David Beckham has shared a look at how he trains his abs with an Instagram video which shows him working through a set of hanging knee raises, under strict instruction from trainer Bobby Rich.

The exercise’s name doubles as a form guide: hang from a pull-up bar, then use your core muscles to raise both knees so your thighs pass beyond parallel with the floor. 

In the video, Rich can be heard giving the technique cue “knees up to your chest”, although Becks’ caption suggests he had more pressing matters on his mind—namely, the state of his headline-grabbing ’do. If I had hair that nice that would be my primary concern, too.

Benefits Of Hanging Abs Exercises 

Performing abs exercises on a pull-up bar is great for breaking away from the monotony core training can entail—planks, crunch variations, you know the drill. Your mid-body muscles are in for a real test too.

“You’re definitely focused on your rectus abdominis because you’re going into a flexion, but instead of flexion from the top like with a crunch you’re flexing from the bottom,” says Wendy Batts, regional master trainer for the National Academy of Sports Medicine. 

However, she warns this move isn’t for beginners. Not only do you have to be able to control your body through spinal flexion, but it also requires you to hold your bodyweight. And that’s not all.

To hit the intended range of motion, you need to be able to hang with a neutral spine. If your lower back arches (an anterior pelvic tilt), you have to move your spine to neutral before moving to flexion, and that extra movement is called compensation.

“If you can do it without compensation then I tell people it’s a great exercise,” she explains. 

“But you really need to make sure you have good lat extensibility, because if you don’t and you’re hanging you’re going to be in an anterior tilt. 

“The lower back will arch, and during this exercise you’re trying to have it do the opposite. This means you’re really not going to get full activation [of the muscles] because you have to go through a compensation first.”

If you struggle with this exercise, try starting with a knee-up, or a reverse crunch to knee-up as demonstrated below (rotation optional). 

However, if you have the strength and stability needed to do this exercise properly, Batts says it can be a great tool for developing core strength. 

“There are a lot of different variations to make it harder; sometimes one knee up at a time so you have to hang longer, or there are different rotational movements while doing it. 

“I have our athletes do it where they’ll raise their knees, kick their legs out, hold this position, and then come down. 

“There are a lot of variations to this one exercise that you can progress someone to. You just want to make sure they’re doing it correctly first, then you can have a ton of fun with it.”

Hugh Jackman has been preparing to resume his role of clawed crusader Wolverine for Deadpool 3 and his gym sessions were no joke.

The Australian actor recently shared a snippet of his training, showing him tackling what looks like a biceps curl mechanical drop set, all while receiving barked orders from his trainer’s dog Andy.

In the clip, Jackman hits a set of standing EZ-bar curls before leaning over and immediately getting to work on a series of bent-over EZ-bar curls using the same weight. 

But what does this achieve? By getting him to switch his body position, Jackman’s trainer Beth Lewis changes the point of the movement at which his biceps are under the most load.

A standard biceps curl will feel most difficult as your forearms pass the point of being parallel with the ground, whereas a bent-over biceps curl is most challenging at the top of the rep. This shifts the stimulus of the move by hitting the biceps from a different angle, delivering a colossal pump.

And the results are on display for all to see: Jackman’s arms look huge. 

Deadpool 3 is released on July 26 this year and it will be Jackman’s first outing as Wolverine since 2017’s Logan. 

Fans are also excited to see him star alongside a similarly-jacked Ryan Reynolds, with the duo having stoked a fake feud for the last 15 years. 

Despite being friends, the pair have taken light-hearted pot-shots at one another since meeting on the set of X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009. Now they’re set to reconvene in the MCU, audiences are expecting big things (and they’re not talking about Jackman’s biceps). 

Harry Styles is a better singer than me. As People magazine’s sexiest musician alive 2023, he’s better looking too. But because I’m a fitness writer by trade, the hardest pill to swallow is that he might be in better condition.

This realization dawned on me as Styles’ coach Thibo David walked me through one of his typical training sessions. 

They kick things off with a slow 10 to 30-minute jog, followed by a rapid one-mile run and a bodyweight challenge comprising 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and 100 air squats within eight minutes. Once that’s done, David considers the warm-up complete. 

What follows is a melee of weighted circuits, more running and core work which left me both intimidated and intrigued. So, as a fitness aficionado and Coach’s unofficial workout guinea pig, I decided to give it a go. All of it. 

Harry Styles Workout

1. Warm-up

• 30-minute slow-paced run 

If you include the one-mile run and bodyweight challenge, this is the hardest warm-up I’ve ever done, but, given the intensity required for the next two elements I’m promoting them to workout status. 

My usual warm-up routine consists of 10-minutes on a bike or exercise bike, followed by 15 minutes of dynamic stretching. The slow-paced run offered a similar introduction to my morning session, but after that I was in unfamiliar territory. 

2. One-Mile Run

• Run one mile as fast as possible

David says Harry Styles can run a mile in an impressive 5min 13sec—a standard some of the professional athletes David coaches can’t match—but I was urged to run my own race.

“Don’t go in thinking ‘he did it in five minutes, I’m going to do the same’, just keep on pushing,” says David. “Don’t think about anything else, your time is yours.” 

So I found myself haring through a UK park at 30°F. The cold air stung my lungs and my heart rate soon soared, but I managed to stick to a pace I, as an average runner at best, was fairly happy with and finished in 5min 59sec.

3. Bodyweight Challenge

• In eight minutes complete:
  • 100 push-ups
  • 100 sit-ups
  • 100 unweighted squats

This was far closer to my wheelhouse as a CrossFit fan. I chose to tackle it in alternating sets of 10, transitioning quickly between exercises to finish within the eight-minute limit. But even commando rolling from push-up to sit-up then springing into the squats left me little time to spare.

I took 7min 39sec, and, somewhat unexpectedly, given I can barbell squat more than 300lb, it was my quads that blew up the most. Whether this was the result of the one-mile run before it or heavy front squats the day before, I couldn’t say, but my thighs were on fire by the final rep. 

4. Free-Weights Circuit

• Four rounds of:
  • 1min kettlebell swings (16kg)
  • 1min box jumps
  • 2min sandbag over-the-shoulder (20kg)
  • 2min alternating dumbbell clean and press
  • 1min rest

This was the part of the training day I felt most comfortable with—probably because it bore the closest resemblance to CrossFit.

“I like to say that I train very smart, but you also have to be very stupid sometimes, you know? Do this type of workout in the most stupid way; go hard at the task at hand, like when you throw a ball for a dog and it goes super crazy. 

“This is a very good workout for that. Very good at building everything that needs to be added after the aerobic base; aggressiveness, speed, that go-hard mentality.”

I tend to ease off the throttle in timed workouts like this, so I set a couple of goals going in. 

Firstly: no taking long breaks mid-minute. Secondly, hit a set number of reps each round. I pushed my body reasonably hard during the first round and found that 30 kettlebell swings, 18 box jumps, 20 sandbag-over-shoulders and 30 clean and presses made tricky but achievable targets for me.

Things did become particularly spicy during round three and four though, as my body began to tire with the sustained effort. 

My posterior chain (the muscles running along the back side of the body) took a battering from the kettlebell swings and sandbag-over-shoulders, my already-fried legs felt heavy during the box jumps, and my shoulders grew tired from two minutes of straight clean and presses—it was a serious test of muscular endurance.

5. Hill Sprints

• Eight rounds of:
  • 30-45sec sprint (16-21km/h) at a 0.5-2.5% gradient
  • 90sec rest 

In the absence of a treadmill I sought out a nearby hill. For the first interval I ran as far up the hill as I could in 30 seconds (about 220 meters), sending my heart rate skywards. 

Then I took 90 seconds to walk back down the hill before repeating this distance. I also did 12 total rounds—I wanted the full Styles experience, after all—but I’d live to regret this. The hill I chose grew progressively steeper as I worked my way up it, and by the eighth round I felt like death. My sprints turned to slogs, and the time it took me to complete the distance I established in the first interval grew longer. 

The prior running and box jumps didn’t help either, but I got it done eventually in less than 30 minutes. 

6. Core Work

• 15 minutes of “diverse core exercises including planks, one-sided farmer’s walks, side planks and sit-up variations”.

These exercise suggestions offer a comprehensive core workout, recruiting a wide range of mid-body muscles from the rectus abdominis (of six-pack fame) to the spine-supporting transverse abdominis and erector spinae, which play a major role in maintaining posture. 

I also appreciated the addition of a one-sided loaded carry, which challenged my core to keep me upright as a weight pulled me sideways. After all, while the core is always credited with moving the spine, it’s also needed for resisting unwanted movement under load.

7. Stretching

• 10-15 minutes of assisted stretching

David left me to my own devices for this final part, so I worked my way through a 10-minute mobility routine on the Pliability app. 

This was a relaxing way to wrap up a far from relaxing morning of training, and gave me a second to catch my breath after a monumental effort which lasted a little over two hours.

How I Found Harry Styles’ Workout

I swapped this day of training for one of my usual CrossFit sessions and had a lot of fun doing it. Every part of my body felt like it had been put through the ringer thanks to the muscle-burning circuit and lung-taxing running elements. I was also very, very hungry. 

Another thing that impressed me was Styles’ evident fitness levels and work ethic; how he has the energy to perform for two hours during a stadium tour is no longer a mystery.

Another thing I liked about my chat with David was his openness and honesty. I often see articles online saying celebrities do a few Pilates classes or HIIT workouts each week to stay in unbelievable shape, and he was keen to dispel this myth.

“Collaborating with Harry Styles was an absolute delight; his commitment is unparalleled,” says David.

“But it’s important to note that this level of training isn’t suitable for everyone. Harry was inherently fit, but achieving the level of fitness needed for this session still required time, work and effort. Rushing into such high-volume workouts can pose risks.”

David also stressed that sessions of this intensity weren’t done every day, and the nature of his workouts will often “depend on the day and the state of the athlete”.

“It’s crucial to emphasize the significance of proper periodization,” says David. “Not every day constituted an intense session. In fact, we strategically incorporated recovery sessions which often involved a light run combined with core exercises and mobility work. Every workout was thoughtfully placed within the overall training plan.”

Hugh Jackman returning to the role of Wolverine in the forthcoming Deadpool 3 film, which can mean only one thing—he’s hitting the gym very, very hard.

As he prepares to play the clawed crusader, the Aussie actor has been sharing workout clips with his modest 31.5 million followers on Instagram.

These include touch-and-go reps of trap bar deadlifts (at somewhere between 285lb and 330lb by my estimation) and a bit of bench press accompanied by the caption: “Hurts so good.” Because not even Wolverine is above a bro sesh.

And while Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine workouts will always involve heavy lifting, that’s not all he does. Jackman’s latest post shows him in the gym hitting what looks to be a short, max-effort interval on a Concept2 RowErg. 

He paired the post with the description: “Literally a millisecond more! #throwbackthursday #becomingwolverineagain.”

But what on earth was he trying to do?

When the camera pans round to the monitor it shows that Jackman was on the fourth interval of his rowing session, covering 126 meters in about 20 seconds at 40 strokes/minute. The screen also reveals the rest time he has remaining (a little over one minute) and his total rowing distance of 614 meters—suggesting short, sharp and fast efforts.

Jackman tags trainer Beth Lewis in the Instagram post, who recently shared a video on the social media site about 100m repeats.

She describes them as max-effort intervals. For her session, she did six intervals in total, each taking about 20 seconds. Her total workout time was just over 11 minutes, suggesting rests of about 90 seconds.

Lewis writes that intense training protocols like this can be “invigorating, give us a rush of adrenaline, train much needed power production, take less time, and they aren’t boring”. But she warns against exercising like this every day.

“If you are always ‘maxing out’ or even moving like you’re maxing out, something is eventually going to break.” That’s where working with a coach such as Lewis pays dividends—they have the experience to know when to add max-efforts into a training plan.

Find out why the Concept2 tops our list of the best rowing machines.

Alan Ritchson packed on 30lb of muscle in eight months to play the title character of Prime Video’s hit show Reacher. With the unveiling of season two’s first few episodes last week, it’s clear he’s spent the time between seasons packing on even more muscle.

To prepare for the first season, “I built a gym in my house and all I did was eat and work out,” Ritchson told USA Today in a recent interview. Ahead of the show’s return, his aim was to pack on more muscle, “solidify what was there and to shape it.”

Bulking up was a change of piece for Ritchson, who’s prior exercise routine saw him running 13 miles-a-day in an attempt to stay slender enough to play a range of roles. “My body wants to be big,” he told USA Today.

While you might not have the same body type as Ritchson, or the chance to spend your nine-to-five clanking iron, you can use your time in the gym wisely and make some smart tweaks to a muscle-building workout plan. 

Before a one-off Reps Like Reacher class at Barry’s Bootcamp in London, Barry’s shared a selection of exercises from the show’s stunt coordinator Buster Reeves.

Take a look at the nine dumbbell exercises below, then add them into your training as you see fit—either as added volume on a set training day, or combine them and decide on a rep scheme for a full-body dumbbell workout in their own right. 

1 Champagne press

 Reeves says “The champagne press that will create separation through the center of the chest and build pecs like plates of armor!”

How to do it Sit on a bench with your feet wider than hip-width apart to create a stable base and press two dumbbells together in front of your chest. Keeping the dumbbells touching, extend your arms overhead and move your head between your biceps. Lower the dumbbells slowly.

2 Renegade row to T push-up

Reeves says “The renegade row, push-up and twist combination will target your chest, back and abs in one move.”

How to do it Start in the high plank position, holding dumbbells. Your hands should be under your shoulders and your body should form a straight line from head to heels. Lift one dumbbell to your torso, lower it under control, then repeat on the other side. Bend both elbows to lower your chest to the floor, then push back up powerfully, lifting one dumbbell and twisting your torso to raise the dumbbell above you, extending your arm, and turning your head to look at the dumbbell above you. Lower the dumbbell to the floor under control then repeat on the other side.

3 Russian twist

Reeves says Reacher’s fighting style involves a lot of elbows, which means plenty of rotation so his core needs to be rock solid.

How to do it Sit holding a dumbbell by your chest. Bend your knees and lift your feet just off the floor. Engage your core and lean back slightly. Rotate your torso and the dumbbell slowly to one side, then the other side.

4 Single-leg dumbbell glute bridge

Reeves says “The power for fighting also comes from your legs and glutes. Work with a heavy dumbbell to target the glutes.” 

How to do it Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor holding two heavy dumbbells on your hips. Lift one foot off the floor, and with push through the other foot to raise your glutes until your body forms a straight line from shoulders to knee. Lower under control. Do all the reps on one side then switch sides.

5 Lunge with rotation

Reeves says “Reacher has big legs for a tall guy. Work yours with a lunge with dumbbell rotation to target two areas— legs and core stability.”

How to do it Hold a dumbbell in both hands by the ends and raise it to shoulder height. Step forward with your right leg and bend both knees until your rear knee is just above the floor. Rotate your torso to the right. Reverse the movements to the start. Repeat on the other side.

6 Bent-over row and reverse flye

Reeves says A set of 10 bent-over rows reps followed immediately by 10 reverse flyes reps, on repeat for two minutes will help build a deep back just like Reacher for that ‘tight T-shirt around the shoulders, baggy around the waist’ look.”

How to do it Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart holding light dumbbells. With a slight bend in your knees, hinge forward at the hips, keeping your back straight. To perform a bent-over row, raise the dumbbells to your torso, leading with your elbows, and lower under control. To perform a reverse flye, lift the dumbbells to the sides, keeping a slight bend in your elbow throughout. Lower under control.

