Visual Impact Muscle Building is probably the only workout program on the net that’s sole focus is to help the end user achieve the kind of look that we’re seeing become more popular in the media nowadays. The kind of look that Chris Evans had in Captain America, Ryan Reynolds had in Blade, or Taylor Lautner had in New Moon. The kind of look that most women on this planet find most attractive. It seems like just about every workout routine I’ve seen or heard of on the net is tailored to the bodybuilding community and while that’s all fine and dandy, if that’s the look you’re after, it’s refreshing to see a program that caters to the rest of the people that don’t strive to look like a bodybuilder but would instead rather have a more lean, dense look.

Different Forms Of Muscle Building?

So moving forward we’re going to be discussing the different forms of muscular hypertrophy (muscle growth) so I might as well clarify some terms while we’re at it. There’s two commonly established forms of muscle growth, sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar hypertropy. Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy consists of increasing the increasing the size of the muscle cell fluid [sarcoplasm] within the actual muscle cells. Myofibrillar hypertrophy is the growth of the actual muscle fibers. Too much myofibrillar hypertrophy and you gain a lot of strength, and get denser looking muscles but not nearly as much muscle size. Too much sarcoplasmic hypertrophy and you end up looking soft and lack muscle density. Now a lot of this does come down to genetics so it’s not like you have 100% control over this but you can tailor things to a certain extent based on the rep ranges and rest periods that you use. And that’s part of what Visual Impact Muscle Building teaches you to do as well as laying out scientifically sound muscle building and fat burning principles.

So What’s This Visual Impact Stuff All About?

Visual Impact Muscle Building is a three phase periodization based workout program, and an excellent primer on effective muscle building and fat burning principles. The workout program takes 2 months per phase, so 6 months in total. What I really like about Visual Impact is that it’s excellent at actually teaching and explaining the reasoning behind why things are done the way they’re done in the workout routine which ultimately helps you think for yourself and lets you apply the same principles to other exercises you might choose to do.

Phase 1: In this phase the focus is more on Sarcoplasmic hypertrophoy. This gives the muscles a more full and round look, but doesn’t add all that much to one’s base strength levels.

Phase 2: In Phase 2 the focus is split equally between Myofibrillar Hypertrophy (which is actual muscle fiber growth), and Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. This helps the user further gain muscle size while also switching the focus over to strength a bit more.

Phase 3: Then in Phase 3 the focus is on nothing but Myofibrillar Hypertrophy, and strength gains. Here you allow your strength gains to catch up to your muscle gains which also primes you for further gains if you decide to go redo phase 1.

When you buy the program you get the main ebook, which is 70 odd pages long describing the workout program, the phases, rep and set ranges for the exercises and other tips on how to really tailor your workout to look the way YOU want to look. You also get a 200+ page book with picture and text exercise demonstrations showing a wide array of exercises that you can choose from for each phase. Then there’s the printable workout chart that shows the exercises you’ll be doing, and the set and rep schemes you’ll be using so that you can actually take that with you to the gym and use as a reference.

My Take On It

I think Visual Impact Muscle Building is a great workout program, with a specific layout of how to get the kind of body most women swoon over, from the exercise selection, rep and set schemes all the way to the theory and science behind it. As a personal trainer who’s trained over 300 clients at this point I think the actual workout is great and the principles are applicable across the board. The one thing I will say that’s missing from the program is a more in depth look at nutrition and how it plays a role in the process. He certainly does discuss nutrition and it’s cool to see that the author completely agrees with me on the effectiveness of intermittent fasting but his book doesn’t really discuss nutrition as much as I think it should be discussed. But nutrition is a whole other beast in it self and you can’t expect someone to cover EVERYTHING in one book, at least not effectively. Anyway, you can get a copy of Visual Impact here, and it’s got a 60 day money back guarantee should you decide it’s not for you. But in all honesty at under 50 bucks it’s less than half the price of one personal training session with me and the value you’re getting is pretty high. I’d say that what you can get out of the book, if you actually take action and do it (keyword: take action), is priceless, and it can save you loads of wasted time reading tons of stuff on the internet and trying countless workout routines that just don’t work. Instead just get Visual Impact and do it right from the get go.

With a ripped physique that makes ladies swoon and has men around the county envying him, Ryan Reynolds has become the owner of one of Tinseltown’s most famous physiques. This young actor completely morphed from romantic comedy starring roles into the chiseled abs, and significantly more muscular body he sports in the action packed Blade: Trinity franchise.

