Under the guidance of his late father, he started training a variety of martial arts at the age of 5, competing in Tae Kwon Do, Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, Boxing and later moving on to study movement and martial arts under different mentors, including Ido Portal (Conor McGregor's Movement Coach) and Michael Bornhütter, who worked extensively with Donnie Yen.

Manuel is also the founder of MOVISION MOVEMENT, a Berlin based stunt team & community of actors and stunt performers specializing in martial arts, fight design & movement preparation/training of lead actors.