7 Bent-over row to triceps kick-back

Reeves says “If you want the Reacher look, you need a wide back and triceps peeking out of the T-shirt. A bent-over row with medium dumbbells into a triceps kick-back will target the ‘nightclub’ muscles that personify the Reacher physique.”

How to do it Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart holding medium-weight dumbbells. With a slight bend in your knees, hinge forward at the hips, keeping your back straight. Raise the dumbbells to your torso, leading with your elbows, then extend your arms to move the dumbbells behind you. Reverse the movements under control to the start.

8 Front raise

Reeves says “Create mid-delt shoulder caps just like Reacher by tweaking a regular frontal raise. Instead of lowering dumbbells all the way down to the waist, restrict your range of motion to be between chest and forehead height. 

How to do it Stand holding two dumbbells and raise them to chest height with your arms extended. Raise the right dumbbell to forehead height, lower under control, then repeat on the other side.

9 Dumbbell swing squat

Reeves says Finish by working your hips, hamstrings and lower back—again major Reacher muscles.

How to do it Stand holding dumbbells by your sides. Bend your knees and push your hips back to squat and at the same time raise both dumbbells to shoulder height. Try to make the movement fluid.

Reacher returns to Prime Video Friday December 15th

I’ve been writing about health and fitness for years, and I spent most of the Covid lockdown looking for ways to keep fit without the gym. For me, that meant lots of online Barre classes and modified CrossFit workouts using a barbell my gym loaned to me for the duration. One thing I never tried was a Joe Wicks workout.

Wicks, also known as The Body Coach, is one of the most recognisable names in the UK fitness industry, in part because of the daily live workouts for kids and adults he streamed during lockdown. 

His workouts are accessible and designed to be done at home with minimal, if any, equipment. As someone who prefers strength-training over other form of exercise, I’ve been skeptical about how much bodyweight workouts would benefit me.

However, with the days getting darker and colder, I’m struggling to make it to the gym first thing in the morning as usual. When I noticed Wicks had posted a new 15-minute workout, I decided to give it a go as a way to get moving at home.

Wicks describes the workout as an intermediate HIIT workout. It starts with 35 seconds of movement, followed by 25 seconds of rest. 

I was familiar with all of the exercises, including mountain climbers, push-ups and lunges. The workout switches between high-impact exercises like running on the spot and burpees, and low-impact exercises, such as glute bridges and bicycle crunches. This meant, combined with the fairly long rest periods, I had time to get my breath back between the high-impact movements.

However, the workout finished with mainly cardio exercises, which I enjoyed, as it left me sweaty and breathless by the end of the session, so I felt like I’d got a good workout in.

One benefit of Wicks’s workouts compared with other online personal trainers is that he properly demonstrates and explains the correct form for each move. Do the move wrong, especially at pace, and you may injure yourself or, at the very least, not work the intended muscles.

I enjoyed the workout and it got my heart rate up. It’s a good option if you just want to get moving, especially if, like me, one of the main reasons you exercise is for those post-workout endorphins that leave you feeling good throughout the day, which this routine, although short, delivered on.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson knows a thing or two about building muscle—just look at the size of his biceps. He’s also known for sharing gym tips for his 391 million Instagram followers to try.

The most recent sneak peek into his enviable Iron Paradise home gym was taken from a late-night chest, triceps, calves and cardio session. On the last set of each exercise, he employs a drop set to completely exhaust the targeted muscles. 

The video post shows him hitting a set of eight dumbbell bench presses with 100lb weights, quickly followed by an eight-rep drop set at 60lb. 

Both sets have a three-second eccentric (the downward portion of the movement), followed by a one-second pause at the chest then an explosive concentric phase, driving the weights upwards. 

Tempo training increases the time under tension of the active muscles—in this case the chest, with the shoulders and triceps playing a supporting role—which can lead to greater growth.

Drop sets are designed to take your muscles to complete failure, allowing you to squeeze every last ounce of effort out of each body part. 

They’re easy enough to use in your training too, especially when you’re training with dumbbells. Using biceps curls as an example, start by simply completing a set to failure with your working weight. Then pick up a lighter pair before cranking out another set of curls to failure using your (already fatigued) biceps. 

If done right, your proverbial guns should be smoking by the end of the final round.

Drop sets provide an alternative to the straight sets approach employed by most hypertrophy training programs, and can help you smash through plateaus and achieve a strength-boosting, muscle-building stimulus during your workout. They can also improve your muscular endurance, as an added bonus. 

The average drop set session is likely to leave your muscles unable to perform basic tasks (try touching your shoulders after the biceps finisher above), but that doesn’t stop Johnson finishing his workout with 20 minutes of light cardio. 

Chris Hemsworth recently celebrated his 40th birthday, and has spoken of taking a step back from acting to spend more time with his family. Given the Thor star’s all-action lifestyle and extensive acting credits, he could be forgiven for putting his feet up for a bit. But that wouldn’t be very Hemsworth, would it? 

Instead, the Aussie actor recently shared a short snippet of his revamped workout routine, and if anything it looks even more demanding than the hypertrophy training sessions he used to bulk up for roles in the Marvel universe and beyond. 

“[I’m] doing a lot less [sic] heavy weight sessions lately and incorporating sprint work and more functional movements,” Hemsworth told his 57.7 million Instagram followers.

The accompanying video post shows a montage of sprinting, medicine ball slams, battle rope waves, a series of medicine ball rotation variations, woodchops, push-ups and bear crawls. 

The end result is a session that boosts all facets of fitness, from anaerobic capacity to muscular endurance.

The sprint segment of Hemsworth’s latest training update shows him racing athlete and adventurer Ross Edgley—the first person to swim all the way around Great Britain. 

Under the post, Edgley jokes that Hemsworth is “the only person I know whose muscle fibers are becoming MORE fast-twitch and powerful with each slice of birthday cake”.

A couple of weeks before this post, just four days after turning 40, Hemsworth shared a video of an intense boxing session with the caption: “Sweating off the birthday cake.” 

Since then, he’s also posted clips showing himself swimming underwater and snowboarding with his kids, as well as taking a recovery-boosting post-workout sauna and ice bath with his trainer Luke Zocchi.

Based on our recent interview with Zocchi about the secret to Chris Hemsworth’s abs, we’d say Hemsworth is training to be beach ready—dropping some of the bulk so he can surf and enjoy being active. 

“Whenever he gets bulky and big he looks amazing and he’s super-strong, but for surfing it just doesn’t work,” Zocchi told us. “He just can’t paddle as well.”

Chris Hemsworth’s shirtless scenes have persuaded more than a few of us to sign up for a gym membership and start pumping iron. But is it possible for us to emulate his Norse god-like body in the long term?

The answer is no. The secret formula behind this physique is the months of preparation readying Hemsworth for one scene. And, while the Aussie actor works out all year round, it’s unlikely he’ll replicate these conditions until his next blockbuster.

“When Chris is looking to play Thor, it’s like getting him ready for a bodybuilding show,” his trainer and Centr app instructor Luke Zocchi tells Coach. 

“This is what I like to tell people, who probably beat themselves up a bit thinking: ‘Why don’t I look like Chris?’ For a Marvel film, we’ll prep for three to four months, minimum, and before we even start the film I already know the day that we’re doing the shirt-off scene.”

As well as extensive preparations, there are tactics employed to help those abs look superhero-worthy.

“I will literally dehydrate Chris before the scene. The light is the perfect lighting, everything is [designed] for that moment,” Zocchi says. 

Zocchi doesn’t just train Hemsworth, he trains with him too, following similarly intense exercise regimes when prepping for each film in a show of solidarity.

However, just because the Thor physique you’ve seen on screen isn’t sustainable, that doesn’t mean you should down your dumbbells for good. Instead, take inspiration from Hemsworth’s recent Disney+ series Limitless and aim to build a body fit for function and longevity—something Zocchi is quick to point out his and Hemsworth’s training app Centr can help with (and our review of the Centr app agrees). 

“My training goes wherever Chris’s training goes. I always do a bit of lifting, but I usually ease off the lifting and try to have a bit more of a balance when Chris isn’t preparing for a film,” says Zocchi. 

“Chris has done Thor so many times, and I’ve done so much heavy lifting, but when I get super-big and strong I don’t feel amazing. I feel a bit like a robot, in the way I move, doing these same kinds of movements a lot of the time, so I like to mix it up a bit.”

As a result, when the pair are left to their own devices, their training is in part dedicated to becoming beach-ready—just not in the traditional beach body sense.

“We love surfing—our background is surfing—whenever he gets bulky and big he looks amazing and he’s super-strong, but for surfing it just doesn’t work,” laughs Zocchi. “He just can’t paddle as well. 

“We’ll be struggling when we’re heavier and think, ‘This is just not cool for surfing, we’re just too big’.”

More than a few of us have probably wondered what it would be like to hit the gym with Chris Hemsworth. And while it’s unlikely (but not impossible) that the big man will turn up at your local Anytime Fitness, the next best thing is keeping a keen eye on his social media accounts. 

The Thor star has shared an upper-body workout from his Centr app for his 57.4 million Instagram followers to try, and it’s straightforward but tough.

To do the workout as written you’ll need a gym, but if you’re at home a pair of adjustable dumbbells and a resistance band will suffice. 

The workout begins with straight sets of a dynamic move to warm up, then moves on to a push/pull superset and finishes with a tri-set of accessory moves.

How To Do Chris Hemsworth’s Upper-Body Workout

Warm-up

Medicine ball slam Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 30sec

Superset

1A One-arm dumbbell row: Sets 4 Reps 10 each side Rest 0sec

1B Push-up: Sets 4 Reps 15 Rest 60sec

Triset

2A Renegade row: Sets 4 Reps 8 each side Rest 0sec

2B Lateral raise: Sets 4 Reps 8 Rest 0sec

2C Triceps press-down: Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 60sec

While the medicine ball slams are designed to prime your body and spike your heart rate for the high-intensity session ahead, we’d also recommend beginning with a few dynamic stretches, such as those found in this gym warm-up routine.

Next, it’s time to tackle the superset. Perform the two exercises, take a 60-second break, then repeat. Once you’re finished four rounds in total, progress to the final tri-set.

Here, as with the superset, you’ll work through the moves in turn with no rest, only this time there are three exercises rather than two. If you’re in a gym you can use a cable machine for the press-downs, while those of you working out at home can sub in a resistance band. 

Take a one-minute breather after finishing all three exercises in the tri-set, then repeat until you hit four rounds. And that’s the workout complete

What To Expect From This Workout

This Chris Hemsworth workout uses a superset and tri-set, keeping rest to a minimum to increase the intensity and cut down your total workout time. By our reckoning, the whole thing should take little over 40 minutes. 

It’s an example of hypertrophy training, with the reps all falling within the traditional muscle-building range of eight to 15. So, your chest, back, shoulders and arms are all on track for a solid pump session. However, the combination of isolation and compound exercises twinned with minimal rest times means it also has a conditioning element.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is arguably the biggest name in bodybuilding history, both literally and figuratively. 

Now, the Austrian Oak has shared the two-hour chest and back workout he used to pack on mass during his Mr Olympia golden era. So I (the British twig) decided to give it a go. 

“I want to give a serious warning,” Schwarzenegger writes in his Pump Club newsletter. “If you haven’t been training for a really long time, this isn’t a good idea.”

I’ve been lifting in some form for 10 years, from powerlifting to calisthenics to (most recently) CrossFit. But it all started in my teenage bedroom with some good old-fashioned bodybuilding, so this note of caution served to fire me up for a return to my hypertrophy training roots.

Then I scrolled down and realized what was in store.

Arnold Schwzarzenegger’s Chest And Back Workout

Warm-up: 10 minutes of abs exercises

• 1 Deadlift: Sets 3 Reps 10, 8, 6 Rest 2-3min
• 2A Wide-grip weighted chin-up: Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 0min
• 2B Incline bench press: Sets 4 Reps 15, 12, 8, 6 Rest 2-3min
• 3A Bench press: Sets 4 Reps 15, 12, 8, 6 Rest 0min
• 3B Chin-up: Sets 4 Reps 15 Rest 2-3min
• 4A Dumbbell flye: Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 0min
• 4B Wide-grip bent-over row: Sets 4 Reps 12 Rest 2-3min
• 5A Machine pull-over: Sets 4 Reps 15 Rest 0min
• 5B Triceps dip: Sets 4 Reps To failure Rest 0min
• 5C Cable flye: Sets 4 Reps 12-15 Rest 2-3min
• 6A Seated cable row: Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 0min
• 6B One-arm cable row: Sets 4 Reps 10-12 Rest 0min
• 6C Dumbbell pull-over: Sets 4 Reps 15 Rest 2-3min

Four Things I Learned Doing Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Chest And Back Workout

1. Effective Bodybuilding Is Hard

I’m used to metcons that reduce me to a sweaty mess on the floor and lifting sessions that leave my muscles quivering, so I thought a lengthy bodybuilding workout with rest periods of two minutes might be an almost relaxing alternative. 

It was not. 

For each set I picked a weight that had me flirting with failure and, combined with doing supersets, this sent the intensity off the charts. Relief, rather than relaxation, is what I felt during the two minutes.

The workout took me about 2½ hours and left me feeling like I’d gone 12 rounds with the Terminator. My fatigued muscles forced me to reduce the last few reps of the final set of dumbbell pull-overs to cluster sets of singles.

The experience made me realize how little intensity I used to put into bodybuilding workouts during college. I’d pat myself on the back for making it into the gym between studying and nights out before hitting three sets of 12 on a couple of my favorite exercises at a fairly comfortable weight. 

For the best results, you need to push yourself. That’s progressive overload 101. 

2. More Volume Means More Pump

In my regular training routine I use the three big lifts (the barbell squat, bench press and deadlift) to build strength and power, focusing on fewer reps, but this workout had chunky sets of up to 15 reps for most exercises. 

This was a new challenge and one which dented my ego. My muscular endurance was found wanting and, to hit the rep goals, I had to strip plates from the bar and lift lighter than I had anticipated. 

But the payback was almost instant when I experienced Schwarzenegger’s fabled “pump”.

3. A Workout Partner Would Have Been Welcome

When I watched the recent three-part Netflix documentary Arnold, my ears pricked up when Schwarzenegger discussed his talent for creating a community. Whether he was pumping iron in rural Austria, in England or on Muscle Beach, he brought together like-minded individuals for support, camaraderie and competition. 

It’s something I can relate to. Training in a CrossFit box, my average session is almost as much a social endeavor as it is a fitness one, including chats with other regulars and moaning about the programming (sorry coach). 

I tackled this two-hour session solo, and by the second half I was in need of a supportive word, or at least the reassurance that someone else was in the same boat as me. If you like lifting alone, all power to you, but my advice would be to rope in a training partner. 

4. It’s Not Completely Doable In Commercial Gyms

I tackled this workout in a commercial gym in the UK, and for the most part I was able to follow it to the letter. However, I did encounter a couple of problems. 

During the supersets, I would finish cranking out bench press reps only to find the pull-up bar I had been using was now taken. I then had to substitute dips for straight bar dips in a power rack because the only dip station was occupied, and machine pull-overs became banded lat pull-downs. 

I also had to run between the cable machines and free weights area during the final tri-set. They were located at opposite ends of the warehouse-sized space. 

Will I Be Back?

