Rob Kazinsky is a kind of actors who you have seen in one million issues. The 41-year-old has starred in blockbusters like Warcraft and Pacific Rim, which, in each circumstances, showcased his large physique in tandem together with his performing. For Kazinsky, his body is a part of what he does; if he had been a musician, it could be his instrument.
This is why it is so refreshing that he is open and sincere about when he isn’t at his greatest. In 2024, he posted an inspirational transformation video to Instagram, one wherein he demonstrated precisely what it took to remodel 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, taking part in 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 dwell his Star Trek dream, and what he realized about centering himself from Michelle Yeoh.
Men’s Journal: That Instagram transformation final 12 months was actually unimaginable. You look large and in form now. What further 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 by way of this, I want to have strong, 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 weight-reduction plan. That’s 80 % clear, 20 % soiled. You can have slightly deal with. I do not imagine that anyone may be excellent. And I do not imagine you can get healthy by doing a fad.
Jan Thijs/Paramount+
What’s your recommendation for guys who’re getting a bit older, and are possibly, I do not know, on a 50/50 weight-reduction plan?
You cannot do one thing for three months. Fitness is cumulative. It takes a protracted time frame. So you’ve gotten to have the option to do it nonstop day in, time out for a 12 months. You have one soda a day as a substitute of six. Or you do not have dessert. Or you’ve gotten one chocolate bar as a substitute of six chocolate bars. You attempt to dwell as clear as attainable 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 muscle mass. And that got here with type of staying on my ft and building up my calves with boxing. I had to take into consideration how I might have to use my body as my instrument. Because it additionally was all me doing all the stunts.
So, you have 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 regardless that I’m in lots of struggle scenes with Michelle Yeoh, I do not get to struggle Michelle Yeoh. And if there was anyone I would really like to have a display screen martial arts struggle with, it is a quick listing: Chow Yun-fat, Donnie Yen, and Michelle Yeoh. So, we had been sitting there lamenting and taking part in 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.
Getty/Darren Gerrish/WireImage for Paramount+
Did you be taught something from Yeoh by way of fitness?
She jogged my memory of all the issues you’ve gotten to do to preemptively take care of your self. Michelle wakes up day-after-day and stretches for two hours earlier than she comes to set. And as you become older, that’s the type of stuff you’ve gotten to do. Man, once I was 25, I might eat what I wished and I used to be ripped. But once you’re in your 40s, that does not work anymore.
So you have completed Marvel, and Pacific Rim. Now you have completed a Star Trek venture. 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 taking part in. I’m in the MCU. Pacific Rim. I get to do all these nice issues. But Star Trek’s my massive fandom. It’s the factor I like most. It’s the factor I grew up with and I do know it, I’m as captivated with it as I’m in all probability about another 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 top quality human being. I believe Star Trek presents a sort of morality and hope and a beacon of who we may be, who we must be, and who we should be to everyone. And so to be part of that, I believe it is greater than a dream come true. It’s every thing.