Dave Bautista has become more than one role. With parts in some of the most iconic movies, this is a man who trains for strength and longevity. Use his years of experience in your own life to be better, bigger and badder. But how do Dave Bautista’s workout principles change depending on his life?
In the fitness game, the only thing that should remain consistent, other than training more days than you don’t, is the notion of change itself.
To keep progressing mentally and physically, things can never remain stagnant, which is the ethos Bautista follows when asked about his workout.
What are the Dave Bautista workout principles?
“It has changed a lot – for my roles, but also for life in general,” he explains.
“A few years back I just started looking at my physical performance differently. I was getting more into MMA, boxing, and then fitting my workout around the characters I was playing in the films I was working on.”
Follow his lead. Find your spark, try a new sport or activity and readjust your training to align better with newly set ambitions.
How have Bautista’s workouts evolved?
As with anything, you should train for a purpose, and action heroes are no different. “In the WWE it was obviously a lot more weight training because it fitted that character, so that physique worked for that,” he says.
“My workout is a lot more diverse now. I feel a lot fitter; a lot more agile and multidimensional when it comes to my physique – because that’s what I’m going for. Also, I have to admit it to myself, I’m older now and it’s hard to lift those heavy-heavy weights when you’re in your late 40s.
You get all of these injuries! I have put more muscle back on in the last year or so, however. I’m in a good place. I’ve found a good middle ground by challenging my body in different ways.”
How did Dave Bautista’s workouts change with age and acting roles?
It’s tempting to go hard every day of the week. However, since Bautista is closer to 50 than he is 40, that’s not an approach he chooses to follow.
“I usually do three days on, one day off,” he explains.
“But that does change, to be honest. I mix it up and try out different things. I do a lot of cross-training, boxing, Muay Thai, ju jitsu, and still a good amount of weights.
I have upped the weight training again this year, just because I’m doing more action-based roles.
It’s nowhere near as heavy as my WWE days, but it’s more intense. I like to keep my rest periods short because I like keeping my heart rate up – to burn that fat and really work those muscles.
I spend about the same amount of time as I used to, but the rest periods are a lot less so I feel like I get so much more into my workouts.”
It’s this constant tweaking that’s the secret to his success, one worth employing in your own long-term training strategy.
How did Bautista use his physique for different acting roles?
Bautista has made his size ebb and flow over the years to accommodate various roles, but he’s never in that dreaded maintenance phase.
“I started packing on the muscle again in the last year, because when I first started acting in movies I didn’t want to be typecast.
But now after having some things under my belt, I’m definitely interested in doing more action movies,” he explains. “I wanted to prove myself as an actor first.”
How Bautista’s workouts work for his lifestyle
It’s all too easy to see life’s pressures leave you busier than a ferret in a drainpipe factory, but Bautista isn’t one to allow his workouts to run in circles.
“You just need to be disciplined and prepared, and you have to make the time,” he explains when asked about how he finds the time to train.
“Thankfully on a lot of the films I’ve been on, they’ve made a place for us to train, so I keep up with it even on those long shooting days. On set and when I’m traveling, I do so much more bodyweight work now.
This involves lots of squats in hotel rooms if that’s needed and press-ups – the classics. You just have to put the work in.
I would always make the time; working out does so much for me. It’s more than the physical – mentally, it’s so valuable for me. It is a release.”
Remember those words when you consider throwing in the towel on a workout.
The Dave Bautista diet
Unlike staying loyal to a particular brand of washing detergent, your nutrition strategy isn’t something you nail on the first attempt.
Bautista is smart enough to both know and apply this notion. “It’s changed quite a bit as well, just from figuring out what works best for me and my body,” he explains when quizzed about how his diet has changed over the years.
“When I was first training MMA with Cesar Gracie’s camp, so many of his guys were gluten-free and no one ate red meat. I tried that out and it really worked for me – I felt less sluggish and I think it also helped me with my allergies.
I wouldn’t say that will have the same effect on everyone, but it did for me. My diet is still high protein, good fats, and complex carbs. That said, if I do want to bulk up muscle, I do go back to the beef. But really, it’s a lot of chicken, fish and eggs.”
Dave Bautista – words of wisdom
Too many people set a fitness or performance goal and don’t know where to go thereafter, often supposing that they’ll achieve it, feel satisfied then never have to exercise again.
This is a false preconception, one that forms the antithesis of Bautista’s approach.
“With how I’m wired, I’m never satisfied,” he explains. “I always want to be a better person, I want to be in better shape, and I want to be a better athlete. I want to be a better actor, a better husband and father and family man.
I really do believe that in being mindful of my health and putting in that work helps all of those things. It’s a well-repeated saying, but truly, health is wealth.”
Words to live by.
What does Dave Bautista think of Blade Runner 2049?
“I owned the original film on VHS, and then on DVD and Blu-ray, so now to be a part of that is a little wild.
As with the first film, the audience will pick up so many different things on second and third viewings. There’s so much there visually and emotionally”
What is Sapper Morton, Dave Bautista’s character in Blade Runner 2049, like?
What was it like to play Sapper Morton, in the iconic Blade Runner 2049?
“It’s unique, playing a character so worn down from life – living in this world in 2049 Los Angeles. He wants to be on his farm and left alone. He is just trying to exist, just trying to live.
He’s a gentle giant and there’s a melancholy and vulnerability in him that I haven’t played before. To be prepped for the role, I had to know his nature, and I was very particular about the way he walked and his demeanor. This is a guy with the weight of the world on his shoulders.”
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