“You’ve survived,” Schwarzenegger writes after the final exercise in his chest and back marathon. 

“It took me at least two hours, and then I went back to the gym for another two-hour workout at night. I was a bodybuilding champion, and I had also been a powerlifting champion in Europe. If it feels like too much, stop.”

It’s sound advice. This workout is only for people with extensive experience in the weights room and even this is likely to leave you struggling to give good hugs for a few days. However, it’s also incredibly fun. 

At the end, my T-shirt felt a little bit tighter in all the right places courtesy of an almighty pump, and my muscles had that enjoyable numbness only quality time with a barbell can bring.

My ego quite liked it, and I even allowed myself a glance in one of the gym’s many mirrors as I trudged to the locker room. If you, in common with most people, like the idea of looking good naked then this workout is custom-made to help with that. 

I may even be tempted to include a little more bodybuilding in my weekly routine, although I won’t be leaving CrossFit any time soon. 

As someone who loves to learn and hasn’t always had an impeccable relationship with my body image, CrossFit’s focus on performance suits me perfectly. I work each day to improve the way I move during Olympic lifts, add new skills like handstands and muscle-ups to my repertoire, and build strength. It’s fun, and there are far more things to celebrate than how I look in a mirror.

I definitely recommend trying this workout if you’ve been lifting for a while and want to push yourself, but for your overall approach to training, find what makes you feel good and see how far it can take you.

Want to start with a less taxing session? Try this chest and back workout instead.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s strength and conditioning coach has shared some of the intense workouts that helped the already muscle-bound actor carve a superhuman physique for his latest film, Black Adam. 

Over two weeks, trainer and professional bodybuilder Dave Rienzi used Instagram to drip-feed Johnson’s arm, shoulder, back and chest workouts to fans, before crowning this smorgasbord of swole with a bonus leg session. 

Rienzi, who has been Johnson’s coach for more than 10 years, said his unenviable mission was to “take The Rock’s already legendary physique to new heights for the biggest movie role of his career”. And, seeing Johnson in the film, it’s clear he succeeded.

Johnson himself certainly thought so, paying tribute to his coach in an Instagram post.

Referring to his transformation as "one of the most gruelling, intense and demanding commitments of my entire career", he credited Rienzi with creating the perfect balance of "health, wellness, balance, diet, discipline and iron" over a year to nail the superhero physique and help Black Adam shoot straight to number one at the US box office.

Now, thanks to Rienzi, you can try some of Johnson’s workouts for yourself as part of an Instagram video series dubbed “Building Black Adam”. This includes, Rienzi says, “four of the workouts I designed to take DJ through this Black Adam transformation” as well as a bonus leg day, due to popular demand. 

“Black Adam is really the culmination of DJ’s career to date,” Rienzi wrote. “This is his biggest movie role – his first time in the DC universe. I’m going to give you a peek behind the curtain of what we did to achieve this iconic look.”

Periodisation

Before launching into the first workout, Rienzi explains how Johnson’s training changed over time in the lead-up to the film. In the 12 months before filming, and while shooting, Johnson’s training was broken down into four phases, as Rienzi explains. 

“Phase one was really about building that superhero physique; phase two was maintaining that foundation while filming; phase three and four were both about prepping for specific shirtless scenes. Remember, there was no padding in the suit, and we had to hold that physique for the entire film.”

Arm Workout

The first gym session Rienzi released might be one of the most in demand: Johnson’s arm workout. It follows the same formula for both biceps and triceps, performing one exercise for four high-volume sets with just 30 seconds of rest in between, then four 12-rep sets of another movement with longer 60-second rests, before finishing with a fatiguing tri-set (three exercises performed back to back with no rest in between). 

Shoulder Workout

Next up is Johnson’s shoulder session. While most of the six exercises featured will probably be familiar to you, what struck us was Rienzi’s use of tempo. He employs slow, controlled negatives to target the muscles. 

Back Workout

For his back workout, Rienzie prescribes variations of well-known muscle-building moves – for example, using the reverse-grip pull-down instead of the traditional lat pull-down, and substituting bent-over rows for T-bar rows. He also varies the rep scheme between movements, introduces more tempo training to maximise time under tension, and ends the session with a tri-set which is fast becoming one of our favourite workout finishers. 

Chest Workout

In this chest workout, Rienzi programmes just four moves and a tri-set finisher, proving once and for all that quality trumps quantity. Stalwarts like the dumbbell bench press and a seated cable flye variation make an appearance, but Rienzi brings his expertise to bear on the tempo and rep schemes to challenge Johnson’s chest. 

Leg Workout

Given his penchant for lifting heavy, you might expect squats and deadlifts to dominate Johnson’s leg day workout. However, squats don’t feature until the latter stages of the session, and deadlifts are omitted entirely in favour of exercises like the hip thrust, leg extension and the abduction machine. There is also a tasty tri-set midway through to make sure your ability to ascend a staircase is compromised the day after the workout. 

No one could ever accuse Dwayne Johnson of skipping leg day. The wrestler turned film star turned tequila connoisseur boasts a monstrous set of quads, built in his enviable Iron Paradise home gym, and the 50-year-old has now shared a sneak peak at how he crafts his mammoth thighs.

In a post on Instagram, his 345 million-strong following were treated to a clip of him performing tempo sumo squats. To make this already-challenging movement even more testing, he threw a 100lb (45kg) dumbbell into the mix for good measure. It’s the last part of a four-move monster set he uses to smoke his lower body at the end of a leg session. 

Similar to a superset, a monster set is a series of exercises performed back to back. However, rather than pairing two exercises, a monster set sees you double this workload by combining four movements. This approach allows you to quickly accumulate plenty of volume and fatigue the targeted muscles at the end of your workout. 

The four exercises in Johnson’s leg-day finisher are the leg press, hack squat, chain lunge and dumbbell sumo squat. 

The Instagram post focuses on the last exercise, with The Rock using the tempo weight training technique to increase the difficulty of the move. He takes three seconds for the negative or eccentric phase (where you lower the dumbbell to the ground), then a one-second pause at the bottom of the rep before standing up explosively. 

To make things even more testing, the dumbbell doesn’t touch the floor throughout the set. Johnson also recommends leaning forwards slightly and holding the dumbbell with just your fingertips to challenge and develop your grip. 

All exercises are performed one after the other, with a rest period after the sumo squats. To end his leg day, Johnson performed five rounds in total. He gives no guidance on the number of reps you should perform for each exercise, but if your goal is hypertrophy we recommend using a light-medium weight and performing eight to 12 reps of each movement. As a guide, you should be hitting failure as you approach the final few reps of the sumo squats. 

So, if you’ve got a heavy leg day planned and fancy adding a finisher to put the nail in the coffin of your previously DOMS-free pins, this monster set is definitely up to the task. 

To sign off, we’ll leave you with The Rock’s parting words of wisdom: “It’s a bitch. Give it a shot. Have fun.”

Chris Hemsworth doesn’t work out like a normal person. Chris Hemsworth works out harder, more often, and he does it on a helipad. Whether this is just to one-up Liam and the other one (Phil… is it Phil Hemsworth?), we can’t say, but we can say that it looks cool, especially when he’s wearing aviators.

You can watch Hemsworth go at on a reel he posted to his Instagram account, and if you’re anything like us you’ll have to watch it twice because the first time you’ll be scanning the sky for any helicopters coming in to land and will miss all the moves.

The workout is taken from Hemsworth’s fitness app Centr (one of the best workout apps in our considered opinion) and it’s a tough one to do at a gym, let alone on a presumably very windy helipad by the sea. 

Work through five rounds of five exercises, doing 10 reps of each and only resting at the end of the round, when you get a 60-second breather.

Hemsworth clearly enjoys combination moves, because the first three exercises in the workout are combos. He also seems to be enjoying his adjustable dumbbells – if you want a set go check out our best dumbbells round-up for more info on why they can be the ideal space-saving solution. We imagine they’re also easier to clear off a helipad in a hurry than multiple sets of weights.

You’ll note Hemsworth has kept the dumbbells light, because he’s squeezing a lot of lifting into a short space of time, and you should too. 

Here’s the workout in full. If you want any extra tips on how to exercise then check out the comments on Hemsworth’s post, where lots of incredibly well-informed people are telling him he’s doing it wrong.

Chris Hemsworth’s 50-Rep Challenge Workout

1 Press-up burpee to overhead press

Reps 10 

Do a press-up while holding dumbbells. Jump your feet forward, stand up and press the dumbbells overhead.

2 Squat, curl and press 

Reps 10 

Stand holding a dumbbell in each hand. Drop into a squat then drive up, pushing through your heels and curl the weights up to your shoulders, before pressing them overhead.

3 Alternating reverse lunge and curl

Reps 5 each side

From standing, take a big step back and lower until both knees are bent at a 90° angle. Drive back up to standing and curl both weights up to your shoulder, then do a reverse lunge on the other leg.

4 Biceps curl 

Reps 10 

Stand holding the dumbbells by your waist. Curl them up to your shoulders then lower them slowly.

5 Dumbbell shoulder press 

Reps 10 Rest 60sec

Stand holding the dumbbells by your shoulders. Press them overhead, then lower under control.

Alexander Skarsgård is a highly accomplished actor, and probably a lovely person too, but we’re not here to talk about those qualities. We’re here to talk about the absurd physique he developed to play Amleth in the new film The Northman.

Magnus Lygdback is the trainer who helped Skarsgård get in shape, having also trained him ahead of his role in Tarzan. We also spoke to him after he trained Alicia Vikander for her role in Tomb Raider and he shared this beginner workout plan for women. 

In The Northman, Skarsgård has a bulkier physique than in Tarzan, and we quizzed Lygdback on how they went about achieving that cut but muscled body. Here’s what we learned.

Skarsgård trained five times a week during filming

“It was a five-day split, or really a four-day split, with the fifth day spent on recovery stuff,” says Lygdback. “We worked out six days a week during the prep, then while filming we did five days a week. Never more than an hour.”

The focus was on strength training to bulk up

“I usually integrate a lot of high-intensity interval training into my programming,” says Lygdback. “And we did warm up by running for five to 10 minutes at a fairly good pace. But then I didn’t want to spend more time on that – I wanted to allow Alex to use all that energy to grow as much as possible.

“After getting the body warm, we then warmed up the body parts that we were about to work, which means banded exercises, some activation and stability work,” says Lygdback. “Then we hit the weights.

“I use higher weights and medium-low reps for something like this. We mostly did eight to 12 reps. Sometimes a pyramid, sometimes in a flat set, and three to four sets normally.”

The sessions were targeted around body parts

“If you work out twice a week, yes, do full body,” says Lygdback, “but you can’t work out five days a week and do the same things. I’m a big fan of a training split, really stressing one part of the body, and then allowing it to rest while you work on something else the day after.”

Mobility work was key to keeping Skarsgård injury-free

“Making sure that someone stays injury-free is the number one thing that I do,” says Lygdback. “Because if production shuts down, that’s millions of dollars and it’s my fault. So far I haven’t had anyone getting injured on set, but it would be a disaster. 

“With Alex, we did a lot of shoulder mobility, and strength and balance around the shoulders and hips. So he could handle all these long, physical days swinging an axe.”

Skarsgård trained in the morning and you should too

“If you want to look like Alex you need to do it in the morning,” says Lygdback. “It sets a physical and a mental standard that you take with you throughout the day. There’s no way around it. Trying to get a workout in if you’re exhausted from being on set all day will not work. You can do that once or twice, but that cannot be how you schedule things.”

Good news: you don’t have to work as quickly as Skarsgård to get in his shape

“I’m a man of balance. I preach balance in food and training and life,” says Lygdback. “But when doing a film like this you take balance and throw it out the window. 

“I do think that all the programming is great and works, and people can do it, but they should allow themselves some more time. Maybe pause because you got a bad shoulder or knees. You can’t stop when you do a film like this, you have to find a way of working around problems, and I don’t like that. I think that’s important to allow yourself more time and more rest in between.”

Diet is crucial to success

“People always ask me ‘how much is diet and how much is training – is it like 50/50? 60/40?’ I say you can’t even compare them with each other,” says Lygdback. “You need to get on top of both. It’s 100/100. If you’re not on top of your nutrition, you’re not going to look that way. You won’t have that low amount of body fat, you will not have that muscle mass, and you will not stay injury-free throughout six months of a physical marathon. So nutrition is crucial.”

You can’t rely on motivation to keep you going

“Please don’t rely on motivation,” says Lygdback. “Motivation comes and goes. Consistency, and holding yourself accountable, is what matters. You’ve just got to show up. It’s OK if you’re tired. It’s OK if you don’t want to do it. Just show up. That’s how you get there. If you rely on motivation you’re failing, because no-one’s motivated all the time.”

The Northman is in UK cinemas from 15th April. You can learn more about Magnus Lygdback's training plans via his app Magnus Method.

While the fact that celebrities often have access to personal trainers, chefs, home gyms and the time to workout regularly as part of their job means that it’s not always possible to copy their exact exercise routine, there are always core principles at play with their training that anyone can learn from. We scout out workouts from the best trainers who have worked with celebrities like Hugh Jackman and Chris Hemsworth so you can give them a whirl yourself.

In This Series

• Introduction

This article was first published in Men’s Fitness in 2014, it has since been updated

The key to Jason Statham’s workouts is variety, not excessive training. Logan Hood has worked on getting Statham’s body into action star shape and he says the secret is variety. Statham rarely does the same routine twice, and uses a blend of big compound lifts – such as the deadlift and front squat – and bodyweight exercises to work multiple muscle groups in a single workout. Combined with a sensible diet, this sort of routine will burn fat and build muscle.

Try the week-long training plan below that Statham actually used to get into fighting shape for his role in The Expendables 3. Still unconvinced as to how bloody hard he is? Try doing the workout with the same weights Statham uses, he might be an actor, but you just can't fake that kind of strength.

Monday: Short circuit

• 10-minute row
• 40kg rope pull (rope attached to a weighted sled), 20m bear crawl. As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes.
• 10-minute row.

 Tuesday: Pushing supersets

• Five-minute row.
• Three pull-ups, five press-ups, seven squats. As many rounds as possible in five minutes.
• Snatch grip deadlift (five at 45kg, five at 60kg, five at 85kg, five at 95kg).
• Superset (4 sets of 10 reps with 90sec rest between sets): incline DB press (42kg), standing military press (30kg), skullcrushers (25kg).
• Superset (4 sets of 10 reps with 90sec rest between sets): narrow grip press-ups, lateral raise (15kg), triceps extensions (6kg).
• Ab rollout (five sets of 10).

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: Pulling supersets

• Five-minute row.
• Three pull-ups, five press-ups, seven squats. As many rounds as possible in five minutes.
• Bulgarian split squats (five at 20kg, five at 30kg, five at 35kg).
• Superset (4 sets of 10 reps with 90sec rest between sets): one 10m rope climb (no feet), 10 shrugs (85kg) and 10 ex-bar curls (26kg).
• Superset (4 sets of 10 reps with 90sec rest between sets): 10 pull-ups, 10 incline front raises (12kg) and 10 hammer curls (20kg).
• Hanging knee raise (five sets of 10).

Friday: Intervals

• Warm up with two 50m sprints.
• Cardio complex (complete five rounds, rest period is half the time it takes to complete the round): Suicide run (run 10m then run back, 20m then run back, 30m then run back, 40m then run back, 50m then run back), 80m kettlebell (48kg) farmer's walk, 80m one-arm kettlebell overhead carry (16kg, switch arms at 40m), 80m tire drag (SUV or small truck).

