Kenny Omega recently spoke with Muscle And Fitness for an interview.
During the discussion, “The Cleaner” reflected on his early training at the NJPW Dojo, as well as how he always played sports that applied to pro wrestling while growing up.
Featured below are some of the highlights.
On always entering sports that applied in some form to pro wrestling: “I think a lot of the sports that I partook in, the sports that I really tried hard in, whether it be ice hockey, whether it be soccer, basketball, I always took whatever aspect of that sport, that I felt could be most applied to professional wrestling, because in the end, that was always the end game. I always wanted to be a professional wrestler, so when it came to being a goal tender in ice hockey, you know, you’re wearing at that time, 30, 40, 50 pounds of equipment. But I always made it a goal of mine to keep up with the forwards in any of the conditioning drills, any of the speed drills. I tried as best as I could. And, you know, a lot of times it was impossible, because our skates were different, they were more flat bladed than sharp bladed, we can’t dig in as much, I had of course an incredible deficit of having all that weight on me, but I wanted to push myself. I wanted to be the best conditioned athlete that we had on the team. When I played basketball, I wanted to be very dynamic. I wanted to be explosive.”
On his early days training at the NJPW Dojo: “It is very much designed to test your mettle. Not only are you training at the dojo as a professional wrestler but you’re training your body, you’re training your mind, your training teamwork. You’re training how to be a better human being; you’re training how to live not only for yourself but for your fellow dojo mates.”
Check out the complete interview at MuscleAndFitness.com.
