Brady goes all-in in Bali

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This article was published 14/03/2025 (201 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BALI, Indonesia — It’s a rainy morning in Bali, and all corners of Nirvana Life Fitness and Wellness Club are packed with fitness enthusiasts.

Except for one corner — the dreaded ice bath.

You won’t find anyone lining up to take the plunge. Instead, it’s just Winnipeg Blue Bombers running back Brady Oliveira, who sits submerged up to his neck, alone in the freezing water.

“I do this religiously. Every single day,” he says.

Even for a “Winterpegger,” three minutes in a 4 C tub can be excruciating. The initial shock is about as pleasant as stepping outside at the crack of dawn — without a stitch of clothing — to scrape ice off your windshield in the dead of winter.

“You get used to it,” Oliveira says. “Eventually your body just goes numb.”

After three, incredibly long minutes, Oliveira — who spends January through March on the tropical Indonesian island with girlfriend Alex Blumberg — finds a spot in a busy sauna.

The hot and cold approach is known as contrast therapy which helps combat muscle soreness and inflammation — which is extra important for someone who gets hit for a living. The 27-year-old tailback begins each day by alternating between the two several times before getting into his workout.

Sitting a few feet away is an American ex-pat, who overhears Oliveira talking about his career on the gridiron. Clearly, having never heard of the CFL, he asks: “Do you play against any good competition? Like, any former NFL guys?”

Oliveira, politely, assures him that he does. He gets questions like that a lot around here.

The reigning CFL Most Outstanding Player (MOP) award winner doesn’t fly across the world just for an ice tub and sauna. Those necessities are at his workplace, Princess Auto Stadium, back home.

It’s more than worth the long trek because the average gym can’t compete with a place like Nirvana, practically a playground for professional athletes that has everything under one roof.

Three to four times a week, Oliveira follows a routine that includes sessions in hyperbaric oxygen chambers, standing in front of red light therapy panels, and full-body massages.

“That’s why I feel so good,” says Oliveira. “Back home, a 90-minute massage is $150. Here it’s $20.”

He also started playing padel — a racquet sport that’s a combination of tennis and squash — for some bonus cardio work, and frequently takes part in stretching and mobility classes.

“With the mobility part of it, you can easily go ‘Ah, whatever, I’ll push that to the side.’ But being here has allowed me to make that a priority this off-season,” says Oliveira.

“Now after doing it so consistently and seeing how it makes me feel, I told Alex that I’m going to hire someone to come to our place at least once a week and put me through a mobility session for an hour. I think that will only prolong my career.”

All that, plus a weight room that has all the equipment and dumbbells you could ever need has Oliveira believing he’s in the best shape of his life. He started coming to Bali and training at Nirvana in 2022, the same year he rushed for more than 1,000 yards for the first time.

That’s not a coincidence, he says.

“I don’t miss one day out here. When you look at everything I’m doing, no one (in the CFL) is doing all this,” says Oliveira. “Someone might be doing this and that, but the culmination of everything I’m doing, no one’s doing it.”

Despite being voted as the league’s top player, Oliveira is convinced he’ll be even better in 2025 after adding something new to his regimen this winter called hypoxic training.

“That’s the best thing I’ve done. It’s bulletproofing my mind,” says Oliveira. “It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done mentally and takes you to a different place.”

He works with Maurice Wagenaar, a former competitive rower from the Netherlands who now lives in Bali and coaches athletes — a large percentage of them being pro fighters. Wagenaar first guides the Winnipegger through extensive breathing exercises on land before Oliveira moves to the pool, where he performs underwater dumbbell exercises. He stays below the surface until he can no longer hold his breath—a method that has improved his maximal oxygen consumption, overall cardiovascular fitness, and mental toughness by teaching him to stay calm and control his breathing under stress.

“He’ll have an extra gear or two on the field in comparison to his competitors who aren’t exposed to this type of training,” says Wagenaar.

“Brady is very open-minded to new ways that can improve his game. He has a clear goal in front of him.”

And it’s an obvious one.

“I need a Grey Cup. I need a Grey Cup as the guy,” says Oliveira, who has lost three consecutive championship games since becoming the team’s starter.

“Everyone says ‘You had a part in those two Grey Cup wins (‘19 and ‘21).’ The first one, no. The second one, maybe a little bit. But like, I want a Grey Cup as that guy. I can’t stop. What have we really accomplished? An MOP, great. Two MOCs (Most Outstanding Canadian), cool. But like, you play the game to win championships. Those MOP and MOC awards, I’d give those away to win the championship as the guy. That keeps me going.”

The plan is to return to Bali every off-season — after all, no one in the Bombers organization can argue with the results. And after the season he just had, expectations heading into summer will be even higher. Oliveira racked up 296 touches for 1,829 total yards in 2024, and now with former running backs coach Jason Hogan wearing the offensive co-ordinator headset — replacing Buck Pierce, the new head coach of the B.C. Lions —his already heavy workload could rise.

It’s safe to say he’ll be ready for whatever Hogan throws at him.

“By the time I get back to Winnipeg, I feel unstoppable,” Oliveira says.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

X: @TaylorAllen31