The Men Behind Ryan Reynolds Workout Routine – Bobby Strom and Darren Chapman

As you may well expect most Hollywood stars hire the top Personal Trainers, Chefs, Nutritionists, and even Massage Therapists (for recovery) and have all the accommodations one could possibly need to achieve the bodies they need for the big screen. Accommodations that the average Joe or Jane can either not afford or not have access to. Not to say that you can’t achieve the same with a strategic workout plan and an effective diet, but the average person can’t expect to get the same kind of results doing exactly what these celebs do because most of the time we don’t have the same resources. Such as a personal chef who will measure out our meals to perfection or a sports nutritionist who’s supplying the chef with meal plans that have the exact specifications required to achieve our goals or a massage session after every workout to insure proper recovery.

Anyway… Bobby Strom and Darren Chapman can almost be said to be the men behind the Ryan Reynolds workout.

Bobby trained Ryan and worked with him to create the physique he sported to play the role of Deadpool in X-men, and in preparation for Green Lantern.

Darren Chapman on the other hand prepared him for his original transformation in Blade Trinity when he first showed the masses what he was capable of with his physique.

Ryan Reynolds Workout Routine for Blade Trinity, X-Men, And Green Lantern

From scenes where his arms flex from swinging samurai swords down to the part where he’s shirtless after he becomes the villain Deadpool in X-Men it’s obvious the man put some in some work to achieve those results.

In fact he had to gain 20 lbs of pure muscle while simultaneously cutting fat to achieve the look he had in X-Men Origins. Of course he had 6 months to do it and the help of trainer Bobby Strom but it’s a notable feat nonetheless and one that I think many can realistically duplicate with the right workout and exercise selection.

Ryan followed a split routine where he would work one major body part per day and would train 6 days a week with Sunday off. A typical bodybuilding split which I personally find to be far from optimal for the average Joe but nonetheless you can’t argue that it didn’t work for him.

He dedicated one day each for training his chest, back, shoulders, arms, and legs and he claims he trained for 2-3 hours per day leading up to shooting the movie. Once again I find that training that long is far from optimal for the average person. In fact most people would quickly overtain and cease to see results if they trained that much unless a vast majority of it was cardiovascular work. Even then, that much cardio would definitely stifle one’s muscle building ability.

Ryan also cut out all cardio in preparation for his films being that he was naturally skinny and didn’t want to expend any energy on anything but building muscle. That’ usually what naturally skinny hard gainers have to do since they tend to find it much harder to put on weight than your average Joe and consequently tend to loss it really easily.

He also started every workout with ab work because,believe it or not, it used to be a weak point of his. He’d usually do sets of weighted sit ups or lying leg raises with a dumbbell placed between his legs.

Ryan Reynolds Diet For Chiseled Abs – A Workout Is Nothing Without The Diet That Accompanies It.

You can't expect to get abs like these if you eat like shit.

If you haven’t yet figured it out. You’re not going to get a body like Ryan’s without watching what you eat. That’s why Ryan would have 6 small meals a day spread out every two to three hours. His diet was heavy on protein, with moderate helpings of complex carbohydrates (oatmeal, veggies) , and healthy fats (avocado’s, almond butter). He also routinely used high protein meal replacement bars and protein shakes.

So How Can You Do The Same?

What you have to realize is that for a lot of these Hollywood stars there’s millions and millions of dollars riding on the fact that they’ll be in top shape by the time shooting for the movie starts. That’s a lot of pressure, and millions of dollars would surely make anyone get off their ass and hit the gym hard. Combine that with the luxuries that these guys can afford (chef’s, nutritionists, trainers, consistent massages) and you can start seeing a more realistic reason as to why they tend to have such phenomenal results.
Like I’ve said before though most of these male Hollywood stars are not all that muscular in comparison to many of the guys that frequent your local gold gym. They just happen to be a lot leaner. Keep hanging around this space and you’ll be giving guys like Ryan a run for their money in no time

So What Is The Taylor Lautner Workout Routine All About? And How Did He Do it?

In his new found aim to go from scrawny to brawny for his new role, Taylor decided to enlist the help of Jordan Yuam. Personal trainer and owner of Jordan’s Virtual Fit Club.

According to Men’s Health and Jordan Yuam here are some of the principles that helped Taylor Lautner achieve his dramatic transformation:

• Pushing the limits – If you want to start building muscle you’ve got to start getting used to lifting heavier weights. Jordan Yuam made Lautner lift weights that were 40% heavier than his regular 10 rep max. For example if you bench press 160lbs for ten reps then you should strive to lift 225 and with the aid of a spotter lower the weight very slowly (My bit: Not the best idea and not necessary unless you’re a more advanced lifter). These are called negatives. This kind of training (slow negatives) is very taxing and it’s recommended that you limit it to 2-3 sets of 5 reps every 2nd week.

