How Ted Lasso” star Maximilian Osinski got into his best football shape ever

How Ted Lasso” star Maximilian Osinski got into his best football shape ever

The Real Life of Maximilian Osinski could be a memorable film in its own right. The 6-foot-tall actor was born in a refugee camp in Austria to Polish parents who fled their communist homeland. They all finally made it to the United States in 1983. Growing up in Chicago with a love of art and theater, Osinski was a commanding presence on the stage before gracing our television and movie screens, but the ripped physique he achieved in Season 3 of Ted Lasso (on AppleTV+) is something that took many years to perfect.

M&Fsat down with the star, who now lives in London with his wife (Dichen Lachman) and daughter, to find out more about his fitness journey in front of and behind the camera.

To keep up with the Polish language, Osinski's mother Danuta made him attend Polish school on Saturdays, and although he would have preferred to spend his weekends outside of class rather than in class, he now realizes that those Polish lessons were the seeds of an acting career that were truly sewn.

When Osinski's teacher got tired of playing the clown in front of his friends, he was instead dared to go on stage and recite a poem. The performance went very well, so Osinski was excited about the opportunity to connect with an audience. He soon developed a hunger to learn more about the craft, spending hours watching “Inside the Actors Studio” episodes and attending Syracuse University to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

While Osinski's passion for performance took root at a young age, he now reflects on not playing much sport as a child and accepts that a lack of understanding of nutrition led to him becoming overweight. “I struggled with my weight, especially in my teenage years,” Osinski says. "I wasn't a sporty kid. We [as a family] never got into track or followed sports teams in Chicago. So it was never kind of in the family DNA."

Hard work pays off for Maximilian Osinski

Maximilian Osinski's biological father, Zbigniew, or "Ziggy" as he was affectionately known, had to work incredibly hard to build a life for his family in the United States, and this was never lost on a young Maximilian. The ability to keep going despite adversity is central to his success as an adult actor. Ziggy sadly passed away last September, but Osinski remembers Dad being very excited when he found out his son had booked a regular role on Apple TV+'s Ted Lasso. “He instilled a hard-working ethic,” the actor says. “Believe in yourself and just follow your dreams because that’s what he did for himself.”

After leaving university, Osinski was able to find representation in New York and after many auditions and rejections, our man began to bag some major roles. Many people will know Osinski as Agent James Davis in Marvel's Agents of SHIELD or Dennis in The Walking Dead: World Beyond. He's appeared in dozens of television shows and films, but the role of "Zava" in Season 3 of "Ted Lasso" may be his biggest yet.

In the show, streaming now, Osinski plays an ace soccer player who is both charismatic and insanely skilled. Osinski, who admittedly had no knowledge of football, managed to score the role by venturing out to his local park and kicking the ball around in the film. Since the actor wasn't exactly versed in the sport, a slow-motion arty vignette was created before being sent to casting agents, and luckily the decision-makers were thrilled. Osinski then hired a soccer coach to develop his skills, but also understood that being larger than life on screen was also important as this could allow the audience to be forgiving of potential errors in his footwork. The star spent hours studying the likes of Eric Cantona, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Lionel Messi and other legends in the field. Whatever viewers may think of Osinski's own football abilities, they cannot discount the incredible mental and physical condition he has put himself in to leave it all on the field.

Maximilian Osinski maintains a sustainable relationship with nutrition

When Osinski finally took control of his diet as a young man, he realized that tracking calories didn't mean he had to starve himself or feel less full, but that discovery came after some trial and error to lose weight. “I would do crazy things,” the actor shares. “I would put trash bags around myself and run around the block in the summer just trying to sweat.” These days, Osinski's approach to staying in shape is much less dramatic. He uses the My Macros+ app to track his intake. "Of course I live my life. I go out on birthdays and on holidays I don't even look at a tracker, but I pay a lot more attention to food than I did when I was a child," he says. "Now I can eat a big salad with chicken and it's like, 'That's hardly carbs.' But if I want, I can go to an ice cream shop and I'll know; 'Okay, if I eat this as a snack, I can probably get a little leaner for dinner.'

Even when he was editing for Ted Lasso, Maximilian Osinski could still eat his favorite foods as long as he remained responsible with his overall macros. “I think that’s the most sustainable thing for me.” Osinski says, adding that he likes carbs way too much to fully focus on keto. “I don’t feel like I’m on a diet, I feel like this is just my lifestyle.”

Maximilian Osinski has learned to love the process

“The pressure for me was that I just wanted to feel fitter and stronger,” says Osinski. "For me, my workout routine is now part of my personality. I plan to workout until I literally can't anymore." Osinski works closely with his trainer Ashley Bailey, and the duo went into overdrive to ensure the actor's body resembles that of a world-class striker in "Ted Lasso." The week before his shirtless scenes, Osinski reduced his carbohydrate intake until the day before filming and then explains that he went back to eating starchy carbohydrates, which helps muscles look fuller. "Ash doesn't do anything crazy like, 'You're going to sit in the sauna for six hours,'" laughs Osinski, who knew he was playing the role of a world-famous athlete and wanted to do justice to that with the right aesthetic.

In preparation for “Ted Lasso,” Maximilian Osinski went to the gym four days a week, consisting of two upper-body and two lower-body workouts. On days when he had to shoot football action sequences, Osinski trained his upper body instead of exhausting his legs. "Being at a point where I'm at it physically has definitely put me in a position where if a role like Zava comes up for 'Ted Lasso,' I can do it," says the actor. Still, Osinski points out that this was his toughest challenge yet, especially since it meant taking off his shirt for the whole world to judge.

Coach Bailer had Osinski perform compound exercises such as squats, deadlifts and bench presses to target his major muscle groups. “They were heavy and hard as hell,” Osinski remembers. “But they make you look lean and strong, which is exactly what I needed for the role.” The star also did overhead presses and weighted pull-ups to further sculpt his body. The actor says the experience of working on "Ted Lasso," a popular sports comedy, was extremely positive, noting that the entire cast was welcoming and supportive, and should the opportunity arise for Zava to return, he will be happy to lace up the boots once again.

Nevertheless, Osinski did not complete the project unscathed. “You know, it’s funny,” he shares. "I was injury-free the whole time, and then on the last day of the last block of football we were trying to get a close-up of Zava's legs and you're tired, and for some stupid reason I was just standing on the ball with my cleats on and the ball was rolling and I sprained my ankle. Not bad, but just enough to be thankful that it was the end of the day!" For Maximilian Osinski, it's all just another day in the office of a hard-working actor. “I have that mentality now,” he shares. “It says, ‘Stay read to be ready.'”