TV heartthrob Antonio Sabato Jr. joined the “Circus” and developed an intense high-wire workout with a gymnastics twist.

After years of stripping down to his skivvies for billboards, magazine ads, TV cameras and legions of suds-loving housewives, actor Antonio Sabato Jr. went off last year to join the circus. Well, NBC’s “Celebrity Circus,” anyway. But as the perennially shirtless soap hunk and former underwear model will tell you, his high-wire reality-TV tricks were the real deal. Sabato Jr. not only flew with apparent ease on the flying trapeze, he nimbly traversed the Wheel of Death and expertly employed his rock-solid arms and abs to perform gravity-defying stunts while leaping from one Chinese pole to another. In the end, the summer series’ viewers voted him to “Celebrity Circus” victory, and the longtime fitness buff made off with a miniature trophy and a major interest in a new kind of core-building workout.

The dashing daredevil, who turns 37 in February, now incorporates rope climbing, ring flipping and other gymnastics feats in an exercise regimen that includes kickboxing, cross-training, occasional weightlifting and even go-cart racing and skydiving. Here, Sabato Jr. tells how gymnastics has even roped in his 6-year-old daughter, Mina Bree (son Jack Antonio, 14, may also sign up after nursing a recent skateboarding injury), while revitalizing his lifelong dedication to fitness. And as he gears up for his own VH1 matchmaking reality series set to air this spring, the Italian-cuisine enthusiast also shares what challenges the next potential Mrs. Sabato Jr. must meet to keep up with his circus-worthy physical and mental endurance.

Muscle & Body: You really showcased your physique — in particular your upper-body strength — in your “Celebrity Circus” challenges. How grueling was it to climb a pole using only your upper-body strength, with your legs extended horizontally?

Antonio Sabato Jr.: That was extremely hard. It was tough on my back and abs. I had to get massages on a weekly basis. I had small injuries — sprains, muscle aches. It was tough just to wake up in the morning. Other people got broken bones and other serious injuries. I didn’t go through that, thank God. But I stretched for a long time — being flexible really helped with the whole experience — and worked and focused on each apparatus one at a time.

You can’t really train for that stuff unless you’re doing gymnastics or [activities] like that. It was very technically tough … because you really don’t use those muscles a lot. Once you work on it and you get the technical aspect of it, it becomes a bit easier. But we only had two months to train, and that wasn’t really enough. I worked hard; I was always the one arriving early and leaving late, because I wanted to walk away knowing I was doing the best I could. Especially when the whole country’s watching.

M&B: Is it true that your mother and your grandfather both were in the circus?

ASJ: My mother was briefly when she was very young. And my grandfather [got involved in] the circus as a way to get out of the Communist party. He was from the Czech Republic, and back in the day the Russians kind of took over and there wasn’t any chance of leaving the country unless you had a business of some sort like this that would get you out. It was a way for my mom and her family to travel around Europe. They were very talented. They’d go from city to city. But it was very brief for my mother. She did it at a young age. But it’s funny how things kind of come full circle.

M&B: How did “Celebrity Circus” influence changes in your current workout? Were you ever involved in gymnastics as a kid?

ASJ: I started gymnastics when I was really young and living in Rome, before
I came to the States. I’ve always been interested in gymnastics, I just didn’t know where to train. It all came together when I met people from the circus. They directed me to the right place with the right coaches. Before you know it, I found the right place and started putting my kids in it. Recently, I started training in the gymnasium and doing gymnastics again. So we do a lot of rope climbing, parallel bars, rings, trampoline stuff, back flips, front lever pull-ups. Gymnastics is amazing. You’re using your own body strength and muscles you’d never use. 

When I was younger, I went from gymnastics to judo and then boxing and kickboxing. I’ve been training at Elite MMA in Thousand Oaks, [Calif.], for about nine years. I’ve been going to gyms, too, but gymnastics is different, and I love it. I have a great trainer named Tristan, and he pushes me really hard. He teaches boys who are going to Olympic tryouts in Colorado Springs.

Amazing bodies come out of gymnastics — girls and boys. And it’s a great base for anybody. My daughter started doing it, too, and she’s already on the gymnastics team. It’s a great environment for kids. Any parents who put their kids in gymnastics, whether their children are boys or girls, find out quickly that the kids are going to have a ball. My son had a skateboarding accident a couple of months ago — he broke his collarbone and his wrist — but he was in mixed martial arts, and he’ll go back to that, and he’s thinking of doing gymnastics, too.

M&B: So how varied is your workout now?

