What is your mentality when you train?
To me, everything in life is a mental and physical state of mind. You want to mentally be on top of things and physically be on top of your game. When I’m going to train, I mentally put myself in the cage to focus. Part of it is because you know how you feel when you don’t workout for two weeks or more. You feel like you’re not in a groove.
I could tell if a guy is in his 30s and he went from being in great shape to a fat guy that he’s unhappy at home. He doesn’t see a reason to stay in shape. He doesn’t see a reason to look great. My wife’s a lot younger than me. She does everything… She’s got a beautiful figure… Loves sweating it out, working it out. You feel great when you workout. You feel like you have a soul.
Do you have a trainer or someone you look up to in the gym?
The guy that taught me how to train is George Pipasik. George is the guy who I met through Sylvester Stallone. At the time I was going to do Ford Fairlane. He trained Sly for Rocky and Rambo. He came from Czechoslovakia. I think he was Mr. Czechoslovakia four years in a row. He was like Tarzan. He had amazing strength and a great physique. He taught me how to work my body.
What does your workout playlist look like?
I like to listen to things that’ll get you fired up a little bit. A lot of times when I go to Gold’s, I’ll ask the front desk to blast the music. But sometimes I’ll get my own workout playlist going. I have everything on there from Led Zeppelin and Guns & Roses to my sons’ band, LA Rocks.
Have you ever let yourself get totally out of shape?
I had rotator cuff surgery and got up to 255 pounds post-surgery. When you’re driving and your belly is just jiggling, it’s just the worst. I don’t feel good about anything when I’m like that. When I got the gig to do Entourage I was really big. I just wanted to make myself look normal since the guys on the show weren’t really big guys. I just wanted to get to a normal weight, so I didn’t look like a big fat animal in front of these guys.
What’s your favorite body part to train?
I’ve always loved having shape to my arms, chest and legs, rather than just building my muscle as big as I could. I stay with weights a little less than what I could actually do with a lot of repetitions. I’ll do two or three different exercises for one muscle group each workout, but I might do that circuit three times. My workouts have a lot of endurance to them. Really, I just try to keep my body in what I’ve always called “Rocky I” shape. Just some good muscle mass and good shape.
When I run into Sly, and I see the shape he’s in, I go ‘what am I even working out for’? That’s what he’s done. By Rocky III he changed the face of bodies in movies forever. As for the gym, Gold’s in Venice is the best of the best. You get to see guys that have dedicated their life to lifting. I’ll see guys like LouFerrigno there and I’ll say, ‘show me how to be like that’. He inspires me. When Mickey Rourke was getting ready for the first Sin City, he’s in the gym giving my son acting tips. It’s the greatest thing. Mickey’s a great friend of mine and he also loves to pump.
Aside from other actors, were there any athletes you looked up to physique-wise?
I was never really into sports. I don’t follow football, baseball, hockey… Maybe it’s because I just wasn’t that good at them. Not being good at sports geared me towards entertainment. I started watching TV and performances and guys like the Beatles, and Buddy Rich and James Dean and Sly Stallone and Travolta.
Guys like Hugh Jackman and guys like Ryan Gosling are in unreal shape. That’s what you have to be today to be a leading man. The only one before Sly, who was unbelievable, was Charles Bronson. I can appreciate what these guys do because I know the work that goes into it.
How does being in awesome shape correlate to a great performance?
If you’re going to give a great show you have to be in good shape. I like to be physical on stage and the energy of the crowd is ridiculous. Guys like Bruce Springsteen are in amazing shape. He’s all over that stage.
Listen, I’m not ripped. People can see I’m in a lot better shape now than I was 5 years ago. I’m remarried. I’m happy. I’m happy with my son, my career. When you work out it releases those enzymes and your mind starts going. I come up with my greatest Ideas in the gym. I’ll say it three times so I won’t forget it. Then I work hard to make those ideas come to fruition because you’re pumping and thinking and listening to music that inspires you. It’s all good. There’s no downside
Do you believe in “cheat meals” and things like that?
I never deny myself something if I want it. It’s almost like when you’re told as a kid you can’t have something, it makes you want it more. If I want something, I’ll have it. Ice cream or some kind of stuff like that. Mostly I eat chicken and brown rice. Chicken is your friend, my friend.
What is your training/nutrition schedule like?
I only have one real meal a day. I’m up until like 4-5 every morning. That’s my schedule from touring. My whole life. I don’t want to have a bag of jalapeno chips or anything at 5am. It takes discipline. But if I want to eat some garbage, maybe I’ll just have little of it.
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