56-year-old Dave Bautista has recently hit our feeds with his new physique photos, and while it hasn’t quite broken the internet, it’s definitely come close. The former WWE wrestler can be seen in his latest Instagram post, clearly proud of his recent body transformation, and for someone who’s in his late fifties, who can blame him.
But when it comes to his training, Bautista is working smarter, not harder. In a recent reel he shared: ‘But now like, being old, y’know, old as fuck, it just helped me. I feel better now than I have in years, because my training is just so good. My cardio is so good.’
Reportedly, Bautista lost roughly 75 pounds after gaining weight for his role in Knock at the Cabin. While being interviewed on TODAY he shared, ‘I started trimming down for a particular reason: one, I started slimming down because I…was uncomfortably big. Now looking back at it, I probably overdid it.’
The Guardians of the Galaxy star said he gained the extra weight quickly by eating a lot of pancakes and french fries. ‘At the time, I was just thinking, “I gotta get big, I gotta get big”,’ he said.
And the way in which he lost the weight? A mostly plant-based diet. When giving Men’s Health US a tour of his fridge, he said ‘I usually have a couple fish meals and I typically eat eggs every morning … everything else is kind of typical healthy foods, plant based, rice and beans.’
‘I think a lot of people think I’m just a meathead and that I live my life lifting weights. And I actually don’t. I do live my life training, but I think people think that I train because I want to look like a bodybuilder or a big muscle head. And it’s not at all the case.’
Bautista has always emphasised the importance of enjoying training and feeling good, but more recently has been enjoying cardio training such as cycling and boxing. ‘Me looking the way I do is really just kind of a by-product of that,’ he said. ‘I’m not consumed about like, “Oh, I can bench, like, 500 pounds, I can deadlift 800 pounds.” I’m not that guy at all. I’d rather watch someone else deadlift than do it myself. I’d rather be boxing or doing some type of interesting cardio like cycling. I’d rather be working with a trainer and keeping it fresh.’
Kate is a fitness writer for Men’s Health UK where she contributes regular workouts, training tips and nutrition guides. She has a post graduate diploma in Sports Performance Nutrition and before joining Men’s Health she was a nutritionist, fitness writer and personal trainer with over 5k hours coaching on the gym floor. Kate has a keen interest in volunteering for animal shelters and when she isn’t lifting weights in her garden, she can be found walking her rescue dog.
