Cover Model Muscle Thom Evans
His biography spans international rugby, pop stardom and television fame, so you’d be forgiven for expecting Thom Evans to be your archetypal celebrity. But you’d be wrong. He spoke to MH about finding purpose, and putting the work in
In collaboration with Lingo
When Men’s Health caught up with Thom Evans to shoot our latest cover story, the buzz around the office wasn’t about his chiselled physique, his impressive CV or even his recent engagement to American singer Nicole Scherzinger. It was about just how nice he is.
The CV’s pretty buzzworthy, too, of course. A former rugby union player, Evans has also dabbled in careers as a model, pop singer, 400m runner and reality TV star – and now Men’s Health’s official review partner for the new Lingo biowearable, by Abbott (more on which over the page).
But far from self-important, Evans radiates warmth, and has a kind of earnest, excitable curiosity that’s frankly irresistible (we get it, Nicole). He sat down with Men’s Health’s Andrew Tracey to talk about the life-changing injury that derailed his rugby career, and the beauty of second chances.
You did your first cover shoot for us in 2012, which means you hold the record for longest span between MH covers. How did you feel shooting again today?
It’s a magazine that I used to consider one of my most prized possessions growing up, so it’s an honour to be asked to do the cover again.
You played professional rugby for years. Has your approach to training changed much in the time between covers?
Definitely. The first time I put a lot more emphasis on weights and just looking aesthetically as good as possible, as us guys seem to do. What I’ve come to realise since then, is that’s simply not true. I’ve added a lot more functionality into my training. I’m a big golfer and I’m big into my tennis, and having that ability to have the strength but be more functional with it just serves a lot more purpose.
If you’d known that when you were playing rugby full-time, would it have made adifference?
I look back at some of my rugby with a bit of frustration. The training we used to do was all about how heavy you could squat, how heavy you could do a weighted pull-up, how heavy you could do a bench. None of it had any relation to playing. I always felt sluggish and heavy. I wish I could have applied some of the training I do now. Simple things like skipping or the boxing training that I do. I think they would have made a huge difference to the quality of my play.
Can you tell us abit more about the injury you suffered during your rugby c
