For This Navy Man Between Takes: Drop and Give Me 50
The heart goes pitter-patter for a man in uniform, and David James Elliott, who is 6 foot 4, makes sure his fits properly as a Navy officer and lawyer on “JAG,” a CBS-TV drama. The 34-year-old actor from Toronto exercises at home and whenever he gets a break on the set.
During a telephone interview, Elliott explained: “I do a lot of push-ups starting in the morning, and I have dumbbells in the trailer so I can do bicep and shoulder work. The bar in the wardrobe trailer is great for chin-ups. And then I do sit-ups at the end of the day.”
Question: Why then?
Answer: Because I hate them the most. Put them off as long as I can until just before I sit down to learn the dialogue for the next day. I just like to stay active, and my wife, Nanci, is active, too, and my daughter--she’s 4 1/2--she sees me doing sit-ups and she will lie on the floor, do sit-ups with her dad, and that’s pretty groovy. And I run a lot. I’ve run marathons. I’m a running fiend.
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Q: When do you work that in?
A: On weekends, and sometimes I’ll get up early and run. It was really hard for me--you’ve got to become somewhat of a Zen master to exist in the schedule that I have now and, of course, they want you to be physically fit. It helps your job, and God forbid they should ask you to take your shirt off and you haven’t been working out.
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Q: Isn’t that a lot of pressure on you?
A: Well, I’ve always felt it was part of the job. I mean, look at Paul Newman. He was always in demon condition and a wonderful actor--intelligent. Acting is the first and foremost thing with me, but in between takes, there’s nothing wrong with knocking off 50 push-ups. And I work out with weights when I can. I have a whole set-up in my garage.
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Q: What do you do about diet?
A: I work with “The Zone” [the “dietary road map” by Barry Sears]. Until that thing came out, I was floundering, going from one idea to the next. Someone used to tell me to eat a lot of oranges--”All the models do this; you just keep eating oranges.” So I was eating like 10 million oranges. I was still gaining weight because I was eating bread, too.
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Q: And now?
A: Breakfast, I drink decaffeinated coffee and I eat a protein bar on the way in. I eat a lot of fruit and drink a lot of water. And if I’m jonesing for some sugar, I’ll eat 500 grapes and drink a bottle of water. That’s, ideally, like three out of four days I’m doing that.
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Q: What about lunch and dinner?
A: I’ll have a couple of chicken breasts and a salad, and I slow down on dinner--a little sandwich and, just before I go to bed, I eat a little something, too. They tell you that in “The Zone” to eat something like low-fat cottage cheese and a piece of fruit. You shouldn’t go to bed hungry, apparently. I mean, the whole idea that I do throughout the day is eat like a rat.
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Q: A rat?
A: You gotta eat little meals throughout the day but snack within “The Zone”--grab a bunch of sliced turkey and a little avocado and put it on one piece of rye bread. That’s a snack. That should be my title--”He Eats Like a Rat.” That’s good, I’ll go with that.
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Q: What’s with that fourth day?
A: The fourth day, sometimes I’ll go, “Give me five of those little Snickers bars and then tie me down so I don’t go out for more,” because around Hour 15 [on the set], I’ll stand beside the chocolate bar bowl and just start hammering them in. My technical advisor, who’s also a bodybuilder, he’ll look in the garbage can and go, “Oh, man! You’ve been here awhile. There must be about 15 wrappers in there. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
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Guest Workout runs Mondays in Health.