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: Rest

Coach’s sister title Men’s Fitness spoke with Hugh Jackman’s trainer in 2009 when the first Wolverine movie hit our screens. Seven years have elapsed but two things seemingly haven’t aged since then –  the advice his trainer, Mike Ryan, gave us and Jackman’s body. In fact, in 2016 MF reported that Jackman had joined the 1,000lb powerlifting club, which means he cranked out a 235lb (107kg) bench press, 410lb (186kg) deadlift and a 345lb (156kg) squat in one day.

Below, Ryan reveals what the guys in Australian gym Physical Factory called Jackman when he first started hanging around (we bet they don’t call him that now) and outlines a training plan of four workouts in one week, covering the chest and triceps, legs, back and biceps, and finally shoulders and abs. We’ve also included a sample one-day diet covering supplements, protein shakes, smoothies and plenty of protein-rich foods for good measure.

“It’s all about evolution,” says Mike Ryan, personal trainer to Hugh Jackman. But Ryan is not talking about the movie and its cast of mutant superheroes – he’s explaining the training plan that Jackman followed to build the rock-hard physique needed to play the blade-fisted Wolverine.

“From one workout to the next I’ll always have something new to add to the equation,” Ryan says. “Our sessions are based on established principles, but we’ll always try and bring new ideas to the table. And Hugh now looks the most ripped he’s been for any movie.”

Ryan knows more about Jackman’s training than anyone, having been closely involved with the actor’s physical development for almost 20 years. “I was working as a trainer at the [Australian gym] Physical Factory in 1989 when this young guy came to work just handing out the locker keys and towels. He was getting a hell of a lot of attention from the women in the place, and I thought, ‘Who does this bloke think he is?’ It turned out to be Hugh and we quickly became friends, and soon he asked me if I’d show him how to train properly, because back then he was very, very skinny. We used to call him Chicken Legs.”

It was the start of a partnership that saw Ryan flying around the world to keep the increasingly in-demand movie star in shape for films such as Van Helsing and the X-Men series. Ryan was also drafted in to sculpt the physique of Brandon Routh for the lead role in 2006’s Superman Returns.

RECOMMENDED: Henry Cavill’s Workout Plan for Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice

“When we were building Hugh up for the Wolverine movie, we got a call from Baz Luhrmann who was directing Hugh in the movie Australia. Baz said, ‘Come on, guys, back it off! He’s getting too big.’ And you can see Hugh getting bigger in the film. In Wolverine, Hugh looks big onscreen, but really he’s just ripped. That’s the secret to looking good. It’s not just about getting big, it’s about getting ripped.”

Jackman has to fit his training around hectic filming schedules, so he and Ryan are usually in the gym at the crack of dawn. “We have a philosophy of training first thing in the morning,” says Ryan. “Research suggests that people who train in the afternoons consistently do workouts of far less intensity than those who do train in the morning. When Hugh has a 6am filming start, that means we’ll be in the gym by 4am.”

A typical Jackman workout takes an hour to 90 minutes, including warm-up and cardio sessions. “We never start a weights session without a minimum ten-minute cardio warm-up. Never, ever,” says Ryan. “After a session we often finish with 20 minutes of cardio, which could be a run, or run and swim.”

Ryan bases the weights workouts on big compound lifts and adds some twists. “The fundamental training principles are based on the core body-building moves such as squats, deadlifts, presses – simple moves, but I mix things up. We change the angles on the bench, play with the tempo, weight, time, rest. The same workout can be done ten different ways by making these small changes.”

Ryan splits the sessions between muscle groups, so one day might target chest and triceps, while another day focuses on back and biceps. “I believe in controlled overload,” he says. “To push the muscles to failure by the last set, we’ll superset compound moves with isolation ones – for example, go from a dumbbell bench press straight into a flye. By the last set you need a spotter to help you squeeze out those last couple of reps.”

One look at Jackman’s Wolverine physique proves that Ryan’s training methods work, so give his plan a try. We can’t guarantee superhuman powers, but it will get you ripped and ready for action. “I call him my masterpiece,” says Ryan. “He just keeps getting better and better over the years.”

RECOMMENDED: The Best Superhero Workouts of All Time

How To Do These Workouts

• Warm up first with ten minutes of cardio and light bodyweight movements.
• Do the pairs of exercises as supersets, performing one set of the first exercise, then moving immediately on to a set of the second exercise.
• Rest for the stated time before repeating.
• Choose a weight that you can manage with perfect form, but which leads to muscular failure by the end of the final set.
• Take one second to lift the weight, pause for another second, then take two to three seconds to lower again.

Mike Ryan’s Training Tips

• “Train in the morning where possible. It’s the best way to ensure intensity.”
• “Always warm up sufficiently – not just with cardio, but by doing the movements before adding weights.”
• “Work on progressive overload, always keep increasing the weight, and keep a training diary to record your progress.”
• “Mix things up – constantly change the tempo, speed, incline, grip – anything so that you’re not always performing the same movement.”
• “Feel the movement. Focus on each muscle activation rather than simply aiming to finish the set.”
• “Work with a trainer – it will help with motivation.”
• “Don’t overtrain: learn what your body can cope with.”
• “Get plenty of rest – at least seven hours of good sleep a night.”

To build a more impressive upper body, it’s essential to train your shoulders, not just your chest and arms. Adding width to your shoulders will make the top of your frame wider and create the impression that your waist is narrower than it is, making your upper body appear wider and leaner.

Superset 1

1A Seated dumbbell shoulder press

Sets 4 Reps 10-12 (last set to failure) Rest 0sec

Sit on an upright bench holding a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder height. Press the weights directly overhead until your arms are straight, then slowly return to the start.

1B Dumbbell lateral raise

Sets 4 Reps 10-12 (last set to failure) Rest 2min

Stand tall holding a light dumbbell in each hand. Keeping your chest up, raise the weights out to the sides until they reach shoulder height. Pause briefly, then slowly lower the weights back to the start.

Superset 2

2A Weighted crunch

Sets 4 Reps 10-12 (last set to failure) Rest 2 minutes between sets

Lie on the floor with your back and feet flat on the floor and knees bent, while holding a dumbbell or weight plate securely with both hands on your chest. Contract your abs to raise your torso off the floor. At the top position squeeze your abs hard, then slowly lower your torso again. Make the move harder by not allowing your shoulder blades to touch the floor between reps.

2B Gym ball jackknife

Sets 4 Reps 10-12 (last set to failure) Rest 2min

Start in a press-up position with your feet and shins on a gym ball. Keeping your core tight, use your abs to roll the ball towards you and bring your knees in towards your chest. Pause in this position, then slowly reverse the movement back to the start.

3 Bicycles

Sets 2 Reps To failure Rest 1min

Lie flat on the floor with your legs straight and fingers by your temples. Contract your abs to raise your torso and simultaneously rotate to one side while bringing in a knee to meet the opposite elbow. Reverse the movement back to the start ,then repeat, alternating which way you rotate your torso to meet the opposite knee.

4 Cardio: Treadmill sprints

Time 10x30 seconds

Set the treadmill to 2% elevation and a fast pace. Stand with feet either side of the running surface, then jump on it and sprint for 30 seconds. Jump back to the starting position and rest for 30 seconds. Repeat this pattern ten times.

These workouts follow a superset protocol, where you perform two different exercises back-to-back. It’s an efficient way of stimulating the working muscles to grow bigger. 

This workout comprises two chest-based moves, two triceps-focused moves, straight sets of cable cross-overs to hit the middle part of your chest and, to finish, some intensive cardio.

For the supersets, complete all the reps of exercise A then move straight on to exercise B without resting.

Superset 1

1A Dumbbell bench press

Sets 4 Reps 10-12 (last set to failure) Rest 2 minutes between sets

Lie flat on a bench holding a dumbbell in each hand. Brace your core, drive your feet into the floor and press the weights up until your arms are fully straight. Slowly lower back to the start.

1B Dumbbell flye

Sets 4 Reps 10-12 (last set to failure) Rest 2min

Lie flat on a bench holding a light dumbbell in each hand with your arms straight above you. Keeping your core tight, slowly lower the weights out to the sides until you feel a good stretch across your chest. Squeeze your chest muscles to return the weights to the start.

Superset 2

2A Feet-up bench dip

Sets 4 Reps 10-12 (last set to failure) Rest 2 minutes between sets

Start with your feet on a bench and your hands on another, supporting as much bodyweight as possible. Bend your elbows to lower your hips towards the floor, then press back up powerfully to return to the start.

2B Cable press-down

Sets 4 Reps 10-12 (last set to failure) Rest 2min

Stand in front of a cable machine holding a straight bar attached to the high pulley with an overhand grip. Keeping your chest up and elbows close to your sides, press the bar down until it touches your thighs. Slowly return to the start.

3 Cable cross-over

Sets 2 Reps 10-12 (to exhaustion) Rest 1min

Stand in the middle of a cable machine, holding the D-handles attached to the high pulleys with a slight bend in your elbows. Keeping your chest up and maintaining a slight elbow bend, bring your hands together to meet in front of your body. Squeeze your chest muscles, then slowly return to the start.

4 Cardio: Treadmill hill climbs

Time 20 minutes

Start running on a treadmill set to 12km/h with one per cent elevation. Every 30 seconds increase the elevation by one percentage point until you need to press the stop button. Rest for a minute, then repeat.

This legs-focused superset session will not only help you build bigger and stronger legs, but also ramp up your metabolism so you burn more calories, which will help you to strip away belly fat fast.

For the supersets, complete all the reps of exercise A then move straight on to exercise B without resting.

Once this session stops being a challenge (no time soon), try this legs workout.

Superset 1

1A Barbell squat

Sets 4 each side Reps 10-12 (final set to exhaustion) Rest 0sec

Stand tall with a barbell resting across the back of your shoulders, gripping it firmly. Keeping your chest up and core braced, bend at the hips and knees to squat down as low as possible. Press through your heels to return to the start.

1B Dumbbell Bulgarian split squat

Sets 4 each side Reps 10-12 (final set to exhaustion) Rest 2min

Stand tall holding a dumbbell in each hand with one foot forward and one behind you resting on a bench. Keeping your chest up and core braced, bend both knees to lunge down. Press back off your front foot to return to the start. Switch legs halfway through.

Superset 2

2A Romanian deadlift

Sets 4 each side Reps 10-12 (final set to exhaustion) Rest 0sec

Stand tall holding a barbell with an overhand grip and straight arms. Keeping your chest up and core braced, slowly lower the bar down the front of your legs until you feel a good stretch in your hamstrings, then reverse the movement to return to the start.

2B One-leg gym ball curl

Sets 4 each side Reps 10-12 (final set to exhaustion) Rest 2min

Lie on your back with one foot on a gym ball. Raise your hips so your body is in a straight line from head to heels. Contract your hamstrings to roll the ball towards your buttocks, then reverse the movement to return to the start. Switch legs halfway through.

3 Walking dumbbell lunge

Sets 2 Reps To failure Rest 1min

Stand tall holding a dumbbell in each hand. Keeping your chest up and core braced, take a big step forward then lower until both knees are bent at 90°. Push off your front foot and bring your other leg through so it is leading. Keep alternating so you travel forward.

Cardio: Rowing machine

Distance 4,000m

• Aim to maintain steady pace.
• Push with your legs before drawing the handle into your abdomen.
• Keep your back straight throughout.

The beauty of this back and biceps workout is that it won’t take very long, but you’ll still hit these two key muscle groups hard and force them to grow bigger and stronger so you can achieve a ripped and lean physique. Follow the instructions below, sticking to the sets and reps detailed, and ensure you keep to our form guides so that you perform every rep as effectively as possible to maximise your lean muscle growth.

For the supersets, complete all the reps of exercise A then move straight on to exercise B without resting.

Superset 1

1A Cable row

Sets 4 Reps 10-12 (last set to failure) Rest 2 minutes between sets

Sit on the seat holding the handle with both hands and arms straight. Keep your chest up and brace your core. Row the handle in towards your chest, leading with your elbows and retracting your shoulder blades. Pause with the handle closest to you then slowly return to the start.

1B Bent-over dumbbell reverse flye

Sets 4 Reps 10-12 (last set to failure) Rest 2min

Holding a light dumbbell in each hand, bend forward from the hips, but keep your chest up. Leading with your elbows, raise the weights out to the sides until they reach shoulder height. Slowly return to the start.

Superset 2

2A Hammer-grip weighted chin-up

Sets 4 Reps 8 (last set to failure) Rest 0sec

Hang from a pull-up bar with your palms facing you and a dumbbell or weight plate secured to your person. Brace your core then pull yourself up, keeping your chest up, until your chin is over the bar. Slowly lower until your arms are fully straight.

2B EZ-bar curl

Sets 4 Reps 8 (last set to failure) Rest 2min

Hold an EZ-bar with an underhand grip. Keeping your elbows tight to your sides and your chest up, curl the bar up towards your chest, ensuring your biceps are in full control of moving the weight. Pause at the top, squeeze your biceps hard, then slowly return to the start.

3 Inverted row

Sets 2 Reps To failure Rest 1min

Lie on your back in the middle of a Smith machine with the bar secured off the ground. Grip the bar with a shoulder-width overhand grip and tense your entire body. Pull yourself up until your chest touches the bar, then slowly return to the start.

Cardio: Exercise bike intervals

Time 20 minutes

Start by cycling at a steady pace for five minutes. Pedal as hard as you can for 30 seconds, then pedal more slowly to recover for two minutes. Repeat this pattern for the remaining 15 minutes.

Like most young Australians, Chris Hemsworth grew up with sport and fitness as a major part of his life – he played Aussie rules football, until injury intervened, and surfed near his family home whenever he could. He’d always been fit, and his strong physical presence was obvious in early film roles like Star Trek and The Cabin In The Woods. But it was when he was cast as one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s superheroes that he knew he had to take his body to the next level.

When Thor, the Norse god of thunder, was adopted as a Marvel Comics hero, the character’s powers – aside from his immortality – were his superhuman strength, speed and durability. So making the leap from page to screen would require someone whose physique was more fitting of a deity than a mortal.

“In the comic strip Thor looks to be around 500lb [227kg], so obviously that wasn’t my goal, but it was very important for me to look the part and be as powerful as strong as I could while still maintaining that element 
of agility,” says Hemsworth.
 
To help him get into superhero shape, Hemsworth recruited the assistance of Michael Knight, director of Michigan-based personal trainers Art of Strength. “Chris’s regime was split into two parts,” says Knight. “The first was a bodybuilder-type protocol focused on high-weight, low-rep moves designed to pack on maximum size, while the second was total-body circuits designed to shift his excess fat while maintaining muscle.”

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Hemsworth admits getting into superhero shape was hard work. “The kettlebell routines that Mike put me through were intense, partly because I’d never used them before but also because it’s a heavy combination of cardio and weightlifting,” says the 32-year-old former Home & Away star. “Most of my training previously was geared more around cardio – mainly boxing and Muay Thai, with some elements of weights. I hadn’t experienced kettlebells, but it’s a great way to build functional strength.”

As if Hemsworth’s training wasn’t tough enough, he had to start the programme while filming another movie. “When I started working with Chris he was doing 12-hour days on the set of Red Dawn, but he still had the time and energy to train for between 60 and 90 minutes five days a week after his shooting commitments were over,” says Knight. “Above all, he has an amazing work ethic, always pushing himself further and harder. It shows that if you’re prepared to work hard you can get the results you’ve always wanted.”