• Vary your training volume – As it was said your body’s got to get used to lifting heavier weights to start packing on some more muscle but going heavier isn’t always the best idea. If you really want to make more progress you should regularly vary your repetition count and the weights you use. This is to make sure that your body doesn’t get accustomed to a particular weight to the point that you stop progressing. (My bit: I don’t believe this applies in all situations). The more you make your muscles adapt to different stimuli the more they grow.(My bit: In my opinion you should keep the rep range no higher than 12 and keep bumping up the weight until you can no longer bump it up. Then work on increasing your reps back up to 12, then back to bumping up the weight and so on and so forth. Constantly “changing it up” only helps in certain circumstances but for the vast majority of people the protocol I just outlined should work best….moving on…).

• Create more tension – In  Taylor Lautner’s workout routine free weights were highly favored but they have some drawbacks such as the fact the tension isn’t constant throughout the full ROM or range of motion. That’s why Jordan often hooked large rubber bands to barbells or dumbells Taylor lifted and anchored them to the ground so that they would create tension through the full ROM (range of motion). This makes the muscles work harder due to the increased tension and thus muscle growth is accelerated.

• Cuting back on cardio – Taylor cut back on his cardio almost completely while bulking up. For your average naturally skinny, hard gaining male, heavy cardio can great diminish one’s ability to gain muscle (My bit: for those who struggle to gain weight “no matter how much they eat” cardio should be relegated to walking. For everyone else it’s fine so long as your not doing long cardio workouts and your not doing them too often [there's more effective cardio methods then that]).

• Don’t overwork your ab muscles – Abs are usually the cornerstone of a great physique so lots of guys tend to work their abs as often as they can. Unfortunately, that’s why lots of guys don’t sport abs like Taylor’s. Abs like other body parts or muscles have to rest following a tough workout and just as other muscles on your body constantly working them is counterproductive and just leads to over training. Jordan Yuam had Lautner work his midsection thrice weekly with various exercises that worked his entire core area. One of Taylor’s favorite ab workouts was a superset of hanging leg raises and reverse crunches,  stopping and holding the movement at peak contraction for 7-10 secs between each rep.

• Make time to recover – What you eat and how you exercise are only 2/3′s of the equation. The other 1/3 is adequate rest. Without it your liable to over train, slowing down your progress or even bringing it down to a screeching halt. Taylor made sure to take off every 3rd day and he never exercised more than 5 days a week.

My Personal Opinion On The Taylor Lautner Workout Routine

Well it’s not really Taylor Lautner’s workout that we have it’s more like the principles that his trainer applied to him to help him achieve his goals, but yeah I actually agree with the majority of what’s been said. Most of them are solid principles that will definitely help. Unfortunately while principles are great they’re nothing without structure. For a more structured routine that’s highly effective check out my post on Visual Impact Muscle Building.

This dude’s had some minor roles in CSI, he’s done commercials, modeling and starred in the Twlight movies. No wonder I hadn’t heard of this kid. I’m not judging if you watch those Twilight movies though… I’m just not a fan.

Although he hasn’t gotten as much attention as say Taylor Lautner, the dude has a pretty tight physique, and it’s obvious he’s busting ass to make it happen. But I will say a physique like his is definitely attainable by most, injury free males so long as they put the pedal to the medal and dial in both their workouts and nutrition.

Like a lot of other fit male celebs Kellan doesn’t seem to have much in the way leg mass. At least not anywhere near what he’s accomplished with his upper body. It’s fair to say this type of physique cam be achieved with a workout consisting of some heavy horizontal (bench press/incline press) and vertical (military press) pressing, pullups, barbell rows, curls and abdominal work with HIIT thrown in a few times a week.I’d throw in some one legged squats just for good measure and to prevent you from having absolute chicken legs.

As usual I scoured the interwebz to find out what’s been published about how he did it and I found out that he’s very strict on his diet and is a total health nut. According to Men’s health his workout consists of the following circuit done back to back up to three times with a rest in between each completion of the circuit:

The Kellan Lutz Workout According To Mens Health:

-Reverse Crunches x 20 repetitions

-V-Ups x 20 repetitions

-Barbell Front Squat to Press x 12 repetitions

-Push Up x 12 repetitions

-Incline Barbell Bench Press x 12 repetitions

-Explosive Push Ups x 12 repetitions

-Dumbbell Lunges x 12 repetitions

-Goblet Squats x 12 repetitions

My Opinion On The Mens Health Kellan Lutz Workout:

Bullshit.

I very seriously doubt that he did circuits like the one mentioned above to gain the muscle he currently has. For one simple reason. Circuits are great for cardio and they’re great for metabolic conditioning, they might even be ok for strenth training but only up to a certain point. Only a newbie is going to make any significant muscular gains off a routine like that. To build muscle to the degree that he has you’re going to have to build up your strength and with the little rest given in circuit type workouts you end up getting winded and metabolically challenged way before any individual muscle has had enough strain put on it to induce a significant enough response to induce muscle building.

