Doug Blasdell: Work Out's Openly Gay Role Model

AE: Did you have any idea what you were getting into with this show?
DB: I had an idea. But when I took the job here's what was most important to me: to portray a gay man as a healthy guy who is somewhat good looking and normal. Not over the top gay. That's important because Hollywood doesn't show that a lot. Then they bring in Jesse who is more Jack on Will and Grace. I'm glad they did in general because it makes me more “normal”, and I want to portray a real gay man for those people in Nebraska that are afraid to come out.

AE: Because they need role models, too.
DB: Not everybody's like Jack on Will and Grace. I also wanted to show that you can be in your 40's and still have a good body and have a healthy life style. I know a lot of forty year olds let their body's go. You can have great abs and be forty-three. You just have to work out two or three days a week. And I saw it as an opportunity to be a role model. I have no family members left in my life, so I'm not going to hurt anyone if something went wrong.

AE: Is the show all real?
DB: I think a lot of it, all the way up to the last episode, depicts real life gym. Especially an LA one. There are a lot of stars. And a lot of strong personalities. And most trainers want to be actors. So, they have big personalities and big egos. That comes across in the show, even with Jackie. Jackie is a strong personality.

AE: What are you doing now?
DB: I'm a fitness director at Train with Hollywood. It's a private gym in LA. Trainers never focus on one gym. We have our in-homes. And we normally cover like three gyms.

AE: Tell us about your work out philosophy regarding touch?
DB: After being in this for twenty-two years, I found that most people--men, women, straight, or gay--all they want is attention. It doesn't matter if they're some beautiful actors or somebody with teeth going in 20 directions. Everybody wants love. Some of my movie star clientele especially want attention.

If I was gonna tell you to be a trainer, my biggest advice is to touch your clients at least 30 times through the hour and I guarantee they'll come back. Stretch them or rub their shoulders. It's the same thing in my spinning class. I try to talk to at least 10 to 15 people. I'll get off my bike and touch their butt. Even the women loved to be slapped on the butt. It goes a long way.

AE: What's your advice for people wanting to get in shape?
DB: You have to make the commitment. That's the biggest point. Whenever you are trying to get stop drinking or changing a diet, you've got to really want to do it. No weak commitments. The number one thing is commitment. If you can do that, you've done 50 percent of the work.

AE: Lastly, we know Jody Watley is one of your clients? Is she cool?
DB: We're actually like brother and sister. We spend a lot of time together. I'm going to train her son this summer. He wants a build. He's not too confident. My goal is to make him feel good about his body. That's what my dad did with me.