The ‘Actually Quite Simple’ Way Mac From ‘Always Sunny’ Got Jacked
For us, it all began in June 2018 during the Los Angeles Pride Parade. Rob McElhenney, the actor who plays Ronald "Mac" McDonald on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, was spotted alongside co-star Danny DeVito on a float looking less like his beer-bellied bartender character and more like a beast; Mac was jacked. Everyone, from strangers on the internet to former Philadelphia Phillies second-baseman (and Mac favorite) Chase Utley, was impressed by his weight loss transformation.
For McElhenney, the transformation started months earlier. Once upon a time, McElhenney went in the opposite direction, gaining 60 pounds over the course of 7 months, because he thought a fat Mac would make for a funnier Mac. The 42-year-old gained the weight between the sixth and seventh seasons of the FX sitcom, putting away four 1,000 calorie meals a day.
Well, what's funnier than fat Mac? A fat Mac that's all of a sudden a jacked Mac. So that's what McElhenney did. He went Christian Bale and transformed his body again. All in the name of comedy? Hell no.“The truth is: I have more dedication to the paycheck,” McElhenney explains.
Over the past year, we’ve spoken to McElhenney about the reaction to his transformation and the unrealistic expectations of looking like jacked Mac forever. Recently, McElhenney, now the star of Mythic Quest and the proud co-owner of a Welsh soccer team, sat down with his business partner—one Ryan Reynolds—for a more in depth talk on bodies, insecurities, and masculinity.
Here are McElhenney’s most sage observations from the past year.
On getting jacked:
"I’m not going to get into the medical science. Let me just tell you something. Increased levels of testosterone is just a cross I have to bare."
On his diet and workout routine:
"I’m gonna break it down for you, because it’s actually quite simple, and anybody can do this. Anybody on the planet can do this. First thing’s first: if you have job—like a 9-5 job—quit that. Do you like food? Forget about that. Because you’re never going to enjoy anything you eat. Alcohol? Sorry. That’s out. So what you need to do—you have a chef, right? like a personal chef?—make sure the chef makes you a lot of chicken breast. And make sure you keep your caloric intake at a certain level. And as you go to your physician 2-3 times a week—just to monitor all your testosterone levels—because testosterone is important to building muscle. You’re good friends with the trainer from Magic Mike? Arin Babaian. So you want to give Arin a call. And you want to make sure he’s at your house and takes you to the gym at least twice a day, because you’re gonna want to do your muscle-building in the morning and then your cardio in the afternoon. Now, do you have a family? Like a significant other or kids? Yeah, forget about them. You’re not going to have time to deal with them.
"So that’s really all you have to do. And make sure you have a studio pay for the entire thing, because it could become exceptionally expensive. So, I think if you just do all those things, then you too can have an absolutely unrealistic body type, such as me."
On why men want to get jacked
“The people who were most fascinated by my body when I was in great shape were dudes. Women could give two shits. In fact, my wife really was displeased with the way I looked, because she felt like I was trying too hard, and I was. I was! There’s this fascination that men want to look like that and men want to be that aesthetically pleasing to other men. I’m actually talking about straight men as much as men in the gay community. It’s interesting that it’s not based in sexuality or sex appeal and more about this body image that we’ve sort of grown accustomed to.”
On Hollywood’s changing ideal of "jacked"
“Aesthetically, the superhero stuff hasn’t helped. We now have this ideal of being the biggest dude or the most ripped guy in the room. Brad Pitt, for example, in Fight Club—that’s the body type that I hear more men talk about than anything else. But Brad Pitt in Fight Club is probably 150 pounds soaking wet—he’s just all sinewy muscle—and I bet if you stood next to him back in 1999, or whenever that movie was, he would seem frail, because the ideal body type now is fucking jacked.”
On no longer being jacked?
"I’m gonna give you a little lesson in biology: the abs are always there. They’re IN there. They’re just behind a bunch of tacos and tequila. I was enjoying myself on vacation. The abs are there. And the second I want to those abs to come back, all it takes is 3-4 months of starving myself."
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