The one surprising Paul Rudd secret for building a Marvel body
We’ve heard of the hellish workouts and diet needed to build a Marvel movie-ready body, but Paul Rudd says one thing is far more important.
When it comes to staying fit and looking much younger than his age (Rudd is 53 but looks about 43), he believes one behavior contributes more than any other.
Rudd isn’t your typical Marvel leading man.
When you think about the superhero body process, probably the first guy that pops into your mind is Chris Hemsworth.
First of all, he’s jacked as hell. Second of all, his preparations for last year’s Thor: Love and Thunder were particularly insane.
Rudd is a different story.
A more accessible kind of hero
Paul Rudd is different from your typical Marvel superhero actor, in that he’s a bit older and has the folksy, laid-back, funny persona of a local dad you’d enjoy chatting with at the ol’ BBQ.
That’s why I was drawn to an interview he did with Men’s Health that will appear in the magazine’s March edition.
As a 41-year-old with bad joints, discs that like to slip, and genetics that produced a naturally thin body, I’ve given up any dreams of a Hemsworth-like appearance.
But something like Rudd, who will star again as Ant-Man in the upcoming Quantumania movie? Maybe?
Certainly, I would need to build on the only 4 exercises I do to stay in shape, but that level of fitness still feels attainable.
Although Rudd does need to be mindful of his diet and workout routine, he points out that neither of those is the most important component of getting and staying fit.
The secret to looking youthful
Here’s what he told Men’s Health when asked about the most important contributor to his superhero body, youthful appearance, and happiness:
(Rudd) holds out his hand at eye level. “Sleep.”
He progressively lowers it as he goes through the rest.
“Then diet. Then weights. Then cardio. People ask me, ‘Can you send me your meal plan? How many times a week do you work out? Do you drink? Do you eat carbs? Do you have a cheat day?’
“The most important part of training is sleep. People will set their alarm and then sleep for four hours and they’ll get up so that they can train.
They’re doing themselves a disservice. If you can somehow get eight hours of sleep …”
I’ve written about this topic a lot because I too know how important it is.
It’s why I’ve added night-time routines when I’ve had trouble nodding off and why I’m constantly trying to quit caffeine.
I’ve also written a lot about addiction too, and I truly believe that a lot of the depression and damage that comes with it can be attributed to poor sleep.
I think a lot of people get stuck in what I call the Life-Drug Cycle.
They get up, they immediately pour a bunch of caffeine down their throat to get jacked up all day. Then, frazzled, they come down at night with alcohol.
This completely bombs people’s sleep, prematurely ages them, and adds a necessity for more post-workout recovery time.
Sleep is everything
I agree with Rudd on this point: solid, consistent sleep is the master key to good health.
It becomes all the more important as we age and start having to deal with the new limitations Father Time imposes on us.
Rudd is all of us when he describes getting into a rut after a long time away from the gym and a proper diet:
“I worked really hard to get back into shape for Quantumania, and I realized, Oh my God, this is so much harder than it was [for the last Ant-Man project].
“I had fallen off more than I had in the past. All of a sudden my clothes fit tight. And I thought, God, this sucks. I can’t even wear these pants. So I’d say to myself, well, I might as well just eat some of these cookies.
“I was irritable and self-conscious. I just wasn’t in a good mood. I really beat myself up.”
The simple fact of the matter is that the older we get, the harder it is to stay in shape and keep up with the youngins’.
I remember, going back to my 30s, the moment I realized time was starting to catch up with me.
When I was a sportswriter in my early 30s, I used to play in an annual hockey game against the local bloggers and social media guys who were really engaged with the team I covered.
They were almost all in their early-to-mid 20s.
For the first couple of years, I could actually keep up with them quite effortlessly. I’d always been one of the faster skaters on the ice.
But one year, as I got deeper into my 30s, I noticed that I could still keep up with the kids but it was taking a lot more effort.
That was an eye-opener.
As I approached my 40s, an MS scare, too much pandemic-induced drinking, slipped discs, and longer recovery times after workouts forced me to confront the need to slow down, reassess, and figure out a new fitness strategy.
A simple approach
Rudd’s charm shines through as he addresses this point (and not trying to keep up with the Hemsworths of the world) with Men’s Health:
“I can be a hyper-focused person if I have a goal. If I’m doing one of these movies and I know that in four months I have to do a shirtless scene, I’m pretty dialed in.
“I also try and find the happy medium. I could work out hard and eat perfectly and I’ll still look worse than most of the other Avengers.”
Routine is extremely important.
If I’m going to the gym almost every day, I really enjoy it. I look forward to it.
If get wrapped up in other things even for a week, boy is it a slog to get back in there.
Although we look at Marvel superheroes as modern movie gods, the reality is that looking fit and young is simpler than we think.
At the end of the day, it comes down to staying consistent and building in time for adequate rest.
Now go to bed!
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