Page 134 - OVATION Magazine (Issue 1)

THE GOOD FIGHT
The MVP Connection
Vets and athletes forge strong bonds at Unbreakable.
Halfway through his first session with the MVP foundation, Dustin
Holcomb—who left the U.S. Army after being hit by
a roadside bomb—broke down. “I started crying right there,” he recalls. “Guys I’ve never met be- fore are putting their arms around me. It was crazy to think of how long I’d gone without that camaraderie.”
In a sense, inside that circle of 60 or 70 people at Jay Glazer’s Unbreakable gym, Holcomb’s experience of trauma was normal. He was surrounded, after all, by a group of fellow veter- ans and former pro athletes who are part of one of the strongest support systems available to men and wom- en of their kind.
Glazer and Nate Boyer—a U.S. Army Green Beret turned walk-on long snapper at the University of Texas—conceived MVP, or Merging Vets & Players,
in 2015. Their organization, which hosts regular group sessions, was founded on the premise that ex-soldiers and ex-pro athletes share
a common bond as people who have done incredible things but who often strug- gle to adjust afterward. MVP attracts a broad range of participants to its weekly sessions, which generally consist of a warm-up and workout followed by thera- peutic group conversations. “We get that sweat going and get everyone to feel vulnerable so they open up,” says Boyer. “It breaks down uncomfortable walls.”
Glazer and Boyer’s intuition has proved to be spot-on. Several members credit MVP with helping them turn around—if not save—their lives. Denver Morris, a former infan- tryman, moved out of a homeless shelter. Former door gunner Kirstie Ennis, who endured 45 surgeries
after a helicopter crash in Afghanistan, has gone on to be a world-class athlete and the 2019 winner of ESPN’s Pat Tillman Award. For David Rendon, MVP helped him to quit doctor- prescribed opiates. “I was a walking zombie,” Rendon says. “This has given me a new life. Something to be proud of again.”
For Glazer and Boyer, their mission with MVP is far from complete. Their goal is to have an outpost in every major American city; already there’s Las Vegas, Atlanta, Chica-
go, and, soon, New York City. At sessions in West Hollywood and elsewhere, the likes of Tony Gonzalez, Ryan Leaf, and Randy Cou- ture are likely to show up. Still, according to Holcomb, the person whose atten- dance gets everyone the most excited is Glazer. “He is that force of nature just driving this thing.” —K.R.
Green Beret Nate Boyer walked on at UT before meeting Glazer—and going pro.
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surface on which one runs in place at a slight angle, leaning into a stretchy harness.
Unbreakable’s bread and butter is getting athletes to their peaks, but the gym also attracts prominent musicians and actors—and not just for vanity’s sake.“I think the more successful you get, the scarier the world
gets, so this is like your one place where nobody cares who you are,” Glazer says. On any given afternoon, you might find Tyga working out with a team comprising Justin Hartley, Demi Lovato, and Rams head coach Sean McVay, with not a manager or security
“Stallone gave
the whole gym a 20-minute fight- choreography lesson and then . . . Demi knocked him out twice.” —JAY GLAZER
detail—or mirror—in sight.“We’re giving the celebs the feel of an NFL locker room,” says Glazer,“the same amenities as if you play for the Patriots or Seahawks.”That goes for state-of-the-art equipment and coach- es as well as advanced recovery treatments. “You have to recover as hard as you train,” he says of being perhaps the first gym with a cryotherapy chamber and $130,000 Phoenix Thera-Lase cold-therapy laser for scar tissue and inflammation.
There are only-in-Hollywood moments, too—think “The Unthinkable Unbreakable” fight pitting Stallone against Lovato.“Stallone gave the whole gym a 20-minute fight-cho- reography lesson and then set up this boxing match where Demi knocked him out twice. It was unreal,”says Glazer.“Every day in there is a moment like, ‘How did I get here?’ ”
FALL 2019