Magazine – My word, Jason, you are in amazing shape. How in the world did you get
such a good body?
Jason – Well it is in my nature to workout. I played baseball all
through high school and college so I have always had that in me to want to do
some form of exercise.
Magazine – Those shoulders have excellent definition. How can our readers
get those?
Jason – Just hit them hard! You have to keep at them just like the rest
of your body parts. I was lucky to have shoulders that grew easy. Whereas my
legs took a lot more work.
Magazine – What does your workout look like? Take us through a one day
scenario from morning to night.
Jason – Well in the morning I get up at 6am and shower. I drink one cup
of 1% chocolate milk which has protein, carbohydrates & a little sugar to
get me going. I get to the gym and workout whatever body part I have scheduled
that day. I don’t let up on that particular body part until one hour of being
in the gym.
As
for the evening, I will do something aerobic for 10-15 minutes and follow that
up with some more abdominal crunches. I can do 500 now.
Magazine – So then your workout in the morning is for 1 hour non-stop?
Jason – Well kind of. I take a 1 minute rest in between sets. I avoid
the talkers in my gym too as they can start visiting with you for 5-10 minutes
and screw up your whole workout. I always want to tell these guys that I didn’t
wake at 6am just to come in here and talk to you.
Magazine – Do you get a lot of people coming up to you asking questions on
how to exercise?
Jason – Sure, sometimes. I consider this a compliment in a way. It
tells me that this person has enough confidence in the way I look to come ask
me for advice. It means he wants to know my secret. I’ll keep it quick usually
and just point out a couple things which won’t take me more then 30 seconds to
explain. Then I send them on their way since I need to get back to my thing
too.
Magazine – When you work out that particular muscle, do you do any other
body parts at all?
Jason – Yes, I also do my abs, calves, & forearms. All 3 of those
muscles need to get exercised regularly with everything else because we use
those muscles in our daily activities. They require a lot more demand then
other parts.
Magazine – Do you put a lot of time into your stomach workouts or are you
the 5 minute ab guy?
Jason – Those advertisements sure make things seem simple. They say
things like “All you have to do is 30 seconds of this abdominal crunch and
you’ll have perfect abs. If those machines were that simple then John Goodman
would be sporting rock hard abs. If you want good abs, you have to do 2 things,
#1 you need to eat clean,#2 you need to hit your abs hard and from every
direction! If you do the exact same ab exercise day in and day out you’ll have
good upper abs or lower ones but you won’t have it all. People forget to do
side crunches or oblique exercises which really show off the midsection well.
Magazine – How has working out helped with your modeling career?
Jason – It has helped me in so many ways I wouldn’t know where to
begin. I need to workout now because of my passion for fitness modeling. In my
earlier days it really opened a lot of doors for me. I’d come walk into a go
see or audition and I’d see casting agents trying to decide which model to
choose then they’d ask us to take off our shirts. That’s when I’d make sure to
give them the WOW factor.
Magazine – Have you been modeling a long time?
Jason – Yes, I have been modeling now for 14 years. But I’ve only been
doing the romance novels for a little over a year.
Magazine – Have you been exercising since you began modeling?
Jason – Yes I actually started lifting weights around age 20. My buddy
from high school got me into it. He had a gym at his house. He was very serious
about working out and in high school he was considered really strong for his
size. He basically taught me what body parts went together, how many sets to
do, reps, etc. So I started then and never stopped lifting on up.
Magazine – Have you always used good discipline in your workouts?
Jason – Yes actually. I’ve always walked into a gym and gave it my best
for that day. I know that by pushing yourself a little each day will have a
positive effect on the body. The lazier, the sloppier the body gets. It’s that
simple.
Magazine – What motivates you to work out or what was it that got you
going?
Jason – It wasn’t enough for someone to say “Hey you look like a slob,
why don’t you workout or something?” No I actually saw photos of people that
inspired me. People that had bodies that I wanted to have some day. I’d always
make sure to choose a role model that was out of my league that way anytime I
started feeling good or like I’d accomplished the body I wanted, I’d look at
the guys photo and say I have much work to do.
Magazine – Do you miss your baseball days?
Jason – Yes I do, I look back and wish I was a more mature player then
I was back then. I was talented but felt that I didn’t need any help from
others. I had a hard time listening to my college coach when he was only trying
to help. Sometimes you learn from your mistakes when it’s far too late.
Magazine - Was part of your plan to become a professional baseball player?
Jason – Yes that was the plan. I had it all figured out. But those
hopes and dreams fell fast when I was in college.
Magazine – What did this teach you?
Jason – It taught me to be more disciplined, to not just give up on
something when you screw up. Hey you are going to fail at something’s but it’s
how you handle that and redeem yourself is what really matters.
Magazine – Now we’ve seen quite a few of your Romance Book Covers but
there is little written about you as a person.
Jason – Well I’m a down to earth guy that enjoys the simple things in
life.
Magazine – We’d love to know how you were discovered to be a model. Can
you please share that with us?
