Workplace Fitness: Matt Damon on balancing career, fitness, & family

I've always thought how great it would be to have a job that naturally keeps you in shape, and of the jobs in the world that do that being a celebrity is at the top of the list. Starring in an action movie often means months of vigorous training and workouts before filming even begins, and a star like Matt Damon would know that better than anybody with his third Jason Bourne movie, The Bourne Ultimatum, out this summer.

Damon, who's 36 years old, has been in famously good shape to play the ex-hitman character over the years, but this time was different: he has a family now. Damon was quoted as saying of his life before "I really used to have no life outside movies. I'd work all day, go to the gym and go to sleep." But then he married his wife Luciana back in 2005 and they now have a 1 year old daughter together, Isabella, both which give him a reason to come home after work instead of always working out. And despite the film being shot in a total of 8 different locations the family was only separated once.
Of course being a healthy fit parent is important, and it's always nice to see when somebody can balance career and family and fitness successfully. Damon explains how he never used to skip workouts but he did miss a few during this movie, and that staying up nights with the baby gave him the ragged worn-out look they wanted for the movie that he used to have to get by staying out all night in Paris. Of course there are trade-offs, and apparently towards the end of filming they had to get a little creative to work around Damon's "belly" while he made a point to keep a jacket on at all times. But the director said it was all good, and that Damon's newfound family situation was helping his performance, not hurting. And I'm sorry, "belly" or not, Matt Damon still looks pretty darn healthy (and sexy!) to me. And ya gotta love a happy daddy.