Keep your beach body forever

By Jeff O’Connell
Photography by Nino Muñoz

Ryan Kwanten has an unusual drinking habit: he’ll toss back a few, start to feel bold and then sign up for an organised athletic competition. “I’ve been known to turn up drunk at triathlons and do very well,” he says. “I’m more of a heat-of-the-moment type of guy. A friend will tell me about something coming up, maybe that weekend, and usually not an abundance of thought goes into my doing it.”

Not that alcohol has to be involved. The Sydney actor will sign up sober, too, though still on a whim. During our talk, he never mentions which state of mind led him to his last endeavour, the Santa Monica Pier Paddleboard Race back in June.

The 33-year-old transformed into Competitor No.115 and finished the 1600-metre-long loop in 11 minutes and 45 seconds, winning his age group and the entire short-course race.

Infuriating, right? Why doesn’t the man just talk big and then stumble home from the bar like everyone else? Because competition is his oxygen.

Kwanten works out every day, sometimes for two and a half hours at a time, year-round. It’s a strenuous regimen that he fills with a combination of running, biking, shadowboxing, vinyasa yoga and other forms of intense cardio. The result is a total-body workout that not only saves him from the boredom of the gym, but also reduces the physical stress that can cause injury. By adding variety to an exercise plan, you challenge many muscle systems without overstraining any single one. Just think about how both squats and running work your legs but use your muscles in different ways.

And when you maintain physical conditioning like Kwanten does, your body is ready whenever your brain – or your director – summons it to act. He plays a highly sexed and frequently shirtless character in HBO’s vampires-are-people-too series True Blood. And he stars in Red Hill, a modern Western that called for more than just some bang-bang.

Neither project sent him scrambling to tone up, he says. “I’m not one of those actors who gets physically fit for a role and then loses it all again.” He succeeds by staying in top shape all the time.

Every man should approach fitness this way, especially as he segues from his twenties to his thirties and then into his forties. Shape up once and stay there. It’s so much easier than stopping and starting ad nauseam. With each passing year you become further removed from the high-school athlete who could eat all summer and then burn it off with a couple of weeks of pre-season training. The after-30 version of that ritual – developing a gut and then training for a marathon with your mates – is hardly a prescription for long-term health and fitness.

Even an aversion to the gym is no excuse for serial lapses. While Kwanten may be a workout junkie, dumbbells and the squat rack hold little appeal. “I’m very rarely in the gym,” he says. “My workouts are predominantly outside, in nature.”

He can then use those outdoor skills in contests during which, drunken whim or not, competitiveness fuels his motivation and he can see his work pay off.

That’s Kwanten’s real reason for entering the races, and it’s worth trying yourself. For every outdoor sport, there’s a small event like Kwanten’s paddleboard race that’s ready to give you a number, a medal, a post-event rush . . . and another reason to keep pushing harder.

Even beyond the events, says Kwanten, competing gives him the drive to succeed in every other area. When he first left Australia and was struggling to make it in Los Angeles, he was so broke that he had to convince a motel owner (a fellow Australian, luckily) to let him stay free for three months in a makeshift storeroom, accepting only a promise that he would repay every cent.

Which, against the odds, he has. “I have that sporting background where I want to be the best, I want to be the champion,” he says. “If I’m knocked down, you’re damn sure I’m getting back up again. A lot of actors who may very well be more talented than me don’t have that kind of tenacity in the face of rejection. That resilience gives me a distinct advantage.”

20 MINUTES TO A SIX-PACK

Kwanten doesn’t believe in shortcuts, but when he’s pressed for time, he does this version of his favourite drill
RUNNING
2 minutes
Use the pavement or a treadmill, or simply run in place. A steady, brisk jogging pace will raise your body temperature, priming your heart and muscles for the work to follow.

PUSH-UPS
2 minutes
Stop to rest if you have to. Just let the clock keep ticking.

30-SECOND SPRINTS
6, resting for 45 seconds after each

PLANKS
2 minutes

Stop to rest if you have to, as with the push-ups.

SUPINE JACKKNIFES
2 minutes

Lie flat on your back and raise your legs straight up so they form an L with your torso. Now “crunch” to lift your shoulderblades off the floor while extending your arms towards your toes. This is the starting position. Keep your legs straight as you lower them to 15 centimetres off the ground and then raise them again, always pausing for a one- or two-count at the top of each rep.

SHADOWBOXING
4½ minutes

It’s the final round of a fight. The decision hangs in the balance. That’s your pace.

Click here for more fitness advice from Ryan Kwanten

FUEL YOUR BODY THE RIGHT WAY

Kwanten doesn’t diet; he eats a lot and works out a lot. His body finds its natural equilibrium. Yes, he might scoff some chocolate cake and have a few beers when he’s out on the town, but then he’ll add half an hour to his run the next day. What’s more, he controls what he eats when it matters most: breakfast and before and after his workouts
BREAKFAST
Try Kwanten’s healthy homemade cold-cereal recipe, which works as well at home in LA as it does on a movie set. “This is usually the healthiest meal of the day for me,” he says. “It’s also the one I eat the most of because it fuels the rest of the day.”

Combine the following ingredients:
2 cups Ezekiel 4:9 Organic Sprouted
100% Whole Grain Flourless Almond Cereal (This can be tricky to find in Australia; try replacing it
with Real Good Food’s Wheat Free Organic Natural Cereal. Visit realgoodfood.com.au for stockists)
1 scoop (15 grams) chia seeds
1 scoop protein powder
Blueberries or raspberries (to taste)
1 cup (or to taste) almond milk*

* Feel free to use plain organic milk for more protein, calcium and vitamin D.

PRE-WORKOUT
“I’ve found that the best thing before working out is simply a nice organic trail mix,” says Kwanten. “I like ones that have cranberries and pumpkin seeds. Anything with a minimal ingredient list is, I think, usually the best.”

POST-WORKOUT
“I like eating a grapefruit because it’s a really good source of vitamin C,” he says. He’ll also slug down a muscle-building protein shake. After a workout, you should consume 20-40g of protein to help
your muscles recover and grow.