Isha Blaaker has reinvented herself from the ground up

Born in South America Isha Blaker grew up in the Netherlands and was a national karate champion both as a teenager and as a high school graduate. He won titles in Belgium and also competed in the Israeli Karate Championships later that year successful career in martial arts.

Blaaker has a degree in business administration and a master's degree in management consulting, but modeling became his priority when he moved to New York and immersed himself in the fashion industry. Since then, Blaaker has graced countless billboards, posters and magazine covers, representing brands such as Ralph Lauren, Hugo Boss and Tommy Hilfiger.

He's also starting to make a name for himself on the big screen, thanks to appearances in hit shows like HBO'sThe flight attendant. And as someone who defies the “airhead” stereotype of a model, Isha Blaaker also speaks five languages.

But with his sights now firmly set on dominating Hollywood, the popular pin-up talks to M&F about his current approach to health and fitness and shares how he's getting over his old bad habits to focus more on how he looked on camera, rather than his functional fitness, led to problems with his back. Fortunately, the competitive flame that first ignited karate still exists today.

But how did Blaaker balance karate tournaments with a fledgling modeling career in those early days? Was he afraid of breaking his moneymaker? “Yes,” laughs Blaaker. "I may have broken a few other people's noses too. That was definitely an issue. I did MMA for a while too. I remember one time this really tall guy hit me right between my eyebrows, and if it had been an inch lower [he would have broken my nose]. But there are a lot of actors and models who compete. The biggest problem for me was the velcro scratches from the gloves in MMA and on my face. Showing up [to a modeling job] is either way or with a black eye unprofessional, but it gave me a certain work ethic.”

Isha Blaaker's abs are done in the kitchen

With a busy schedule of modeling, acting and auditions, Blaaker has learned that being ready means staying ready.

“Actually now [my abs] are really good,” he says. “I found a few things that really work for me now. Abs are made in the kitchen, so I try intermittently fast. That helps a lot. Coffee helps a lot. I do fasted cardio in the morning. So no food and then I go out and do jump rope for 30 to 45 minutes. This helps a lot in losing weight and then the abdominal muscles come out. I also go running. When I travel, I don’t always have access to a gym, so I like to do that.”

When it comes to food, like many in the modeling industry, Blaaker has experimented with extreme diets, but he has learned that they are unsustainable and harmful to his health, so instead he makes sure to eat enough food to fuel himself, but finds that Intermittent fasting is a great way to stay in control. “I usually try to eat my biggest meal in the evening and no snacks,” says Blaaker. "So I won't eat for 12 hours after [my evening meal]. Sleep is also part of it, and I drink coffee in the morning, which takes away my hunger."

Blaaker's first meal of the day usually consists of 85 grams of oatmeal with two whole eggs and four additional egg whites. Sometimes he replaces the eggs with protein powder. Blaaker likes Gold Standard Whey, but says he only mixes it with water because he finds it sweet enough on its own. "I'm going to make sure I have those six eggs at some point during the day so I can maybe eat the eggs with something else later," he shares. "I try to stick to the same meals because it makes things easier and I don't have to think about it." Isha Blaaker may take the six eggs with his dinner, but his busy schedule means he has to be flexible and may opt for a wrap from a deli to avoid worrying too much about counting calories.

Isha Blaaker finally gets to the heart of the training

In his early days of modeling, Blaaker admitted he would Focus almost exclusively on building his chest so it would look good in photos, but he was worried about sizing up too much and not being able to fit into the dress pattern sizes, so he would neglect other body parts. “But I would have problems in my lower back,” he admits. “Now I train my core and glutes so I don’t get these problems.” Blaaker has found that his many cardio hours spent jumping rope also have a nice side benefit of being beneficial to his core. "The funny thing about core muscles is that they're behind your abs. I don't think you necessarily need to see them. The ones you see are from losing weight," shares the fashionista. But without a doubt, building these deeper muscles like the transversus abdominis and internal oblique will push the external muscles further out and create the potential for better definition.

In addition to his daily cardio workouts, Isha Blaaker prefers to workout three times a week, achieving maximum intensity. This allows him to devote the rest of his time to reading scripts or doing auditions. Blaaker enjoys high-volume training, but having reduced his weight to single-digit body fat percentages in the past, he knows from experience when he's eating right and when he's overdoing it, so he doesn't feel the need to track macros. Blaaker says he doesn't recommend losing weight too quickly and using extreme methods like food deprivation to replicate someone else's aesthetic. “I think people should listen to an expert,” says Blaaker, reflecting on how social media has become an influence on the way so many people live. "Also, when you see a picture of me, it's an edited picture. There's a makeup artist, photographer, lighting, all of that, so I can stand in a room and my body would look average, or I can stand under a lamp and look like Schwarzenegger." While it can be said that as Blaaker matures, he tries to remain more balanced with his fitness, some aspects of his personality, such as the competitive spirit that developed during his karate days, remain. Blaaker recalls that when he started running a few years ago, he was supposed to hit a 20km milestone, but instead decided to push on and ended up hitting double the distance at 40km.

Isha Blaaker is ready to dominate Hollywood

Competitiveness is of course an important quality for any aspiring actor, and Blaaker has already landed some enviable roles, such as "Michael" in the Dutch TV series; DNA, as “Anton” inLittle Red Riding Hoodand as “Nate” inThe flight attendant, where he starred alongside Kaley Cuoco. “It was incredible to be on set with these people,” says Blaaker. "[Kaley Cuoco] works extremely hard and I have a lot of respect for that. I trained hard every day in the morning because that's what the character did. It was funny because people looked at me like, 'Oh yeah, he really is the idiot he's playing.' So that was funny."

As Blaaker's popularity grows, he also finds that his identity is often abused by unscrupulous people online who want to profit from his boyish looks. He tries to laugh off the constant use of his likeness for catfishing for his own mental health, but understands that this is another dark side of social media that can have a negative impact. "I think what's sad is that the women they're talking to can share very personal things, so if they find out that [the person they're talking to] isn't actually that person, it must suck."

With perhaps his biggest project to date, that of Tyler PerryA Madea homecoming,Now on Netflix, Blaaker seems to be in demand for some time to come. But when asked about some of the far-flung and exotic locations our man has modeled or filmed in, he doesn't hesitate when asked about his favorite place: "Home... Home is always the best!"