So What Would I Do?

The example workout I gave at the beginning of the post would be a great step in the right direction. But an even greater step would be to check out Visual Impact Muscle Building for an even more in depth look at how to build a body like Kellan’s. From the cardio all the way to the weight training.

All right folks. That’s it for today. As usual I’ll be back soon with more celeb workouts and tips on how you can get as lean as humanely possible while building muscle.

Sammy at Male Celeb Workouts here, over and out.

Now when it comes down to it there’s a few things that might be standing in your way of achieving a six pack (depending on where you stand right now) but the most important factor that determines whether or not you will have a ripped six pack of abs is your body fat levels… Straight up. You could be a skinny bean pole and if you’re lean enough you’ll have abs (granted that’s not the ideal look most people are shooting for). On the other hand you can be extremely built and have lots of muscle with thick, strong abdominal muscles but they won’t show regardless if they’re still covered in fat. Of course strengthening and building your ab muscles is also important but in order to have visible abs you’ve got to be lean and that part comes down to nutrition (read: intermittent fasting). This article covers the basics of everything you need to know how to get a six pack from nutrition all the way to working out.

As an aside you might want to have a look at Rusty Moore’s “Abs Blueprint” it’s a free 44 pg e-book that you can quickly download on resistance training for abs and it includes a 7 part video series on dieting, cardio, and supplements for fat loss and ultimately abs. The cool thing about it is the whole thing is free (e-book + video series). Anyway…

Having said all that I absolutely know that you can get a six pack in a relatively timely manner if you really want it bad enough. So without further ado…

The 7 Commandments Of How To Get A Six Pack or How To Get Abs For Dummies

The 1st Commandment: Thou Shall Lose The Body Fat!

You may not consider yourself fat and you might even have less fat on you than most people walking this green earth but you wanted to know how to get a six pack so if you’re of average musculature then you’re going to have to get down to at least 10% body fat for them to begin to be noticeable and down to 7% for them to really start looking good.

Despite the plethora of garbage fat loss advice you might find on the net. There’s only a few fat loss methods that have proven to be effective across the board, while still promoting good health (very important). For the purpose of this post I’ll keep it simple. It’s going to come down to two things. A good (paleoesque as I like to call it) diet, and HIIT cardio (done in a specific way I have my clients do that’s way more effective than traditional HIIT cardio programs). HIIT being: High Intensity Interval Training.

With that in mind let’s move on to…

The 2nd Commandment: Thou Shall Control Thine Carb Intake

Sticking to the theme of fat loss you’re going to have to make some dietary changes if you want abs of steel. A simple protocol to follow is to stick to nothing but lean meats, fibrous veggies, fibrous fruits (GOOD: Berries, Apples,Figs – BAD: Mango’s, Pinnaple, Honeydew, Peaches) and conservative portions of nuts. Meaning you’ll have very little in the way of carbs. Now i realize this can be a bit hard at first but believe me it gets much easier with time. Intermittent Fasting is also a great approach to fat loss that if done correctly (and that’s very important) can both spare muscle tissue and accelerate fat loss. Not to mention the fact that intermittent fasting can help reduce carbohydrate cravings making your life just that much easier.

Now I’m not saying that you have to exclude all the delicacies of life but you do have to make a little sacrifice here (less so if you do intermittent fasting).

Another easy and very effective tactic is to have a carb cutoff late in the afternoon/early evening. That way you can eat carbs like you usually do during the day except you’d cut them off around 5 or 6pm and not have any carbs until the following morning. That way you’re not consuming carbohydrates during the hours that they’re less likely to be used and thus more likely to be stored as fat.

The 3rd Commandment: Thou Shall Control Thine Calorie Intake

Still on the topic of fat loss is the subject of calorie cutting. Not everyone reading this article is in need of calorie cutting. In fact some guys actually need to bulk up. But for those who have a bit of pudge holding them back from six pack abs calorie cutting can sometimes be what’s needed. Before even considering calorie cutting I usually start by having my clients try intermittent fasting. For many that’s all they need to shed the fat. But when you’ve done that and you’re still not losing the fat then it’s usually because your calories are high during your non fasting hours. Be aware that some foods are more calorically dense than others and despite the volume that they take up they are chock full of calories. Examples of calorie dense foods are:

• Peanut butter (almond butter, macadamia butter or any other kind of butter for that matter)
• Nuts
• Avocados
• Crackers
• Chips
• Pizza
• Sweets (candy, cakes, sugar cereal, ice cream)
• Anything fatty

So as you can see even foods that we normally consider to be healthy (ex: nuts, avocados) can be very calorie dense. And while these foods might contain health promoting nutrients you still have to be careful to not over indulge in these foods as it’s very easy to get in loads of calories without even being aware of it.

