It was never Quinton Peron's life long aim to make history, or even be a cheerleader. A dancer by trade, cheerleading is just part of his arsenal of skills: he also teaches at a dance studio, and at a local school. He's performed in music videos, commercials, done hip-hop and jazz, and now he's one of the first two male cheerleaders to ever perform at the Superbowl. "We did it game by game and next thing you know we’re all celebrating and crying because we’re going to the Superbowl," he told GQ. "It was fun to perform on the world’s biggest stage, and not many people can say they’ve done it."
To those whose last experience of male cheerleading was watching Bring It On, Peron isn't just there to do lifts. That role still exists – "those people are called stuntmen" – but he's a full-on dancer alongside the women. "We’re more of a dance team. Full choreography, jazz and hip-hop," he explained. "No flips."
Flips or no, Peron has no excuses to not be at full fighting fitness alongside every other man and woman on the Los Angeles Rams cheer squad. "I’ve always been a naturally fit person. But I didn’t take it seriously until I joined the team," he explained. "We’re in sleeveless tops so our arms have to be bulging."
We asked Peron how he keeps himself ready for game day. It may contain more pancakes than you expect.
Monday
"I’m a 365-day-a-year person – there are no days off. On Monday I’m already getting ready for game week. I try and wake up at 9am every day, then get to the gym for 10am. Mondays are chest and back, and I don’t wanna be sore. Right after that I go to my favourite restaurant – WaBa Grill – for chicken, white rice and broccoli. Then I go to work from 2pm to 10.30pm.
"I teach at a studio: from 2-4pm I have three 30-minute privates with kids working on their solos for competition. From 4-10.30pm it’s teaching classes and teaching choreography. Then I go home. Sometimes."
Tuesday
"I start at 6am at the high school, so I try and get up at 5.30am, with no breakfast until 9am. At the high school I’m choreographing competition routines, and then back to the gym at 10am. Then I go back to the restaurant, eat chicken, rice and broccoli, then work 3-6.30pm, and then I have practice at 7.30pm until 10pm, so I head over to Los Angeles.
"I have an obsession with eating at International House of Pancakes, so that’s my cheat meal. I’ll hit that up after practice."
Wednesday
"Wednesday I typically try to get a facial – gotta keep that skincare. Then, again, gym at 10am. I try to keep it as close to 10-11am as possible. It’s not as crowded, and people can get annoying when they’re all in there. WaBa Grill again, and then I work at a different studio on Wednesdays. I make the hour commute and work 4-10.30pm. That’s solos, choreography, jazz class, hip-hop class and competition routines. Sometimes I try and do the gym a second time as it’s right across the street from the studio."
Thursday
"Thursday I’m back at the high school at 6am, gym at 10am and then WaBa grill. I teach at the studio at 3-6.30pm, and then I rush to practice. It’s a 45-50-minute commute, and then it’s 7.30-10pm. Thursdays I try to relax as much as possible because Friday is a crazy day."
Friday
"I have a couple of auditions, and I fit in a haircut: #freshcutfridays. Then I shoot out to LA for commercial castings: 5-10 minutes in front of a camera stating your name and age, turn from the camera. Then I shoot back to the studio from 3.30-9.30pm for a whole day of solo practice. They vary from ages 3 to 18, all getting ready for competition. Those days are rough."
Saturday
"I wake up, wash my uniform. I don’t gym on these days because I’m tired – it’s hard because of my body type. The more active I am the more I lose weight, so I have to eat 3,000-4,000 calories on work days. Saturdays I wake up at 11am, wash uniform, have it dry, hang it up, and then rehearsals for my kids. I’m very heavily involved with my kids. I teach 2-9.30pm, which they don’t like but that’s the only time I have. Then I try and get a good night’s sleep."
Sunday
"I wake up at 6am, get something to eat, and then me and my teammates carpool and head over to the stadium for game day. We get to the stadium about 5-6 hours before for field rehearsal. We use the routines we worked on during Tuesday and Thursday, and stake them out correctly on the field so we look uniform. We then find out which promos we’re doing, if we’ll be at the VIP tailgate or signing autographs on the field, and then we’re hanging out in the dressing room and eating breakfast burritos.
"Game days are long, and if the game is at 1pm then at 11.30am we’re at our designated promos for about an hour. You have 30 minutes to finish everything: fix your hair, eat, get ready, head out for the tunnel, and then it’s game time. Sometimes we do a pre-game performance, which is what we’re doing in London. We head to the field – we’re there by 12.40pm – and we do the player introductions.
"I am the ‘energizer bunny’, everyone else is drained and I’m like ‘where are we going? Let’s go eat!’ We have to wait for the stadium to clear out before we can head to our vehicles, and we have a photoshoot with our teams, win or lose, in our uniforms, and then we’re free to go. We get out around 5-6pm-ish so that’s already a 12-hour day just dancing. So I’m exhausted.
"And that’s where the nutrition comes in: we wouldn’t be able to make it if we weren’t eating right, and if we weren’t heavily involved in the gym. A lot of girls own their own businesses selling all-natural energy products, many of them are vegetarians. We’re all on top of our game."
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