Hemsworth adds, “It was certainly exhausting at times, but I prefer to be training than not. It gives me more energy and I just generally feel better about myself. I feel like I’ve earned that beer at the end of the week.”

RECOMMENDED: Hugh Jackman Workout: How He Got Ripped for Wolverine

When Hemsworth’s in training to play the Norse god – sequel Thor: Ragnarok is in pre-production ahead of an autumn 2017 release – he has got back on a protein-heavy diet in order to regain his strong, bulky physique. “I basically overfeed on protein and endless amounts of chicken breast and steak and fish and vegetables and brown rice,” says Hemsworth. If you follow a similarly strict diet and perform Hemsworth's workouts listed below, you too can have a body to rival that of a Greek god.

Chris Hemsworth’s Thor Workout

Part 1: Eight-Week Bulking Plan

How to do it

• Weeks 1 and 5: Sets 4 Reps 4-6
• Weeks 2 and 6: Sets 4 Reps 6-8
• Weeks 3 and 7: Sets 4 Reps 8-12
• Weeks 4 and 8: Sets 4 Reps 4-6

Session 1: Chest and Back

• Bench press
• Bent-over row
• Weighted pull-up
• Weighted dip

Session 2: Legs

• Squat
• Deadlift
• Hamstring curl

Session 3: Arms

• Weighted chin-up
• Close-grip bench press

Part 2: Four-Week Fat-Loss Plan

“Once Chris put on the muscle I needed to get him lean, which meant stripping away any fat he had accumulated during the first phase while maintaining all his newly built muscle,” says Knight. “I did this by getting him to do this total-body circuit based around classic strongman moves, such as log presses, tyre flips, sledgehammers and prowler sprints, as well as circuits 
with kettlebells of varying weights. This got Chris down to his fighting weight of 220lb [100kg] – and as you can see from the pictures, it was all muscle.”

Hemsworth adds that he kept a “very close eye” on his diet. “I was eating a lot of clean protein, fruit, vegetables and some carbs, as well as drinking four to five litres of water a day.”

Circuit 1: Tabata 
(20 seconds on, 10 seconds off)

• Double kettlebell squats, four rounds
• Snatches, eight rounds

Circuit 2

• Kettlebell swings: 30 seconds two-hand, 30 seconds right-hand-only swings, 30 seconds left-hand-only swings, 30 seconds 
alternate swings
• Kettlebell cleans: 5 right, 5 left, 4 right, 4 left, 3 right, 3 left, 2 right, 2 left, 1 right, 1 left, then back up to 5 each side for a total of 60 reps with no rest

Circuit 3

• Turkish get-ups, 5 minutes continuous
• Windmill, 5 each side

RECOMMENDED: All Celebrity Workouts

Matt Damon and his trainer Jason Walsh reveal what it took to get the 45-year-old actor in shape for the latest Bourne movie. We've also got a Jason Bourne-inspired workout for you, below, so you can train like Matt Damon.

How Matt Damon got in shape for Bourne

If you’ve seen The Bourne Supremacy, the sequel to Matt Damon’s first turn as an all-out action-man, there’s one scene you probably remember. While his girlfriend rifles through his diaries looking for clues about his CIA-wetwork past, Jason Bourne, still battling flashbacks, is working out his frustrations with a run along the beach that quickly turns into an all-out sprint. It’s a dash that would shame Tom Cruise – a sweat-soaked, arm-flexing reminder that Bourne is twice as fast as James Bond and several times the ass-kicker.

“Yeah, Matt could probably do that in real life,” says Jason Walsh, Damon’s long-time trainer and no stranger to cardio himself. “When we were in Tenerife, training for the new Bourne, we did a lot of running up some pretty damn steep hills – a lot of the cyclists train for mountain climbing around there, and we were running up the same hills they cycle. Matt is a surprisingly good runner.”

And now he’s back. This summer sees the release of Jason Bourne, which sees the amnesiac assassin still searching for answers about his past, and hunted again by the government agents. It’s easy to forget how the first Bourne movies fundamentally reinvented the spy flick, ramping the grittiness up to 11 (and forcing Bond and Mission: Impossible to do the same or look cartoonish by comparison) – especially since this is Damon’s first appearance in the franchise in nearly a decade after he sat out 2012’s The Bourne Legacy, which featured Jeremy Renner as rogue agent Aaron Cross. For a while, it looked like Damon was out for good – but fans of the franchise didn’t see it that way.

“Every airport I’m in, or every time I’m walking down the street and somebody stops me, that’s the first question – ‘When are you going to do another one of those Bourne movies?’” says Damon. “I don’t mind being followed around by Jason Bourne. I like Jason Bourne.”

Besides, he can handle it. After adding more action roles to his Bourne movies, he’s looking enviably unlike a man in his mid-40s. A large part of that, of course, is down to Walsh.

“Matt and I have trained together for a while,” says Walsh, who’s also trained aspiring American footballers for the NFL Combine, a week-long test of their physical attributes. “In The Martian he was a scientist but he was also an astronaut, and they have rigorous training, so he had to look like he was ready to withstand the pressures of space travel. He was in great shape for that movie – we got him super-strong.”

When Damon was ready to return to Bourne shape, time was short. “Matt worked on two movies [before Jason Bourne], so we had one or two weeks, tops, between the movies,” Walsh says. “It was difficult to make sure it didn’t detract from his other roles. My main goal was just to keep him healthy, because those roles were pretty physical, and… well, I don’t know a lot of actors who work as hard as Matt does. So my primary focus was to make sure he was resilient and strong, to make it through them without getting injured, so we could get to Bourne and really ramp things up.”

And ramp it up they did. “For the first Bourne movie I was 29 and I thought that was hard work getting into shape,” Damon told the BBC in an interview. “Now I’m 45 and it’s just brutal. We shot this bare-knuckle fighting scene on my 45th birthday and it was a lot of work to get there. I was on a very strict diet and spent a lot of time in the gym just making myself miserable.”

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The new Bourne is an older, wiser man, certainly, but he hasn’t lost a step on the new generation of secret agents – the 21st-century Bond included. While Daniel Craig’s first shirt-off scene as Bond was a beachfront homage to Ursula Andress in Dr No, Damon’s, as a bare-knuckle brawler, owes more to Tyler Durden by way of Rambo III. “We’ve worked a lot on keeping his flexibility and mobility – the last thing you want to do is lose them when you’re doing strength training, because you’ll get injured a lot faster,” says Walsh. “Matt’s a multi-million-dollar actor, and if he gets hurt because of training… it’s a lot of pressure. People don’t think about that, they think, ‘Oh, you get to train Matt Damon!’ but these things have to be carefully thought out and implemented.”

It isn’t just about size or strength, says Walsh. “We do a lot of strength training, but I want people to move well, and then I want them to get strong. So we reinforce those movement patterns, and then solidify that with strength training. And then we can exploit the body to do things and make it look the way we want it to look. If you’re strong, you can do anything you want and you don’t have to worry about getting injured.”

With Damon’s safety in mind, Walsh doesn’t do all the classic strength-builders. “I probably wouldn’t pick doing deadlifts from the floor, for instance – because even though you can do them for years without a problem, you can get the same results without the risk through other moves. Pull-ups, for instance, will make your back look great with less risk – I’ve seen Matt do them with 70lb [32kg] of added weight around his waist.” And the results are no less impressive. “At one point, he got so damn strong and lean and light he could do 30 full-length pull-ups. We’re talking about a guy who probably couldn’t do one real pull-up when I first met him.”

Not surprisingly for a film about a man on the run, there’s also a lot of legwork. “Yeah, much to [Matt’s] dismay he had to do lots of single-leg stuff, lots of pushing heavy sleds and Bulgarian split squats,” says Walsh. They also used the Versaclimber, Walsh’s preferred conditioning equipment. The climbing simulator with the sliding hand-and-foot pegs isn’t as fashionable as a ski-erg or curved treadmill but it provides a full-body workout that – according to rehab therapists – mimics natural human movement with almost no risk of injury.

“It works all the major muscle groups at once, and burns a lot of calories compared with the bike or running,” says Walsh, whose spinning-style Versaclimber class, Rise Nation, is already popular in the US and likely to hit the UK this year. “It puts a lot more demand on the metabolic systems – I use them for full-body sprints, racing 100 feet [30.5m] for time, which you’ll always feel. But it’s also the only cardio equipment I’ll use for rehab, because it has zero joint impact. Even when I wasn’t working with him, Matt would do Rise Nation classes.”

Although Damon’s upcoming roles take him away from action – The Great Wall, a historical mystery, will be followed by comedy-dramas from the Coen brothers and Alexander Payne – both series director Paul Greengrass and Damon himself have already dropped hints about more Bournes. “Maybe for the next one Jason Bourne will be fat and happy and old,” Damon told the BBC – but don’t bet on it. Whatever happens, the combo of Damon, Greengrass and Bourne’s all-new body means the 2016 instalment will be one to remember.

The Bourne-Inspired Workout: Train Like Matt Damon

Build functional strength and size with trainer Jason Walsh’s Bourne-approved workouts. Do them each once a week, with sprint drills on Friday.

Workout 1

1 Farmer’s walk

Sets 4 Distance 50m

Grab a weight in each hand, then walk with your head high and shoulders back. And go heavy. “We’d go up to around 1.25 x bodyweight in each hand,” says Walsh.

2A Bulgarian split squat

Sets 3 Reps 8 Rest 0sec

Rest one foot on a bench behind you, instep down, and squat until your trailing knee brushes the floor. “Do a three-count down to the bottom, hold for one, and come up.”

2B Gym ball curl

Sets 3 Reps 8 Rest 90sec

Superset this with the split squat. Lie on your back, shoulder blades on the floor, with your feet on a ball. Pull it in with your heels until your hips raise off the ground, hold and lower.

3 Pull-up

Reps 50

You know the drill: straight arms at the bottom, chin over the bar at the top. Do these in as few sets as possible. “We started with 50,” says Walsh. “Then I’d go, ‘OK, today it’s 55’. I think we eventually got up to 100.”

Workout 2

1 TRX TYI

Sets 2 Reps 4 each letter

“Matt did a lot of shoulder stability work,” says Walsh. For this one, hold the straps and lean back, then pull your arms out into a T, squeezing your shoulder blades and keeping your body stiff. Repeat for a Y shape, then an I.

2 Sled push/pull

Sets 4 Distance 20m each way

Push a weighted sled one way, getting low and driving like an NFL linebacker. Pull it back to bring your quads into the movement. No sled? Use two heavy bags or plates on a mat.

3A Landmine squat

Sets 3 Reps 8 Rest 0sec

Jam a barbell into a weight plate, corner or T-row attachment. Load up the other end, then hold it as you squat down and drive back up through your heels.

3B Landmine press

Sets 3 Reps 8 Rest 90sec

Superset this with the squat: keep hold of the barbell and press it overhead, hold, then lower. Rest after each set of presses. Wobble to the shower.

Versaclimber Workouts

Hit new cardio heights with the best bit of kit you’re not using

Endurance

To build strength for distance running, use active recovery intervals: one minute of high-intensity climbing and three minutes of rest, repeated six times. Keep your hips stable, as if you’re standing out of the saddle to pedal in a spinning class.

Fat loss

The classic Tabata workout is too tough, so use the reverse Tabata: ten seconds’ all-out sprinting, followed by 20 seconds of active rest – for eight intervals – is a brutal four-minute fat-burner.

Speed

For top-end sprint speed, short and nasty is the prescription. Do five seconds of full-strength sprinting, followed by five seconds of recovery. Repeat ten times, rest for a minute, and do the whole thing again.

Find one at versaclimber.co.uk

How long did you spend training Pratt?

We worked together for six months before he began shooting Guardians Of The Galaxy.

What did his workout regime look like?

He’d lift weights four or five times a week for an hour at a time. For the first few months it was mainly traditional bodybuilding sessions to add size, targeting specific muscle groups on separate days (the actual splits changed from month to month). Towards the end we started mixing things up and adding in circuit training and P90X workouts to help get him lean.

Did he do anything else outside of the gym?

Yeah, he was really active. He did a lot of mountain biking, running, swimming and kickboxing. Adding these kinds of sports helped to keep things varied and enjoyable.

What was the secret to his success?

Hard work, dedication and making the right choices, which is all you can ask for as a trainer. If I could do the training for my clients I would, but I can’t. The discipline and drive has to come from them, and Pratt was excellent in this regard.

Did he have a specific nutrition plan to follow?

Absolutely. He worked with a nutritionist called Phil Goglia, who structured his diet to complement his training regime.

The physical transformation from his previous role in Delivery Man is impressive. How much weight did he lose?

He lost around 60lb [27kg] in total. But as well as burning fat he added a lot of muscle.

You also worked with Chris Hemsworth on Thor. How did his starting point compare to Pratt’s?

Hemsworth looks great and stays in shape all the time. Then he gets in even better shape to play Thor and he looks marvelous. Pratt’s starting point was significantly worse – he was pretty much completely out of shape.

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Does that make Pratt’s transformation even more impressive?

You could say that – obviously it’s easier to get in that kind of shape if you’ve got a good physique to start with – but Hemsworth is also incredibly hard-working and disciplined, and a great guy to work with.

Has Pratt kept in shape since?

Definitely. He likes the feeling he gets from being fit again.

Guardians Of The Galaxy is in cinemas now

This interview was first published 13th August 2014

The speculation about who be star in the next James Bond movie shows no signs of abating. Will it be Luther and The Wire leading man Idris Elba? Did Tom Hiddleston’s barely credible fling with pop star Taylor Swift rule him out of contention? Or will an outsider come from nowhere to fill the 007 brief, much like Daniel Craig did when he was cast as the iconic secret agent in 2006’s Casino Royale?

We’re hoping that Craig will return for a fifth outing as Britain’s smoothest export – but there’s going to be no shortage of interested names should he hand in his licence to kill, not least because that image of him emerging from the sea, magnificent pecs proudly on display, catapulted Craig to a new level of celebrity.

RECOMMENDED: 5 Pectoral Exercises That Are Better Than The Bench Press

As Craig’s sculpted torso indicated, the 21st-century Bond doesn’t just rely on the fancy gadgets to get things done – he uses strength and explosiveness to beat up baddies, as well as lightning-fast reactions (helpful when driving Aston Martins as if they were F1 supercars). And let’s face it, a physique that looks like his is pretty high on the average guy’s wish list as well. So here’s a workout from strength coach Richard Tidmarsh that will get you into similarly strong, athletic and powerful shape.

The routine includes the deadlift and toes-to-bar for full-body strength. To play Bond, Craig also needs balance and power, so he does movements such as the renegade row that target the stabilisers in the core, while the press-up to box jump brings the explosiveness required to chase freerunning bad guys through building sites à la Casino Royale. The workout finisher is a high-intensity interval blast on the rower to target fat and set you on the route to a lean, muscular, well-defined body.

As well as getting yourself in Daniel Craig shape, perhaps you'd like to work on your secret agent skills? Read on and learn the necessary know-how. From avalanche survival to climbing an overhang via winning a swordfight, experts give us the low-down in case we find ourselves in a Bond film.

The James Bond Workout

Complete rounds one, two and three with no rest between exercises. Complete five sets of each round before moving on to the next. Take a one-minute rest after the second exercise and rest for two minutes between rounds.

