Fighting Gravity With John McGinley

Wed Sep 20 2017 John McGinley is best known for the rich characters he creates in films such as Platoon, Office Space, The Rock and, of course, as Dr. Perry Cox on Scrubs. However, to XPT, hes better known as John, and hes part of the family. A 20-year friend of Gabby and Lairds, John is known as much for his muscles and determination in the pool as he is on the silver screen. An early adopter of the XPT lifestyle, you never know when John may pop in to teach a course or join the Experience right alongside you. We had the privilege of speaking with John about his involvement and perspective regarding the XPT Experience. XPT: Its always a pleasure, John McGinley. Thanks for taking the time to chat with us. JM: Im very comfortable talking about XPT. Its easy talking about something you really believe in. XPT: How did you first meet Gabby and Laird? JM: I met Gabby 20 years ago in the produce section at Ralphs supermarket. My ex-wife and I were three weeks from welcoming our son Max into the world, and now hes 20. I introduced myself and we became acquaintances. When she brought Laird into the mix, we started to visit them in Maui, before they were in Kauai, and spent Thanksgivings together. Then they bought their house in California and became Malibu-ites. A year or two after meeting Gabby, Laird started a pool regime that I got involved with along with Darin Olien and Hutch Parker, spawning what we call, The Core Four. While Laird and Gabby are in Hawaii November through May, Darin and I use the facilities at their Malibu home to keep up our regimen in the gym and pool. Were there at least five days a weekunless someones out of town on a gigbut most of us are there six days a week, with Sunday being the off day. God, when you say that out loud it sounds a little crazy but that is how we start our day! I was there every morning this week and Ill be there every morning next week. I schedule other things around all of us being there in the morning. XPT: What do those mornings look like? JM: We congregate at 8:00 a.m. and are underway by 8:10 a.m. and unless someone is playing games in the pool, youre done in an hour. Well do a 20-minute section then hit the hot house (sauna) and then go in the ice; totaling 10 min in the hot house and five minutes in the ice. Two sections at 35 minutes and youre toast. Unless theres goofing off, everyone should be out of there by 9:30 a.m. Johns a constant. If you were to ever be in a fox hole this is the guy you want with you. He is an incredible combination of compassion and strength. -Laird Hamilton XPT: Muscle and Fitness rated you in the Top 10 Most Underrated Celebrity Bodies Ever . Do Laird or any of your other friends give you a lot of crap for that? JM: (laughs) Thats funny! No, noat 58, Im glad to be in any conversation. My father had my favorite saying of all time. He was a two-time, All-American football player at the University of Pennsylvania. He was this big Irish-American guy and they used to always ask him, Jerry, how ydoing? and hed say, Fightin gravity. All day, every day, Fightin gravity. And he meant it! I only heard that about ten thousand times. He meant it. He was telling his truth. I know what he means now. Fightin gravity. But in the pool, it feels like youre fighting oxygen. XPT: Film and TV sets have such long days and early mornings, how do you fit in a workout when youre filming? JM: If youre doing 16-hour days youre not working out. I do push-ups in my trailer or Ill bring one of those big blue workout balls and a couple of twenty-fives to try and get exercises in. For that concentrated eight weeks that Im on set, it just has to come in second place; theres just no time. If I go through a workout and have to go through make-up and hair again, its just not worth it. I stack up going into a gig and then the verb changes to maintain which is a passive verb when youre working out, but that has to be okay, just to maintain. I grab a workout when I can; I cram what I can in on Saturday and Sunday and then Im back at it again with a 5 a.m. Monday morning call time. When I get back at night, Im not working out; Im going to get food, look at tomorrows work, look at the changes in the script and hopefully Im horizontal by 10 oclock. I can reconcile with all of that, no problem. Im going to lose a little muscle mass over eight weeks, but not that much. However, as long as I stack it up going in, its going to be fine. Click here to watch cast members making fun of John for flexing his big muscles in a scene from Scrubs XPT: Whats your approach to nutrition? JM: Its pretty boring, actually. Im a smoothie in the morning guy. Ill do a salad and some chicken at lunch and by dinnertime, Im starving. So, whatever my wife, Nichole is making, Im ready. Nichole is an upper-echelon Ashtanga yoga teacher and nutritionist so we get to eat super clean around here. My biggest challenge is portion control at dinner. Thats what I struggle with the most. If I eat a zillion pounds of rice and a zillion pounds of fish at dinner, its nutritious, but too much food; so, portion control is my biggest issue. XPT: Have you ever had to bulk up for a role? Or slim down for a role? JM: Yeah, I bulked up for The Rock. I put on about 20-pounds. I took off 60 pounds to do a film called Highway and I had dreads sewn in. That was a mistake because the film stunk. Physicality and the roles I play usually go hand in hand. Usually, for men on camera, its about getting your chest and shoulders jacked up because thats whats going to read. You put that into the protocol and it works. The camera picks that up. When you effectively change the physique of the character it means you have to talk less because a lot of the story telling is done visually. Thats what I likeanything to tell the story visually works for me. XPT: After all the years that you, Laird, and the guys have been working out, what do you think about the life the XPT brand has taken on? JM: Well, Lairds let me come and teach at a few XPT Experiences and whats interesting is how quickly the men and women who come check their ego at the door. Because its clear that during these 3-day events, that this 96 hours is going to be