In the 1980s through 90s, if you saw a muscle-bound man doing an insane split on TV, you better believe it was Jean-Claude Van Damme. A fitness film icon of that era, these days JCVD has been keeping busy. He’s the voice of Master Croc in the Kung Fu Panda movies, and he’s been starring in films like Kickboxer: Vengeance and Expendables 2.
Still, he makes time to interact with fans and post fun throwback pics on his Instagram. Here are seven of our favorite JCVD Instagram throwbacks.
In 1989’s Kickboxer, Van Damme kicked off the franchise as Kurt Sloane, an American kickboxer in Thailand looking to avenge his older brother who was paralyzed in a fight. An iconic moment from the film features Van Damme, in a tiny, totally 80s black tank top, dancing in a bar while training.
Van Damme actually choreographed all of his fight scenes in the film. Initially, Chuck Norris was interested in the role of Sloane, but producer Menahem Golan only had eyes for Van Damme.
Van Damme did karate competitively in Europe from 1976 to 1982. In 1982, he was crowned “Mr. Belgium” in a bodybuilding competition. As all of this was happening, he still made time to appear on the cover of many (many) magazines. Here is his first of many cover appearances. Look at that smile!
JCVD has been the king of splits from the beginning. Back in 2013, Van Damme proved he can still spread his legs far and wide in this insane Volvo commercial. Check it out here.
Naturally, people began disputing whether or not the stunt was real, but Volvo insists it was.
“Van Damme’s feet [weren’t] secured to the mirrors, video director Andreas Nilsson said to The Wall Street Journal, “but we had him rigged [with a wire] so that if he would fall off he wouldn’t die, obviously.”
In Van Damme’s world, there’s never an inappropriate time for a split. Obviously, the beach is no exception. If you want to see more splits in action, here is a compilation of his top 10 splitting scenes.
There isn’t any fight JCVD can’t handle—even a rollerblading, kickboxing one, from the looks of this throwback. The Hollywood Reporterrecently published a lengthy interview with Van Damme that included some heavy-hitting questions, like why he was once thrown off the set of Predator and his relationship with Chuck Norris. Inquiring minds want to know the answers to these Van Damme questions, but what’s up with this photo? And why is his “opponent” wearing rollerblades?
