WILMER VALDERRAMA DOESN’T just work out to look good on TV. The 44-year-old actor, who rose to prominence as Fez in That ’70s Show at the turn of the millennium and has been a primetime mainstay ever since, currently portrays the much more muscular Special Agent Nick Torres on NCIS. His character is constantly chasing bad guys and fighting, so training, Valderrama says, is all about functionality. “For me, it’s mostly about being capable,” he told the Men’s Health crew when we stopped by his E Pluribus Unum gym space in Los Angeles.

There’s more than the unique demands of the job that keep Valderrama working hard; he builds mental strength in the gym, too. He says he wakes up every morning to train at 4:30, due both to the demands of a jam-packed schedule and the feeling he gets when he’s active so early. “Nothing but you in the gym,” he says. “At that point, you’re already winning.” That bears out in his work. Since he’s already kickstarted his day with a sweat, the actor says that he’s more awake and alert than anyone else on set for the day’s shoot.

Valderrama says his approach to fitness has changed over the years, largely because of the differences between the roles he’s inhabited throughout his career. Going from playing a normal kid in Wisconsin to portraying a Special Agent in the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is a huge jump, especially in terms of physicality. He has real-world concerns that drive him, too—as a father, he recognizes the need to be healthy and active to keep up with his kid for the long run. “I want to be Brad Pitt status by the time I’m 70 for my daughter,” he says.