Rob Kazinsky is a kind of actors who you’ve got seen in one million issues. The 41-year-old has starred in blockbusters like Warcraft and Pacific Rim, which, in each circumstances, showcased his huge physique in tandem along with his appearing. For Kazinsky, his body is a part of what he does; if he have been a musician, it might be his instrument.
This is why it is so refreshing that he is open and trustworthy about when he is not at his greatest. In 2024, he posted an inspirational transformation video to Instagram, one during which he demonstrated precisely what it took to rework a model of himself he “didn’t recognize.” So, what’s his no-frills rule for changing fats with muscle?
“It’s my 80/20 diet,” Kazinsky tells Men’s Journal. “It’s in my head. There’s no science behind this whatsoever. I’m just making this up. But this is what works for me.”
Recently, Kazinsky co-starred alongside motion legend, Oscar-winner, and former Bond woman Michelle Yeoh in the Paramount+ streaming film Star Trek: Section 31. In the new flick, Kazinsky is an absolute tank, enjoying Zeph, a partial cyborg, carrying a mech swimsuit even larger than what he hauled round in Pacific Rim. We caught up with Kazinsky to get extra down-to-earth fitness pointers for guys over 40, what it was like to stay his Star Trek dream, and what he discovered about centering himself from Michelle Yeoh.
Men’s Journal: That Instagram transformation final yr was actually unbelievable. You look huge and in form now. What extra training did you do for this explicit film?
Rob Kazinsky: Having worn a swimsuit like this earlier than for Pacific Rim, I knew it was going to be severely taxing bodily. It was going to be actually laborious, particularly on my again and my backbone. So, I used to be like, okay, if I’m going to get via this, I would like to have stable, muscular core strength. And to be clear, in my profession, I’ve by no means taken an anabolic. I’ve by no means taken these in my life. But, I’ve been extremely tempted. For this, I went on a reasonably laborious 80/20 food regimen. That’s 80 % clear, 20 % soiled. You can have a bit deal with. I do not imagine that anyone will be good. And I do not imagine that you would be able to get healthy by doing a fad.
What’s your recommendation for guys who’re getting a bit older, and are possibly, I do not know, on a 50/50 food regimen?
You cannot do one thing for three months. Fitness is cumulative. It takes a protracted time period. So you’ve gotten to have the opportunity to do it nonstop day in, time out for a yr. You have one soda a day as an alternative of six. Or you do not have dessert. Or you’ve gotten one chocolate bar as an alternative of six chocolate bars. You strive to stay as clear as potential for 80 % of the day or 80 % of the week. And that, for me, over a interval of six months meant that the weight started stripping away.
Camden Boxing Gym is close to me in London. I used to be mixing that in with my jiu jitsu and simply actually trusting in the flexibility of my muscular tissues. And that got here with sort of staying on my toes and building up my calves with boxing. I had to take into consideration how I might have to use my body as my software. Because it additionally was all me doing all the stunts.
So, you’ve got now been in an motion film with the legendary Michelle Yeoh. What was that like?
Well, that is the unhappy factor, man, as a result of though I’m in lots of battle scenes with Michelle Yeoh, I do not get to battle Michelle Yeoh. And if there was anyone I would love to have a display screen martial arts battle with, it is a quick listing: Chow Yun-fat, Donnie Yen, and Michelle Yeoh. So, we have been sitting there lamenting and enjoying round between takes. She’d be doing spinning again kicks into my chest and it was so enjoyable. I hope that if we do a sequel that me and Michelle get to go head to head.
Did you study something from Yeoh when it comes to fitness?
She jogged my memory of all the issues you’ve gotten to do to preemptively take care of your self. Michelle wakes up daily and stretches for two hours earlier than she comes to set. And as you grow old, that’s the sort of stuff you’ve gotten to do. Man, after I was 25, I might eat what I wished and I used to be ripped. But if you’re in your 40s, that does not work anymore.
So you’ve got executed Marvel, and Pacific Rim. Now you’ve got executed a Star Trek undertaking. What else is in your bucket listing?
Yeah. Well, I’ve been actually fortunate. I received to do Warcraft clearly. When I used to be asked to do Captain Marvel, I used to be like, I do not care what I’m enjoying. I’m in the MCU. Pacific Rim. I get to do all these nice issues. But Star Trek’s my huge fandom. It’s the factor I really like most. It’s the factor I grew up with and I do know it, I’m as enthusiastic about it as I’m most likely about every other single factor in my life. I by no means thought I might get the probability to be a part of it.
I do not know what I did in a previous life to deserve this life, but I should have been a high quality human being. I feel Star Trek gives a kind of morality and hope and a beacon of who we will be, who we needs to be, and who we have to be to everyone. And so to be part of that, I feel it is greater than a dream come true. It’s all the pieces.
Star Trek: Section 31 is streaming on Paramount+.
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