He is like my protein bar! Good amounts of protein (muscle), and right amounts of fat. The first time I saw him was in the movie "Someone like you" with Ashley Judd. I didn't notice him until that scene where Ashley Judd does the cheerleader dance for him in his apartment, in the middle of the night! That was so long ago when I laid my eyes on him, and still can't take them off him. Of course! Now that he is even bigger protein bar! I looked up his workout routine naturally and lucky me, I did this search at the right time. Hugh Jackman had just been through his intense training and preparation for his role as Wolverine in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine".
Here is what his trainers did to get Hugh Jackman ready for his role of Wolverine,
The first thing his trainers did was to make a fitness assessment. They recorded his body fat, posture and flexibility, and did the aerobic and anaerobic testing. Now, with this data they were able to come up with a custom workout program for Jackman that would transform him into a man with Wolverine body that is more athletic, and not just another bodybuilder training to bulk up.
Let's start laying out step by step phases that Hugh Jackman was put through to achieve this transformation.
1. Changing tempo of weight lifting was the first phase to enhance muscle mass. Three seconds of eccentric phase and one second of concentric phase is what Hugh was put through. So, to describe this phase, for doing a bench press, Hugh would take three seconds to lower down the barbell, while take only a second to lift the weight up. The three seconds time in lowering the weight puts the muscle under increased tension, which in turn causes damage to the muscle tissue, thus helping in its growth. The order of priority that is crucial in weight lifting is form, followed by tempo (control), and then only weights.
2. The second phase focused mainly on maximizing strength and not in muscle mass. Hugh was trained to take on as heavy as possible without paying much attention to tempo. Each of these phases were 6-12 weeks long depending on the outcome. Hugh trained for 1 to 2 hours, 5 times a week. On Fridays, Hugh would take part in bootcamp workout for half hour. In this session, he did brutal bodyweight and interval style training to boost his metabolism, and increase this endurance and strength. This was necessary as Wolverine is a mutant who could jump and run with powerful limbs.
3. For his last phase, he did weight training for one day, and filled rest of his days with yoga, pilates and Tai Chi. He also did cardiovascular training on treadmill at moderate intensity to burn off the fat which he had accumulated over the past 6 weeks of each phase in order to reveal the 6-pack abs.
Shocking the muscles into growing is what the trainers did by introducing the 2 phases, which constantly challenged Hugh's body. Mistakes made by most people is either never changing their workout, or changing it way too often, both of which is wrong. Six weeks each phase is a good duration to keep up with.
So, here is an example of what Hugh Jackman's Workout Routine would look like,
TRAINING FOR STRENGTH
Reps: 2–6 Sets: 4–6
Rest: 3–5 min.
TRAINING FOR SIZE
Reps: 8–12 Sets: 3–5 Rest: 1 min.
A sample chest workout:
Incline Dumbbell Chest Press
Flat Dumbbell Chest Press
Seated Machine Press
Decline Dumbbell Chest Press
TRAINING FOR FAT LOSS
Reps: 8–12 Sets: 2–4 Rest: 1 min.
An example of a full-body strength and endurance workout:
Dumbbell Bench Press:
superset with Alternating Swiss Ball Dumbbell Chest Press
Standing Cable Row
superset with One Arm Dumbbell Bench Row
Seated Shoulder Press
superset with Alternating Standing Shoulder Press
Barbell Squat
superset with Walking Lunge
Intervals: Warm up at 75% maximum heart rate for 5 minutes, increase to 90% for 1 minute, lower to 85% for 3 minutes, then 75% for 2 minutes. Repeat for 60 minutes. [1]
Finally, we have one last thing to talk about and that is Hugh's diet plan. Hugh had a very disciplined diet plan with 6-7 meals a day. He would have egg whites in the morning (at 4AM!), and at every 3 hours after that he would consume brown rice and vegetables as well as proteins including steamed chicken breasts and egg whites. After midday, he would not eat rice or any carbohydrates, but just vegetables, meat, and fish.
Hugh consumed natural protein most of the time and took supplement as protein powder only when he couldn't get enough of it from natural sources. At night, he ate slow digesting cottage cheese.
Reason for Hugh Jackman’s Success
Hugh Jackman succeeded not because he set goals on how much weight he needed to bench, but because he imagined himself to be Wolverine. Wolverine is the hero who could withstand tremendous pain, fuel himself with anger, and begin when everyone else quit. This kind of determination is what helped Hugh to overcome the pain barrier with months of workout. While bench pressing 315 pounds, he had a choice of either using the help of his spotter, or do it all by himself. He chose the latter. [2]
So, Hugh growled and pumped iron like Wolverine and finally was capable to live up to the image of Wolverine.
Putting your mind into the muscle makes lot more sense to me now!
References:
[1] Train like Hugh Jackman, http://www.mensfitness.com/fitness/general-fitness/get-jacked-like-hugh-jackman
[2] How to build body like Hugh Jackman, http://munfitnessblog.com/how-to-build-body-like-hugh-jackman/
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