Jason – Sure, back in 1997 I was a double in the movie, I Know What You Did Last Summer. The
photographer that does the photos for their DVD/VHS cover asked if he could
take some photos of me for practice purposes. Funny thing is when he was taking
these shots the main actors were all looking at me like “Hey who’s this guy?”
Haha.. Anyway, this turned out to be my first real big deal. It went fast from
there though.
Magazine – What was it like working around Ryan Phillippe, Freddie Prinze
Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jennifer Love Hewitt? Did you interact a lot
with them?
Jason – It was a lot of fun. Out of all them I got along most with
Phillippe. He is around the same age as me and we both had baseball
backgrounds. At the time, he was a chain smoker whereas I was a chewing tobacco
chain dipper. We kept trying to convince each other to have our source of
nicotine. He’s a quiet reserved person which is how I kind of am too. He kept
telling me to go over and have the photographer take a photo of me with a big
chew in my mouth. Boy am I sure glad I quit that disgusting habit!
Magazine – Did that photographer on location for I Know What You Did Last Summer use your photos for anything?
Jason – Not that I’m aware of but I got to have the photos for my
portfolio and to this day, I get a lot of people complimenting those same ones.
He was using a camera that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars so any photo
it takes will look impressive though.
Magazine – That is great, so you still have photos floating around from
1997?
Jason – Yes, they are out there in internet land somewhere.
Magazine – Now being a model takes a lot of work, you need to be in good
shape and have a good looking face to go with it. Is a lot of it all about
genetics and who you know?
Jason – Sure some of it you have to have the potential at least. But if
you want to actually unlock your body’s potential then you have to go the extra
mile. I’ve always been one to shoot for goals that required a degree of
difficulty that way no one can just say I had it coming to me all along. I want
them to see that I earned it on my own and that someone or some family member
didn’t just hand it to me on a silver platter.
Magazine – You have quite the creative imagination! I’ve seen some other
interviews of you in the past and you get very candid in your responses.
Jason – Yes, I give all of this my 100%. How boring is it to read an
interview from somebody and they give you the minimum response to everything.
“Yes that’s right” or “Yes, I like to ski” Whenever I read these articles by
other people I always think to myself, “Do you really want society learning
about you in this way? Do you want everyone to imagine you as a person that
just speaks when they are spoken to?” I’m like, BE CREATIVE! Use your brain!
Magazine – That brings up another question, being that you are such a
creative thinker, what do you think about during a photo shoot?
Jason – Well I usually clear my head beforehand then during the shoot I
usually try to be the character they are striving for. So if they want me to be
a pirate holding a sword for example, then I try to imagine that I’m standing
on a ship preparing for battle. I ask myself, “How would this person feel knowing
that an attack on his ship is moments away?
Magazine – Do you get nervous for a photo shoot?
Jason – Sure if I don’t know exactly what I’m supposed to be doing I
get a little nervous. But most of the time I know the shot they are after.
Magazine – It seems like by now after all the years of getting your
picture taken you are a natural at it.
Jason – Yes sometimes the photographers laugh because I will already
anticipate how they want me posed next. They are always just about to say to
move in a certain direction but I’m already there.
Magazine – So we’d really like to know if you stick with your diet 100% of
the time.
Jason – Hahaha… No, there is a saying out there that goes “If you
follow all the rules, you may miss all the fun. So to me, I need to have that
moment that I look forward to. That moment that I can eat whatever I want. I
have a weakness and the only cure for that weakness is a Mr.Goodbar chocolate.
Magazine – So do you eat a Mr.Goodbar all the time?
Jason – No, but it’s on my mind as something I will be having in the
near future. If I don’t have it in my mind as something I can have as a reward
when all of this is through, then I start feeling down. When I’m on a serious
diet for a long time, I have dreams about how I’ll go about eating a
Mr.Goodbar. It can get difficult the days turn to weeks and the weeks turn into
months of this discipline and it can really play on the mind.
Magazine – So then how often do you come off your diet?
Jason – When I don’t have a shoot booked then I eat some carbs and fat
within moderation. I don’t get carried away though. Last time I binged for an
entire week and gained 13 lbs. during that stretch. My face got puffy, my abs
disappeared and I felt like all those grueling mornings I spent in the gym were
all wasted in a short period of time.
What is your
regular diet when you don’t have a shoot?
Jason – I have 1 day per week where I eat what I want as long as it’s
not too much. On that day I try to eat a few of the foods that I’d been craving
all week. Then I go right back to eating clean the other 6 days. This process
works well with me because I don’t deprive myself completely.
Magazine – Well, Jason, this has been a lot of fun interviewing you for our magazine. Is
there any advice you can give those that want a body like yours?
Jason – Yes, you just need to keep working hard. If you are a beginner
out there, just make sure you do something everyday toward reaching your goal.
Lift weights and eat foods that will get you closer to that goal, not farther.
It’s never easy reaching goals. That’s what makes them so rewarding when you
get to them.
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