Back on His Feet
South Bay bootcamp instructor stages a comeback after a stroke.
Written by Melissa Bean Sterzick
Joe Charles is more than familiar with the ups and downs that come in life. He enjoys and is grateful for the ups. And when he gets knocked down, it’s his policy to get back up again—as quickly as possible.
Charles has been a fixture on the sand near the Manhattan Beach pier since he started running an exercise bootcamp there in 2000. He uses his background in competitive fighting, his strong voice and high energy to in-spire students to try harder and work smarter. He is known for offering prayers, sharing snacks, calling out to passersby to join his class and some-times handing out $100 bills for push-ups.
In 2015 Charles suffered a stroke that affected his speech and ability to walk. Rehabilitation, patience, determination and the support of his dedicated bootcampers found him back on the beach hollering orders after just a year. Hermosa Beach resident Mike Garrity is one of the passersby who got to know Charles. Garrity is a retired Air Force officer who saw Charles’ bootcamp in action and has watched him work to regain strength after suffering a stroke.
“He definitely has a zest for life. It would be easy to give up—but Joe definitely has not given up on anything,” Garrity says.
Charles hoped to compete in the 1984 Olympics in judo, but an accident at work left him with a broken femur. Doctors told him he might never walk again, but after a couple years he was strong enough to do martial arts again. He fought on the Ultimate Fighting Championship circuit for many years and won the UFC Super Fight Russia in 1998.
It was 2000 when he retired from fighting and began leading what be-came known as GI Joe’s Bootcamp: The Exercise and Fitness Program on the Beach. In 2008 the bootcamp earned the Small Business of the Year Award presented by the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce.
By that time, Charles had spread his reach and participated in a radio show, started a pier-to-pier run/walk and offered bootcamps at several venues. He’d also created his $1,000 Push-up Challenge and turned it into a tribute event to honor his son Shamor, who was killed in a drive-by shooting.
Charles says his career built itself. Fortune came his way regularly in the form of opportunity, good people and job offers that expanded his role as an exercise guru.
His amazing return to the sand after his stroke earned him the 2018 Raising Awareness in Stroke Excellence Outstanding Stroke Survivor Award from the American Stroke Association. The RAISE awards support stroke awareness in the United States, where nearly 800,000 people experience a stroke each year.
Manhattan Beach resident Tanya Walker Wirth attends Charles’ bootcamp at 6 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Between the beautiful setting, the challenging workout and Charles’ many friends on the beach, she feels like she’s part of a community of health and wellness. She says Charles does the entire workout alongside her.
“He pushes you in a way where he’s stern but flexible. He is pushing himself too,” she says. “I think the reason the workout is so strong for me is because I have to give it my all. It has been a physical commitment and an emotional inspiration.”
Charles is working hard to reestablish his career. A second, more re-cent stroke has been a setback, but he has not lost any of his enthusiasm or resolve to succeed. He hopes to be able to host his annual $1,000 Push-up Challenge on July 4, 2020. And he’s leading two sessions of his bootcamp three days a week.
“I can’t give up. I’m trying to see what I can do and what I can’t do,” he says. “I think I’m back on my feet again. I’m doing it. I just keep going—and then some.”
