“Almostall
your
physical
success
comes
fromyour
thought
process.”
Asoneofthetopobstacle
competitorsontheplanet
—maleorfemale—Graff
isconstantlylookingfor
newwaystotrain.The
entrywayofherSouthern
CaliforniahomeintheUS
isa360-degreegym,
completewithclimbing
walls,paddedfloors,and
hangingbars.She’seven
gotabackyardtrampolinejob”, she says. “The best
way to master a cool new
skill is to break down the
mechanics”. Throughout
her life, Graff has also
worked hard to master
circus arts, gymnastics,
pole vaulting, martial arts,
and rock climbing, among
other skills. Her advice:
Find a skill, sport, or
hobby that inspires you,
and use that as motivation
to build the strength
needed to succeed at it.TRAIN SMARTER —
NOT HARDER
After multiple injuries,
including a stress fracture
in her hip and a knee
injury that resulted from
overtraining, Graff now
knows when to take her
foot off the gas. “I learnedstuntman on one of her
films performing explo-
sive, dynamic handstand
jumps, she made it her
goal to get the technique
down for herself. That
meant breaking the
movement into smaller
components and strength-
ening the muscles she
needed most to complete
the move. “Sometimes I
have to get really good at
something really fast for aever challenges are in
front of you.FIND SOME FOCUS
Mixing up your training is
great, but it can also help
to concentrate on a couple
of key areas for relatively
short periods of time. “I
tend to get into phases
where I’m really excited
about one thing and try to
master it”, Graff says. For
example, when she saw aand treadmill pool. “My
life’s mission has been to
master every style of
movement, in every
direction”, Graff says.
“I pretty much work to
support my training
habits.”
No small wonder that
Graff found a career as a
stuntwoman, for which
supernatural abilities just
come with the territory,
whether that’s plunging
from rooftops or crashing
a motorcycle — then
getting up to do it all over
again. “I’m so lucky to
have found a job that
allows me to constantly
learn new skills”, she says.
But you don’t have to leap
from tall buildings or pull
yourself up ledges to feel
all-powerful. What’s key
is the ability to set small
goals for yourself — then
burst past them, she says.
Steal some tips from
Graff’s own train ing style
to build up your confi-
dence and tackle what-10 | M&F HERS | JUL/AUG 2019