It’s just past 6:00 a.m. and Mario Lopez is already in motion. The TV host, actor, radio personality, and father of three has built a life defined by hustle—and it all starts before most alarms go off.
“I get up about six,” he says. “Just kind of get ready to go to the gym, see all the kids off. They all leave together and go off to school. I go to the gym, kind of squeeze a workout in, whether it’s boxing or jiu-jitsu or what have you.”
That morning workout is non-negotiable. “I always try to get the workout out of the way in the morning or else, you know, it’ll catch up with me or I’m too tired at the end of the day.”
Lopez has long been synonymous with clean-cut charisma and tireless energy, and that’s no accident. He’s deliberate about how he fuels himself, even if he’s not obsessive about it.
So what does a typical day look like?
After the gym and a quick meal, Lopez dives straight into work. “I do my radio show, and after that I’ll do my nighttime show first, and then the daytime show after that,” he says. “Then after that, I’ll either have other stuff to do with a podcast or getting ready for the movie or other things. But that’s pretty much every day.”
It’s a stacked schedule, but Lopez thrives in the hustle. “There’s always something new around the corner, and that keeps it exciting.”
Do you follow a strict diet?
Not exactly.
“I’m not a calorie counter,” he says. “But I try to have a sensible-looking plate—protein, carbs, and fat in every meal.” Weekdays are focused and clean, with fried foods and junk food kept to a minimum. But on the weekends? “I love me some tacos, crush a pizza, fried chicken—I don’t discriminate,” he laughs.
How do you keep your kids active?
Lopez’s commitment to health and fitness isn’t just personal—it’s family-wide.
“My wife was a dancer too and pretty athletic herself. So, you know, I just kind of want to keep [the kids] busy and mobile and moving and out of trouble,” he says. “My daughter dances and does competitive cheer. My boys wrestle and do jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai and all that. They’re all pretty active. They got something every day.”
Does back-to-school season change your routine?
Only when it comes to homework—specifically math.
“The only stress for me when they go back to school is when they ask me for help on their homework—because it’s math. Then I’m struggling. I’m like, ‘Oh no, I can’t do it. I’m the last person you need to ask.’” He jokes that his math skills peaked in “the late 1900s.” “Now you got Common Core and I really don’t know how to do that. I push it on my wife—they figure it out.”
What’s the key to balancing marriage and such a busy schedule?
“I’m blessed with a really great wife,” Lopez says. “She is very understanding with the unpredictable, sort of fluid schedule. She holds down the fort at home and she’s a great mom.”
He credits laughter and teamwork as the glue that’s kept their 15-year relationship strong. “We know how to pick up the slack where one is maybe slacking. So we’ve got a good little rhythm going.”
What’s next for you?
This spring, Lopez will head to Buffalo, New York, to film a new holiday movie. “I’m gonna be playing a fireman in this one—a little romance, a little more serious than our other movies,” he shares. “We’re going to be shooting at the end of March, beginning of April for a few weeks. I’m happy with the way it’s turning out.”
He’ll even continue hosting one of his shows remotely while filming.