, he went all in—and got here away with the consideration of standing alongside a few of his boyhood idols.
“You develop up watching this,” he says. “Not one individual has any type of ailing phrase towards American Gladiators. All people, as quickly as you utter the phrases, is like, ‘Oh man, I used to like that present.’”
At 40, he nonetheless carries the identical PEC-Tacular persona he’s constructed since changing into each a champion and a hard-to-hate reality-show heel. However what makes this new function totally different is that he will get to share the second together with his younger sons. On the finish of the day, father stays a very powerful title on his résumé.
“My 2-year-old, 3-year-old, 5-year-old can simply hear the music, they usually simply begin saying, ‘Daddy, Daddy’s on TV, Daddy’s on TV.’”
Sharing the message of consistency together with his children is a very powerful purpose why Jessie Godderz, at any age, will at all times preserving pushing to make it to the highest of the rope.
“I need my son to be sure that he is aware of he can’t ever quit,” Jessie says. “And I need him to see that, as an American Gladiator, Daddy by no means offers up both.”
