In the 2000's Eddie Wall was a member of the extremely influential Forum Snowboards team. These guys changed the way that people looked at snowboarding. They were groundbreaking. Now a days, Eddie is still snowboarding, but he's also focused on other things. He's commentating at snowboard events, and working with TransWorld SNOWboarding Magazine.
If you haven't watched our video with Eddie yet, where he talks about how to overcome your fears to get what you really want, well what are you waiting for?! Watch it here:
We knew Eddie had more to say, so we recently caught up with him, and picked his brain just a little bit more. Take a look...
When did you discover that you were into training and boxing? Was it a certain event or day, or was it more of a gradual transition?
The training aspect I have been doing my whole life. I have always worked out to stay in shape for skating and snowboarding, just mainly to help avoid injuries. As far as boxing, I guess it was about 5 years ago. I have always loved seeing boxing training montages. It may sound cheesy, but when I would watch a boxing movie I always thought the training montages were pretty rad. The jump rope, speed bag, shadow boxing, it all just looks so cool. I was always afraid to try it, because walking into a boxing gym with having never done it is really intimidating. I watched the movie The Fighter (the true story of Micky Ward) and just said “fuck it” I’m going to start boxing. So I asked people around LA about legit boxing gyms until someone pointed me to Henry Tillman’s Championship Boxing Club, (Henry won the 1984 Olympics Heavyweight Gold). I walked in, started asking questions and the next day I was training (pathetically) with a bunch of heavyweights, ha.
Besides training and boxing, do you keep a rigorous diet too? Are you really conscious about what you put into your body? Or is it somewhat lax?
That is kind of a trick question for me, because I am a bit all over the place. Overall, yes, I am always conscious of what I eat and am pretty healthy. I am a vegetarian and have never eaten meat in my life (my whole family is veggie). I also don’t drink coffee, I don’t eat sweets, I make green juice all the time etc… BUT…. I will also sometimes order a large cheese pizza and eat the whole thing! I have a weak spot for bread and cheese (and beer), which are obviously all unhealthy. Recently I have been doing really well though, no dairy, just eating a ton of veggies and green juice, almonds etc… i’m trying to cut some weight. I am really into healthy eating and reading books about it. ( I would suggest Dr. Ferman’s ‘Eat to Live’ It’s awesome). Our bodies are the most amazing machines ever. Like you would never buy a new car and pore a Coke into the gas tank, so why would you pore one into your body? Sugar is gnarly, it is in roughly 85% of foods in America and processed sugar is very addicting, hence why we are always craving bread, soda’s, sweets, crackers, just ‘food’ as we know it.
Who or what motivates you to keep staying in shape?
Our bodies are pretty amazing, and I feel like it’s a gift to have one. It blows me away when I see someone who has a nice car and house and money etc… but are super unhealthy. What good is all the money and toys in the world if you aren’t healthy enough to enjoy them? Although it is hard to stay on path with eating healthy and working out, in the end I feel SO much better then when I don’t. It not only effects your body, but also helps tremendously with mental well being, stress levels, and overall happiness.
Besides staying in shape physically do you do anything to stay in shape mentally?
Yeah, being in good physical condition is only part of it. Staying in shape mentally is very important. Stress is one of the top reasons for disease and death in US. If you’re in shape but stressed out like crazy, that’s no good at all. For myself, I make an effort to constantly step back and look at what is making me happy and what is causing me stress. If something is making me unhappy or stressed, I think, okay, how can I slowly (or quickly) change my life to eliminate this thing (or person!). I think meditation is extremely helpful as well. Our minds were not meant to just run like wild 24 hours a day, your mind is a tool. You should pick up and use that tool when you need it, otherwise you should set it down. So I try to shut my brain off for a 1/2 every day or so (meditating). it’s really hard, but it’s like anything, practice, practice, and then a little more practice.
You travel a lot, how do you stay in shape when you're on the road? Any tips for how to do it?
That is definitely a tricky one. Eating healthy while traveling is super hard. Many times I am traveling for snowboarding, so we are basically working out by riding. But otherwise there are simple things you can do. Running (or walking) is a good one. Just throw some shoes and shorts in your bag and you can run almost everywhere. Most hotels have gyms, and if they don’t just doing push ups and sit ups in your room will be good, although it’s a little hard to motivate to do that. A good example is awhile back I was on a trip at a very tiny island in Indonesia and i wasn’t sure what I could do for a workout. Then, a light-bulb went off, i bought a $5 pair of swim goggles and started swimming laps in the ocean. Have I ever swam in the ocean? Nope. But hey why not. At first I could swim for about 10 minutes and I was so beat because you use all these weird muscles, but by the end of the trip I was waking up and swimming over an hour or more every morning. (That way I could sit on the beach and drink margaritas for the rest of the day guilt free. haha)
You’re from an action sports background…What do you have to say to people that think training and staying in shape is just for "jocks?"
Sports like skating and snowboarding came from a bunch of punk kids who partied and were against all the jocks etc.. And that’s how I grew up with it. But now, things have changed. Yes there is still the element of unconventional sports, and we are all still down to party, but the fact is the level of the sports has risen incredibly. The days of staying up all night partying and going out the next day to win a contest or film a trick are pretty much over. I think it’s just expected that athletes train like athletes now. Especially with our peers, the guys we look up to, Danny Way, Terje Haakonsen, Kelly Slater.. these guys are all older now, and the only thing keeping them on their boards is training and they will be the first to admit it. I heard an interview the other day and Terje was like “I do yoga, i don’t really like doing yoga that much, but it keeps me on my board” So now the younger generations are doing this as well to stay ahead of the curve. I don’t want our sports to turn into a bunch of people training and not having fun, that would suck, all I’m saying is that you have to be in very good shape to hit a 90 foot jump or frontside flip a 16 stair on a skateboard.
What have you been up to lately? Clue us in! What are you up to coming up?
Well i technically retired from snowboarding about a year ago. Now I have been working with TransWorld SNOWboarding magazine helping them out with their social media (@twsnow). I have also been helping them with some web series, as well as hosting all of their events and some shows. I have been doing a little consulting on the side with other companies. I am really interested in hosting, I would like to do stuff like Todd Richards and Sal Masekala. I like being in front of the camera. Over the next few weeks I am commentating at the US Grand Prix in Mammoth and the Air + Style in LA, which I am really looking forward to. I’m also hosting a travel channel web series up in Canada for two weeks in Feb. So I guess I’m really just pursuing hosting and commentating and doing a ton of stuff with TransWorld SNOWboarding. I am stoked. Transitioning into something after pro snowboarding is mentally really hard, and it took a lot of time, but I am now figuring it all out and really happy.