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MEL RODRIGUEZ HEARD it all before. The actor (who you've seen on TV screens on The Residence, CSI: Vegas, and more) would go to the doctor, and he would be told to lose weight. His weight has fluctuated throughout the years, going as low as 230 and up to 400 pounds. At his heaviest, he tells MH he was about 420 pounds.
When Rodriguez turned 47, he recalls thinking it was too late to make a change. But at the same time, the actor had another realization. “I know when I don’t want to do something or I’m scared to do something, that’s probably exactly what I need to be doing.”
He started simple, walking several times around the block. His small efforts accumulated into what he calls "compounded interest." A year and a half in, he began seeing real results and now walks three to four miles a day.
Rodriguez has since expanded his movement, revisiting a calisthenics workout he used to do as a teen. “I liked that because it doesn’t give me any excuses,” he explains. “I spend a lot of time on set, I’m in my trailer or I’m out of town, and this is something I can do anywhere.”
The results speak for themselves. He recalls a doctor’s visit where, for the first time, he didn’t hear the usual spiel of needing to lose weight.
Now 52 years old, Rodriguez still continues to crush it with calisthenics, with some workouts exhausting his muscles to failure. Check out the full clip for the routine Rodriguez has been doing the past two years from Action Fitness in Tarzana, California—along with more details about the mindset shift that helped him appreciate the fitness journey, not the results.
Mel Rodriguez's Full-Body Workout
Walk on Treadmill
30 minutes
Pushups
2 sets of 15 reps
Plank
2 sets for 30 secs
Diamond Pushups
Reps to failure (consider switching to close grip pushup)
Arm Circles
100 forward and 100 backwards
Isometric curl
50 on each side
Body Weight Squats
Reps to Failure
Calf Raises
Reps to Failure
Shoulder Shrugs
Reps to Failure
Want more celebrity workout routines? Check out all of our Train Like videos.
Jocelyn Solis-Moreira, MS is the associate health & fitness for Men's Health and has previously written for CNN, Scientific American, Popular Science, and National Geographic before joining the brand. When she's not working, she's doing circus arts or working towards the perfect pull-up.
