Sacha Baron Cohen is in full transformation mode and he wants you to see every ab, vein and tongue‑in‑cheek caption.
The 53-year-old actor, forever immortalised as Borat in that infamous mankini, has swapped slapstick for serious steel in a new Men’s Fitness UK cover shoot, unveiled on Instagram on Wednesday.
In the sneak peek for the August issue, Sacha glistens under gym lights, muscles pumped and oiled as he curls dumbbells, bangs out pull-ups and strikes poses that look more Marvel than mockumentary. It is a dramatic reveal timed perfectly to his debut as Mephisto, the devilish new supervillain in Marvel’s Disney+ series Ironheart.
Men’s Fitness teased “the king of comedy” inside, promising an interview that explains what it actually took to sculpt a comic mastermind into a comic book menace. Sacha did not wait for the magazine to land on doorsteps to start the jokes.
Reposting the cover on his Instagram Stories, he wrote, “This is not AI, I really am egotistical enough to do this.” In a follow-up slide he added, “Some celebs use Ozempic, some use private chefs, others use personal trainers. I did all three.” A third gag, as dry as a protein bar, read: “hard launching [his] mid-life crisis,” before he introduced “my new character: Middle aged man who replaced beer with protein shakes.”
The humour is classic Sacha, but there is sincerity tucked between the punchlines. According to a preview obtained by Deadline, he confesses in the cover story that he started this journey “having the core strength of an arthritic jellyfish.”
© NBCU Photo Bank via Getty ImagesTranslation: even a guy who has dangled from the ceiling as Brüno and wrestled as Ali G was not exactly ready for superhero combat.
So he phoned a friend. In this case, Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey, a man who knows his way around a set and a sweat session, pointed him to trainer Alfonso “The Angry Trainer” Moretti.
© GettyAlfonso recalls their first Zoom like a casting call for a rebooted Mr. Bean. “He looked like a ruler, straight up and down,” the trainer told the outlet, after asking Sacha to strip down to his underwear for an honest baseline.
That first impression might have been blunt, but Alfonso says he could see “an athlete in hiding.” His mission was to coax that hidden athlete to the surface with a punishingly simple formula: a low sugar, high fiber diet and a relentless routine that demanded 100 push-ups every day. On Instagram, Sacha tossed credit right back: he thanked Alfonso for “doing the unthinkable and putting up with [him] for 25 mins a day.”
The results speak for themselves. In the shoot, Sacha’s torso looks Photoshopped, which is why he preemptively joked about AI.
© GettyThere is a sculpted chest, etched abs and the kind of definition that screams months of discipline rather than a quick celebrity detox. The gym backdrop is spartan, all iron and grit, which makes the transformation pop even more.
Timing is everything in show business, and Sacha’s physical reveal arrives just weeks after a very personal headline. In June, he finalised his divorce from Isla Fisher after nearly 14 years of marriage and more than two decades together.
The former couple released a joint statement last month that read: “We are proud of all we’ve achieved together and, continuing our great respect for each other, we remain friends and committed to co-parenting our wonderful children.”
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