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[0:14] Joe Rosko: Hey, what's going on? Welcome to Built for the Stage Podcast. This is Joe Rosko, founder of Built for the Stage, Broadway's number one fitness platform. We have clients in over 20 Broadway shows and other actors across the entire country using an interactive fitness app to work one-on-one with me. So if you're looking to marry a pursuit of a career in theater with aspirations of going on this fitness journey, I'm your guy. Been doing it for 17 years as a former actor and a trainer. Yeah, just been doing this for a long time, trying to marry the two together and making sure that actors are training like athletes. So if you want to try a free trial, go to BuiltForTheStage.com and we'll be on our way with working together.

All right, let's bring on our special guest. Special guest as always. Gonna pop up their Instagram handle right there. I recently saw our guest in FUNNY GIRL, a phenomenal tap dancer and performer. Just blew me away. It was actually one of the extreme highlights of the show for me. I went home just thinking about it over and over again. Um, so let's bring on our guest, John Michael Fiumara. I'm gonna give you a little roll of the R there. Are you Italian?

[1:30] John Michael Fiumara: That was good. Thank you so much for the introduction. You know, as a fellow Italian, I had to do it justice. I had to do it.

[1:36] Joe Rosko: Yeah, yeah. Where's your family from?

[1:38] John Michael Fiumara: My family is from Palermo, Sicily.

[1:41] Joe Rosko: Okay, okay, yeah. My grandfather's from Sicily as well.

[1:45] John Michael Fiumara: Hey, there we go.

[1:46] Joe Rosko: Hey, Paisan. Where are you calling in from? What part of New York?

[1:51] John Michael Fiumara: Uh, upstate. Uh, sorry, not upstate, uptown.

[1:56] Joe Rosko: Uptown. I wish I were upstate though.

[1:58] John Michael Fiumara: Right. Some nature. But uh, uptown is definitely good enough for me. I'm near Fort Triumph Park, so I'm just enjoying that nature there.

[2:06] Joe Rosko: So yeah, I saw on your Instagram that the show kind of, not kind of, but it brought you back from California. You were over on the West Coast before the show, correct?

[2:18] John Michael Fiumara: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I was in California and then I came here literally, yeah, like you said, before the show. Um, I had always said if I was gonna go back to New York, it would be for a job. And they called me and I was like, yeah, let's do it. Let's go be with the tap dancers.

[2:34] Joe Rosko: So amazing. So you didn't know, like, audition process, you just got a call and were like, hey, would you be in this?

[2:40] John Michael Fiumara: No, um, as cool as that would sound. No, I did audition. I sent a self-tape like back in like October, November of last year. Uh, so around this time last year, and then um, I didn't hear anything and I kind of forgot about it, and then just out of nowhere, I just got a call, like, hey, do you want to do it? And I was like, yeah, yeah. So um, then I came here. And it honestly, it's been a journey ever since. Uh, because I came here within like two weeks' notice. So I had just been subletting and staying in friends' places for the months past, and now I finally got my own place and uh, slowly building it and it feels really great.

[3:19] Joe Rosko: Nice. Well, when you were over in California, you were in the West Side Story movie, that's a big deal, huh?

[3:26] John Michael Fiumara: Uh, yeah, we had, I mean, we had filmed that. I was living in New York at the time. We filmed that in 2019, and then the movie came out last year. So that was, I'm laughing at myself because it's funny how like the pandemic has just ruined time for me. Like I feel like 2019 was last year, but really it wasn't.

[3:49] Joe Rosko: Yeah, yeah, you're definitely not alone in that feeling.

[3:52] John Michael Fiumara: Yeah.

[3:53] Joe Rosko: Okay. So with the, with like how, how do you navigate that? Because I think a lot of actors and performers could benefit from your experience. Kind of like how do you get in routine or settle yourself while subletting and while bouncing from this place to that place? Like, do you have any pillars that you try to practice regularly to keep you grounded?

