Game of Thrones star Staz Nair takes us through the workout routine that got him into peak shape before Rebel Moon. The workout includes all the staples – squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and a core workout. He discusses how he tweaked his diet to match his character’s and the importance of staying active throughout his life.
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00:00 Sadly, I did not get any workout tips from Jason Momoa,
00:02 but if he's out there, Big J, I'm here.
00:05 I'm open to all your ideas and influences.
00:08 Hi, I'm Staz Nair, somewhat out of shape Staz Nair.
00:11 I am very much looking forward to taking you through
00:13 the training regime that I was fortunate enough to do
00:15 for Rebel Moon with Zack Snyder,
00:17 alongside his wonderful trainer, Alessandra Comedina,
00:19 and who I have equal respect and fear for.
00:21 If I'm training, it's informed by the character,
00:29 by the epoch of the character,
00:31 by the period you're playing within it,
00:32 whether it's fictitious and in space like Rebel Moon
00:34 or fictitious and on Earth like Game of Thrones.
00:37 And something like the Dothraki,
00:38 they're inspired by the nomadic step people
00:41 and by like Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan
00:43 and tried my best to think,
00:44 okay, well, I ate high grain, high protein,
00:46 and I trained very kind of like calisthenically.
00:49 I wasn't necessarily lifting a lot of weights.
00:50 I was just trying to be physically and practically active.
00:53 Something like Rebel Moon,
00:54 we're talking about a dystopian future
00:56 where grain and water is the currency
00:57 and people are really struggling for that.
00:59 And that, I thought it made a lot more sense
01:01 to be more sinewy, more vascular, a lot more ripped.
01:03 I got down to five to 6% body fat
01:05 and stayed there for six to seven months,
01:07 which is pretty tough.
01:07 For me, growing up as a kid,
01:09 being active was very important.
01:11 A, having ADHD,
01:12 and B, just being a naturally outdoorsy person.
01:14 It was just something that came to me very naturally,
01:16 something I enjoyed a lot.
01:17 As I got older, it became more practical,
01:19 if I'm honest, than it did productive.
01:21 My wife thinks I'm more cuddly
01:22 when I'm a bit huskier, as they say,
01:25 a little bit, you know, a bit more.
01:27 Big, I don't know what the word is for it.
01:29 All jokes aside, my current training goal
01:31 is just to be active.
01:32 When I train, I train very hard and very rigorously.
01:34 I don't have a middle ground.
01:35 I'm yet to find, even at the tender age of 32,
01:38 a middle ground.
01:39 So I think for me, it's when I'm training,
01:41 I'm training for a role,
01:42 it's to train, you know,
01:43 with a disciplined and consistent
01:45 and kind of fervent attitude,
01:47 but then also to make sure
01:48 that when I'm not training, to stay active.
01:49 So for me, that's doing martial arts.
01:51 It's going out and hiking.
01:52 It's keeping myself mobile,
01:54 keeping myself active on the time that I,
01:56 on the downtime that I have,
01:57 where I don't want to be pumping
01:59 and getting all swole.
02:01 Start with a simple squat.
02:06 A simple squat, starting with 45s on each side.
02:10 Start with eight reps.
02:11 And then we keep going less and less reps,
02:13 more and more weight,
02:14 with as little as a break as possible,
02:16 but it's been a long time.
02:17 So let's see how long the breaks are.
02:18 Nice and deep.
02:25 I'm happy with that.
02:26 When I do it, I do it as hard as I can.
02:34 When I don't do it, I don't do it at all.
02:37 Horrible and horrible.
02:40 It's been about a year since I trained,
02:41 so a year since I've been put through this.
02:44 Now what I enjoy,
02:49 I enjoy the discipline necessary
02:51 to achieve and pull off these kinds of physical states
02:53 when I'm training
02:54 and when I'm training for work.
02:56 When I'm off, I allow myself to enjoy that time off,
02:59 but this specific journey was the hardest I've ever had.
03:02 I feel a little triggered.
03:22 I feel a little like I'm in 2023.
03:25 I'm back in it, but I'm also loving it.
03:26 It's been a while.
