From my experience, very few folks can say they’ve spent a work day doing deadlifts and having Jon Call, or Jujimufu as he’s known on social media, take their ammonia virginity.
Call is known as the “anabolic acrobat” and has gained a huge following by performing crazy feats of strength and mobility with an outlandish, yet welcoming personality. Before I met Jujimufu I was always curious, does is his video personality match his in-person energy? And I can first hand confirm that, yes it does.
Disclaimer: Ammonia is a respiratory stimulant in the form of an inhalant that isn’t necessary for training or heavy lifting. It can potentially have adverse effects on one’s health. Please seek the advice of a medical professional before using, or if side effects are present.
Jujimufu is somewhat of an anomaly in the world of strength. It wasn’t until the last few years he really began gaining steam on social platforms as an influencer, but he’s always been a frequent creator of educational content.
Call is 31 years old, and hebegan his content creation career somewhat backwards, posting videos and articles online before social media became the go-to source. His original site Trickstutorials.com was started in 2002, and he shared multiple video how-to’s and articles about tricking. Check out this older tricking tutorial from Jujimufu below.
In 2014, Call shifted gears to start Acrobolix.com, and dove head first into the ever changing social media movement. “Acrobolix came to me one day when I was doing chest flies. I realized, I wasn’t like my tricking peers (I was more muscular), and at the end of the day I’m an acrobat. I pondered this for a second, and voila, acrobolix was born.”
He’s now grown to a monstrous 930k+ Instagram followers with a quickly expanding YouTube channel. Not to mention, very few strength athletes (if any) can say that America’s Got Talent approached them to come on their show and perform.
“You know, my content has somewhat made a complete cycle. I started posting educational articles and videos on my website when I was 17-21. Then, I started making insane videos that played into my strengths, and now I’m back to making better quality educational content for multiple populations.”
Call started his athletic career by practicing Taekwondo, and eventually became a blackbelt in the sport. But didn’t find tricking until a little later in his martial arts career. “I started lifting around the ages of 14-15, and Taekwondo acted as the bridge to bring me into the gym. And it wasn’t until the year 2000 when I saw martial arts tricking for the first time. At that point I had an ego, and these videos completely crushed it. I knew that this is what I wanted to do and began to learn the art of tricking.”
While the gym was present for a lot of his life, tricking was the bridge that really brought Jujimufu into the fitness world. “The tricking pool is small, and jumping to the larger fitness pool was a natural transition. Eventually, I’d like to move to a bigger pool as well, because like with everything, fitness has a cap. I try to keep an open mind and let ideas with next transitions strike me as they come.”
Call has always been vested in creating content and in creating his own businesses, in addition to working with other companies. But it wasn’t until December, 2016 that he quit his full-time job to work for himself full-time.
“I quit my Biotech job this past December, and I was incredibly nervous to do so, up until I handed my resignation letter to my boss. It was kind of a backward process, most get nervous after the fact. But I didn’t make the switch on impulse. I did a TON of intricate math and calculated the numbers. For my situation, it made sense to make the switch, because my companies and videos were doing well enough to sustain my lifestyle in an educated way.”
Since leaving his job, Call talked about how it changes the way you view your business and personal self.
“Honestly, right now I’m living the dream. Every day I wake up and be me, Jujimufu. But it’s tough at times. Not in the sense of being myself, but balancing the scheduling, deadlines, and family time. It all creates a sense of additional self-generated pressure.”
And not everything that comes with living out your dream comes with ease.
“There are times when Tom and I will be up 3 A.M. filming videos, and we’re just looking at each other, like, this is insane. But we know we have to finish, and the only way to do so is to keep pushing. The difference though is that we’re doing it for ourselves, and it’s not something others are forcing us to do. We want to do it.”
With a realigned full content focus, Call has his sights on expanding his product line. He idolizes companies like Apple and strength athletes such as Mark Bell.
“One of my next main goals is to expand my product line. Mark Bell and companies like Apple do an amazing job at providing customers with an individual experience. When you get their packages, you know they’ve arrived. There are specific brand features that create a genuine excitement in people. I’m going to continue improving my relationships with manufacturers and eventually work to become more of one of these companies.
Call also gave me some insights into his collaboration processes. First, I asked who’s been the easiest YouTuber to work with.
“A lot of times collaborations are tough, because others come with few or no ideas for videos. Megsquats was definitely one of the easiest YouTubers I’ve worked with.”
Second, I asked about Call’s recent weightlifting videos and his experience at Mash Elite Performance.
“Honestly, my end goal with weightlifting is to continue learning the form and getting stronger with it. I want to be able to clean & jerk an insane weight, and have people stop, and be like….fu*k!”
Third and lastly, I asked about the rumors of Clarence Kennedy joining Call at his garage gym in early September.
“I wanted to have Clarence Kennedy because in a sense, he’s an anomaly. He films on a potato camera, and is insanely strong with a big following. I want to do something different with Kennedy that’s never been done before.”
To end our day of deadlifts, filming, and interviewing, I asked Call about flexibility. I wanted to know how he’s maintained such great mobility, while acquiring more strength. Also, I wanted to learn a few tips for improving flexibility in strength athletes.
“A lot of people get flexibility wrong. They should have an end goal in mind when doing any form of stretching work. It’s easier to work backwards. From my experience, the thoracic spine is the most neglected in strength athletes.”
“An example of what I’d recommend doing to improve this would be doing thoracic extensions on a pipe, or bar, and overhead stretches. Stretch for about 15-minutes a day, and experiment with weight to increase stretches when they become a little more comfortable.”
Since his resignation in December, Call has continually upped his content game, and we’re excited to watch what direction he moves in next. If you’re new to Jujimufu, and all of his antics, then we’d recommend checking him out and giving him a follow.
Feature image from @jujimufu Instagram page.