ASJ: I do gymnastics three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I take my daughter to school and then I do an hour of intense cross-training at the gymnasium. We do handstands one hand at a time. We climb the rope. We do a lot of stretching. I’m trying to get into a split by the end of the year, but, oh, that hurts, man, to get that flexible.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I do a lot of sparring in the cage down at Elite MMA. And then sometimes I go to Gold’s and work out with weights. But I enjoy gymnastics much more than I do weight training. 

M&B: And you find gymnastics gives you the same results for your abs and pecs?

ASJ: Oh, yeah. Gymnastics is all about your core. I’ve always been strong with my abs, but these exercises are taking me to another level. To do a lever one way and then the other way, or to hold yourself a certain way without any help but your abs is excruciating. I really enjoy working with my own body weight.

M&B: How else has your workout evolved now that you’re in your mid-30s?

ASJ: Definitely staying lean [is a big focus]. I think right now, my workout is more technical, more about endurance. I’m pushing myself more than ever, because I know it’s tougher [to stay in top shape] as you get older. But I enjoy it more, and I make it part of my life to do different things. Whenever I’m on location, I get to a racetrack and do go-cart racing. I do a lot of laps, and that works your lower back. And I go skydiving. And I’m running a lot uphill and downhill when I’m on location. I really am open to cross-training, especially when I’m away doing films and I can’t find a gym. I do a lot of sit-ups, a lot of lower back exercises, a lot of push-ups.

M&B: Since your Calvin Klein underwear days, you’ve diligently kept your physique in top form. What has motivated your dedication to fitness?

ASJ: [As an underwear model], I didn’t want to look like a bodybuilder; I really wanted to look natural. My concern was working hard, staying lean. If you need to run, you run. I wanted to stay flexible, like a gazelle or a leopard. And I like to keep myself at a certain weight, about 180–185 lb. If I go lower than 180 lb, my face becomes a little too thin. At 180–185 lb, I feel comfortable and have a lot of energy and I don’t look too big.

Training for me has always been a release. It helps me relieve stress, it gives me an opportunity to go somewhere else and not think about responsibilities. So for me, gyms are a great place to go to get away. And thank God for that, because in my line of business as an actor, you never know when you’re gonna be working and how long you’ll be working. It helps me throughout my day to know I’ve done something when I get up and that I’ve gotten it out of the way and can pursue acting opportunities. I also like to do things outdoors. I like to work out in different environments and situations — not always just in a gym. I like to go back and forth between different types of training.

M&B: We hear you’ll be skydiving in your upcoming VH1 reality show.

ASJ: The thing is to really show the things I do and who I am as a person. And [the contestants] are pretty much going to live my life, getting up early in the morning with me. If I decide to go skydiving or go fishing for a big marlin, they’re gonna have to go skydiving or fishing with me. We’ll see who’s willing to do this with me. Maybe no one. We’ll see if they’re true and if they’re real.

M&B: How important is it to you to find a woman who’s up to physical challenges?

ASJ: It’s very important to have someone who’s willing to do things like that with me, and challenge herself and challenge me. It’s a matter of pushing each other. We don’t have to get along about everything. That’s the whole point of living with someone — you find the best and the worst and you work it out. At the end of the day, it’s got to be a girl who’s willing to work things out and not want to take the easy road. I’m not saying I’m the easiest person to live with. We all have our problems, and I’m sure that the show will reveal parts of that. But at the end of the day, if you love someone and the chemistry is there, then, hey, go for it.

M&B: You always enjoy cooking. How do you eat healthy while staying true to an Italian cuisine?

ASJ: You want to leave the carbohydrates to earlier in the day, no later than midday. Don’t eat pasta and other carbs in the afternoon and evening. You want to go to sleep having some protein in your body. Overall, you just want to eat more food during the day and less during the night. It’s a matter of balancing things out and not pushing yourself to eat the same things every day. I don’t like too many sweets, but I have my good days and my bad days. I know my body better than anybody, so I just do what I need to do.

M&B: You recently returned to your soap-hunk roots for a gig on the “General Hospital” spin-off “Night Shift.” How hard is it to stay camera-ready-ripped?

ASJ: I make exercise a part of my lifestyle. My workout isn’t easy to do, so I don’t get up and say, “Oh, God, I can’t wait to do this.” I’m in the gym all day. It’s a habit that makes me feel good. I think the leaner you are as you get older and your metabolism slows down, the better you are in the long run. You don’t want to have too much weight that will be difficult to get rid of. That’s why I do what I do. And I’m proud of that, because I’ve been doing it my whole life. And I have no plans of stopping.

Chris Mann is a writer and editor of the pop culture webzine Retroality.TV.