Warm-up

1. Row 300m at 50% effort, followed by 300m at 80% effort
2. Upward dog to downward dog transfer, 6 reps

Round one

1. Barbell deadlift, 10 reps at 80% of your one-rep max
2. Dumbbell renegade row, 5 sets of 5 reps
3. Press-up to box jump, 10 reps

Round two

1. Toe to bar, 20 reps

Round three

1. Kettlebell front squat to overhead press, 10 reps
2. V-up wood chop (lie flat on your back with your arms behind your head, power up into a V while chopping your arms to the floor on one side), 5 sets of 5 reps

Round four

1. Maximum-distance blast on the rower, 1min followed by 90sec rest x 3 

Richard Tidmarsh is one of the UK’s leading strength and conditioning coaches and owner of one-to-one training facility Reach Fitness London. For information on the training packages available at his gym, as well as his five-day intense training camps in Portugal, head to r4reach.com. Follow Richard Tidmarsh on Twitter @RichTidmarsh.

Hone Your Bond Skills

From landing noiselessly on tiled floors in dress shoes to disarming tri-nippled assassins, James Bond has a trick for everything and always handles himself with panache. While it’s unlikely that you’ll ever have to sprint over a crocodile’s back or dodge a flying bowler hat, there are still plenty of skills you can learn from 007.

The Skill: Self-defence

In From Russia With Love, Bond fights Russkie spy Robert Shaw – after identifying him due to a terrible red wine/fish gaff – in a claustrophobic train compartment.

Bond can get away with stabbing someone on a train because he’s got a license to kill, but avoiding trouble is always the best option if possible. “You can reduce your chances of being targeted by positioning yourself sensibly on public transport,” says Stewart McGill, chief instructor at Urban Krav Maga. “If possible try to sit on an outside seat, or stand up, so you’re not hemmed in. Ideally you want easy access to an escape route. If you can, stand near the driver or any kind of authority figure, as they’re likely to prove something of a deterrent.”

“If you’re sitting down and someone starts attacking you from a standing position, your best bet is to protect yourself with a move called the wedge block. To do it, grip the back of your neck with your left hand, with your elbow tucked in as near to your nose as possible and your chin tucked in as low as you can. Meanwhile, grab your left wrist with your right hand, with your right forearm across your forehead to protect your eyes.”

“If you’re seated when someone attacks, stand up as soon as possible. Once you’re standing, aim a hard strike at your attacker’s groin and make a beeline for the exit. Also make as much noise as possible during an attack – it’s likely to deter an assailant if they think they’ve got less chance of getting away with it.”

The Skill: Shark Evasion

In Thunderball, Having deduced that the sinister-looking millionaire with the eyepatch is SPECTRE’s second in command, Bond successfully evades a plethora of scuba-diving henchmen and enormous sharks, while showing that underwater fighting really is as slow as you’d think, despite his special drag-reducing pants.

Provided you stay clear of underwater terrorist plots, shark attacks on humans are actually pretty rare. “When they do occur, it tends to be on specific beaches due to various factors such as water currents and the steepness of the sea bed,” says Simon Airey, an authority on wild animal species. “They generally feed at dusk and dawn when the water isn’t too hot or too cold, so staying on land at these times will reduce the chance of an attack even further. They’re extremely sensitive to blood, so if you cut yourself, get out of the water immediately.”

“Sharks have pits on their snouts called ampullae of lorenzini, which are extremely sensitive to vibrations in the water, so if you see a shark it’s important that you remain relatively still. Sharks generally don’t target humans, but they’re opportunistic feeders, and if you thrash around and create a disturbance they’re far more likely to come and investigate. Try to remain upright in the water too. If you’re floating on the surface – especially if you’re wearing a wetsuit or lying on a surfboard – there’s a chance that the shark will mistake your silhouette for that of a seal.”

“While it’s true that sharks have sensitive snouts, trying to hit one on the nose when it’s coming at you with its jaws wide open isn’t a good idea. Grabbing its gills won’t do much good either, as shark skin is incredibly tough and coarse. You’re better off trying to gouge at it’s eye sockets with your fingers, as these are its most vulnerable areas.”

The Skill: Fire Escape

In You Only Live Twice, having undergone cutting-edge prosthetic surgery to appear convincingly Japanese, Bond and his crack team of ninjas are treated to the old self-destructing-lair trick by an irate Blofeld. Fire and explosions rain down as 007 and his new countrymen beat a hasty retreat.

A secret volcano lair is probably far more likely to catch fire than your house but it still pays to be prepared. “Having a set escape route for your home is definitely a good idea,” says Patrick Goulbourne, a station manager with the London Fire Brigade. “This will make it much easier to escape if there’s a fire. Keep the exits clear at all times too – if visibility is reduced by smoke, the last thing you want is to be falling over things on your way out. If you lock your door at night, make sure the keys are kept near to the door and within easy access – you don’t want to be rooting around in drawers when you’re under pressure.”

“If you come across a fire in a building, don’t try to fight it yourself. Close the door of the room it’s in to help contain it, then notify everybody in the building and get out as quickly as possible. Once you’re out, call 999 and the fire brigade will come and deal with it. In London the first fire engine will be on site within six minutes of your call.”

“If your escape route is obstructed by fire, get everybody into a room and close the door. Thanks to fire-safety building regulations in the UK, you should have around 30 minutes of protection once the door is closed. Use towels, clothing or whatever you can find to block the gap between the bottom of the door and the floor, and open any windows. Then call 999. You’ll be put through to a fire survival guidance counsellor, who will stay on the line with you until the fire engine arrives and extract as much information as possible to help the firemen get you out.”

The Skill: Avalanche Survival

In the film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Blofeld proves he’s no slouch on the slopes as the megalomaniac and his henchmen pursue Bond through the Swiss Alps. Unperturbed, 007 still manages to find time for a quick romp with Diana Rigg before out-skiing an avalanche on his way back to London.

Bond might be able to outrun an avalanche but the chances are you won’t be so lucky, so it pays to plan ahead. “If you’re venturing off-piste, it’s vital that you take the correct safety equipment,” says Mark Diggins, co-ordinator of the Scottish Avalanche Information Service. “Ideally you need an avalanche transceiver, a purpose-built shovel and a probe. It’s also worth checking the avalanche report for the area you’re planning to visit before you go.”

“If you get caught in an avalanche, 90% of the time you’ll have triggered it yourself, and it’ll be coming down behind you. The first thing to do is to shout as loud as you can to try to get the attention of people further down the slopes. That way they can keep an eye on you and use your last position before you went under to help find you. Once an avalanche has started it can accelerate rapidly up to 60mph, but you won’t be fully submerged initially so it’s important that you try to keep yourself afloat as if you were treading water.”

“Once you’ve been fully engulfed by the avalanche and it’s come to a halt, immediately place one arm across your face and use the crook of your arm to create an extra air pocket to help you breathe for longer. Meanwhile, thrust your other arm up towards the surface. Even if you can’t reach the open air above, the closer you are to it, the quicker you’re likely to be found. If you follow these tips you’ll have a 90% chance of surviving if you’re dug out within the first 15 minutes. Otherwise you’ll suffocate.”

The Skill: Scaling an Overhang

Defiant of his advancing years and fatherly dress sense, in For Your Eyes Only Bond proves he’s more than just an eyebrow-raising face as he scales a mountaintop monastery in pursuit of a missing ATAC computer.

“Good climbing technique is all about ignoring your instinctive impulses,” says climbing coach and author Adrian Berry. “The steeper an overhang becomes, the more you’ll feel as if you should use your arms, but in fact the opposite is true and it’s even more important that you use your legs and feet. You have to trust the friction between your shoes and the rock.”

“A strong core is crucial for climbing, and it’s important to use your core as much as possible and to try and keep your centre of gravity directly above your feet, as this will take a lot of the weight off your arms. It’s often easier to do this by turning your body sideways on to the rock face rather than being straight on.”

“Try to keep your arms straight and relaxed. As an overhang gets steeper, your natural inclination will be to bend and tense your arms, but by keeping them straight and relaxed you’ll help to maintain the blood flow to your forearms and stop lactic acid building up.”

RECOMMENDED: The Benefits of Indoor Climbing

The Skill: Winning a Swordfight

Never one to back down from a challenge, Bond in Die Another Day embarks on a one-man crusade to destroy an entire fencing club as he duels with unhinged super villain Gustav Graves. The ensuing fight proves about as popular with the club’s members as Madonna’s cameo does with audiences.

“Distance is crucial in sword fighting,” says Darren Birchall of Balestra Sword Fencing. “The idea is to tease your opponent backwards and forwards and then close the distance and strike. One way to catch them off guard is to fake a step and then take a half-step and thrust.”

“It’s really important that you pay close attention to what your opponent is doing and use their weaknesses against them. If your opponent repeatedly parries low, for example, let them do it a few times and then thrust high to catch them off guard.”

“Sword fighting is all about guile and masking what you’re doing. The worst thing is constancy. You should never repeat the same parries or thrusts back to back. It’s important to mix up your tempo and pace to keep your opponent on their toes.”

RECOMMENDED: Why Sword Fighting Could be the Next Fitness Fad

The Skill: Taking A Leap

Proving that Hawaiian shirts only ever look cool if you’re shoulder-charging through a wall, Bond in Casino Royale chases free-running legend Sebastan Foucan across a construction site and up a crane before recklessly blowing up an embassy.

“The key is to concentrate on making each individual jump as perfect as possible,” says Dan Edwardes, author of The parkour and freerunning handbook. “This means a good approach with a fast, explosive take-off, good co-ordination while in flight and a soft, controlled landing. Remember it’s the speed with which you contract the muscle that determines how powerful the movement is. Always choose your landing spot before you jump and aim to land as precisely as possible.”

“During the jump, raise your knees and extend your feet towards the landing area. Raising your knees will give you more distance and a softer touch-down as you reach your destination. It will also help you clear any obstacles between you and the landing area. Aim to jump up as well as forwards.”

“Perform every jump on the balls of your feet – both when you push off and when you land. This is the part of the foot that gives you muscular control, balance and dynamism in movement. Always bend your legs when landing – though not too deep – so the muscles absorb the impact rather than the skeleton or joints. Aim to be soft, quiet and completely controlled when you land. Try not to wobble or overbalance as you come to a stop. If the landing requires it, roll immediately on making contact with the ground to disperse the impact over a larger surface area and away from your body.”

“While training for Wolverine we were on six meals a day, minimum – sometimes seven,” says Mike Ryan, the personal trainer responsible for getting Aussie actor Hugh Jackman into shape to play Woverine in the X-Men movie series.

Here you’ll find an example of a typical day’s food for the hard-training action star, but Ryan is keen to stress that it is only a template that can be adapted to any tastes. “There’s no point in me saying, ‘You must eat this or that’. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes, and as long as you stick to the basic rules you can customise this plan to suit your own needs.”

So what are those rules? “Always get your protein from natural, unprocessed sources where possible. Eat six small meals a day rather than three large ones. Drink mainly water. Avoid all processed foods, and that includes anything that says ‘99% fat-free’ or similar.”

RECOMMENDED: High-Protein Foods

The need for good-quality protein either side of a hard workout is also a priority. “If you can’t get it from natural sources,” Ryan says, “use a supplement. We were using protein powder regularly. I made sure Hugh got plenty of amino acids before training and immediately after, and then he would have a slow-acting protein at night, such as cottage cheese.”

So whether you train in the afternoon or evening, adapt the following meal plan to suit your training times.

5am: Oats and berries one hour before training

Make your own: Soak 75g rolled oats in apple juice. Mix in 2tsp pumpkin seeds, 2tsp sunflower seeds and a handful of berries. Oats provide slow-digesting carbs that give you long-lasting energy, while the seeds are full of iron, which will improve the blood flow to working muscles.

6am/7am: Protein supplements before and after weights

Try this: Reflex BCAAs. Branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) are the building blocks of protein. These go straight to the muscle and start a process called supercompensation, which repairs the muscles and allows them to grow bigger and stronger.

7.30am: Recovery shake and bar after cardio training

Try this: Maximuscle Creatamax Extreme and Viper Extreme bar. While the creatine helps repair used muscle tissue, the simple carbs from the Extreme bar will deliver nutrients to your blood and muscles for faster and stronger recovery.

7.45am: Post-training protein smoothie

Make your own: Blend a scoop of MyProtein Impact whey powder (our suggestion), half a banana, 300ml semi-skimmed milk, a pinch of cinnamon and 15g ground cashew nuts. Whey protein powder is a quick and easy way to gain fuel for muscle replenishment and growth. Protein will also increase muscle mass, burn body fat and help boost testosterone.

RECOMMENDED: Smoothie Recipes

10am: Turkey stir-fry with spinach, broccoli, mushrooms and cauliflower for a morning protein boost

Turkey is a lean source of protein and is also rich in muscle-building amino acids. The vitamin K in the spinach will help strengthen your bones, while cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower are rich in nutrients that reduce your oestrogen, a hormone that lowers testosterone. Serve with 40g (uncooked weight) brown rice.

1pm: 200g rosemary chicken with sugar snap peas and asparagus for lunch

Chicken is rich in amino acids to encourage muscle growth and repair, as well as zinc, which raises your levels of muscle-building testosterone. Serve with 40g (uncooked weight) brown rice – this provides B vitamins, which helps convert carbohydrates into energy.

4pm: Walnut trail mix for mid-afternoon energy

Make your own: Preheat oven to 180°C/gas 4. Place 150g walnuts on a baking tray and bake in the centre of oven for around ten minutes until fragrant and toasted. Allow to cool, then mix with 75g unsalted sunflower seeds, 75g chopped apricots, 50g pumpkin seeds and 50g goji berries. Walnuts are rich in essential fatty acids, which increase energy levels and regulate blood sugar levels.

6pm: Tuna steak for dinner

Serve with unlimited amounts of vegetables including broccoli and cauliflower. Tuna is a lean source of protein full of natural creatine and omega 3 fatty acids, which help your body preserve protein and reduce muscle inflammation.

10pm: Protein smoothie before bed

Make your own: Blend a carton of EAS Myoplex Carb Sense (our suggestion) with 2tsp natural yogurt, a drizzle of honey and 15g almonds. A protein fix gives your muscles the building blocks to repair and grow while you sleep. The yogurt and almonds contain sleep-inducing tryptophan and magnesium, which will help your muscles relax and wind down.

RECOMMENDED: Sam Warburton Bulking Diet

After almost a decade staying in championship shape for boxing’s most ferociously competitive weight division, you’d forgive Carl Froch for easing off on the early-morning runs, being less fastidious in the kitchen, maybe even indulging in the odd Double Decker – and yes, Froch has done all those things. But, although the number on the scale might have gone up, this isn’t the usual post-career slide into a comfy pundit’s seat. Not by a long way.

“I’d like to do an Ironman triathlon,” says the former super middleweight world champ, who’s been hitting the pool semi-seriously ever since his retirement in July, using earplugs to protect the eardrum he perforated sparring for his 2008 title fight against Jean Pascal. “There are quite a few going on in 2016 and I’m seriously thinking about it. I used to find swimming quite monotonous, but I’m enjoying it more now – there’s no impact on my knees, and I get in the zone. It’s not good enough to do 2½ miles at a great pace [the Ironman swim is 2.4 miles (3.86km)], but I’d get it done.”

