Tizer, also known as Yousamien or Yo, is described as the organization's coach and also as its guru,[2] and former members of the club have further called him a "manipulative, alcoholic, sex-addicted despot"[citation needed].
Tizer's training methods include sleep deprivation, food withholding, and forcing club members to consume alcohol and have sex with him and with one another.
While running has become a casual exercise for fitness and weight reduction for many, Divine Madness pushes the outer edge of the sport's envelope, specializing in ultra marathons ranging from 50 to 100 miles.
In a civil lawsuit filed in late 1996, Georgiana Scott, John Hunt and Melissa Huntress claim that rather than liberating members of the group, Tizer controlled them through fasting, sleep deprivation, isolation from friends and family and the prohibition of monogamy.
[3] A frequent competitor and previous champion Steve Peterson was known for taking 55-mile training runs in order to prepare his body and mind for the events.
Tizer has been known to jump in the middle of a group of elite runners at Bolder Boulder, a popular annual 10-kilometer race, to briefly get a close look at their running form.
The group also uses some unusual running techniques, such as a pronounced swinging of the hips, which is designed to rely more on the natural range of motion of the body's joints rather than the burning of muscle fuel for propulsion.
A fourth former member of the group, Michele Hirsen, recently filed a complaint with the Boulder police department alleging that Tizer sexually assaulted her.
[3] In 1989 Yo Tizer began a practice of "envelope marriage", where one male and one female member would each have their name drawn from a hat and then they were "married" for a week in order to break them from their "attachment" to choosing partners.