For Le Gall '07, physical challenges are way of life

A half-hour past sunrise on an ordinary morning, Yann Le Gall '07 is already four miles into his daily run. His six-foot, one-inch, 175-pound frame speeds around Weaver Track Stadium. Nothing holds him back: his head aerodynamically shaven, his body only six percent fat. Hours later, he'll be swimming laps — 40 in all — at Dillon Gym's pool, and then lifting weights in Stephens Fitness Center, 200 pounds per arm.

Le Gall could be a star wide receiver or a sprinter, but he is neither. The soft-spoken junior won't be found donning an Orange-and-Black uniform or parading through campus with a varsity letter. Without the direction of a coach or the structure of a team, he still trains harder than most varsity Princeton athletes.

He is always, yet never, in season.

"Short term goals are good, so are organized sports, but after you achieve certain goals, it is just natural to stop," Le Gall said. "After the season ends, after you win a starting position, you stop. You put a ceiling on yourself."

Le Gall is a member of a small subculture of fitness-obsessed students on campus. They deny themselves pleasures, seeking satisfaction in overcoming grueling physical challenges. For Le Gall, a civil and environmental engineering major, this lifestyle means a daily workout regimen of running, swimming and weight training. It also means a world without the hedonistic pleasures of candy, soda or carb-loaded breads.

In a university environment filled with specific objectives and life projections, there is no concrete purpose to his efforts. He doesn't crave the attention that many collegiate athletes receive, nor the recognition to which they aspire. He doesn't care to measure his ability against that of other athletes, nor does he prefer to focus on quantitative results, like how much he can bench press, his mile time or the circumference of his biceps.

Le Gall simply pushes himself — and sometimes, even he doesn't know why.

One night this summer, around 3 a.m., after rock climbing at a club in his hometown of Pittsburg, Pa., Le Gall decided he wasn't worn out yet. He took off his shoes and sprinted home. As he neared his house, he felt an urge to do sets of hill sprints. He stopped only when a police car, sirens blaring, approached from behind.

"What in God's name are you doing son?" asked the police officer.

Le Gall had no reply.

"When people question why I do this stuff," Le Gall later recalled, "I have no legitimate response."

Le Gall's obsession with fitness began only in the past few years. As a freshman at Pittsburgh's Shady Side Academy, many teams tried to recruit him because of his muscular build and high fitness, but he had little interest in organized athletics. His childhood was not the typical sports-centric experience of modern American youth. His father is French — "Le Gall" literally means "The Frenchman" — and though the older Le Gall played rugby and soccer, sports were never an imperative.

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Still, the spring of his freshman year of high school, Le Gall was convinced to go out for the track team. He threw the javelin without experience or much interest, but during practice discovered the joy of running. Le Gall trained independently over the summer and was voted the team's most valuable runner during his sophomore year.

He continued to run throughout high school, but when he arrived at Princeton, he once again had little interest in pursuing organized athletics.

"A lot of athletes here are fakes," Le Gall said. "They only train when somebody is yelling at them or they train in fear. These are the wrong reasons. Every time I train I ask myself, 'Yann, who are you? What are you made of?' Both in the psychological and very physical sense. What can I tolerate? How much of my physicality do I have control over?"

After training independently his first two years at Princeton, Le Gall recently joined the Princeton Triathlon Club, a small group of likeminded, dedicated athletes, and began incorporating bike riding into his routine. But his training routine remains intensely personal.

"I am my own commander," he said with a laugh.

It is an approach that few student athletes are dedicated — or savvy — enough to pull off. David Rivera, a personal trainer and fitness expert at Stephens Fitness Center, is skeptical of Le Gall's methods.

"You can definitely overdo it. Sufficient rest is just as important as the workout itself," Rivera said. "He may actually be limiting himself. Also, if you become compulsive, if training has an impact on your personal life, you need to cut back."

But despite his misgivings, Rivera is impressed by Le Gall's efforts.

"What's different about Yann is that he's not all about beach muscles," Rivera said. "He does much more cardio than the other eight or nine guys I always see here in the gym."

Rivera isn't the only who has noticed Le Gall's commitment: Varsity athletes praise him, too.

"Yann certainly works harder than all the out-of-season athletes I know; most of the in-season athletes too," said Derek Yecies '08, a defenseman on the men's lacrosse team. "Still, the varsity athlete has practice, team meetings, travel and, of course, games to complicate his personal training."

In truth, Le Gall's fanatical dedication also extends beyond the gym. He follows strict dietary rules — no smoking, no drugs, no drinking, no fast food and no caffeine — and though he takes nutritional supplements, he has firm stances against steroids or creatine.

Le Gall is well informed about how he fuels his body. Last year, he stopped eating bread for the entire academic year to bring down his carbohydrate count, and the Rockefeller dining hall frequently prepared him lean grilled chicken doggy bags for a late night snack.

"I don't count calories," he said. "It's not really possible."

He goes about his daily training with an almost ascetic, Zen-like attitude. When he is not training, he is so relaxed that he borders on inertia, almost as if he is consciously storing his energy for an upcoming workout. It is what matters most to him, after all.

"Training is my daily journey," Le Gall said. "It is my only way of life."