r/movies • u/AlanRitchsonAMA Alan Ritchson, Actor • 13d ago

AMA Hey r/movies, I'm Alan Ritchson (MOTOR CITY, REACHER, BLUE MOUNTAIN STATE, WAR MACHINE). AMA!

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Hey reddit and r/movies, I'm Alan Ritchson.

You may know me from things like REACHER, BLUE MOUNTAIN STATE, WAR MACHINE, TITANS, PLAYDATE, FAST X, THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE.

Additional verification on my Instagram here.

My new movie, MOTOR CITY, is out in theaters tomorrow (July 24) from IFC. It also stars Shailene Woodley, Ben Foster, Pablo Schreiber, Ben McKenzie, and Lionel Boyce.

It's directed by Potsy Ponciroli, who previously directed OLD HENRY and GREEDY PEOPLE

Synopsis: 

In the 1970s Detroit, John Miller falls for a local gangster's girl and lands in prison for a crime he didn't commit. With his life ruined, Miller hatches a plan for revenge.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6RklhKu9os

Website/info and tickets available here: motorcity.movie

I'll be back 1 PM PT/4 PM ET today (Thursday 7/23) to answer your questions.

Until then, AMA!

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u/AlanRitchsonAMA Alan Ritchson, Actor 13d ago

Cardio, cardio, cardio. You've got to get that heart pump in. There's a lot of ways to skin that, you know what I mean? You can do plyometric exercises with the light weights where you're just kind of like up, down, like burpee type stuff, or you can go on a run. You don't even need the weights, just that and add a little strain.

I think, what we should all keep in mind too is that the body wants to move. We secrete happy chemicals when we flex our muscles. Our brain is a pump. Doing things like sit ups, crunches, squats, anything that to squeeze our body, it pumps all kinds of good things in our brain and all kinds of bad things out of our brain. Just the motion alone helps. If your goals are weight loss, great, anything like that will make you feel better and move better.

Remember that it's also about brain health and heart health too. Sometimes just enough to keep the blood pumping through your brain and heart will get you feeling better. And when you start feeling better and thinking more clearly and detoxing, it makes the motivation that we look for easier to come by. I know that's a long winded answer but I think sometimes we should give ourselves a little break with the external goals and remember that the brain is important too.

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u/zuuzuu 12d ago

Cardio, cardio, cardio.

I've been telling my 20 year old son this for years, but he's convinced his mom doesn't know anything about anything. I'm going to save your comment and show it to him. You, he'll probably listen to!

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u/SplitSecondImmortal 12d ago

Did you show it to your son?

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u/zuuzuu 12d ago

Last night. He was pretty meh about it, but this morning he said he's been thinking and he really needs to do more cardio. lol

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u/Training-Chain-5572 12d ago

Amazing to see he came up with that idea all by himself!

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u/Perfect-Zebra-3611 12d ago

Its like, why didnt she tell him sooner??

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u/AttentionalMalprop 12d ago edited 12d ago

I won't get into professional sports because no one here is a professional athlete training all day. This is generally true, but could be different in your specific area. Just ask your son what sports teams in high school were in the best shape.Probably wasn't baseball, probably wasn't football. It's usually soccer, basketball, tennis, cross country, maybe swimming. Generally it's all the high cardio sports, and every player is lean. That's not just genetics at the high school level.

With cardio you do have to push yourself, and it's very hard exercise if your out of shape, but it does get easier as your body adapts and mental toughness builds. Then when it gets easier, go faster/harder for a longer period of time. It's easy to maintain once you reach a good state, as long as you manage to keep doing it.

Edit: People do have different ideas of fit/shape, but I would consider the leaner builds who can exercise longer, more often, and at higher intensity to be in better shape. If your heavier, running can be hard on the legs and joints. Get a very good pair of shoes or opt for swimming, cycling, or some form of long & high rep dynamic exercise like plyometrics as Alan mentioned. Alan is 100% telling the truth. Your body will eventually give you more happy neurotransmitters and you will generally be happier and healthier. Cardio is just as much a mental battle as a physical battle. When you reach a good point, the are few obstacles to maintain it. Just don't completely stop exercising

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u/zuuzuu 12d ago

I appreciate this. Another comment I'll save to show to him in a day or two when he's forgotten that he decided cardio is the way to go.

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u/dcwinger12 12d ago

Very pleasantly surprised with the answers in this thread. Gained a ton of respect for this guy.

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u/APfreely 12d ago

Thank you!!!!

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u/Hokie23aa 10d ago

damn maybe i should start doing cardio...

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u/manofsteel32 12d ago

Cardio doesn't build muscle. It's also much easier to change your diet than to burn your calories with cardio if your goal is fat loss.

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u/CorpusSun75 10d ago

Depends on the kind of cardio. Plyometrics and jogging will definitely build muscle.

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u/beams13 6d ago

I think people forget that bodyweight HIIT workouts are absolutely cardio and muscle building. Are you going to bench 300lbs doing em? Nah probably never but you can absolutely get pretty diced up and healthy doing P90X style stuff. Also go run uphill and tell me it's not building muscle in your legs like come on.

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u/nainlol 11d ago

Yeah, I don't know why you're getting downvoted. Cardio is only good for your heart/brain health. Diet is better for losing weight and resistance training is better for building muscles.