I’m guessing you wanted to get into pretty good shape for this because of the role’s physical demands—not to mention a certain football scene we’ll get into later. How’d you take all that on?
I knew I was going to have to get in some sort of shape for this movie, and originally I was planning on just working out on my own. Then I discovered Ultimate Performance here in Los Angeles. I have a few friends who’ve gotten in really great shape there, like Lamorne Morris. I saw their transformations and was blown away. If there was ever a time to lean a little more into the training for a role, I figured this was it. I went in there and immediately connected with UP owner, Nick Mitchell.
Did you set some specific training goals there to prepare for the movie?
The one big note I had for Nick—and I think he had the same thoughts from the get-go—was that I didn’t want to get too huge. At the end of the day, I’m playing a pilot. I need to be able to fit in the cockpit of my plane and into a flight suit. These guys are lean and mean. There’s a lot of physical exertion to fly fighter jets to the level that we were, and to take those Gs. But to add to that, I was looking to get shredded. Everybody is different, but with my body if I throw around heavy weight, that’s where I end up. I actually didn’t really do any cardio. The extent of my cardio was running for maybe 5 to 10 minutes. For nutrition I was staying on a very high-protein diet. There were no cheat days when it came to preparing for the next Top Gun.
Can you take us inside those workouts with Nick? How did his program differ from what you’ve done in the past?
That’s exactly the mentality we went in with—to find something beyond what I’d accomplished before. So the sessions were very, very serious. Sure, we would catch up a little bit during the warmup and stretching, but once the routine started, it was all focus. Over the years, it’s clear that Nick has learned exactly how far to push people—to take it to that limit without endangering you. I’ve seen other trainers who don’t have that talent, so they’re afraid of taking it to the next gear. Or they do and cause more trouble than good. I was working with extremely heavy weights, the biggest I’ve ever gone before. We were maxing out everything. There were no easy pullups or chinups. I would have 70 pounds around my waist. I was pushed to pure exhaustion every time I was in there.
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