How to Keep Fit
Clint Eastwood of ‘Rawhide’ advises diet, rest, exercise
Clint Eastwood of CBS’s Rawhide believes television is a medium that can make you lazy no matter which side of the screen you’re on.
Eastwood doesn’t know what viewers are doing about the bulges that come from moving only to change the channel, but he thinks they should be doing something.
“Particularly with kids who watch a lot of TV instead of playing,” he says, “a few pushups during the commercials would do wonders.”
An actor who practices what he preaches, Eastwood, at 29, is one of TV’s finer physical specimens.
Except for body-surfing — a sport in which he literally makes a surfboard of himself and rides the waves in at San Clemente, Cal. — he believes his physical training regimen is one the average male can follow.
“Walking and running are the best exercises if you can’t get to a gymnasium or a swimming pool regularly,” he says. “I work out on Saturday mornings along the Los Angeles River with a friend. We run as hard as we can for a hundred yards, then walk for a hundred, then trot for a while, then walk again.”
A former lumberjack and Army swimming instructor, Eastwood tries to keep his muscles in such good tone that he could make a living as a stunt man if necessary. On the Rawhide set he competes with stunt extras in Indian wrestling and in such tricks as holding a sledge upright in one hand at arm’s length and letting the head of the sledge down slowly toward his own head. Such horseplay is good for the series, Eastwood believes.
“A lot of actors,” Clint says, “don’t condition themselves to long periods of hard physical effort. Toward the end of the day it shows up in their performances.”
And he has some tips for viewers who find that just watching a bar-room brawl tires them:
- The worst exercise you can get is with a knife and fork. Try to stay away from carbohydrates, especially rich desserts.
- Keep a scale in your bathroom and use it each morning. If you see the dial creeping over the figure you want, start watching your diet that day. A gradual increase in weight is hard to get rid of.
- You need proper rest for good health. It’s amazing how many people ignore it. Try to get your sleep during the right hours, not 4 A.M. to noon.
- Try to be optimistic; a bright outlook helps in everything. A discouraged attitude is a physical hindrance.
- Eat fruits and raw vegetables like carrots, celery, cauliflower, lettuce, asparagus. You get the vitamins in their natural state. Take vitamin tablets, because they supply ingredients often lacking in foods.
- Watch the amount of liquids you consume, and skip beverages loaded with sugars. Avoid alcohol in excess.
- Most important, see your doctor for a physical check-up.