How Did These Super Hot Male Stars Get So Fit?

Ch 8 fans may find Zong Zijie familiar. The up-and-coming actor is currently playing the lead role of a rebellious and introverted 17-year-old student in coming-of-age Ch 8 drama While We Are Young, acting alongside Zoe Tay and Rebecca Lim. On stepping into showbiz, Zijie shares that he was discovered by host Dasmond Koh four years ago, and dropped out of polytechnic after one term to pursue his acting dreams. He says: “I haven’t taken any acting classes but I read many books on acting, and watch this YouTube channel called Into The Actor’s Studio, where Hollywood actors give tips on acting. Aloysius [Pang] introduced it to me, and I find it very useful!”

The 1.76m, 66kg lad hits the gym every day, doing compound workouts like deadlifts, bench presses and squats. The actor also finds time to squeeze in cardio exercises such as martial arts and muay thai three times a week. “I was very motivated when I first joined NoonTalk and my boss Dasmond told me it’s a waste there aren’t any artistes in our agency who can appear in topless photoshoots,” Zijie shares. “I felt that it was my chance to outshine the rest, so I started working out intensively (laughs).”

The self-confessed foodie cooks his own meals daily. These include air-fried chicken and lots of steamed veggies. However, he also indulges in junk food every now and then, saying; “I love burgers and potato chips. If you put them in front of me, I won’t be able to stop eating them.” He adds: “It’s fine though, just work harder in the gym the next day to burn off the calories!”

Singapore is a special country for Taiwanese model-actor Allen Chen, who filmed his first speaking role here, as an immigrant in Ch 8 period drama The Journey: A Voyage, in 2013. He says: “It was super memorable and I am very thankful for the chance to act in a blockbuster. I learnt a lot from Nanxing Da Ge.” Viewers who miss seeing Allen on local TV will be thrilled to know that he plays an international supermodel in upcoming Toggle series VIC, which also stars Carrie Wong and Desmond Tan. Allen adds: “My character is a little psychotic. I see women as prey and do things like drug their drinks or take nude photos of them. It’s interesting to portray him. (Laughs)”

Since his humble beginnings in Singapore, Allen has taken on bigger projects, which include playing a bandit in Taiwanese-Chinese comedy The Village of No Return (2017), starring A-listers Shu Qi, Joseph Chang and Tony Yang. Allen shares: “I was so nervous when I found out the lead actress was Shu Qi! I usually see her on the big screen and there she was, standing right in front of me. It was very surreal.”

The 1.86m, 77kg muscular model experienced a fitness slump when he had to go for knee surgery last September. “I couldn’t exercise for more than a month and saw my weight increase to 84kg. It was very demoralising,” he shares. These days, he works out daily, doing push-ups, pull-ups, bench presses and more. As for meals, he eats mainly chicken breast meat and veggies, and avoids carbs during dinner. He adds: “I do treat myself to a cheesecake every now and then so that I don’t feel too miserable! (Laughs)”

If you find this hunk familiar, that’s because he was one of the members of local rock band Mi Lu Bing, who won the inaugural Ch U band competition SuperBand 12 years ago. Since then, Nic has been working on music-related projects, going from being a freelance music producer to joining Singapore Raffles Music College as a studio engineer four months ago. The musician also released his first EP ‘I Am Nic Lee’ last September. He says: “In my EP, there are songs that I created seven years ago, and also some new works. People know me for singing rock songs but I experimented and sang a ballad as well as a dance track.”

When he first started working out, Nic kept to a high protein diet which consisted of four to five chicken breasts a day, lots of hardboiled eggs, veggies and protein shakes. “I was taking in 4,500 calories a day to gain mass,” he says. “Nowadays, I’m not so strict with my diet. A typical breakfast is a wrap from McDonald’s while lunch and dinner are usually mixed vegetable rice. I don’t restrict my diet too much, as long as I don’t lose too much muscle.”

He may be ripped now but Nic, who’s 1.72m and 65.5kg, used to weigh only 56kg. “Three years ago, I was drinking three to four times a week. I was skinny, and I felt that I was very unhealthy and ageing very quickly,” he shares. Nic made it a point to change his lifestyle and started hitting the gym five days a week, spending more than two hours lifting weights each time. These days, as he’s working full-time, he works out twice a week and focuses on full body workouts such as squats, deadlifts and bench presses.