Katee Sackhoff’s YouTube Channel is the Eye-Opening Look at Fitness You Need

It’s January 1, 2021, which means it’s time for New Year’s Resolutions. For many folks, that means a vow to get in better shape. Let me be clear, you are beautiful the way you are and don’t need to change your body in the slightest. In fact, the last thing any of us need to do is hold ourselves up to imaginary standards. The lean, mean, and strong bodies we see on our Netflix binges are not normal. They are built using grueling diets and bizarrely focused workouts.

I know all this thanks to actress Katee Sackhoff‘s YouTube channel. The Mandalorian and Another Life star gets wildly candid about her own workout habits and the insane way she preps her body for the screen. Whether she’s openly sharing how much she weighs for different roles or how her trainer doesn’t focus on strength or goals (but aestethics!), Sackhoff’s YouTube channel is an eye-opening look at the physical part of performing on screen. And honestly? It will make you relieved that you get to work out just for fun.

Katee Sackhoff first pinged on my radar all the way back in 2004 when she played Kara Thrace, aka Starbuck in Syfy’s reboot of Battlestar Galactica. Sackhoff popped off the screen, playing a type of woman I’d never seen in sci-fi before: a true rogue. Sardonic, tough, vicious, and mercurial, Starbuck was a character defined not by her femininity, but the threat she brought to every encounter with friend or foe. Physically, Sackhoff played Thrace as a woman who worked out — we see her running and boxing — to up her precision as a fighter; not to be svelte or thin, per se. And it’s a choice that Sackhoff actually addresses in one of her most-watched videos: “How I Train My Body for Film & Television.”

Just as Sackhoff says up top, she gets into the nitty gritty of weight, body types, and the work she puts in to look a certain way onscreen, and so if this is not your jam, click away! But if, like me, you have a perverse fascination in what actors really do to get their bodies in shape for the screen, the video, along with Sackhoff’s entire channel, is a mesmerizingly frank peek into this world.

First of all, Sackhoff debunks the idea that weight is the only indicator of muscle tone or clothing size. She goes through a variety of roles, from Longmire to Another Life, to show that you really can’t equate what’s on the scale with what’s on the screen. Then she explains that she works with a celebrity trainer named Steve Zim, a man famed for his ability to transform actors’ bodies into those of inhuman super-beings. And folks, it’s wild.

While most workouts are about maintaining cardiovascular health, building muscle, or just meeting personal goals, Zim throws all that out into the trash. He doesn’t care if you shave 30 seconds off your average mile to make it into NYRR’s next race corral or if you can bicep curl heavier weights during spin class. There’s nothing about personal achievement or mental health here (which are, ironically, the two main reasons I personally like to work out). Zim targets specific muscle groups with the intent of transforming Sackhoff’s already healthy body to look a specific way for a specific character onscreen. And honestly? His methods look frustrating, grueling, and completely not my bag.

What I so appreciate about Sackhoff’s YouTube channel is her honesty. So often we’re told that actors just do yoga or go for walks to stay in shape. Maybe they’ll share clips of them nailing a major workout with a trainer, but they are usually flattering videos ending in some cute joke about food. Sackhoff, on the other hand, gets real. At times, even depressing. (Girl, put some more dressing on your salad. You deserve it!) I didn’t walk away from her videos feeling bad about my belly fat, but relieved that as a writer, I could eat all the cheese I wanted. My workouts on my at-home spin bike were for fun, not work. I don’t have to strive for my arms to match in diameter (but if I ever do, I have an idea of the truly wild low weight workouts I might need to start doing for weeks upon weeks).

Sackhoff’s channel is more than just her fitness journey for screen. She also shares her attempts at finishing Spartan races and trying hoity-toity recovery techniques. It’s an insider’s look at workout trends, but it also shows us there is a huge gap between what a person can physically do and what it looks like they can do. In the video where Sackhoff jokingly asks if she’s as badass as her characters, she shows us her struggles on a Spartan race. It’s all to underline the point that training for TV and film is not the same thing as training for health or results.

So if you’re looking for some workout inspiration at the start of this year, I’d recommend starting with Sackhoff’s channel. In addition to being totally transparent about the workouts she does to look like a Mandalorian warrior princess, she also gets real about the sacrifices she makes for those results. And while I personally never want to cater my workouts according to being on a Netflix show, Sackhoff does have me curious about one day trying a Spartan race.

Visit Katee Sackhoff's YouTube