03:28 Next we go into our wonderful deadlifts.
03:33 So we're gonna do again,
03:34 three set, eight, six, six rep for these deadlifts.
03:40 Key is to keep the breaks in between as little as possible.
03:43 And off we go.
03:46 So we're gonna stick with compound lifting.
03:48 The key is with this training regime is
03:50 as little time, a little break in between.
03:53 You're trying to keep it consistent.
03:55 It's not about how heavy you lift it.
03:56 It's about using the slow control movement,
03:58 pushing your body and your muscle very hard
04:01 for a short period of time.
04:02 Do it for yourself.
04:10 I think that's an important thing.
04:12 I think, you know, we live in a generation society.
04:15 We've become, you know, everything is so on show
04:17 just because of social media
04:19 and the way technology has progressed.
04:21 We kind of, we share so much of ourselves
04:22 and I think it's important to remind ourselves
04:24 that if we are training, we're training for ourselves.
04:27 It's for our own, you know, our own security,
04:30 our own self-wealth, our own self-health,
04:32 you know, feeling good about ourselves.
04:33 I think this should always be the main drive
04:36 for getting into shape.
04:37 I'm a big believer that a workout
04:42 isn't meant to be enjoyable,
04:42 isn't meant to be useful, practical.
04:45 I'd rather suffer for as little as possible
04:47 than do it properly.
04:49 Let it go half measures.
04:50 It's not a fake out of breath.
04:52 Yes, so next,
04:55 little chest press.
04:58 Then we move on and do whatever,
05:00 bingo says next.
05:01 I think that this is good.
05:05 We have another 866 set of reps.
05:08 So now we're up and away a little bit
05:18 for our two sets of six.
05:19 Again, I think it's important to understand
05:23 that for this kind of workout,
05:25 you're not looking for a specific weight.
05:27 We're looking for a weight that you can do
05:29 these kind of reps, 10, eight, six,
05:31 with low break, comfortably without losing form.
05:35 Whatever that is for you,
05:36 relatively is what you should be sticking at.
05:37 When it gets too easy, you up the weights.
05:40 Oi, four, come on, four.
05:45 Four.
05:46 Four.
05:49 Ah, I'm about to do a set of 30, 40, 30,
06:00 which, my math's terrible, is 110 reps.
06:04 So when I was doing this all the time,
06:06 330, 340 reps without break.
06:14 What we start with is what he calls 90s.
06:17 You lift your back a little bit, support your bum,
06:20 also raising the hips enough to change the axis,
06:23 I think, again, not smart enough to know.
06:25 When you're doing these, you're keeping your feet at 90.
06:28 Again, what you're also doing is you see my top,
06:31 it's also quite lifted up.
06:33 It's also forcing more pressure, I think,
06:36 on the upper abs.
06:37 You breathe out with every rep.
06:42 When you're doing the contraction,
06:44 you breathe out.
06:45 Roll back for a second, we have 40 for bicycles,
06:49 but again, you're not cycling.
06:51 What you're doing, keeping the legs always at 90.
06:54 That's 10, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
07:00 10 again, keeping the stomach up,
07:02 keeping all this active.
07:04 10, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
07:09 Finish off, crunches.
07:13 Feet are always up.
07:14 If you can, keep them at a 90.
07:16 You're trying to really,
07:18 I can't even talk when I'm doing this one.
07:20 So you're going to have to wait,
07:21 but in 20 reps time, I can maybe explain a bit better.
07:24 Oh, that's how much that sucks.
07:32 That wasn't even the full version.
07:33 Ladies and gentlemen, I am royally F-worded,
07:38 but I had a great time.
07:39 I'm Stas Naier, thank you very much for staying with me
07:42 and checking it out.
07:43 Yes, my workout routine probably wasn't as good
07:45 as it used to be, but part three, I'm sure.
07:48 I'll get back to it.
07:49 Hope you had a good time.
07:51 (grunts)
07:52 Yeah.
07:53 (beep)
07:53 Oh, stuck one way, and there we go.
07:56 Please keep that in, that's amazing.
07:58 (upbeat music)
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