After he pumps up his shoes and straps on his weight belt in that new Reebok commercial featuring him and UFC champ Ronda Rousey, NFL superstar JJ Watt starts pulling a weight sled across a field and running the stairs at a stadium.

At McMaster.

Yup, look a little closer and you'll notice the distinctive maroon end zones and grey press box of Ron Joyce Stadium in the background of the new spot that's now being shown all across North America.

"We were looking for something that looked like Wisconsin," director Chris Sargent says.

Makes sense. The Houston Texans' standout defensive end — the reigning defensive player of the year and arguably the biggest star in the NFL right now — is a Wisconsin native. If he's going to be working out for the season, he'd probably be doing it at home.

Still, why pick Mac as Wisonsin-lite?

Sargent's father was a Hamilton Mountain resident, which meant he knew the area well. He's used streets in Dundas and Ancaster in the past for a car commercial he was shooting. The trees in the background worked for the Wisconsin feel. And with the favourable dollar, doing the work north of the border was perfect.

So on a beautiful Sunday in early May, Watt was snuck onto campus — staff on duty weren't allowed to let anyone know what was going on — and the six-foot-five, 289-pound defensive end got to work. He did 20 minutes of suicide drills on the field and then ran the stairs three times to get the face shots needed.

Though it was kept secret, a few members of the McMaster athletics department peeked in and a few other gawkers recognized the three-time All Pro and gathered outside the fence to watch what was going on, but otherwise he came and left unnoticed.

Once his work was done, two Toronto Argonaut lineman and one of the Argos' trainers — Sargent can't remember their names — spent an additional day serving as body doubles for many of the running shots.

The second star of the commercial wasn't here. Rousey didn't make the trip to Hamilton. Still, most of the body double shots for her portions were done in the second-floor high-performance gym at the David Braley Athletics Centre next door.

It's not all that unusual to see camera crews on campus. Facilities supervisor TJ Kelly says YTV was just on site doing a shoot within the past few weeks. And a feature called "Bruno and Boots: Go Jump in the Pool" starring "Kids In The Hall" alum Scott Thompson is currently shooting at Mac. There have been others.

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"It's always nice to have these events on campus," Kelly says.