The 4th Commandment: Thou Shall Intermittently Fast

Now as if I haven’t spoken about intermittent fasting enough, I’m going to talk about it a bit more. The basic premise of intermittent fasting is that you fast intermittently… As obvious as that may sound that’s really all there is to it.Where it gets complicated is that there’s loads of various fasting protocols all with varied levels of effectiveness in regards to fat loss. Some say that you should fast 20 hours a day and only eat 4 hours out of the day while others think you should fast for 16 hours and eat for 8 hours of the day. I’ve tried plenty of protocols on both myself and my clients over the ears and hands down the most effective protocol is this one(link coming soon).

If you really want to know how to get a six pack or how to get abs that really turn heads intermittent fasting is your ticket.

The 5th Commandment: Thou Shall Perform HIIT Cardio

HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) pretty much entails performing shorter cardio sessions that consist of short bursts of work that raises your heart rate followed by “active recovery” wherein you slow down and allow yourself to recover while still in movement (or completely resting if you’re still quite out of shape).

This form of cardio is much more effective than the LSD (long slow distance) type cardio you see being espoused so frequently. There are plenty of studies to prove this but more importantly I know this to be the case because I’ve helped a couple of hundred of people lose weight first hand (I’m a personal trainer FYI) and I’ve seen how much more effective HIIT is than almost any other form of cardio. I recommend doing doing 3-5 HIIT sessions a week depending on how intense you are able to push yourself and how much weight training you’re doing.

The 6th Commandment : Thou Shall Workout Thine Abs

This one is a total no brainer. No shit you’re going to have to workout your abs. Working out your abs isn’t going to solve all your problems though because despite how thick, strong and well developed your abs are they aren’t going to show unless you’re lean enough. Despite that it helps to train your abs because when they’re well developed they tend to start showing earlier and they just plain look better than underdeveloped six pack abs that only show because they’re on an extremely skinny frame. I recommend you train your abs heavy (of course heavy is relative to how strong you are) and in the 10-15 rep range. Taking your reps higher than that, as many people do recommend, only ends up delaying potential strength gains that could be had and only serves to cause sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (your muscles ability to hold fluid in the sarcoplasm) vs myofibrillar hypertrophy (actual muscle tissue growth). Some of my favorite ab exercises are hanging leg raises (as see in the picture above), and Dragon Flags, sometimes known as body levers (demonstrated in the picture below):

The 7th Commandment: Thou Shall Lifteth Heavy Weights

Now you don’t really need to lift weights to have abs but having a more muscular body helps with not only attaining a more attractive body but it also helps you lose fat and keep fat off. When you carry more muscle your body tends to burn more calories at rest therefor speeding up your metabolism and making it easier for you to lose fat. Now depending on your individual goals how you structure your weight lifting routine could vary so I won’t go into that too much here but do know that it will help you lose fat faster and thus speed up your path to a six pack.

Conclusion

There you have it “The 7 Commandments Of How To Get A Six Pack or How To Get Abs For Dummies”. I just gave you a rough guideline of just about everything you can start doing today to begin your path towards abs of steel. Like everything in life information can only do so much so get your ass up and get to work! And don’t forget to pick up your copy of “Abs Blueprint”. You might as well…it’s free.

So when I decided to write this post I went about my way doing research the way I usually do. Trying to find out every piece of information on the web about how they achieved those results. What I found was that almost everything I found on the net was NOT what they actually did to get in shape for the movie… I mean if you type in “300 workout”, or “300 workout routine” into google right now you’ll find a bunch of pages including a page on Mens Health about the “The 300 Workout” and all it is, is a 300 rep workout of various exercises that the cast used as a bench mark to test their fitness levels as they got in better shape while training with Mark Twight (the trainer that trained the cast of 300). It was NOT the workout they used to get in shape like they did. So being the awesome dude that I am (your welcome) I figured I’d fill you in on the kind of stuff they actually did do to achieve those results.

What they did in fact do was a mixture of:

-Metabolic Conditioning (metcon) : This kind of work is great for fat loss. Think intense ass interval cardio, burning muscles, and thus pukage.

-Ring Training: To develop stabilization strength, and relative strength.

-Bodyweight Exercises: For muscular endurance and metcon purposes.

-Strength Training: To get, you know… strong.

Here’s a clip of Mark Twight and the cast talking about what it took to get into spartan warrior shape:

Gerard Butler on the workouts: It’s been said that Gerard Butler aka Leonidas even went on to say that he never, ever wanted to come across any kind of gym for the rest of his life after having trained for the movie. It was obvious that these guys got their asses handed to them.
I’m also pretty sure there was even more of an emphasis on strength training then was originally alluded to in that video for the simple fact that many of these guys (the cast) came into it with almost no workout experience at all. Meaning that they needed to bulk up quite a bit for the film and metcon workouts most definitely did not account for the amount of muscle some of these guys sported.

