When we look at those shredded and ripped male bodies in the action movies, we might think that special effects have taken the most works. In fact, that is not entirely true. Those actors did take intense fitness programs to achieve their looks.
If you want to know what those programs are, keep reading this article!
Hugh Jackman
Hugh Jackman maintained his role as the Wolverine in the X-Men universe for seventeen years. And although at the end of the series he portrayed the old Logan, he still kept his image as a ripped savage. But that achievement was not without hard work. And you need to know that Jackman played Wolverine at age 30s and 40s. It proves how age is just a number.
Jackman’s program was intense. He worked out five to six days a week, and sleep only for five hours. His weight training was low and heavy reps. It means that during the workout, heavy lifting done in low repetition is preferable. The program had a four-week transformation goal, which was a surprisingly short time for such a result.
And just like any types of fitness program, Jackman’s diet contributed more than sixty percents to his look. And its name is carb-cycling diet. It encourages average intake of carbs during the heavy lifting days and low carb for the rest days.
James McAvoy
If you know McAvoy from the X-Men universe, then you probably saw nothing extraordinary about his shape. In fact, he always to seemed to play skinny characters. Young Professor X, Wesley Gibson (from Wanted, 2008), are all roles with an ordinary body build.
However, he was reported to take a bulking program for his part in Split (2017). He played a psychopathic man who bore twenty-three identities. They were a result of severe childhood trauma. And most of those identities were benign, but the Beast.
As the name suggests, the Beast character was meant to be an ordinary looking man with enormous strength. And for that job, McAvoy hit the gym with a 5×5 fitness program. It is very simple and straightforward. 5×5 consists of squat, bench press, deadlift, overhead press, and barbell row.
And for the bulking diet, McAvoy ate pretty much any healthy foods. He is genetically skinny so getting a high percentage of body fat was not a serious concern for him.
Christian Bale
If there was an award for extreme body transformation, Bale should have won it. In The Machinist (2004), Bale played an anorexic factory worker. He took the role seriously and went on an extreme diet to make himself look like a real anorexic person. His weight in The Machinist was 120 pounds.
What was amazing about Bale is that four years later, he managed to bulk up to 220 pounds for his role as Batman in The Dark Knight (2008). Bales’ workout to bulk up was a combination of weight training, resistance training, and plyometric circuit training.
