Frank Barilla, attorney at law, has been practicing martial arts since the late 1970’s and has trained with some of the Great Masters of our time. I was fortunate enough to spend a couple of hours training and chatting with Frank, both of which were a very exhausting experience. A dynamic individual, he brings into court the same dedication and tenacity he has put into over 45 years of martial arts training. He currently holds several black belts in multiple disciplines and still competes actively in cage fighting with combatants 40 years his junior. His thriving law practice has been in the same location for over 25 years and is an interesting study in passion and complexity.

There is an amazing amount of energy that comes from and through Frank, a non-stop whirl of excitement, conversation and animation. His nature has the appeal you would expect from someone with his disciplined lifestyle. He sleeps four hours per night and eats very well. He is incredibly animated at one moment and then serene the next. During my meeting with him prior to our scheduled workout, he got so deep in thought and focus on a matter before him, I didn’t think he realized I was still in the room, but then reconnected and then started a discussion on began discussing at length his daily routine. 

A typical day actually begins the night before as he warms up for his nightly workout at about 11pm and continues as he pushes his body’s limits for the next two and half hours. Although I pride myself on being in decent shape and having trained years ago in Shotokan karate, I stopped my workout 30 minutes in and tried to calculate the amount of pain I would experience over the next three days, Frank was just getting warmed up. His workout is ever evolving as he develops new processes as he goes. The dynamics of his workout is combination of micro and macro exercises, cardio workouts, bag work and finally pushing his homemade sled. 

At 1:30am he wrapped up his workout and we spent the next 30 minutes talking about his early years of his life and how he got involved in martial arts in New York and then on the West Coast. Going through the system in the New York, he explained how there was not backing down from a fight. If you fought and lost you were okay, if you refused to fight you were looked down upon and ostracized. Frank fought, win or lose. He takes this aggressive fighter’s stance into each case he takes on, whether an initial consultation with a client or belly to belly with opposing attorneys.

The remainder of our conversation revolved around his penchant for doing the right thing every time. He spends a considerable amount of time devoted to helping up and coming fighters and attorneys hone their craft to better themselves every day. Frank is truly a dedicated individual on many levels. We scheduled another workout for next week where he promised to take me into a deeper workout than I’ve experienced before. I’m more interested in learning more about the man who is a true contrast in Ying and Yang.