What we Learned from Insta-Stalking the Baywatch Cast

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(Image credit: Unknown)

Whether or not you remember or care about the original Baywatch (your bluffer’s opinion: Bleeth was the discerning man’s alternative to Anderson), you need to be aware of the remake ASAP. For starters, The Rock is replacing The Hoff in the role of Mitch Buchanan, guaranteeing a spate of body-image opinion columns as everyone wonders why chest hair and a dadbod isn’t enough to save lives in the California surf any more. Secondly, it’s set to be the film where Zac Efron leaps from heart-throb to man-crush, using the comedy chops he’s been honing recently as dreamy Matt Brody. And thirdly, the entire cast are providing an object lesson in how to have fun and get jacked, via the magic of social media. Here's what we’ve learned from them this week.

Being Competitive Works

Could you best Dwayne Johnson in a contest that involved the flipping of tyres? Don’t be ridiculous: the man trains six days a week, eats more fish than a small family of leopard seals and once beat Hulk Hogan in a fight. At the same time, just competing against him would definitely spur you to better efforts… which is sort of the point of training in the first place. Good work, Efron.

RECOMMENDED: Get a body like Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson

Yoga Isn’t So Bad

If only one good thing has happened to us this week, it was discovering Alexandra Daddario’s Twitter feed: your new Summer Quinn maintains mass by eating buttered bread, favours macaroons dipped in chocolate mousse and, apparently, really likes resveratrol. More importantly, she also does yoga: correlation and not causation and all that, but it hasn’t hurt our estimation of vinyasa any.

Everyone Should Do More Pull-Ups

Again: you never know when you’ll be called on to test your mettle against The Rock, but more importantly, they activate your abs better than crunches – according to actual science. Is that why Efron’s suddenly in paparazzi-baitingly good shape? It’s impossible to say, but doing a couple of sets of five every time you pass a pull-up bar/tree branch/overhanging set of stairs certainly won’t hurt.

RECOMMENDED: 10 of the best pull-up variations

It’s Time To Get A Dog

Fun fact: everyday stress floods your body with the hormone cortisol, which triggers the storage of fat on your stomach, but oxytocin – which is released when patting dogs – keeps it at bay. Is that why Johnson is so impossibly lean? Let’s be honest, no, but just look at that face! Who’s a good boy? WHO’S A GOOD BOY?

RECOMMENDED: Get a Dog (and 29 Other Surprising Fat Loss Tips)

This story is taken from Gym Punk, the weekly email newsletter from Men’s Fitness. Let this kind of goodness into your inbox by signing up to Gym Punk.

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(Image credit: Unknown)
Joel Snape

From 2008 to 2018, Joel worked for Men's Fitness, which predated, and then shared a website with, Coach. Though he spent years running the hills of Bath, he’s since ditched his trainers for a succession of Converse high-tops, since they’re better suited to his love of pulling vans, lifting cars, and hefting logs in a succession of strongman competitions.