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If you happen to check into a hotel where Matt Barr is staying while filming his latest project, there’s a good chance you’ll see him sprinting around the parking lot. The star of ‘Blood and Treasure’ and ‘Walker: Independence’ will find a way to stay active even with the busiest of schedules, so M&F caught up with the perpetually ripped model and leading man to find out why the 38-year-old young actor is still wanted for his revealing shirtless scenes, how he approaches training and whether he’ll be up for the ultimate challenge of getting into superhero shape.
You grew up in Dallas with a football coach for a father (Mike Barr coached at Purdue and Southern Methodist universities). So you must have been introduced to training from an early age?
A lot. Of course, having a soccer coach for a father. We did training when we were probably 2 and a half years old. As a child, I remember my father throwing a ball and asking me to catch it with my left hand and then with my right hand. They were little athletic training sessions!
As a committed artist, you’ve changed your body shape to suit different roles throughout your career. How did you strategize to add muscle, for example?
The hardest part for me is gaining volume and some mass. I’ve done it for a few things, but never to the extent of Thor. It is believed to be about consumption. It’s amazing how many calories you should be taking in, and even when you think you’re eating a lot, you should be eating twice as much. You also have to lift heavy and what’s hard for me, as someone who is a big runner, you have to go back to all the cardio. At least I do and it’s hard because I miss that high level of runners. If I don’t do these things, I’ll naturally stay pretty thin.
You have a very busy photo schedule, so finding a regular routine with your meals can be difficult. How do you approach this?
The only consistency I have is that I will eat the same thing for breakfast. It will be one of two things. Either oatmeal with some berries, or a banana with some honey, or I’ll just have plain scrambled eggs with maybe some avocado. Also, I really eat whatever I want, but I work out six days a week, whether it’s cardio or lifting. But breakfast has always been very important to me. For me, it’s the foundation of where the whole day goes.
Throughout your career, you’ve been made to take your shirt off on camera. When you know a scene like this is about to happen, what goes through your mind? Does it force you to step up your fitness regimen knowing these scenes will live forever?
I do it [think about things like that]. Perhaps obsessive at times. I think it really lives forever and I’ve never seen it as a ‘fussy’ thing as far as having to fit the character, you know? It was just something that I really enjoyed: that challenge of keeping fit. We live in an elevated, cinematic world.
Who are some of the actors you loved watching as a kid?
It’s always been Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones, Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves and, of course, Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. These are examples of guys who stayed in amazing shape. They could play a variety of roles and you really bought them not only as action heroes but also as vulnerable human beings. https://www.instagram.com/p/B2uiPP7FI1r/ (embed)
Do you have a personal trainer?
You know, I train alone. I don’t think I’ve ever worked with a coach. I had special training for stunts, but this is different. As for the training itself, I kind of like soloing. Maybe in the future if I need to put on 30 pounds of muscle I might need some help, but I haven’t had that challenge yet. I can not wait. But training for me is physical and mental. This is my meditation and I’ve always enjoyed it being a solo experience.
What does a week of training look like for Matt Barr?
I really like full body workouts. I alternate these full body days with cardio days where I do 40 yard sprints or long distance runs. Depending on the role I’m playing, I might lift a little heavier, or it might be lighter just to maintain. I like swimming: it’s probably one of the most secret weapons because it’s a full-body workout. It’s amazing what it does to my core. I do a lot of sit-ups and I refuse them. Also, something I like to do is hang from a pull-up bar. I’ll hold a ten pound dumbbell and do crunches, central and side while hanging. I do the same movements with a medicine ball.
Have you ever done intense stunts that really challenged you?
I remember working on the wires a little bit and you need that real core strength to be able to move. I think I did some wires in Blood and Treasure where I crash through a roof and shoot a gun. It required me to land, do my part, and then get up and shoot… all while wearing a tuxedo! Wrestling while on wires was something I had to train for. And I randomly remember doing a dance scene and trying to catch my dance partner. These were probably the hardest things I’ve ever done! [laughs] Patrick Swayze made it look easy. It’s all about the core. If you have a strong core, you can kind of build from there and do almost anything. Even in your dialogue scenes; calmness and breathing come from the core. It’s all a matter of physical self-awareness.
“Walker: Independence” was a critical hit for the CW Network. As Hoyt Rawlins, you find yourself in a bare-knuckle boxing match. You look great in this scene. Did you get pumped before the cam started?
I did. I certainly had my Bowflex and was doing some curls before we shot that day. But I think if you keep fit it helps. We did a whole cowboy camp, all the horse stuff, and again there’s a lot of basic work.
If the right offer came to play a superhero-type character who needed to add those 30 kilos of muscle, would you accept the challenge?
I actually crave it! I’d really enjoy the challenge and I’d be interested to see how my body reacts to it, you know? Whether it’s muscle, or even just putting on weight for something, and then maybe the challenge of getting it off before you finish the project. I would agree, but I’ve always enjoyed pushing the boundaries of what we humans are capable of. Can I really do what Chris Hemsworth did for Thor? Can I really put on a huge amount of weight and look like a quarterback? I can not wait!
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