Now as I said earlier Mark periodically had them perform a workout that consisted of 300 total repetitions of various exercises to test their fitness levels. That workout/test is to be done with absolutely no rest unless you’re unable to finish the allotted repetitions in which case you would rest only enough to finish out that exercise then you’d perform the next exercise immediately. That workout/test is as follows:: 25 Pull ups, 135lb. Deadlifts for 50 reps, 50 Push ups, 50 24in Box Jumps, 50 Floor Wipers, 50 One Arm Clean and Presses a 36 pound Kettlebell, and finishing off with another 25 pullups.

Sounds simple but I guarantee if you put your all into that you’d either be layed out or hudled over a toilet. Either of which is great.

From checking the out forums and other sites it seems that lots of people have taken it upon them to take what Mark Twight intended to be a test and make it their workout hoping to get similar results. Unfortunately it just ain’t gonna’ work like that. First off that routine would mainly work your muscular endurance and although it would be great for metcon it wouldn’t do much for you as far as muscle building goes. If I were you and I wanted to get a similar look I’d look into a workout program such as Visual Impact because that’s the kind of thing that’s really going to help you pack on some muscle and even lean out while you’re at it.

And it rocked my fucking world. I mean really. Around that time I was really starting to get into eastern philosophy specifically zen meditation and when I watched this movie it just totally resonated with me. I know lots of you guys feel the same. This movie touches guys on an almost primal level. And while many of you don’t quite feel the same way about it I maintain that the reason for that is that you didn’t really get the underlying message of the movie.  Anyway, the movie rocked and for those of you that haven’t yet seen it, do so immediately. Else you risk the mental, physical, and psycho-spiritual effeminization of your manhood (ehh… maybe that was a bit much).

 The Brad Pitt workout for Fight Club

“The first rule of Fight Club is that you do not talk about Fight Club.”

With those words, Brad Pitt became known not only as another pretty face in Hollywood but as someone who was willing to get down and dirty to play his role as Tyler Durden. In the film he was everything that Edward Norton’s nameless character could ever hope to be. Physically, mentally, spiritually and even in bed.

So how did Brad Pitt workout for Fight Club? Well for starters take into account that he’s always had a fast metabolism and was always a naturally skinny guy. He was what some would call an ectomorph or hard gainer so he actually had trouble putting on muscle. In fact he wasn’t really sporting that much muscle at all for Fight Club at 5’11” and 150-150lbs. The impressive look was mostly due to how lean he was at 5-6% bodyfat.

For Fight Club Brad Pitt did a typical bodybuilding split workout where he worked one muscle group per workout and trained each body part once per week. The theory behind being to hit it hard and let the muscle rest and grow stronger over the course of the week. At the time Brad did 3 sets per exercise with a weight that allowed him to get around 15 repetitions except for pushups and pullups. He also only got 60 seconds of rest between sets. A typical week in workouts would like so for a then diced Tyler Durden (Brad):

Monday (Chest): 3 sets each of Pushups, Bench Press, Nautilus Press (not my personal favorite), Pac Deck, and Incline Presses.

Tuesdays (Lats/Back Thickness):  3 sets each of Pullups, Seated Cable Rows, T-bar rows, and Lateral Pulldowns).

Wednesdays (Delts):  3 sets each of Front Raises, lateral Raises, and Arnold Presses.

Thursdays (Biceps/Triceps):  3 sets each of Hammer Curls, Preacher Curls, Cable EZ-Bar Curls, Pushdowns

Three sets of 15 reps were done per exercise, with a minute’s rest in between sets. At the end of each week (Fridays and Saturdays), cardio routines were performed to burn fat. As a result, this led to muscle mass, but not so much as to become extremely bulky.

approximately 60 seconds of rest between each set. Pitt used a weight challenging enough that he could successfully complete 15 reps, no less (with the exception of pushups and pullups), but be fatigued on the last rep. Proper form was maintained throughout.
For his diet, the actor ate 6 protein-rich meals per day. Examples of the food he ate included rice cakes, lean turkey and chicken, fish, egg whites, cottage cheese, bananas, brown rice, and green vegetables.  He also made use of mass-building supplements such as protein bars and whey protein powder.

The result? A 5% body fat that made him the envy of many, with his build having a huge impact on the fitness industry, showing that sometimes, mass may not be what it’s all about.

Brad Pitt workout for Troy

Five years later, Brad Pitt was given the role in the movie Troy. As he was set to play the role of Achilles, the Greek hero who was practically invincible, he had to make sure that his Brad Pitt workout counted where it mattered.