The other legs? Already taken care of. “I’ve got my running up already, I could do a half or a full marathon at a decent pace, and I could do the cycling,” Froch says. “Before I’m 40 I’d like to try that. It’d be hard work, but to achieve one, to get that in the bank… as long as I’ve got something in my head to work towards, that’ll keep me in shape.” And, of course, there’s the aesthetic angle to consider. “If you look at long-distance runners they’re quite skinny, but if you look at swimmers, they all look quite well-bulked and well-balanced, decent shoulders, slim waists. I look at what I want to look like and take my cues from that.”

If this seems surprising, it probably shouldn’t. The athlete known to his many fans as the Cobra has crafted one of British boxing’s all-time great careers using hard work and tenacity, coming through in some of his biggest matches by keeping up the pressure while opponents wilt in the later rounds. In title-winning bouts against Andre Dirrell and Mikael Kessler, he grabbed the initiative in the final stages to take a pair of close decisions, while against Jermain Taylor he battered the favourite to a stoppage with 14 seconds left in the fight… and, of course, in both of his bouts against fellow Englishman George Groves, he shut down the younger fighter (11 years his junior) in the dying rounds. He’s a man who’s used to accelerating over the finish line, and he’s not finished yet.

“I’m training because it’s something I’ve always done,” he says. “I’m not naming any fighters, but I don’t want to be one of these guys who retires from boxing and gets fat and out of shape and old-looking. I want to always look like I’ve been a world champion. It’s for myself and my kids [Froch has a son and two daughters – the youngest only weeks old – with model Rachael Cordingly] because I want to be able to still do stuff with them. And it’s not hard to do. I’m never going to be able to fight for 12 three-minute boxing rounds at a high pace unless I’m specifically training for it, but I can always stay in shape.”

He’s also started hitting the bar. “I’ve never lifted weights in my whole life,” says Froch, who relied on nothing but press-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups and traditional roadwork for almost his entire pro boxing career – all 12 years of it. “But now I’m deadlifting, bench pressing, curling dumbbells, doing some weight-gaining exercises. I’m trying to bulk up a bit. You look better, you feel more confident, you look better in clothes… when I’m wearing my designer stuff or just a shirt with a pair of jeans, it helps.” Nottingham born, raised and resident, he’s a big fan of local brand Paul Smith.

Froch does his training with an old friend, keeping the reps low and the moves big, mixing in farmer’s walks and power cleans – “It gets you breathing, gets you exhausted physically. It’s geared to my engine” – and he’s still using some of the moves he learned filming BBC gymnastics show Tumble – “handstand press-ups, the planche, all that”.

He’s getting up to speed fast, with a 160kg deadlift (for reps) and a 120kg bench press already under his belt. But he’s in no rush. “I’m still under 10% body fat, but now I’m about 13 and a half stone [86kg], about 8kg over the super middleweight limit,” he says, in between posing for the shirt-off shots that prove it. “I’m trying to get to 14 stone [89kg] but keep the body fat down, put on about a pound of quality muscle a month. I don’t want to get too big, too fast. I don’t want to get big and strong and still, like my stepdad – he’s 20 stone. He’s a weightlifter, but he wouldn’t last 30 seconds in a fight.”

“To win a fight, you need to be strong and explosive with good stamina so you can throw hard punches in every round,” Froch says. 'Because boxing is weight-governed, it's important to do strengthening exercises that don't add bulk, so I don't use fancy equipment or weights.

RECOMMENDED: Punching-Bag Workouts

“When I fought I'd do classic moves such as press-ups, crunches and dips - as many as 300 of each in a session because volume equals strength. I include variations so my body never gets used to my workouts because shocking your muscles keeps forcing them to get stronger.”
 
But boxing isn't only about strength. “Most training days include some cardio, such as skipping, hill climbs, six-mile runs - which I do in 35 minutes - and track sprints,” Froch says. “As well as improving lower-body strength, these drills increase my anaerobic capacity so I can work intensely for 12 three-minute rounds.”

This is one of the boxing training routines Froch used while in his prime. Get down the gym and start doing it today.

Press-up circuit

“All the press-up variations here work your deltoids and chest, so you can generate fast, powerful punches”, says Froch. “The ‘finger’ one helps strengthen the ligaments in your hands, which can get damaged when you do a lot of punching.”

“In light training I complete 50 of the first variation, then drop by ten for every subsequent one. I have 30 seconds’ rest between each type of press-up but you can have 60.”

Target Chest and arms

Wide press-up

Reps 30

• Start with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
• Keep your body straight from head to toe, and look forwards as you perform the move.

Fist press-up

Reps 20

• Keep the same wide grip as before.
• Brace your core as you perform the move and stay on your toes.

Finger press-up

Reps 10

• Do the move on a gym mat to reduce the load on the ligaments in your hands.
• If you're struggling, do half the reps with your knees touching the floor.

Clap press-up

Reps 10

• Keep the same wide grip as before.
• Lower until your chest is just off the floor, then push up explosively, clap your hands and land with bent elbows.

Sit-up circuit

This no-frills bodyweight sit-up circuit will target all the muscles in your core to flex, stabilise, extend and rotate your torso. Because of the high reps and short rest periods, it’ll also keep your pulse high enough to help burn off the belly fat that’s hiding your abs.

“By doing all four moves you'll hit every part of your abs,” says Froch. “This will build power and muscular strength endurance.

“During the intense part of a training camp I do each variation to failure. When I'm just keeping my fitness ticking over, I go from 50 down to ten. Again, I only take half a minute’s rest between each variation but you should take a minute.”

Ready to rumble? You’d better be. This is a difficult core circuit, befitting a boxing champion. Ensure you’ve got the basic movements nailed first and pre-activate the abdominal muscles to ensure you’re ready for the challenge. This reduces the risk of injury and helps to maintain proper muscular contraction at all times. You could begin by slightly regressing the standard sit-up and locking down your legs. Have a training partner stand on your feet while you perform crunches, or alternatively use a decline bench where the legs are supported by pads. Take extra care to prepare your core muscles gradually with some gentle sit-ups and cobra stretches to mobilise the muscles. Your abs might not be as prone to injury as the hamstrings but going hectic too soon could lead to painful cramps or tears. And remember to focus on form. You can crane your neck and strain your hip flexors if you don’t focus the movement on your abs. Your torso should move in a straight plane of motion at all times. Any bend in the back takes the stimulation away from the abs and places it on your joints and discs.

If you find that your abs are weak to begin with, start by crunching with your hands crossed over your chest. Placing your hands behind your head when you’re struggling to engage the core can lead to excessive pulling on the neck muscles. Don’t jerk your head forwards with each rep and slow the movements down so you take a full second up and down each time. Exhale on the way up and inhale on the way down.

Additional reporting by Cherrelle Jefferson (@cherrelleJj)

Target Abs and core

Sit-up

Reps 40

• Keep your hands touching your head throughout the move.
• Keep your head off the floor throughout.

Cross-arm crunch

Reps 30

• Keep your head off the floor and cross your arms in front of your chest with your fists above your pecs.
• Only come up half as far as you do for the sit-up.

Bicycle crunch

Reps 15 each side

• Turn your entire upper body as you twist to either side.
• Bend your knee on the side you're twisting towards and try to keep the other one straight.

Half sit-up

Reps 10

• You need to start this as if you're halfway through the rising part of the move.
• Keep your upper back off the floor throughout the move.

Pull-up

“Pull-ups build the strength and endurance that are crucial to throwing powerful shots,” says Froch. “In an intense session I'll go to failure in each set. Do four sets of 25 reps. I always have a 60-second break between sets as you would between rounds in the ring. You should do the same.”

Sets 4  Reps 10

• Start each pull-up with your arms fully extended. 
• Raise your chin above the bar and keep your legs crossed to avoid swinging.

Dip

“I do two versions of dips during a workout - a normal dip and a leaning one,” says Froch. “The normal one isolates the triceps, while the leaning one brings my chest into play. Both are geared towards helping me increase upper-body strength.”

“In heavy training I go to failure in each set, and in light workouts I'll do four sets of 25 reps. During both I take a minute's break between sets. You should do four sets of 15 with a minute's rest in between.”

Target Chest and triceps

Dip

Sets 2  Reps 15

• Drop down until the bar is next to your lower ribs.
• Keep your legs straight for balance.

Leaning dip

Sets 2  Reps 15

• Lean forward so your upper body is at 40˚.
• Cross your legs and raise them behind you (knees bent at 90˚) to ensure your upper body keeps working hard.

Belieber or, uh, unbelieber, at some point you’re probably going to have to acknowledge that Justin Bieber, AKA that dude you thought was a girl the first time you heard him singing, is actually more jacked than you. Yes, sometimes celebrities are airbrushed for ad campaigns; no, they can’t do it for their entire social media presence. So, however snortingly dismissive you were when that Calvin Klein ad came out, it turns out the little guy actually does have a six-pack. Here’s what half a day of trawling through his social media posts taught us.

Consistency Works

Bieber’s been training for years with strength coach to the stars Patrick Nilsson, apparently using a five-day split and training abs three days a week. Is this the most time-efficient approach? It’s arguable, but he’s undeniably putting the work in. Advantage: the Biebertron.

You Can Always Train Something

When JB got a broken foot, video emerged online of him training on crutches. That takes commitment, but it’s also an object lesson in gains - if you injure a limb, do something else with all the other ones. Studies on athletes bear this out, and there’s even evidence that, by training one limb, you can stop the others from atrophying when they’re hurt.

Sit-Ups Are Dead

To the best of our knowledge, Beebs has never once lain on a gym floor to do a set of crunches. He will however, bust out an L-sit, which modern coaches will tell you is a vastly superior way of conditioning your core, relying on isometric strength through the obliques as well as the more traditional rectus abdominis.

Burn Every T-Shirt You Own

How else will you stay motivated? Or, to put it another way: if you know you’re going to be popping down to Nuffield Health in nothing but a snapback and cargo pants, then are you really going to reach for the custard creams at 11am? C’mon, son. 

Hugh Jackman’s personal trainer, Michael Ryan, reckons age is no excuse to let yourself go. He explains what he does during training to keep Jackman, 45, looking his best for movies such as The Wolverine.

Have you changed your training with Hugh as you’ve both got older?

We love the traditional style of training – lifts, bench presses and those sorts of things. But most of these exercises begin to cause issues as you get older. Hugh and I now include DMT [dynamic movement training] into our sessions to help reduce the risk of injury. As you get older, maintaining a range of motion and mobility is key to getting better results. I do a lot of work to ensure that Hugh can maintain full mobility. There are a few simple exercises you can do to test for full mobility – using a ViPR, for instance. Level one would be holding a ViPR at the front squat position and seeing how low you can go while keeping your heels on the ground. Level two would be holding that ViPR above your head and still getting to that position.

What are some of the biggest mistakes that men in their 30s and 40s make when training?

They all stick to the same routine, ranges and reps and just don’t evolve. They get stagnant in the way that they train, and don’t open up to newer styles to incorporate. Another mistake is keeping the number ten in mind. The body is programmed to slow down by the time you’ve reached number ten. Sometimes it can help you raise the bar but it often lowers it. There are times when you’ve got to trick your mind to allow your body to do things it doesn’t think it can do.

Have you changed your supplements and diet as you’ve got older?

Hugh and I believe in what we call the low-HI diet. By that, I mean ‘human interference’. So we believe that you can get a huge amount of your nutrients, minerals and all the things your body needs from low-HI foods. Anything that has been interfered with by humans is off our menu. That means we get our protein and carbohydrates from nutrient-rich fruit, vegetables and organic foods. We use protein powder and BCAAs too though.

If someone hasn’t got a trainer, what’s a good way for them to gauge how intensely they are training?

Train with a friend or in a group. Even if your friend is below your level, ultimately you both start improving and you get a measurement of your own level. For example, they might be two or three reps behind you, but when they get to one behind, it means they’re getting stronger while you’re not growing or improving. Training with someone is one of the easiest ways to get consistency and results.

How long does it normally take for the average person to start seeing results when they start training?

You can’t see the results in the first week, but how you feel is a useful starting point. So I always approach people after their workouts to see how they’re feeling. People start to see results at about six to eight weeks and then more serious changes at around three months. But it needs to be a long-term commitment of around nine months for the great body you really want to see. I focus on the mental side of how the person is feeling after their workout from day one, to maintain positivity.

Matthew McConaughey is creeping through the Costa Rican jungle, wielding a machete to slash through dense swathes of vegetation. His clothing is drenched in sweat – not so much from the exertion but distress. He’s alone. Scared. Yet also energised.
 
‘The sounds you hear… you think everything that moves is a gator, a wild boar, a jaguar,’ the actor says. He’s equipped with only his lucky green headband, ‘a shitload of insect repellent’ and a headlamp for a light source. ‘Your adrenaline is pumping because you don’t know what to anticipate with the next step. Every movement is like a new, four-dimensional “oh, shit!”.’

Outdoor type

Is this perilous late-night trek part of a big-budget action flick? No. It’s just McConaughey on holiday. This is just what he does when he’s not at work. 
When he was growing up in Longview, Texas, McConaughey’s mother always told him, ‘If it is light outside, you must be out of the house’.

This partly explains why he prefers outdoor workouts – jungles and trails – instead of training in a gym, and why for years paparazzi have snapped pictures of him running, usually shirtless, often on a beach. ‘It’s always been a lifestyle,’ he says. ‘Then it became something that was like, “Hey, it’s also good for my job.” I’m not a professional athlete, but I have a job where I prefer to look good and be as healthy as possible.’

Just keep living

Today, McConaughey strives to share his love for life and healthy eating. It all fits under his philosophy: just keep livin’. A phrase that has become his personal mantra since he first uttered it in his breakout role in Dazed And Confused. It provided the name for jk livin, the non-profit foundation he started in 2005 to encourage children to make positive and healthy changes in their lives by getting more exercise.
 
McConaughey, at 41, knows fitness is about more than just looking good. It’s about being able to keep up with his children (son Levi, two, and daughter Vida, one) without gasping for air. It’s about transforming his body for roles, whether he’s playing a baseball player (Angels In The Outfield), small-town sheriff (Lone Star), dragon slayer (Reign Of Fire) or a defence lawyer, as he does in his latest film, The Lincoln Lawyer.

Depending on the role, his weight swings from 80 to 84kg. ‘Matthew can do hundreds of press-ups, and he’s mobile like a yoga person,’ says his trainer, Peter Park, whom McConaughey met through fellow Texan, Lance Armstrong. ‘His fitness is through the roof. He’s not like Lance in aerobics, but he can hold his own.’ On occasion the actor and cycling legend have even trained together. ‘You quickly learn what the back of Lance’s jersey looks like,’ says McConaughey.

California dreaming

When he’s not preparing for a film, McConaughey trains with Park at his California home. A typical day might include pull-ups on the kids’ swing, followed by sprints, press-ups, one-legged squats, and finally kettlebell work. He’ll also take his bike out on the road.
 
‘He likes challenging stuff,’ says Park. ‘He’d be bored stiff going into the gym and doing one of those basic workouts.’ One favourite exercise is picking up a dumb-bell, or any weighty object, and holding it for 15 minutes. ‘It’s not as simple as it seems,’ he says. ‘You shift the weight from high above your head, in your right arm, then your left, then rest it on your shoulders, adding more weight to your back, then your legs. You get a full-body workout just by finding out how many positions you can manage without having to set the weight on the ground. You also discover the stronger and weaker spots in your physique.

McConaughey’s natural workout

Perform these exercises one after the other without rest in between. After the last exercise, rest for a minute or two. Repeat for three to ten circuits.
 
