30 Steps Game
Being a barefoot personal trainer is a very rewarding profession, and the people I meet and opportunities that arise never cease to amaze me. I met a barefoot runner in Barcelona, Spain who gave my wife and I a free guided tour of the city last year. I trained a semi-famous rock star who went on to perform on a late-night talks show later that same day. And yesterday I got a chance to be on a Japanese TV show. Huh?
Yesterday evening I had the opportunity to do a video shoot for the Japanese TV station NHK. Their education department produces a children's show, and they wanted various people to do participate in a game called "30 steps". Basically you step as fast as you can in place, alternating your feet, and then jump with both feet when you get to the 10th step. You do this three times while counting out loud, and the person who finishes first is declared the winner. It takes about 10-15 seconds to complete and that's it.
The show's producer wanted me to compete against a woman's soccer player, since women's soccer is huge in Japan after the country took home the World Cup about two months ago. My "thing" was that I was to do the game barefoot, which anybody in the world, whether in Japan or the US or Cambodia would find weird. The shoot took place up in the Columbia University sports complex in the upper west tip of Manhattan. It's very peaceful up there, but dang is it far!
After the film crew did some profile shots of us (the soccer player kicked balls into a net, and I did some barefoot running and some pushups), we got down to business. They filmed us playing the 30 steps game four different times (I won the first, and we tied the next three times), but a tie didn't seem what the producer wanted, though she was too shy to say anything. So I decided to rig the game, and hold a Rock Paper Scissors contest to decide who would win. Advantage: me.
I never met this collegiate soccer player before in my life, but I knew I could beat her. Why? Because nuthin' beats rock. After destroying her weak scissors throw, we redid the 30 steps game, and she purposefully jumped a bit too high on the third and final set of steps, allowing me to beat her by half a second. I basked in barefoot glory for the camera and that was a wrap!
The segment won't air until November or December, but I'll be sure to send out a link to the clip.
Yesterday evening I had the opportunity to do a video shoot for the Japanese TV station NHK. Their education department produces a children's show, and they wanted various people to do participate in a game called "30 steps". Basically you step as fast as you can in place, alternating your feet, and then jump with both feet when you get to the 10th step. You do this three times while counting out loud, and the person who finishes first is declared the winner. It takes about 10-15 seconds to complete and that's it.
The show's producer wanted me to compete against a woman's soccer player, since women's soccer is huge in Japan after the country took home the World Cup about two months ago. My "thing" was that I was to do the game barefoot, which anybody in the world, whether in Japan or the US or Cambodia would find weird. The shoot took place up in the Columbia University sports complex in the upper west tip of Manhattan. It's very peaceful up there, but dang is it far!
After the film crew did some profile shots of us (the soccer player kicked balls into a net, and I did some barefoot running and some pushups), we got down to business. They filmed us playing the 30 steps game four different times (I won the first, and we tied the next three times), but a tie didn't seem what the producer wanted, though she was too shy to say anything. So I decided to rig the game, and hold a Rock Paper Scissors contest to decide who would win. Advantage: me.
I never met this collegiate soccer player before in my life, but I knew I could beat her. Why? Because nuthin' beats rock. After destroying her weak scissors throw, we redid the 30 steps game, and she purposefully jumped a bit too high on the third and final set of steps, allowing me to beat her by half a second. I basked in barefoot glory for the camera and that was a wrap!
The segment won't air until November or December, but I'll be sure to send out a link to the clip.
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