J.R. Martinez says he’s not nervous to dance yet, but, he will be come Sept. 19th on the premiere of Dancing With The Stars. He’s not intimidated, it just adds to “the coolness” factor. He also explains how he got on the show and how he’s getting ready for it. His first dance will be the Viennese waltz. Here is a take below, but, be sure to visit the Dalton Daily Citizen (his hometown newspaper in Georgia) for more. He talks of the last All My Children episodes as well.

“I don’t have any formal (dance) training. When I was a teenager, my mother would always try to dance with me and teach me to dance. But I didn’t want to until I figured out that girls like guys who can dance. Then it wasn’t an issue,” he said.

To get ready for the show, he began practicing with his partner, Karina Smirnoff, five days before the cast was officially announced. Now, they and the other dance teams are practicing up to five hours a day six days a week to get ready for the premiere.

“One thing that benefits me is that I work out and stay physically active. I felt like I was in great shape, and I am. But when I wake up, I’m not sore, but it’s like I got a good workout,” he said. “It feels good now. But talk to me as we get further into the competition, when it will get even tougher.”

Martinez’s debut dance will be the Viennese waltz.

“It’s a very beautiful dance, very elegant, very graceful. Sometimes I’m not so graceful, and that’s one of the things I’m having to teach my body — to get the hand movements exactly right or to make sure my arms are in the precise place they need to be,” he said. “It’s a tough dance, but it’s a beautiful dance, and I’m glad it’s my first dance.”

Martinez says he feels confident that he’ll be ready come show time.

“I can look at it and honestly say ‘That’s not bad,’” he said. “We have the routine down. We have the steps down. Now, it’s just a question of fine-tuning everything and making sure it’s where it needs to be.”

Martinez gives much of the credit to Smirnoff, who has won numerous ballroom dancing titles and has appeared on eight previous seasons of “Dancing with the Stars.”

“Karina has been great at putting up the whole routine. She is so talented. And she has a great personality that meshes really well with mine,” he said. “She’s a great teacher. We are having fun, but she’s breaking it down for me in ways that lets me understand what I really need to be getting my body to do.”

While the practices have been intense, Martinez says he has gotten a chance to spend time with the other celebrity contestants on the show.

“We all practice in the same facility, so we all hang out together. It really depends on when they take breaks. The person I’ve been seeing most is probably Chaz Bono. We seem to be on the same schedule,” he said. “Another one is Rob Kardashian. It’s really cool. Everyone is nice and easy to get along with. Our competitive nature is saying ‘You’re going down. You’re all going down.’ But at the end of the day, it’s all fun.”

Picture above from Karina’s twitter. Wow, I am loving those “lines”!! Beautiful hold!!

ADDING: And below is a rehearsal video from ET!! Wow, he looks fantastic dancing this early in the game in my opinion! He also talks of how he was burned. My heart goes out to him.