different than anything youve done before. Unless you check your ego at the door and open up your listening channels and your capacity to assimilate and adapt, youll get into trouble. Its great to see a lot of these young men and womena lot of whom are very successfulshow up and engage and really, really want to learn because its really hard. The learning curve is hard. I think its been amazing to see the effect that XPT has on people in this incredibly condensed time period. Its very demanding and you see people breaking down, which is great. Then they assimilate the input and they excel, flourish and feel fantastic. Even if youve been there, done it, seen it allwhich is unfortunately pervasive on the work-out landscapeyou damn sure havent been there, done it, seen it XPT. You just have not. If you have the spine to show up and participate and really give it a go, its thrilling. I see these people and their faces and they are thrilled! Its exciting to witness. John is one of the hardest working, straight forward, loving, honest humans on the planet. Someone truly to be respected. -Gabby Reece Outside TV XPT Pool Workout with John McGinley - XPT from XPT LIFE on Vimeo . Outside TV XPT Pool Workout with John McGinley - XPT from XPT LIFE on Vimeo . XPT: What do you think is the highlight for most people? JM: Ive participated more in pool work with participants. I had two young, vibrant, stout athletes who were really struggling at first. The water is a profound equalizer. When people can move through that horrible, horrible feeling of failing underwater and get to where theres baby steps towards executing these different drills, you watch them learn that theres a whole unlimited resource that theyve tapped into in themselves. What a phenomenal thing with which to provide someone. Its where success stories come from. For a glimpse into XPT Water Training, click here ! XPT: How do you think fear plays into that? JM: What I try to share with the different people that Ive worked with isand they cant process this until the second or third timebut what I try to impress upon them is that this is not about holding your breath. When I say this, they look at me sideways. What this is about is you going and getting the air. Just like when I have actors and they are struggling in scenes, I try to get them to find aggressive verbs to get them through the scene. What are they doing ? They arent allowed to use the word try. I dont care what youre trying to do but what are you doing ? When I can get people to stop holding their breath, which means your shoulders are going to be up around your ears and your burning all of this oxygen holding your breath, I want you to go and get the air and it will liberate a lot of things in the way your machine is working. It will free up all of these tension pockets that are devouring your oxygen. Youre holding your breath in your shoulders that are up around your ears, youre sequencing your face; all of these things are real, they arent affectations, youre scared and youre holding your breath. What is this anyway? Go get the air! Go get it! Its right up there. Seven feet above your head, just go get it. Now we are doing something! It gives people who are objective-oriented an objective because to hold is a counter-productive verb underwater. Its a little esoteric but its true, and as soon as people can wrap their brains around that they can go through the exercises with more ease and less tension. Tension just devours oxygen like Lady PacmanWaka-waka-waka. In your brain youve failed. It feels horrible. Nobody comes to XPT to fail. XPT: Lets shift a bit to long-term wellness and fitness. What do you think are the most important things to focus on as you evolve and grow older? Do you find it to be a bigger challenge when you get older or is it routine because youve always incorporated into your life? JM: Routine because Ive always fanatically incorporated it into my life. There are people who bust my chops but I dont really care. I mean, Ive got a bad ankle but Im stronger now than I was in high school, and I was really strong in high school. That feels good! It feels really good to leap from role to role, from film to film and be able to adapt. It isnt easy, but I have a tool kit: I can adapt and change. That process is not arduous because I dont let myself get out of shape. Getting into shape is a pain in the tail when youre out of shape, so for me, its better to stay in shape. XPT: Do your kids share your enthusiasm for health and wellness? How do you work out as a family? JM: I think it trickles down from Nicole being the biggest impact in their life. All three of them are terrific athletes. My oldestMax is 20was born with Down Syndrome. Hes very active in the surf and in the water and that feels good on his joints. My 9-year-old Billy does aerial work, and shes a ripped-up piece of steal. Kate, who is the 8-year-old, is Miss Soccer; shes a female Huck Finn. They dont work out as much as they play. Max will come to the pool with me; he loves being around Laird. Hes known Gabby since he was zero. He swims around. He doesnt do all the monkey business were doing, but he loves being there. XPT: Thanks for your time today! Can you leave us with any parting thoughts about XPT that resonate with you? Whats so interesting about XPT and our group is that it is a collection of alphas. Everybody is an alpha in his or her particular thing. Hutch is an alpha on a movie set, Darin is arguably one of the most alpha nutritionists on the whole planet, Laird is the alpha waterman and Im an alpha actor. Everyone up there is an alpha, but you got to check that at the door. That is not the way this is going down. This is not going to be who can be the biggest alpha. Laird is on top of the pyramid and everybody else can fill in; thats very liberating for a lot of people. Why are you going to compete with Laird? Thats pointless. I think, being able to lay your burden down in that sense and check your ego, its liberating for a lot of guys. Johns new show Stan Against Evil has won critical acclaim and starts up again in November. Check it out on IFC. We think its hilarious. And, to support the Global Down Syndrome Foundation click here.