Mandatory Man: ‘It’s Always Sunny’ Star Rob McElhenney Tells Ryan Reynolds Dudes Appreciate His Muscles More Than Women, Plus Hilarious Jokes About His Men’s Health Cover

A lot of dudes go on fitness kicks, but we always assumed it was to impress women. According to Rob McElhenney, star of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, we’ve got it all wrong. Men get swole to impress other men.

McElhenney made the observation in a new interview with Ryan Reynolds for the May issue of Men’s Health magazine.

“[The] people who were most fascinated by my body when I was in great shape were dudes. Women could give two shits. In fact, my wife really was displeased with the way I looked, because she felt like I was trying too hard, and I was,” McElhenney told Reynolds, referring to his wife and It’s Always Sunny co-star Kaitlin Olson.

“There’s this fascination that men want to look like that and men want to be that aesthetically pleasing to other men,” he continued. “I’m actually talking about straight men as much as men in the gay community. It’s interesting that it’s not based in sexuality or sex appeal and more about this body image that we’ve sort of grown accustomed to. It’s the thing people find fascinating, because it relates to their lives.”

McElhenney went on to describe what he sees as a “standard of masculinity” that’s “impossible to live up to or is probably essentially unethical to live up to: that sort of quiet, masculine tough guy who’s both jacked and ready to throw down at any moment but also sensitive — but not too sensitive.”

All that intelligently and articulately said, McElhenney looks mad ripped in the pages of Men’s Health.

Luckily, his physical transformation hasn’t gone to his head. He’s still humble and has a sense of humor about the whole “Fat Mac vs. Fit Mac” thing.

He even shared his secrets to getting shredded.

“I’m fascinated with the presentation of the human body, and the way it’s been presented for the last 30 or so years, and what’s considered attractive versus what is considered realistic,” McElhenney continued. “For Sunny, I spend a lot of time in writers’ rooms with comedy writers, and our job is to tear each other apart and to tear the culture apart—what’s going on in the cultural conversation, and how can we satirize that in a way that nobody else is doing?”

“I just thought: ‘Well, I want to try to build a body that’s absolutely ridiculous and truly impossible to keep up unless you devoted your entire life to it,’ ” the actor said.

Mission accomplished. Or is it just getting started? Staying this fit looks like a full-time job – one we hope McElhenney won’t sacrifice his acting career for.

Cover Photo: Matt Winkelmeyer / Staff (Getty Images)

Coronavirus club: 15 Celebrity Tweets That Will Calm You to Know We’re All in This Together

MORE NEWS:

LOL: 20 Hilarious Tweets From Comedians to Keep You Laughing Through Coronavirus

Visit the Mandatory Shop for great deals on your very own Mandatory merch.

Follow Mandatory on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.