Interview with Damien Walters: Crazy Movement!
July 6th, 2009
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by Mike T Nelson · Filed Under: Mobility
Interview with Damien Walters
If you have not heard of him,
you NEED to see him move on this video below.
Some absolutely crazy stuff
that you must see. Seriously.
For those on my newsletter list, you have seen this one already a few weeks ago and it was so good I wanted to share it with everyone!
Take it away Damien:
My background is gymnastic
tumbling I competed for great Britain in tumbling were I worked my way up to be
ranked 4th in the world. Individually I
also won the team world and European championships.
I live in derby in England and I coach gymnastics at my fathers club
in derby but also do stunt work for my boss Brad Allen who is Jackie Chan’s
stunt men he got me involved in the films after seeing me
on youtube where he asked me to do the film Hell Boy 2 from then I have done Ninja Assassin which is directed by the Wachowski brothers and Kick Ass which is
directed by Mathew Vaugn they both come out in December I think.
I’m 27 years old, 5ft 11 tall and weigh
76 kg (editor’s note, that is 168 lbs for those non metric users) I don’t know what my vertical jump is but my horizontal is just over 3 meters (almost 10 feet) and yeah they have
improved over time. The older I got the
stronger I get but I would say my best jumps where when I was competing full
time in tumbling.
I don’t really train with weights alot I do little bits like squat jumps with
the weights bar across my neck but not much. I mainly get my conditioning in the training I
do from day to day. What ever I enjoy doing I keep doing it and I suppose it
keeps my fit and strong enough to do the moves as well as I can
Errr I would say I make them look effortless there are people who can make
these moves look so much better than I can but I just keep doing the moves
over and over till I’m happy with what I can do. I just try to relax in the
moves as if you are uptight it shows
I train around 3 to 4 hours a day. I would say, yeah visualization is very
good. I could be laying in bed one night
and suddenly think arrrr that’s how I should try it tomorrow then the next day
it will just happen.
Haha first move I learnt was a front somersault when I was 4 or 5 on the grass
only it wasn’t quite a somersault– I just kept jumping over and landing flat
on my back and knockin the wind out of myself (laughing) … shortly after my mum
took me to gymnastic lessons 
Advise would be to just relax and stay confident if you believe you can do
something it will happen. Just stay open minded but please be safe.
I’ve been doing stuff now for 20 years so a long time now and I can’t stop
myself from getting aches and pains I wish I could though (laughs).. but that’s
just the nature of what I do so u just have to accept it and get on with it.
No I don’t take any supplements at all I really don’t believe they can do you
any better than just eating. Normally I just
eat veg meat and all the normal stuff everyone else would eat to be honest. All food is good for you just in moderation
My future goals are just to be happy in what ever I do and as long as I enjoy
something I will just keep on doing it.
It means so much to me to have all the positive feed back from the
videos I have made. I really didn’t
expect it.
Thanks again
Damien
Special thanks to Damien for taking the time to do the
interview!
Any comments, drop me a line in the comments
Rock on!
Comments RSS 
He is incredible, truly moves with such a natural flow. I could see where pain is inevitable a lot of high impact stuff there. Damien is jacked, and crazy strong I guess it’s the results you get from years of body weight conditioning.
Random Questions:
What kind of anti-inflammatory would you recommend?
My knee is inflamed, happened a few hours after a run *2 miles not every intense*. This has happened before a long time ago. I Iced and took Motrin, and some ibuprofen later on. Then a Contrast shower. At first I wanted to keep it mobile and it hurt when bending the knee so I had my little brother take it through the range of motion while my muscles were relaxed, this helped but caused pain so i stopped that. I played hockey, the pads got really warm, never any pain, more rom less pain now. I almost feel a pressure on the back side of my leg behind the knee, and on top of the patella when bending. As i bend more pain goes up. Last time this happen the trainer recommended Ice and Ibuprofen went away with in a week.
*it seems to me, something is swollen, whatever is in my knee is causing it to increase in size noticable, limiting mobility and causing pressure on the top of the knee and cap and the back of the leg when bending happening*
I educated guess to help stop this from happening in the future? Do you think how I run could be causing this?
Aside from that hurt my ankle at hockey, it feels a bit over stretched should be fine in a few days :-/. *As of now rom is fine, little pain, all good here*
I’m one messed up 15 year old…..
*As of now, no pain just pressure
Thank you in advance for any advice and help you give.
Sorry this comment is huge, your awesome, with out you I would most likely be in much worse shape.
Where do you live?
Very hard to say without watching you move to be honest. If there is a Z-Health person in your area it would be worth your time to pay them a visit. http://www.zhealth.net
Increasing fruits and veggies normally helps with some pain at times. Fish oil (EPA/DHA) combined at about 2-4 grams per day can help within about 4-8 weeks.
I would get your movement checked first
Hope that helps and thanks again for your comments!
Rock on
Mike T Nelson
Sorry for the overload on questions. Your awesome man.
I’ll start on the fish oil soon. I’ll make sure to eat more veggies to.
The closest person is over 2 hours away, and I can’t drive. I’ll just stick with my mobility work, ice, and anti-inflammatory at the moment. If it doesn’t get better by the weekend I’ll go see a sports physio.
Don’t want to burden my parents, but when next year around the start of my off season I’ll be getting my license and I’ll make sure to go see a Z-health Certified trainer.
Thank you for your help
Hi Mike
The YouTube clip is amazing. Hey I was wondering if you were interested in doing a short interview for my site about foam rolling, Z-Health, jumpers knee, and your thoughts on vertical jump training.
I have the R and I phase of Z-Health and have found them to be quite useful but very difficult to explain to people. I also have found your thoughts on no foam rolling to be quite thought provoking especially since that’s all we hear these days.
IT band tightness is a common thing amongst jumping athletes (along with sore joints) and as such I think your insights and knowledge of this topic would be of great interest.
Let me know and lets set something up.
Regards
Jack Woodrup
[...] think this is the most amazing tumbling / parkour video that I have ever seen. Hat tip to the Extreme Human Performance blog – which is carrying an interview with this guy (Damien [...]
Hi Christian, keep me updated on how it goes!
Rock on
Mike T Nelson
Hi there Jack! I am open to doing interview! Drop me a line at michaelTnelson@yahoo.com and we will set it up
Rock on
Mike T Nelson
Thanks for the comment CST!
Rock on
Mike N
Wow! Totally inspiring, I wish I could do something like that. Keep it up
Yes, I find it very inspirational too.
Thanks for the great comment and let us know how we can help you
rock on
Mike T Nelson
[...] Damien Walters Crazy Movement and Interview: Real Parkour and Gymnastics [...]
It is amazing!!! This guy can do impossible things. It`s like some kung fu movie:)
Yes, Damien is insane
rock on
Mike T Nelson
haha! That’s an awesome video, Mike! I wish I could do stuff like that. I’m working on building up my overall strength with bodyweight exercises, but i’m nowhere near that level.
Pat,
Yep, Damien is crazy for sure, but you can always get better; so keep up the good work
Rock on
Mike N
Wow. This one inspires a lot. I’m looking forward for more video and article from you..keep it up!
yep, Damien is the man!
Rock on
Mike N
The Video clip amazing.
Great information on vertical jump training.
Tightness is a good thing for jumping athletes .
Great information for who want to start career with athelet
Jessi
Thanks Jessica.
I agree that the video is awesome, but I would not say he is very tight though??
Mike N
Thanks Jessica!
Yes, Damien is insane!!
rock on
Mike N
That is amazing! I wish I could do that stuff