Joel Kinnaman’s Go-To Martial Arts Workout to Stay in Shape for Any Role

When it comes to his physical preparation for Silent Night, the first Hollywood picture from action maestro John Woo in two decades (now in cinemas and hitting PVOD on December 19), JOEL KINNAMAN doesn’t mince words. He was dead set on getting in the greatest form possible for one key reason: “I had a f***ing montage,” he said. “As soon as you get a montage, you know where you need to go with that.”

But getting jacked for that particular scene wasn’t his main motivation for exercising. The film, a holiday-themed vengeance thriller, contains more than one sequence in which Kinnaman’s physique is required. “We wanted to make the action sequences really dirty and messy and frenetic” he went on to say. That meant not just practicing for the stunt work he needed to learn for the sequences, but also honing his more general martial arts talents in striking and jiu jitsu.

Since 2018, the 44-year-old Swedish actor, Joel Kinnaman, has been training the ground-based martial art, which he refers to as “my favorite game.” “I always need to keep training to keep my mind sane, regardless of what role I’m preparing for,” Kinnaman went on to say. “I’m always keeping my regimen on some kind of good level—so I need to train at least four times a week.”

He also claims that his constancy will benefit him in the long term, even for positions he hasn’t planned. “In this business, things may happen rapidly. Someone slips out, and you get a chance to leap into something incredibly intriguing, but you have to be in good form,” he explains. “That’s why you gotta stay ready, so you don’t have to get ready.”

Kinnaman begins his training with some shadow boxing and pad work with Yoko Hamamura, an MMA teacher, gym owner, and Silent Night co-star. After a few rounds, he transitions to grappling for a few rolls on the mat perfecting his jiu-jitsu techniques with Jerry Marinas, a martial artist and fight coordinator with whom he has collaborated on the Netflix series Altered Carbon since 2015.

Joel Kinnaman did indicate that he performed some strength training for his montage muscles, but he didn’t elaborate. The martial arts and stunts appear to be his main concentration. When he said good-by, he mentioned that his routine was “part of” what he did for a job, reminding us that we can only ever witness a small portion of what goes into a thorough fitness regimen.