Steven Krueger is the versatile actor who first discovered fame by showing in “Fairly Little Liars” and “Two and a Half Males” earlier than bagging the memorable position of “Josh Rosza” on “The Originals.”

Now, as “Ben Scott” in “Yellowjackets,” Krueger performs the assistant coach to the younger girls’s soccer group, however tells Muscle & Health that constructing his physique as much as the purpose that he’s plausible as a sports activities coach has not been straightforward. Luckily, having performed tennis critically in his youth, Krueger has a aggressive spirit that also influences him to today.

So, forward of the extremely anticipated return of “Yellowjackets” (Showtime, March 26), we sat down with the star to seek out out extra.

“I began enjoying tennis once I was 4 years outdated,” says Krueger. “I performed during highschool and began to get very aggressive with it. The issue with me, rising up, is that I used to be the identical peak as I’m now. I used to be 6’ 1” and weighed round 140 kilos so I used to be a twig. All the standard sports activities that you just consider; soccer, baseball, and even basketball, I used to be simply too small to play them and bought pushed round lots. Soccer and tennis had been the sports activities that I naturally veered in the direction of.”

Whereas scholarship presents for Steven Krueger to play tennis in school turned a actuality, a love of appearing had developed and stolen his coronary heart, and so the will was not there to chase Division I play. Nonetheless, the aggressive spirit developed by way of tennis has been of nice worth to a profession in theatrics. Beginning with a want to fill out that six-feet-plus body. “I grew up in Florida with a bunch of fellows that had been hitting the health club,” he says. “The summer season after my first yr of school, I felt bored with being this skinny, tall, gangly child, primarily. So, that total summer season I made a really concerted effort to placed on as a lot weight as I may.”

Steven Krueger Is Targeted on Being Display screen Prepared

As a tough gainer, Krueger says that he was consuming upward of 6,000 energy every day to gasoline weightlifting periods. “I achieved my aim,” he shares. “I placed on about 30 kilos that one summer season. I stuffed out.” However even as we speak, the actor says that he finds reducing weight to be simpler than gaining it. “I nonetheless assume, if the chance arose to do a superhero film, or one thing like that, I might work with a coach and I’d be capable to get there, and I’ve executed that a few occasions in my profession.”

Whereas Krueger not trains his physique primarily to be match prepared, he’s all the time targeted on being display prepared. “I feel actors exist in solely two states so far as physicality and health goes,” he shares. “I’m both in ‘character form’ or ‘Steven form.’ Yellowjackets is definitely an important instance as a result of earlier than we began Season 1, I used to be engaged on one other present on the time (“Roswell, New Mexico”). I play a former faculty soccer participant (in “Yellowjackets”), and that nineties look is perhaps a little bit bulkier, and so I made a concerted effort to placed on round 12 kilos or so earlier than we began filming as a result of I actually wished to have that look.”

In “Yellowjackets” the soccer group, workers and coaches are compelled to try to survive within the woods following a aircraft crash, and so Krueger understood that by beginning out the season carrying a little bit extra bulk, he would be capable to shed some pounds because the present progressed, serving to to current the phantasm that he was ravenous within the woods. Krueger says that when taking over new initiatives, there’s typically little or no discover or time to organize, so he likes to remain in form the entire time, in order that he will be able to shoot at a months’ discover.

For “Yellowjackets” Season 2, Krueger dropped round 12 kilos with a view to keep the viewers’s perception that he was going with out meals within the woods. “I do assume its an necessary a part of being an actor,” says the star. “Physicality is so necessary in terms of embodying enjoying a personality, so I feel something that you are able to do to assist your self really feel just like the character, the higher your efficiency goes to be.”

Steven Krueger has Competitiveness in His DNA

There’s little doubt that Steven Krueger approaches his scenes with the identical gusto that he did with sports activities. “I feel any athlete, rising up, there’s that pure aggressive nature,” he shares. “I competed in lots of stuff once I was youthful. I even competed in debate tournaments. I feel competitiveness has all the time been in my DNA. I feel that appearing in all probability has changed sports activities, in a sure method. That is an extremely aggressive trade.”

In “Yellowjackets,” Krueger has extra to concern himself with than simply his weight. He additionally needed to face a brand new appearing problem as a result of early within the present, his character loses a leg because of the aforementioned aircraft crash. “They didn’t inform me that, till after we had filmed the pilot episode,” shares Krueger. “It truly occurs in episode two. I panicked a little bit bit, actually, as a result of I had by no means executed something like that and there’s two parts to it. There’s the bodily ingredient and it’s important to cope with the entire ache and methods to transfer and methods to operate and naturally [in real life] I nonetheless have the leg, so what do I’ve to do with it to make it appear to be I don’t have a leg?” he notes. “Then after all, there’s the psychological parts as properly, that include a traumatic damage like that, so I spent a number of months researching and speaking to individuals and studying as a lot as I probably may.”

With unpredictable filming schedules, Krueger needs to be versatile about the place and when he trains. “In any given week, I could do yoga a couple of times per week, I could do some interval coaching a couple of occasions in the course of the week, I could do a few biking lessons, go for a run, or I could get on a treadmill and set it to the best incline. Continually holding the physique guessing is so good for it,” says the actor.

Along with his health club work, the place Krueger additionally likes to undertake conventional workouts such because the bench press and squat, he’s additionally an enormous advocate of getting outdoors. The busy actor finds that nature gives him with the steadiness he must put the depth of working in Hollywood again into its correct context. He’s additionally developed a love of pickleball. “Now, honesty, I play much more pickleball  than I do tennis,” shares Krueger. “I nonetheless decide up the tennis racket from time to time however I’m a lot extra into pickleball as a result of it’s simply simpler on the physique. It’s a smaller court docket, you don’t must run fairly as a lot. Pickleball is nice, you may just about play with anyone.”