What was carried over from his workout in Fight Club was that he again focused on a single muscle group per day. However, the Brad Pitt workout itself was radically different. Unlike before wherein he and his trainer worked more on reducing body fat, this time, they also needed to add to his bulk to play the role of the Greek hero. Furthermore, they also worked to build up on his legs so that he didn’t look too top-heavy, something that was noticeable in his past films since his emphasis was more toward building his upper body. As such, his workout routines made him bulkier but more proportioned.

Since he only had seven months to gain body mass, he made sure to make the Brad Pitt workout as intense as possible. Aside from adding more reps to his workout this time around, he also lifted heavier weights for his Troy training to help him build up the bulk. He did bench presses, cable crossovers, incline bench presses, dumbbell pullovers and dips to work out his chest; front wide-grip chin-ups, seated pulley rows, T-bar rows, and straight-leg deadlifts to work out his back; squats, leg presses, barbell lunges and leg extensions to exercise his legs; barbell curls and dumbbell concentration curls to work out his biceps; triceps extensions, push-downs, close-grip bench presses, and barbell French presses for his triceps; and lateral raises, cable lateral raises, and rear-delt lateral raises to work out his shoulders. Aside from his workout routines, he also had to practice sword fighting two hours daily for his role. He did less cardio for Troy compared to what he did for Fight Club.

To help him build body mass, he also consumed more calories alongside the Brad Pitt workout. He also cut back on beer and chips, as well as stopped smoking temporarily. However, he occasionally allowed him to indulge in his favorite frozen treat.

According to the actor himself, the Brad Pitt workout training for Troy was the most intensive and aggressive that he’s ever done, at least, at the time of the filming of that movie. However, his efforts certainly paid off, as can be seen in how he looked in the film. In fact, the actor himself was the one who proposed doing his nude scenes himself instead of getting a body double, because he said he worked hard enough to actually deserve to show off his body.

While Brad Pitt undeniably looked good in these two films, he didn’t achieve these results without any effort. He really trained hard for the Brad Pitt workout for both films. As such, if you’re planning to work hard to look as good as Achilles or Tyler Durden, don’t expect to gain the bulk and the proportion overnight.

One of the most intimidating lead actors in the movies nowadays is Jason Statham. His air of superiority is not really because of his brawling type of action or his gritty British accent, but mainly due to his ripped, well-built body. This is why a lot of people are searching for his workout so that they’ll be able to copy it and hopefully achieve the body of a superstar. Other people dismiss the possibility that they can achieve a ripped body with the Jason Statham’s workout because they think that the actor has been born with it. But in order to clear things up, Jason Statham acknowledges that it took hard work and dedication in order to achieve such a chiseled form. If you want to learn about the workout that led to Jason Statham’s current chiseled physique, just read through this article and find out.

Jason Statham Workout: looking back

Before the Jason Statham workout to achieve his current body, he referred to his old self as lardy because of all the excess fats that his body had been carrying. Although he wasn’t really obese or overweight, he recognized the fact that his body could’ve been better; he could have been lighter and stronger, and from there, the possibilities are endless. He gained weight the same way other people would. He ate too much, drank too many, and had too little physical activities. These activities surely packed quite a few pounds in all the wrong places in his body. Indeed, he was tall and muscular, but he had love handles, a fat gut, and other things that you wouldn’t imagine Jason Statham would have. Jason Statham also acknowledged the fact that he didn’t really care much about the calories that he’s been consuming, or the pounds that he’s been packing. He ate healthy foods, but unfortunately, he ate too much of those, too.

Jason Statham Workout: packing on the heat

His road to weight loss started when he landed a role where he’ll be fighting a lot, and a ripped body is a must for such a role. Overall, Jason Statham’s Workout necessary to transform the actor into someone that fits such a role is labor intensive, but it is really achievable.

Each workout is started by a ten-minute warm-up, preferably something that’s low impact and involves almost all the primary muscle groups of the body. In his case, the workout involved using a rowing machine. Unfortunately, this is only the easy part, and the hardships would come at a later time. Up next is medium intensity training. This part includes heavy lifting mixed with various compound movements including deadlifts, power cleans and front squats, among others. After this, you can also do interval training, which is the hardest part of the Jason Statham workout. This will surely wear you down, because it tests the limits of your body. This also uses a variety of exercises, but it doesn’t make things easier. It targets different parts of your body, but the punishment is enough to make you tired as a whole.

Hugh Jackman’s Workout became a huge craze as the famous Hollywood hunk revealed his well-toned body in X-Men: The Last Stand. Although he is not an elite athlete, he has done a wide range of physically taxing skills while playing the role of Wolverine in X-Men movies. If you try talking to those who watched him prepare for all his roles, you will realize why labeling him as just an actor is completely inappropriate. Standing six feet, three inches tall, he backs up his imposing presence with immense muscular power and unparalleled agility.

