This Guy Went From "The Fat Kid" To Hugh Jackman's Stunt Double

You’d never guess that Davenport, who entered our fourth-annual Ultimate Men's Health Guy Search, was teased and bullied throughout school for his weight.

But he was, and as the 35-year-old model, actor, and stunt-double for Hugh Jackman looks back, he wishes he could tell that kid sitting alone in the lunch room that, “Someday, your inside will be reflected on your outside, and you will be exactly who you want to be.”

Davenport grew up in Tarpon Springs, Fla., watching action movies. He always admired the heroes, dreaming of someday being one of them. His single mom worked three jobs to keep food on the table, so his diet consisting of “whatever was cheapest”— usually Easy Mac, Top Ramen or Cup-A-Noodles.

Despite his weight, he stayed active by playing baseball through high school. His size never really bothered him until high school, when girls started to say things like, “He’s nice and funny, but I don’t want to date the fat kid.”

Once Davenport started college, most of his friends from high school were still a year below him, so he had a lot of time on his hands.

“My sister knew I had free time so she asked me, ‘What do you want to do for you?’ And I said, ‘I don’t want to be fat anymore.’”

His sister came across a book, Body For Life, and told him to take a look at it. Davenport read the entire book in one night, inspired and amazed by the pictures of people even heavier than he was undergoing drastic body transformations.

“I remember getting so excited, because now I had proof that I could do it,” he recalls.

The book included an entire exercise and diet program. He and his sister decided to fully commit to the book's program together.

The process was simple, but brutal. Davenport jumped straight into a new workout regimen and completely overhauled his diet. He said goodbye to processed foods he was used to, like Cup-A-Noodles, mac and cheese, pizza, and candy —and started loading up on whole foods, like fruits, veggies, whole grains, and lean meats.

“I had to teach myself how to cook. Some of the steaks I was cooking were absolutely disgusting. I had no idea what I was doing. It was a lot of trial and error,” said Davenport of the first few weeks of his transformation.

But he was determined to prove everybody wrong, so he resisted his cravings for Taco Bell and candy bars, no matter how bad they were. Giving himself a cheat day every Sunday made the change bearable.

“I would be in the Taco Bell drive-thru Saturday night at 11:58 p.m., and as soon as it hit midnight, I’d buy Taco Bell,” said Davenport, “After my Taco Bell I’d go home, go to bed. Then I’d wake up, and if I wanted to eat pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I'd do it.”

The program also included a full workout regimen, which would alternate between weight-training days and cardio days (check out the Men's Health App for workouts from your favorite fitness stars). The weight training alternated between upper- and lower-body days and the cardio days were specified workouts that were typically 20 minutes long.

In just four months, Davenport went from 230 to 178 pounds, a total loss of 52 pounds. He's put on some healthy, lean muscle since then and today fluctuates between 190 and 195 pounds.

(Looking for workouts that will help you lose fat and build lean muscle? Check out Metashred Extreme by Men's Health.)

But that was only the beginning. Davenport still had dreams of being an action star, so when an opportunity in Orlando came up to work for a dinner show, “kind of like Medieval Times but with pirates,” he took it. It was there that Davenport learned basic stunt moves, like sword fighting, hand-to-hand combat, and high falls.

Shortly after, he got another opportunity to open a show in California. There, he met people who worked in movies and television. He also faced some harsh realities.

“I met with agents, and they asked me what I wanted to do, and I said I wanted to be in action movies. They literally asked me to lift up my shirt, saw my stomach, and told me I wouldn’t make it, because I was just average,” said Davenport. “I was just skinny; I wasn’t muscular.”

Davenport said he picked up a copy of Men’s Health and on the cover was Ryan Reynolds, who had a similar body type to his at the time—so he opened the issue to find out exactly what he needed to do to get cut like the cover guy.

“I looked at what he ate and what workouts he did, and tried to follow that. In the issue, he said he did ab exercises first, because it was meditative. I started doing that, too, and to this day I still do my ab exercises before I start a workout. It really is meditative,” he said.

Davenport also started educating himself on exactly what he needed to eat, scaled back on the cheat days, and started focusing on muscle gain by lifting weights and adding in high-intensity interval training. He kept the cover hung up in his room as motivation.

At the time, Davenport was working on a show that was about to end. He had no back-up plan, but then he got another lucky break: A friend in the business called him up the night of his last show, which was a Halloween special, and told him about a movie opportunity.

“My Halloween show ended at 3:30 in the morning, and this guy told me to be on set at 5:30 that same morning,” he said, “So I went home, showered, got some food, and headed over.”

There were hundreds of guys at the audition, but the stunt coordinator took a look at Davenport and thought he was close to the same height as the lead actor. He got the gig, and would stunt for the lead actor and a few “robot scenes,” and that was it.

Davenport didn't know anything about the movie until a few weeks later: That movie was Real Steel, and the lead actor was Hugh Jackman.

It snowballed from there, and he went on to stunt for Jackman in a number of movies, including the most recent X-Men movie, Logan. In addition to stunting for Jackman, Davenport also got to play the role of Jackman’s clone in Logan.

Hollywood may have changed his face, but the body in the movie was all Davenport.

So how does a busy guy whose job is completely dependent on his body stay in shape? Turns out, it’s not as impossible as you might think.

“Unless I need to achieve a really specific look, I change up what I’m doing every three months,” he said. He alternates between heavy weight training to light resistance training and bodyweight exercises about every three months to "give (his) joints a break."

Davenport said that he normally works out 6 days a week, splitting them up between cardio and strength training. He sticks to high intensity intervals for his cardio days.

“Windsprints are the best, especially if you’re trying to shred up and lean out,” said Davenport, “They make you feel like you’re going to die, but they really work.”

As for his diet, it took years of experimenting to finally figure out what his body responded best to. Davenport alternates between eating 6 to 8 small meals a day, usually "lean meals" consisting of grilled chicken, quinoa and asparagus, and intermittent fasting. Davenport has found that intermittent fasting helps him lean out quickly and also allows him to have more flexibility in his eating schedule outside of his fast. On his fasting days, Davenport will pick an 8-hour window to eat and then fast for the other 16. (For meals that will help you cut fat and maintain muscle, check out the Metashred Diet from Men's Health.)

He also said goodbye to his cheat days: “I’ll go crazy for frozen yogurt, but my body is so used to eating clean that it kind of rejects anything that is outside of my diet,” he explains. “People always ask me why I’m so strict about my diet and working out. In this industry, how I look is really the only thing I have any control over.”

Inspired by Davenport's story? Anyone can make a change like he did, he says.

“It’s all about your mindset. You need to figure out exactly what it is you want it to be and always keep that in your mind,” he said, “And remember that the process takes time, so don’t get discouraged when you aren’t seeing any results. Just trust the process and stick to it.”

The Ultimate Men's Health Guy Search is still accepting entries! Think you've got what it takes to be our November cover star? Enter through June 20, 2017.