Many of us, whether we are in good shape or not, have body goals we haven't achieved yet. It's easy to see people on TV and in the movies that look the way we want to, comparing ourselves unfavorably to the actors, models and athletes who seem to be completely on their game.
So it's inspiring to see that even someone whose job it is to look good was once in a far different state, giving us hope that we can commit to a similar transformation. Eddie Davenport, who currently works as a stuntman, was once in far worse shape. He may have started of being, as he describes, "the fat kid", but now he is at peak fitness, working as a
stunt double for none other than
Hugh Jackman.
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Seeing how he looks now, it's surprising that Davenport barely has any photos from his childhood as he was too self-conscious to have any photos taken of him. Partly down to an unhealthy diet of "whatever was cheapest", as his mother worked three jobs to support him, he was teased and bullied throughout school for his weight. Now, at 35 years old, he wishes he could tell his former self that “someday, your inside will be reflected on your outside, and you will be exactly who you want to be.”
Speaking to Men's Health, Davenport explained that he noticed throughout school that girls would say "he's nice and funny, but I don't want to date the fat kid". When he left for college, he decided to make a change. “My sister knew I had free time so she asked me, ‘What do you want to do for you?’," he explained. "And I said, ‘I don’t want to be fat anymore.’”
His sister suggested a book called Body For Life by Bill Phillips, which he read in one night. “I remember getting so excited," he said, "because now I had proof that I could do it.” He and his sister committed to the book's exercise and diet program together, saying goodbye to processed foods and started to eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean meats. But that's not to say he didn't have a cheat day once a week, which he eagerly anticipated:
“I would be in the Taco Bell drive-thru Saturday night at 11:58 p.m., and as soon as it hit midnight, I’d buy Taco Bell. After my Taco Bell I’d go home, go to bed. Then I’d wake up, and if I wanted to eat pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I'd do it.”
Alternating between weight-training days and cardio days, he went from 230 to 178 lbs in just four months.
After he moved to California, he wanted to get into action movies, but found that he wasn't close enough to the ideal body to get a second look. Seeing a magazine featuring
Ryan Reynolds on the cover, a man with a similar body type, he decided to get in shape like him. Using the cover as inspiration, he followed his example to get "ripped":
“I looked at what he ate and what workouts he did, and tried to follow that. In the issue, he said he did ab exercises first, because it was meditative. I started doing that, too, and to this day I still do my ab exercises before I start a workout. It really is meditative”
Scaled back on the cheat days, focused on muscle gain with weight-lifting and high-intensity interval training, ending up putting on weight again - this time as muscle.
Now fluctuating between 190 and 195 lbs, he tried out to be a stuntman and got the job. He was told he would be doing a few "robot scenes" by the stunt coordinator, but it turned out this movie was Real Steel and the actor he would be acting as a stunt double for was
Hugh Jackman.
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Davenport has since gone on to star as Jackman's stunt double in several movies since then, including the recent hit superhero movie Logan.
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He eats 6 to 8 meals day, often involving grilled chicken, quinoa and asparagus. On occasion he tries intermittent fasting, wherein he will eat within an 8-hour window and fast for the other 16 hours of the day. But he believes that it's worth investing time in the mental side of things too:
“It’s all about your mindset. You need to figure out exactly what it is you want it to be and always keep that in your mind. And remember that the process takes time, so don’t get discouraged when you aren’t seeing any results. Just trust the process and stick to it.”
Hopefully we can all take a page from Eddie's book and commit to our goals, as his career shows how much you can change as long as you are dedicated.