[4:18] John Michael Fiumara: At first I thought you were gonna say, do you have any pills that you practice with? No. Um, that's a great question because it's really, really difficult to feel grounded whenever you're literally physically moving around that much, and you can really feel the difference whenever you're in a place that you can feel more at home, literally. Um, it does make a really big difference, but I think the anchor for me is getting to the gym and exercising and taking dance class and sleeping and eating right, you know, doing things that make me feel as close to home as possible. Um, so I think those things that I just listed are definitely really big anchors for me. Uh, and when I'm not doing that consistently, when I'm not connected to the craft or my art or something that I want to work on personally or emotionally, or um, you know, like I said, getting to the gym and working on myself and having a goal going somewhere, when I'm not doing that, I feel very far away from myself and I don't like to get to that place.

So a good way to come back in is a lot of meditation. Um, and just I think trying to get the circadian rhythm on track as much as possible, you know, waking up, going for a walk, getting some light in your eyes, getting some exercise, getting your breath going. Um, it's a lot of little things that add up that makes sense.

[5:39] Joe Rosko: Yeah, it makes a lot of sense, and I wish that it made a lot of sense to more people, uh, because it's definitely the little things that add up like exactly like you just said. Uh, with the gym, you're no stranger to fitness, obviously. Uh, how do you find the time with a show or rehearsals?

[5:59] John Michael Fiumara: Um, as a trainer that trains actors only, this is a common theme that I'm having to always discuss, which is you know, the importance of continuing to train in spite of your physical activity within a show, um, because you're not covering so many different facets in everyday life. You're just doing a repetitive thing over and over and over again in a show. So it's important to continue to train. How do you prioritize that? How do you make it work when you're so busy?

[6:32] John Michael Fiumara: Uh, I think do you ask these same questions to everyone? Or because I saw you reading from like the—

[6:37] Joe Rosko: No, I just, I was curious.

[6:43] John Michael Fiumara: No, no, no reading, no. Uh, yeah, no, I know, but I that's a great question. I like time prioritize. Um, I think, uh, I don't know, that's just something again that is my anchor. So I know that if I don't do it, I just feel very far away from myself. So it's, there's times where I'm like, I just, I need to in order to stay sane. Um, but honestly, over the pandemic, what you know I think that came from that was working out at home. You know, uh, I know we all found ways and different we had to get creative with our workouts at home because all the gyms closed. So I think a big help was just having a few things at the house like some bands and like I don't know using some your body weight you know for a lot of things.

Like that's a really, that was a big thing for me. But in terms of like getting to the gym itself and making time, you just make time. There's really no other way around it. I, you just make time and I think it's also what you do in the gym. So if even if you can only get to the gym for me personally, if I can only get there three times a week, I'm making sure that I'm like hitting the big fundamentals. And uh, yeah, I don't know if there's really any way around it. I think it's just making time and getting there. Even if it's for, I mean I would love to, you know, be there for like an hour and a half and or two hours and like really get out all the heads of the shoulder that I want or this and that, you know, for example, but uh sometimes 45-minute workout, you know, it's better than no workout.

You know, I think just showing up is like a really big key for me. I know that phrase is said a lot nowadays of like just show up, just show up, but it's true. If you just show up and you just like focus and put in the intensity, you know, it's um, it like I said, it adds up.

[8:41] Joe Rosko: Yeah, one thing I do always say to everyone in these episodes or clients is to lean into the cliché statements. People want to roll their eyes at 'em but it's there's a reason that they're cliché and said over and over again, it's because they're true most of the time. So yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. What does um, what does your nutrition look like? How this is important too. Like you, you all are professional athletes up there, you need to be fueling your bodies properly to be able to stay at such a high level eight times a week. Um, what is your normal day look like as far as eating and drinking?

[9:21] John Michael Fiumara: Yeah, uh well, I try to wait, I try to stay away from sugar as much as possible. Um, the sugar that I do have, it's like a lot of just a lot of fruit, you know. But um again, cliché to be like, eat your fruits and vegetables, kids. Um, but I actually was diagnosed with Crohn's disease when I was like nine years old. Uh, and so from an early age I had to learn that you know, if your diet is off, then you're really gonna suffer. Like it just makes things a lot worse. And the symptoms are everywhere. You can Google it. But uh, and that's something that is a constant thing that I'm constantly working on. Um, and uh how to heal, how to better take care of myself. But you know, the I guess the biggest thing is just getting in a lot of protein and carbohydrates and fats, you know, your macronutrients, uh, and then there's your vitamins and micronutrients, right?

