Former Redskins player Eddie Mason now a master of physical, spiritual fitness

Eddie Mason and James Thrash sat in front of their lockers at Redskins Park after a practice in 2000 and watched as teammates trickled in. The linebacker and wide receiver observed the other players’ body language and listened to the banter — some of it foolish, sad and disturbing.

The light switched on in Mason’s head.

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(Tracy A. Woodward/THE WASHINGTON POST) - This cross sits on the front desk at the entrance to Eddie Mason's fitness center.

(Tracy A. Woodward/THE WASHINGTON POST) - Regina Jones runs through a series of vertical jumps with trainer Michael Lansdowne.

“I was like, ‘Man, these young cats are crazy,’ ” Mason recalled. “I said: ‘We should do something to catch these cats before they get here. Six or seven years old; teach them faith, work ethic, character.’ We thought if we could head off the problem, maybe we could spare athletes some of the trouble that they run into as adults.”

Sports and physical fitness training, Mason realized, would be the perfect vehicle.

Three years later, after a shoulder injury forced him to retire, Mason decided to hold a sports camp for kids, with Thrash’s help.

“We put out all these fliers,” Mason said. “We both had some Redskins recognition and figured we’d draw in a crowd of kids. We had maybe 10 kids. We were shocked. But hey, God says, ‘If you’re faithful in a few things, I’ll make you ruler over many.’ So that was the test, to see if we’d be faithful with those few kids.”

Mason must have passed.

Eight years later, he owns and runs MASE Training Sports Performance & Fitness Center in Sterling. “MASE” plays off Mason’s nickname and is an acronym for Muscle and Spiritual Empowerment. At the 7,500-square-foot, two-floor facility, Mason and seven other trainers (four full-time, three part-timers) serve a 650-person clientele base made up of grade school, junior high and high school students, stay-at-home moms, CEOs, college football players, and current and former Washington Redskins players.

“He’s training half of Loudoun County, it seems,” Redskins defensive lineman Kedric Golston said last week after a group workout at Bles Park in Ashburn that featured 15 athletes, including teammates Lorenzo Alexander, Anthony Armstrong, Chris Wilson and Clint Oldenburg; former Redskins running back Ladell Betts; Wake Forest football players Tristan Dorty and Josh Bush; Stone Bridge quarterback Brian Rody, who is headed for Virginia Tech, and several other high school football players; and Rebecca Chestnut, a mother of three who works in IT sales and is training for a triathlon in October.

“He wants the best for all these young men out here, not just in sports,” Golston continued. “He’s teaching positive life lessons. Just like out here, you’re tired, you want to quit. Well, sometimes in life, you want to quit, but small things like fighting through this will help you become a tougher person. The things he’s doing are right.”

That group workout capped a busy morning for Mason, who along with his staff already had led 200 clients divided into three morning workout groups (6 a.m., 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.) as part of MASE Training’s adult fitness camp (a three-week, 20-session, high-intensity, “Biggest Loser”-style program). That evening, Mason’s center would be abuzz yet again, having morphed into a training ground for 125 mixed martial arts fighters, whom Mason and black belt instructors Scott Howard and Tony Passos school in Brazilian jiujitsu, Muay Thai and other techniques.