Gladiator Bouts Not for Casual Couch Potatoes

The “American Gladiators” show, wherein modern Americans attempt to recreate ancient Rome’s showcase of strength and agility--minus the spiked-wheel chariots and man-eating lions--will appear Friday at the Long Beach Arena as part of a 70-city national tour.

The arena show springs from the 3-year-old television series featuring hulking gladiator men and women (Newsweek described them as “inflatable party dolls packed with live puppies”) battling against such normal people in everyday jobs as Michael Coulson. Coulson, 23, of Long Beach, was one of a dozen selected out of hundreds during a tryout two weeks ago to compete against professional gladiators in the arena.

Most contenders were eliminated in the first minute, Coulson reported, when men were asked to perform 50 fingertip pushups and women 30 military pushups. “A couple guys broke fingers and pulled hamstrings,” Coulson said. “If you’re not in good shape, you’re not going to make it.”

Coulson, a singer-entertainer and former football player at Long Beach Poly High School who also is vying for a spot on a professional football team, spends three hours a day in the gym. At Poly High, Coulson made more than one all-star team, including The Times’ All-South Coast Team as a senior. He was all-conference at the University of Hawaii.

Coulson first decided to try out for the “American Gladiators” show after watching it regularly on television. “I watched the people and I said, ‘I know I can do that.’ So after a while, I wanted to go out there and see if I really could do it.”

Each of the 12 contestants will compete one-on-one against the professionals in six complicated and inventive games that utilize, among other props, pugil sticks, high-speed tennis ball launchers, 40-foot-high walls, treadmills and a modified football field.

“Most of the games require speed rather than size,” Coulson said, “and I feel confident about being fast. (The gladiators) are more big than tough. That’s the only thing that might intimidate me. My job is to avoid them most of the time.”

Winners will receive modest prizes, such as medals, home fitness machines or a month’s supply of vitamins. The top challengers win a chance to compete on television or in the national finals in May in Atlantic City.

The show starts at 8 p.m. in the Long Beach Arena, 300 E. Ocean Blvd. Tickets cost $14.50, $17.50 and $25 on sale at the arena, TicketMaster, May Co., Tower Records and Music Plus. To charge by phone, call (213) 480-3232. For more information, call (310) 436-3661. Other shows are scheduled Saturday in Pauley Pavilion at UCLA and Feb. 16 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.