Um, I'm a huge advocate for carbs. I love carbs, like we're just really, and people I think are really scared of carbs, but it's not, I, it's just what you're eating, like you just have to look at what you're eating. If you're eating carbs like candy and and you know, I don't know, like that's probably not the best for you. Like some we know that, but uh if it's like you have like a nice big sweet potato or like a bowl of quinoa or something, like I eat as much as that as I want, you know, I love carbs and I love um, you know, I have some kind of protein with it as well, you know, yeah carbs are our main energy source and and you can't be depleted of that when when you're on the stage and everyone that's thinking out there I thought carbs were bad for you and and they make you uh fat or put on weight, just check out John's Instagram at John7Michael and you'll see that that statement is as far from the truth as possible. You'll see a nice lean machine there that is saying to you directly that carbs are not the enemy.

[11:23] Joe Rosko: So thanks for saying that. Another thing that's challenging about working in midtown is that like all the food around there is really terrible. It's just not, it's not great for you. It's all, you never know how it's made or where it comes from or the way it's cooked or what it's cooked in. It's all the, it's all the oils, you know, that's that's the really hard part so I've been trying to be a lot better about you know, making like setting aside an hour or two to meal prep on a Sunday night, you know, we usually we have a matinee in the day so the Sunday night we have free. So I'll try to like take time to meal prep then so throughout the week I have some meals to bring to the theater so that I'm not like wondering oh where can I go now and just like eating whatever is there as opposed to oh I'm in control of what I put in my body, you know, um so I think cooking meals and and bringing food is also a really big thing for me.

[12:20] John Michael Fiumara: Yeah, to be prepared is to be successful for sure. To make sure you're staying ahead of the game with scheduling when's the exact time I'm gonna do my gym session, what am I gonna eat? Um yeah, if you're guessing, then your outcome is not gonna be very precise, but if you are being precise, then your precision will lead to success for sure. So you brought up when you were younger, you were diagnosed with Crohn's disease. Were you also like tap dancing from the jump?

[12:54] Joe Rosko: When did like dance become a part of your life when you were younger?

[12:57] John Michael Fiumara: Yeah, so I started dancing when I was four, four or five years old. I went to a recreational dance studio in Penn Hills, Pittsburgh. I'm from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Um I went to a recreational studio like once a week from when I was like four or five to about ten years old. Uh and then I switched to a different, more competitive studio. Uh it's called Abbey Lee Dance Company. Um, and you may have heard of it through dance bombs and all that stuff. Uh but I I I I switched to there because my parents were like, you know, you're you're you're improving, you're getting better. Do you want to like hone in on your skills a little more? So we we we moved. And yeah, I I was fortunate to have a really good tap dance teacher.

His name's Matt Saffron. And uh he he just taught me an amazing foundation and more. You know, I we we would always start class with the basics and just honing in on that that one thing. And um, you know, I yeah, that we just and I and I was there from when I was like 10 to 17, and I really started to fall in love with tap dancing, and then I stepped away from it just because I moved to New York when I was 18 or 19, and I I pretty much stepped away uh and because I was working and and I hadn't really known like where to go in the city. I didn't really have a community yet. You know, I was just I was working a lot, there was a lot of uh moving around, uh, but it wasn't until I had lived in Chicago.

Uh there's a there's a wonderful tap dance. Like the tap dance community there is is ridiculous. Like they're like some of the best in the world. Um and so that that being in Chicago kind of opened my eyes uh to the world of tap dancing again, and and um that's when I got re inspired to put the shoes back on. And so um I really got back into it a few years ago and um yeah, yeah.

[14:59] Joe Rosko: If you uh can can check him out in the show or on his socials, anything, uh not just blowing smoke. You're you're something. It's funny you said you're from Pittsburgh. Does that mean you had no other option but to idolize Gene Kelly?

[15:19] John Michael Fiumara: Correct me if I'm wrong. Isn't Gene Kelly also from Pittsburgh?

[15:23] Joe Rosko: Yeah, he is. My my grandmother actually went to high school with him.

[15:27] John Michael Fiumara: Oh my there you go. Yeah, yeah. Uh yeah, I a lot of my dance inspiration was came from him.

