‘Old Spice Guy’ Isaiah Mustafa on Staying Fit and Eating Right

Spice It Up

I began working with Old Spice in 2010. The commercials opened up a lot of doors and gave me a higher profile. I’m still under contract, and I’m still a brand ambassador, so it’s a nice title and job to have. It’s been a really fun experience. And I never thought learning how to ride a horse when I was 12 years old would come in handy in my career.

Out of the Shadows

Old Spice was everything for a long time. But since joining Shadowhunters, it’s changed. My character is like the father figure for these young half-angel/half-human crime fighters who try to stop demons from taking over the earth. He’s like their Obi-Wan Kenobi…but a werewolf. We have one of the biggest online fan followings. Our fans are superengaged and absolutely wild, in the best possible way. It’s amazing.

Life After Football

Before I ever started acting, I played wide receiver at Arizona State and then had a few years in the NFL. A lot of times, when guys stop playing they get depressed and don’t want to hit the gym, because it’s no longer mandatory. But I was pretty consistent with my activity. And right after I retired, I started coaching track at Moorpark College. So I would actually train with my athletes, running sprints with them and doing their gym workouts.

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Namaste

I used to be really into weights, but these days I concentrate more on flexibility and movement. I do a lot of hot yoga because it warms my body up. At the gym, I usually work on body-weight exercises with a focus on form, like doing pullups the right way. I also like kettlebells, and I have a jump rope workout I like, where I’ll do 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off for 30 minutes.

On Thin Ice

I play hockey a lot. When I was living in L.A., I played three to four nights a week. Here in Toronto, where Shadowhunters is filmed, I play a little less. I try to train like I’m still a pro athlete. The only way I know how to train is to do everything at full speed. So a lot of days, I’ll get up at 6 a.m. to do yoga, skate at 10 a.m., and then do Pilates at 7 p.m. I don’t really take days off. It’s hard for me to not do something athletic every day.

On the Fast Track

My diet is ridiculous. I can thank Terry Crews for that. He does intermittent fasting, eating all his meals between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m., with a 16-hour fast outside of those hours. So I tried it in 2015, and I’ve been doing it ever since. The hardest thing is dealing with the complaints from hungry people around me who get mad that I’m not eating.

Shadowhunters returns spring 2019 on Freeform.

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