Brandon Routh first hit most people’s radars when he was cast as Superman in 2006’s Superman Returns. Ten years later he’s starring in another DC reproduction: Legends Of Tomorrow, so how does he keep up his superhero shape?
How would you rate your fitness on a scale of one to 10?
It looks better than it is, so I’m probably about a five. But I look a little bit better than that, even though I haven’t worked out much lately, due to my schedule.
How important is health and fitness to you?
It’s extremely important to me. In the past six months, health and food have come to the forefront as I haven’t been as able to find time to get to the gym. It’s been a cool test to see how much nutrition affects my body with – and without – physical activity. I’ve been able to maintain a very decent physical shape with very little physical activity because my diet and my way of eating is so tuned in. Just to know I can maintain my body shape without going to the gym every day is a powerful thing.
How do you exercise while you’re on the road?
It depends on the production – if I’m working 12 or 14-hour days it becomes challenging and I lean on my nutrition. I also don’t like to sacrifice my sleep for a workout, so I’ve got accustomed to doing little workouts before I go to work, whether it’s just push-ups, dips or jumping jacks. A great little burst of energy just to get the body going.
What will you never do again?
The stair climber! There was a period for about six months where I was doing the stair climber for 40 to 60 minutes a day, four days a week, to shed weight. I didn’t want to be running because it’s hard on my knees, but just doing a stair climber was actually more conducive to hurting my knees. I did sweat a lot and I did burn some calories, but working out for long periods of time and stressing your body out too much is negative in the end. For me there are better ways of losing weight that involve burst training, heavy weights and just doing a lot less.
How is your fitness fingerprint unique to you and your career?
People will be seeing me either shirtless or in some form of tight-fitting clothing, so that’s pretty good motivation and inspiration. That was what it was largely at the beginning of my career, but now, with the birth of my son three years ago, I really got into nutrition while I was being responsible for feeding him. Then I got into what I was eating, and I developed a passion for nutrition and overall wellness, which has led into how I look now on camera and in my normal life. If I make that better everything falls in line.
Brandon’s latest film 400 Days is out on DVD now and DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow starts on Sky1 this month
