A Wolverine Workout – One Plan Hugh Jackman used to get ripped for Wolverine…to learn what and when he ate check this out.

So, we’ve talked about Hugh Jackman’s eating plan/style in preparation for Wolverine…but what about his workouts…?  Well, fret no more my friends.  Below you’ll find one of the workout plans Hugh Jackman did to get his body ready to play Wolverine.

Hugh Jackman Before and After Wolverine Workout

BUT, BEFORE WE GET INTO IT, there are a few myths we need to address – myths I have been reading on many of the Hugh Jackman Wolverin workout posts and articles I’ve been coming across.

First of all, it is important to note that there are a lot of schools of thought about working out, building muscle, losing fat, and getting ripped, but some are just plain wrong, out-of-date ideas still lingering from the old-school days of body building, or don’t quite apply/work for everyone….and many of these myths are appearing in articles and posts about The Wolverine workouts all across the internet.

The myths I’d like to address are:

 

1.  BUILDING MASS VS. TONING UP

It has been thought, since the days of Arnold, that low weight high rep = tone/lean muscles while heavy weights low rep = muscle mass.  Well my friends, THIS IS SCIENTIFICALLY WRONG.  I know many people still believe that to tone-up you have to do light weight with high reps…I mean I even believed it until about a half year ago…Tony Horton himself says it during a number of the P90X videos…but it’s just not true.

AS A MATTER OF FACT – HEAVIER WEIGHTS with LOWER REPS = TONING UP AND/OR MUSCLE BUILDING!

Yes, it is true, to either tone-up or build mass you need to be doing the same thing…HEAVY WEIGHTS with 6-8 reps!  If you can do more than 8 (which you should do if you find you picked a weight that is too light) then you should be upping your weight the next set!

You see, building muscle is just that – building muscle.  And to build muscle, much like building anything else, you need to have materials.  The materials in muscle building are the foods (i.e., calories) we intake.  Therefore, if you are not eating the necessary amount of food to build the new muscle your body cannot do it –

IT IS NOT PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE!

So, as it just so happens, THE MAGIC IN GAINING MASS OR TONING-UP IS ALL IN THE AMOUNT OF CALORIES YOU INTAKE AND NOT ABOUT THE AMOUNT OF WEIGHT AND REPS YOU DO…because, as stated above, you should always be doing heavy weights for 6-8 reps regardless of your body-shaping goals.

I’ll get more into this at a later post, but men and especially women have nothing to fear in going heavier because if your food intake is not at the ridiculous level needed to build muscle mass (3,500 – 5,000 calories/day) then YOU WILL NOT BULK UP…and, as a matter of fact, YOU WILL BE BURNING MORE FAT AND TONING UP INSTEAD!

 

2.  WORKING OUT ON AN EMPTY STOMACH IS BAD

Uhm….nope.  Yeah it depends on your own personal body, but is it your body or is it mental?

This is another thing I would always do before working out.  For 17 years I always ate either 4-6 eggs or 2 slices of toast about 30 minutes before working out.  But, when starting the LeanGains eating style, I chose to eat from 3pm to 9pm every day which meant NO PRE-WORKOUT FOOD CONSUMPTION…OR BREAKFAST…

So, did it make a difference in my workout or intensity?

THE FIRST DAY I FELT A BIT OFF…BUT AFTER THAT – NO DIFFERENCE AT ALL!

I can not stress this enough, YOU DO NOT HAVE TOO EAT BEFORE A WORKOUT.  As a matter of fact, I have had to workout in the afternoon a few times, on an 18 hour fast and then had to play a full softball game on that same fast at the 21 hour mark, and preformed no different than when not fasting.

THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO STAY HYDRATED!

Yeah, if you are trying to workout in a fasted state the first few times it might be a bit weird, but if you stay hydrated you’ll notice no difference in your workout intensity in a matter of days.  If this leaves you scratching your head a bit…wondering where the energy comes from…then read this post and this one too.

 

3.  CARDIO CAN DETER MUSCLE GAIN

There are a lot of scientific studies out there suggesting that there is a slight chemical conflict when it comes to doing cardio on the same day as resistance training if your goal is to build muscle.  The conflict comes in the form of hormones that are released during each activity sort of counter act each other and may deter muscle growth a bit.  But, if you ask me, “slight” and “may” do not really disprove in my book what visually documented results (i.e., pictures…as seen below) prove.

I for one have always been of the mind set that one should do resistance training first and then any cardio training for that day afterwards.  I think it just makes more sense because during the explosive/weight training exercises you’ll have access to your simple sugars which your body can access very quickly and by the time it’s time to hit the cardio sessions you’ll be well into either your complex sugars or your fat reserves which are a bit harder to access and require your body to actually change how it is “burning energy” (to learn a bit more about this checkout this post).

So, though the science “possible” suggests a bit of a conflict, I go off my personal results and say…

…CARDIO DOES NOT CONFLICT ENOUGH WITH MUSCLE GROWTH TO OUT WEIGH THE CALORIE BURN AND ENDURANCE-BUILDING RESULTS CARDIO PROVIDES.

And, it just so happens Hugh Jackman’s trainer agrees.

As a matter of fact, the Hugh Jackman workout shown below mixes cardio with strength training much like I did to lose my initial 40 lbs.

So without further ado…sorry about that…I actually have one more ado…WARMING UP.

It is important to note that Hugh Jackman does at least a 10 minute warm up before every workout.  And, as noted in my review of “The Scientific 7 Minute Workout,” I think this is a very important note.  Warming up gets the blood flowing and gets that heart rate up there, which, in turn, starts the calorie burn and gets the body in the right state of mind (both mentally and physically) to start burning calories.

 

And now….

 

A Hugh Jackman Wolverine Workout

90 Minute Workout (strength + cardio) – there’s a video tutorial below.

  • WARM UP:

    Cardio | 10 Minutes 

  • WORKOUT:

    3 Stations with 2-minute cardio between stations | 60 minutes (strength + cardio)

    STATION ONE

    4 circuits (1 circuit = each exercise back-to-back)

    8-12 reps of each exercise

    Barbell Squats

    Dumbbell Step-ups

    Medicine-Ball Chops

    Dumbbell Single-Arm Rows

    20 Crunches

    Body Weight Step-ups

     

    2-Minute Cardio – jog at 3-4 mi/hr pace for 2 minutes (“active recovery”)

     

    STATION TWO

    3 circuits (1 circuit = each exercise back-to-back)

    8-12 reps of each exercise

    Gorilla Pullups

    Standing Jump & Reach

    Fat-bar Curls

    Jump Rope

     

    2-Minute Cardio – jog at 3-4 mi/hr pace for 2 minutes (“active recovery”)

     

    STATION 3

    3 circuits (1 circuit = each exercise back-to-back)

    8-12 reps of each exercise

    Standing Cable Fly

    Standing Cable Press

    Standing Tricep Extension

    Wood Chop

    Barbell Push Press

     

    2-Minute Cardio – Punching bag for 2 minutes

     

  • COOL DOWN:

    Cardio 20 minutes

SO…THE ABOVE WORKOUT + HUGH JACKMAN’S EATING PLAN =

Hugh Jackman….shirtless

…maybe…for some people.

WORKOUT EXPLAINED – CLICK HERE

This is video shows the above moves and can be found on the Mens Health website.

THE WOLVERINE PREVIEW