Hugh Jackman mastered tai chi forms and challenging yoga positions to prepare for his demanding roles. He also does almost all of his stunts. During an interview, he revealed the biggest secret behind his physical achievements brain power. To prepare for his role as Wolverine, he pushed his body to the limit by spending an hour and a half in the gym and eating more calories than he normally would. He screamed at the top of his lungs during his workout, which helped him get into the character faster.

Hugh Jackman Workout is actually simple. It involved lots of weight lifting. He performed variations of bench presses, light squats, leg presses, and barbell lunges. He also changed his routine every three weeks, shifting from heavy to lighter weights and mixing in fast, explosive lifting to ensure faster muscle gains. After he learned how to shove his mind out of the way, he finally did something he has never done before bench a six-plate barbell. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by over 300 pounds of weight, he gets insanely pissed off, fuels himself with anger, and pushes right through the challenge at hand.

Getting ripped muscles

Hugh Jackman used a combination of cardiovascular exercise and strength training to gain muscle while keeping his body fat percentage to a minimum. A low body fat percentage also allows him to strip away the thick layer of fat that hides his well-sculpted abdominal muscles. Aside from sticking to his demanding workout schedule, he also varies the speed he uses for performing repetitions. For the first day of his workout, he performs twelve dumbbell chest presses, twenty-five push ups, twelve lateral pull downs, and twelve cable side raises. He ends the day with twelve barbell curls and twelve military presses.

For the second day of the Hugh Jackman Workout, he starts with twelve squats, twelve balance board lunges, and thirty split leg box jumps. Twenty repetitions of jack knife and crunches on a stability ball also keep him pumped up. For the third day of his explosive workouts, he performs thirty walking lunges, fifty crunches on a stability ball, and a hundred push ups. To work on his speed and agility, he also performs a one-minute sprint at 80% intensity after performing fifty lateral pull downs and thirty inchworms.

There is no wonder why Hugh Jackman immediately got the impressive muscle gains he needed to do justice to his role as Wolverine. If you also want to bulk up and put on some serious muscle size, the official Hugh Jackman Workout will help you go beyond your comfort zone and encourage you to perform a combination of cardio and strength training.

Cam Gigandet is an American martial artist and actor. He’s been in a number of television shows and movies, of which you may greatly recognize him as James in the Twilight series. But while his body as James in Twilight may have caught your eye, that’s nothing compared to how good he looked back when he did Never Back Down, playing the role of Ryan McCarthy. Men and women love his toned, tight physique in Never Back Down, prompting a lot of interest for a Cam’s workout.

Getting started

Like many other workouts, the Cam Gigandet’s workout had a goal. Gigandet’s character Ryan was a fighter with a slim and lean kind of body so that’s what they needed to achieve. His workout started out with losing weight and slimming down. While a fellow fighter in the movie was buffing up to gain 15 pounds of muscle, Gigandet was being made to lose weight, zapping all the fat in his body to give him well-defined muscles that even the guys can’t stop staring at. In the end, as expected, the other fighter looked bigger than him. Gigandet, on the other hand, was thinner but had such tight muscles that you wouldn’t dream of picking a fight with him even if he is smaller and thinner.

The idea behind the Cam Gigandet’s workout is to burn off as much fat as possible in order to reveal tight layers of muscles underneath. And once the fat has been burned off, leaving the muscles exposed, Gigandet then worked towards adding definition. Like a lot of workouts, the Cam’s workout involves following a schedule. A typical one you can follow will have you working your chest area during Mondays, focusing on your back on Tuesdays, giving your shoulders a workout on Wednesdays, concentrating on your biceps and triceps on Thursdays, and then running on the treadmill on Fridays. There was limited time to work with since Gigandet is preparing for a role so the aim was to achieve results in as short a time as possible. Since fat loss played a big part in the Cam Gigandet workout, tweaking the schedule to include cardio for 45 minutes every day instead is recommended in order to lower body fat percentage as much as possible. For optimum fat loss, high-intensity interval training is a must as well.

Maintaining the Cam Gigandet body

A Cam Gigandet workout produces such spectacular results that it would be a shame to let go of a ripped, well-defined body. A lot of people throw away their efforts at looking so good only because the summer season is over. Sure, summer is the best time to show off your spectacular body, but it is not the only time. In fact, don’t think of getting into shape as a seasonal plan. Rather, choose to stay in shape all year. It actually takes very little to retain muscle mass, involving simple resistance training every week. You don’t even have to load up on protein so often. Just eat right, do resistance training, and you’ll be fine.