On January 7th, Danny MacAskill’s Gymnasium premiered, and now just 3 days later has already been watched over 1.4 million times. The new trials bike video edit features tricks the world had never yet laid eyes on; it really is a must watch. To be clear, this Behind The Scenes follow-up isn’t a video showing all 700 takes of Danny attempting the show-stopping Ghostie Bike Front Flip. It does however, show Danny’s unfathomable dedication to his tricks, and the Cut Media crew’s dedication to capturing them for us all to woop over. I don’t even want to think about how long 800 takes might’ve taken, but Danny spent four hours mastering the slackline hop alone. If you’ve seen the refined version, then you’ll want to see Behind The Scenes of Danny MacAskill’s Gymnasium.
Behind The Scenes of Danny MacAskill’s Gymnasium
Rasoulution’s interview with Danny on the Gymnasium
How’s the feedback on your latest edit Gymnasium so far? You probably get loads of messages when a project like this goes live.
Danny: Yes for sure, I received lots of very positive feedback from all different sides. And to be honest I am having a hard time answering all these messages, so thanks everyone who sent a message or commented. I am stoked that you like it!
What’s your relation to gyms – have you ever hit gyms regularly?
Danny: The only time I’m usually in the gym is during rehab, when I am recovering from injuries. Once I am back in shape again, riding bikes is basically the only workout I am doing.
Danny: As I was injured a couple of times already, I had to spend time in the gym just to get healthy again. I don’t have a problem with that as I am always motivated to get back riding as soon as possible, but these machines are pretty boring. During my exercises I would always daydream about riding all over the facilities and thought it would be quite cool to bring trials riding into the gym. As always I wrote down a bunch of ideas that I thought would be fun and then as with any other projects it was a combination of planning and creative trial and error.
As always it looks super smooth and easy. What was the hardest trick of the video?
Danny: The ghosty to bump front flip catch wasn’t only hard for me, but even harder for my bike. It took us about two and a half days and more than 700 goes. We had mats on the side, not for myself, but for the bike. It’s not the kind of thing you do with a carbon trials bike, but I felt it was a good enough idea to justify the punishment.
Is there a story/message you want to tell your audience?
Danny: I always try to inspire people to be active and I guess my videos show that it doesn’t matter if you’re in a gym or outdoors. As long as you are having fun at what you do, any activity is better than staying at home.