[15:37] Joe Rosko: Yeah. The heart, yes. I'll try to flatter you again by saying you're like a modern Gene Kelly up there.

[15:43] John Michael Fiumara: Thank you. Thanks. I uh I mean that. Um did you kind of slip in that your family move locations to go to that other dance studio? You moved?

[15:55] John Michael Fiumara: No, no, we we we didn't move, we didn't move uh like our house location, but uh we just I switched dance studios, so we we it was all still in Pen Hills, uh, but we had just gone to a different studio. But we still I my parents live in the same house that I was like born and raised in. My parents are still there.

[16:14] Joe Rosko: Got it. That's very that's very Pittsburgh of them.

[16:17] John Michael Fiumara: Yeah. I'm from uh I'm from Youngstown, which is an hour west of you.

[16:22] Joe Rosko: Okay.

[16:22] John Michael Fiumara: Yeah, yeah, Youngstown, Ohio. Um so you started so young. How how did you like at four? Your mom and dad just kind of like pushed you in there, or or how how did you end up starting dance as opposed to like I don't know, going to baseball practice?

[16:42] John Michael Fiumara: Yeah, well, I actually did play baseball as well. Um I you know when we were young, you know, I I've it's me and I I also have three older sisters. Uh, you know, they always you know pushed us to try new things, you know, and so like dance was one of those things for me, and uh I also played baseball as well. Uh I was the pitcher and uh I was pretty good, I don't say so myself. Uh but uh yeah, I I the way I got into it was I actually saw Lynn Swan, the football player on the show Mr. Rogers when I was young and he was dancing, he was dancing ballet on the show. I remember the like the exact episode I remember what Yeah, yeah. And I looked at my mom and I was like, hey, if I if I take ballet class, will I be able to jump as high as him?

Because they have footage of him like jumping and catching the ball. And I was like, Well, can I and of course when you're a kid, you you over you romanticize it? So I'm like, I'm gonna be able to like jump over tall buildings like a superhero. Like it, like you literally, I remember going there. And so I was like, yeah, really inspired. I'll go take ballet class. And so I just did it once a week. And I remember like I I always like for whatever reason threw like a temper tantrum before I would go. Like I would hate going to class. I would really, really hate it. But my parents really taught me dedication and commitment when uh and and held me accountable because they said, okay, John Michael, it's your choice.

If you want to do this, that's great. But if you're going to do it, you need to commit to it for a year. You can't back out halfway through. And so there'd be times halfway through when I'd be like, no, I don't want to do this. It's stupid. No, like, you know, they would hold me accountable and they say, well, you said, you know, we we agreed, and that so they they held me accountable and they they taught me they taught me commitment in that. And so I I suck with it. Um, but yeah, that's Lynn Swan was how I started. And then and then I started watching, you know, Gene Kelly and Sarah films. And um, yeah.

[18:54] Joe Rosko: Would you would you say that your parents kind of instilling that in you early is what probably led to so much of your success later, which is to be great, it's like you can't be great by just doing things when you feel like it. The gym, a career in theater or anything, like how has that transferred in your adult life where there's been so many times where you don't want to do it, but but you still manage to? And how do you manage to? Because it's not motivation. I'll just t take that out of the equation because I know that it's not. How do you get yourself to keep showing up?

[19:33] John Michael Fiumara: That's a great question. I was actually just talking to someone else about this the other day about going versus wanting to go and when you do feel motivated versus when you don't. Um I think I'm I'm still figuring that out for myself. I think as I get grounded, the more I get grounded, the better I'll have a routine. Uh but again, I you know, consistency, they always say consistency is key. So and if you fall off, you know, don't beat yourself up, don't be so hard on yourself. It's like if you fall off, fine, just get back on the horse and just keep going. Uh and you'll realize that your your body remembers pretty quickly, you know, the the the more you you give to it, you know. Um so in terms of motivation, I know that I I watch other athletes and other, you know, bodybuilders and other, you know, people of sorts, and that they'll always say, like, I'm not motivated today.

I don't want to be here today, but I'm showing up because it's it's part of the journey, you know. So I think it's important to listen to yourself, you know, because in our excuse me, in our career, uh it our schedules can be very, very volatile. So it's very important to listen to yourself on the other hand and say, you know what? I actually do need to rest. I do need to prioritize this. I do need to prioritize my mental health. I do need to meditate, I do need to go for a walk, take it easy, you know. Um, I have a show tonight, I have to exert all this energy. So it is important to know when to pick your battles, but also prioritize the pockets where you can. If you say, you know what, I actually do want to make time for this. Um, it's really I think it's just a mindset of make it's decided it's deciding, you know.

[21:15] Joe Rosko: Can you quit funny girl and join? Can you like be my partner in all of this? Because I just I need I love I love that I'm checking the boxes for you, man. Let me hear it. Literally ding ding ding ding ding.

[21:31] John Michael Fiumara: Yeah, yeah. I I love that.

[21:33] Joe Rosko: Would love to. I just gotta get a t-shirt though first. I saw the built for stage, I gotta get one.

[21:37] John Michael Fiumara: It's in the mail. It's it's the the follow-up email is already coming at you and it's gonna be sent out ASAP for sure.

[21:45] Joe Rosko: How do you amongst all of that? A big key I know is moderation as well. So you're at the theater so much, eight times uh a week doing the show. How or what do you like to just unwind with that's not theater related?

[22:02] John Michael Fiumara: Uh I well, like I said, working out is a given. You know, that's part of why we're here, right? That's the anchor. But uh something as simple as as taking a walk or uh just in I think just being in nature is so important. The city is so much. Like, it's just so much, like for no reason. Um, and especially because we work in midtown. So it's stress levels, it's easy to to to uh um increase. But uh I think just focusing on stress management and and just taking that time and breath work is a big thing. But in terms of like late, like lately, I've just been into wanting to watch movies. You know, I I just really want like I've been watching like older like older films.

[22:51] Joe Rosko: Give us a short list, like your top three like I watched, I I watched uh Cool Han Luke with Paul Newman. I watched The Outsiders. I watched A Time to Kill. You know, and HBO Max is like for you. And I'm like, okay. You know, like I I just I've just been wanting to watch like older, not that a time to kill it. Not that these movies are even that old, but like I've just been wanting to watch film, you know, and uh yeah, I I that that's just been the big thing for me because I I've been inspired to just want to do things on camera more, and so just watching other actors and getting inspired in different ways, uh reading different books, you know. I think it's just important for what we do to just stay inspired and also to just go and live life.

Like it's so easy to just sit on Instagram or sit on your phone for so long, but then to go like let me go and experience and use this money that I have from Broadway, put it aside for X, Y, and Z, but then use the other amount to go to the museum, go to the zoo, go like simple things, but like things that'll you're experiencing little bits of life, and and I think that also aids to the craft, you know, and so yeah, right now it's just watching movies and reading books to some point.

[24:13] Joe Rosko: Yeah, I love I love that. I love everything you just giving me like uh Tony Robbins Gary V vibes with all of these check marks that you're hitting with the list. Like, I probably am gonna take this episode and uh import it into the training app so that all of our members will will listen to this one because it's been gold. I appreciate everything you've been saying.

[24:33] John Michael Fiumara: Oh, um, appreciate the affirmation.

[24:35] Joe Rosko: Yeah. Thanks for for chatting, John Michael. Appreciate your time. Um, everyone that's listening again at John 7 Michael. You can check out the description of this episode to find all things John Michael. Make sure you follow him on the gram. And if you're around the New York City area, um, maybe maybe shoot him a DM. He's he's swinging right now. So maybe you say, hey, when are you going to be in this show? Do you know by chance? And make sure you show up when John Michael's up there because he crushes it. Um, appreciate you. Thanks so much, John Michael.

[25:04] John Michael Fiumara: Yeah, I appreciate you too. I'll talk to you soon.

[25:08] Joe Rosko: All right, later.

[25:09] Joe Rosko: All right, everyone. John Michael Fiumara. Make sure you check him out on the gram. John Michael. I'm Joe Roscoe. Don't forget about our free trial, built for the stage.com. Seven days working one-on-one. If you're lost in the gym or lost at home and you're trying to train like an actor athlete, I'm your guy. Actors are athletes. Train like one.