One-leg squat hop
- Stand on one leg and hop forward five times.
- Perform five single-leg squats.
- Continue twice more on the same leg, then repeat on the opposite leg.
 
Hand walk
- In a press-up position, ‘walk’ by moving only your hands and ankles. Don’t bend your knees but do keep your abs tight.
- Every ten ‘steps’, perform five press-ups. Keep going until you’ve done 15 press-ups.

Traffic light lunges
- Perform five walking lunges at a normal pace (green light), and then your next five as slowly as possible, descending very gradually into the lunge position (yellow light).
- After the fifth slow lunge, hold the lunge position for five seconds (red light).
- Continue until you’ve done 15 lunges of each type.

Tree branch pull and raise
- Hang from a tree branch, pull-up bar, or monkey bars.
- Perform one pull-up, lower your body and do one leg raise.
- Repeat eight times.

Danny, how often do you train?
I try to get to the gym three times a week, but when you're always on the move sometimes you have to do a little prison workout - press-ups, dips on the toilet and press-ups on the sink.
 
What was your typical prison workout?
We'd get to go to the yard and work with the weights - but my workout was mostly callisthenic because I was a boxer.
 
Where did you learn to box?
I had an uncle who used to fight in [amateur boxing contest] Golden Gloves. When I was eight years old, he was about 13. By then he was already a pretty good boxer. I want to say I was his sparring partner, but I was really his punching bag. So I either had to learn to defend myself or get my brains beat in.
 
Did that prove useful when you were in prison?
Oh yeah. Boxing in jail literally made me a celebrity. When you get in there and everyone knows you're a fighter they'll match you up with all the best fighters around. I was the lightweight and welterweight champion of every institution I was in back in the day.

How many was that?
Oh, there was San Quentin, Folsom, Soledad - those were the three major prisons. I was also in Sierra.
 
How did you get out of that life?
It was almost mathematical. I thought, every time I've been arrested there was alcohol and drugs involved. Every time. It was black and white. So it was clear to me what I needed to do. I got out of the pen in 1969 and cleaned up my act.
 
So how did you get into films?
I was a drug counsellor and one of the kids I was working with called me at 11 one night and asked if I could come down to his job because he said there was a lot of blow around. The kid was working as a PA on a movie set. So I'm there and this guy comes up to me and asks if I'd like to be an extra and I was, like, 'An extra what?' And he said, 'Can you act like a convict?' I thought it was a joke.
 
You've played a lot of convicts...
For the first few years of my acting career I never had a name [laughs]. I was always, 'Prisoner Number One' or 'Bad Guy'. The first name I ever got was in the movie Death Wish 4 and I was 'Art Sanella'. I loved it.

Do you find that people in the street tend to give you a lot of space when they pass you?
Yeah. But I don't look like a normal person walking down the street. I look like I just got out of prison. I have to remember that. On Sundays, when it's warm outside, I'll train at Muscle Beach with my buddy Craig Munson, who's a former Mr World, just so kids can meet me and I can sign autographs. I don't want the kids to be scared of me.
 
Which is tougher: San Quentin or Hollywood?
Well, the difference is, if somebody disrespects you in San Quentin, you stab 'em. In Hollywood, if somebody disrespects you, you move on to the next movie.

Eric Oram on training Robert Downey Jr in wing chun...

I’ve spent years 12 training Robert in wing chun. It really took on a life of its own with Sherlock Holmes – a lot of actors are proud of training for four, five months in martial arts to prepare for a role, but he’d been training for six years to get to that point. There was a bit of concern that we’d leave the audience behind, and we went round and round until we got to the solution of Robert visualising the fight scenes before they happened in real time.

On how practice makes perfect...

Robert’s character has a wing chun dummy in both Sherlock and Iron Man 3. It’s a particularly useful tool because a key concept of wing chun is that we use two arms to attack and defend simultaneously. When you hit a heavy bag, you’re just hitting but on the dummy you can practise attack and defence simultaneously. There’s also an element of conditioning to it – traditionally those dummies are made of teak.

On controlling your emotions...

Wing chun challenges you physically and emotionally. You’re building reflexes, but also teaches you to anchor yourself to the present moment. In normal life, it’s too easy to project into the future or dwell on the past, but you can’t do that when someone’s trying to rip your head off. Wing chun teaches you to get all those aspects of yourself in tune to manage yourself under adversity. It’s all about focus.

On the missing Iron Man vs Ultron fight scene...

The scene that I spent most time on with Robert didn’t actually make it into the final cut of the second Avengers film. There was a fight scene between Iron Man and Ultron that had aspects of wing chun to it. We always look at what’s in the story that’s being told, though, so Robert’s practice runs through the film. I’m really happy with the result.

Watch an exclusive behind-the-scenes clip from the set of Avengers: Age of Ultron in Seoul, South Korea.

There’s a lot of pressure on George Groves as he prepares for his WBC super middleweight world title clash with Badou Jack on 12th September. However, the one thing he can be totally confident is his conditioning. Ahead of his fight in Las Vegas (on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather Jr’s bout with Andre Berto), Groves shared the three-minute HIIT workout he uses in his training camps. Here’s how he gets it done.

1. Double-arm kettlebell swing

Reps 10-12

2. Double kettlebell clean and press

Reps 15

3. Walking lunge (offset load)

Reps 20

4. Farmer’s walk

Distance 4m

5. Tyre flip

Distance 4m

6. Sledgehammer

Reps 15-20

7. Battle rope power slam

Reps 25

George Groves is an official athlete of PhD Nutrition phd-supplements.com

Street dance pioneer Sofia Boutella has appeared in numerous commercials – that was her in Nike’s ‘Keep Up’ campaign, dancing opposite a huge, thumping bass speaker in a darkened warehouse – and music videos from the likes of Madonna, Rihanna, Usher and Ne-Yo. But now she’s turned to acting, bringing an unnerving, intense physicality to her role in Kingsman: The Secret Service – in which she plays an assassin who’s had her lower legs replaced with lethal blades. She’s also been cast in the upcoming Star Trek movie, and she spoke to MF about the training required to be a dancer and to play a killer.

Did mastering the athletic martial arts needed for your killer character Gazelle come naturally?

I trained taekwondo every day for three months in preparation for the part, although I already had the flexibility and movements down from dancing. I just found it pretty strange to end a routine by punching someone in the face!

If we want legs as strong and flexible as yours, what should we do?

The leg work I do is about performing one movement over and over again for long enough until the muscle goes numb – that’s when I know it’s working. It takes me around half an hour so I put on some music and repeat the exercise until I can’t feel myself doing it any more. It’s hardcore, but it’s worth it. The feeling of being able to kick with greater strength each day is empowering.

Want stronger legs? Try these 6 underrated leg exercises 

You had only three hours to prepare for your Kingsman audition. How did you pull it off?

I’d never seen any Bond films or anything like that so I based the henchwoman character on instinct and what the director had told me. I think my athletic ability played a big part in landing me the role. Once I’d finished filming, I did actually watch a few Bond films – Sean Connery is my favourite.

How intense was training to dance at such an elite level with Madonna?

Dancing is such a great workout on its own that I never had to do much other training. When I toured with Madonna I just did a bit of Pilates in the morning and that was it. That’s why dance classes are such an amazing alternative to going to the gym. Try out a freestyle class like hip-hop and see how much you sweat. I’ve been doing ballet and rhythmic gymnastics since I was five years old and I’ve learned that dance training at any level is just about developing muscle memory. You do the moves over and over again until you’re doing them unconsciously. You should be able to think about something totally unrelated and still pull the moves off perfectly. The same thing applies for learning film lines and fight choreography – everything is about repetition.

What was the best thing about working with one of MF's heroes, Samuel Jackson? 

He’s just as cool in real life as he is on the screen. He reminded me to have fun, which is important because I criticise myself too much. Samuel said putting too much pressure on yourself makes it hard to enjoy what you’re doing, which reduces the quality of the work. He taught me that if you focus on relaxing and try to enjoy the process of what you’re doing, you actually perform better.

Kingsman: The Secret Service is out now on DVD and Blu-ray

Brooklyn in the 1970s was no place for the weak. If being tough didn’t come naturally, you soon learned. Michael Jai White found this out first-hand. ‘I was an insecure kid growing up in a harsh environment. Martial arts was my armour,’ says White. And although he started training at the age of seven, he wasn’t pushed into it by his parents – in fact, White had to attend these classes in secret without his mother knowing because she didn’t even want him learning martial arts.

‘She thought I would use it to fight and get in trouble so she didn’t let me go,’ says White. Since he says he was a child who would ‘go into abandoned buildings and punch holes through the walls for fun’, you can see where she was coming from. At first he would go with friends and watch from the sidelines. After months of learning purely by observation, the instructor allowed him to train for free. By the age of 13, he was knocking out grown men and received what would be the first of seven different black belts. And thus was conceived a truly formidable fighter with flair. 

The Michael Jai White you see on screen is an absolute monster. With his 106kg of pure muscle, the untrained eye would assume he’s a bodybuilder. While White does need that amount of bulk to look good on screen, he also needs to be able to move dynamically, which means every single kilo of muscle must contribute to functional strength. He tells MF the exercises he uses to achieve the right balance between hulking mass and explosive functionality.

You’ve got the massive physique most men dream of but you still move like a lightweight. What’s the secret?

I’ve always worked on explosiveness. I have never wanted to sacrifice speed during my reps. 

So you’re laser-focused on lowering slowly in a rep and then powering up out of it as quickly as possible?

Absolutely. I literally throw the weights as hard and fast as I can to develop maximum power. So for the bench press or Smith machine, I throw the weight at the top of the rep, catch it, then lower it – I am basically punching with the weight. I do the same thing with barbell curls, I throw the bar and catch it at the end of each rep. I train like a sprinter – they have huge, defined bodies but it’s all useful, powerful muscle.

How many reps and for how many sets are we talking, and at what kind of weight?

I generally do 12 to 15 reps for three to four sets at 65% of my one rep max – it’s really about quality, though. As the reps go on, you can’t fling the weights as much so you need to squeeze and contract the muscle as hard as you can at the top of the rep to get that ripped definition. Even when you can’t throw the weights any more, still try to explode up as much as possible.

What about legs?

The standing leg press is ideal. I get on that and just literally jump at the end of each rep. Otherwise you can do normal squats but explode by jumping up out of the rep.

Where are most guys going wrong in the gym when it comes to looking good?

Everyone wants big arms and a big chest, but 80% of guys I see in the gym are doing it completely wrong. They don’t realise the shape of your whole arm and chest is dependant on your triceps and back. So you see people hammering away for years at the heavy curls and bench press thinking it’s going to build them up but instead of developing good-looking arms and chests, all that happens is their shoulders and chest get pulled forward and they look hunched – the complete opposite of what they want. This can even hurt the lower back as well, because it has to compensate for the weight of your arms and chest putting weight beyond the centreline of your body. 

What should we be doing then?

Wide-arm pull-ups. People need to realise that strengthening the back muscles will make your chest and arms look more pronounced by pulling your shoulders back and opening your chest. Pull-ups are easily my favourite exercise because they are one of the best at strengthening your back, which keeps your aesthetics balanced and makes you look good without a shirt. It also straightens out your spine.

Also, practise your triceps dips to focus on building thicker arms because the triceps are the muscles that really make your arms look good. If you really want to work your explosiveness, try to progress to muscle-ups when you get strong enough.

How many reps and sets?

15 reps of wide-arm pull-ups will really develop a strong back to open up your chest. They go well with your bench press so superset them if you want a good balanced chest workout. When these get too easy, start weighting your pull-ups. Start with small plates and steadily add more as you progress. I generally use 115lb [52kg] which is half my bodyweight. 

Want to watch White put his physical strength into serious practice? Look out for the fight-filled Falcon Rising, on DVD and streaming services (including Amazon and iTunes) from 18th May. 

There was a time, way before hi-def and widescreen, when being in shape for a film role was a rarity – something you did for a boxing biopic, maybe, or as a by-product of a former career as a carpenter (Harrison Ford) or bare-knuckle boxer (Robert Mitchum). Those days are gone. In the post-Tyler Durden, post-300 era, a six-pack is as much a part of the actor’s arsenal as a stunt double, and barely a year goes by without an eye-popping transformation from one formerly lardy lead. But who’s the real king of the big-screen bodies? We asked a team of experts to decide, then uncovered the nutritional secrets, moves and workouts that built their physiques. And… action!

The experts

To make our selection, we consulted an array of body transformation specialists, coaches, trainers and film buffs. Our panel were asked to consider both form and function, so stuntwork, athletic credentials and aesthetics all count. Disagree with them – we dare you.

Nick Mitchell is one of the world’s foremost body transformation coaches, a best-selling author and the owner of seven UP Fitness gyms around the globe.

Richard Tidmarsh is the owner and lead trainer of Reach Fitness London, where he trains UFC fighters, rugby stars and footballers with lung-sapping metabolic conditioning and strength circuits.

Andy McKenzie is a bodyweight exercise specialist and former army PT known as ‘Iron Mac’ who has worked with the likes of polar adventurer Ben Saunders.

Andy McTaggart is the health and fitness manager of Fitness First’s flagship gym in central London, a CrossFit competitor and conditioning specialist.

Richard Jordan is the associate editor of Total Film magazine, an occasional gym-goer and an enthusiastic consumer of all things Marvel Universe-related.

10. Tom Hardy

Hardy’s had impressive traps since his turn as a malnourished, homeless alcoholic in TV movie Stuart: A Life Backwards – so it appears those are genetic – but everything else about his bulk comes from sheer hard work. Hardy and his longtime trainer/bodyguard Patrick ‘P-Nut’ Monroe use ‘muscle signalling’ to pack on mass in short order. ‘Do ten fast press-ups and then one slow one, or switch hand positions,’ says P-Nut. ‘Don’t let your body get used to what you’re asking of it.’

More Tom Hardy workout tips

9. Hugh Jackman

‘Look at Wolverine in the first X-Men film, then the latest one,’ says Jordan. ‘He’s not just regenerating, – he’s getting bigger.’ It’s true: Jackman’s getting bigger and better every year – and he’s doing it via big compound lifts and good old-fashioned hard work. The Aussie actor boasts a 180kg deadlift – get yours up to indestructible- mutant levels by warming up with single-leg Romanian deadlifts to switch your glutes on.

Hugh Jackman's official The Wolverine workout

8. Bruce Lee

As well as basically inventing MMA – check out his fight with Sammo Hung in Enter The Dragon and most of his posthumous book The Tao Of Jeet Kune Do – Lee took physical conditioning for martial arts more seriously than any of his contemporaries… and still has one of the most legendary bodies in film history. ‘He’s the star of the greatest fight scene ever – with Chuck Norris in the Colosseum in Way Of The Dragon – and a man who knew the power of displaying an attractive physique,’ says Mitchell. ‘You can see how he clearly increased his efforts to get in better shape as his movie career progressed.’

Abs of Fury

Lee did everything from experimenting with electrical muscle stimulation to drinking duck’s blood to build his ultra-strong abs. You could try that – or use this mini-circuit to build Lee-like core strength and definition. Do three rounds.

Good Morning

Reps 8

This is the move that did for Lee’s back – not, as suggested in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, a vengeful martial arts rival. Lee lifted heavy but you should go light and focus on perfect form. Holding a barbell on your back and with your knees slightly bent, lean forward until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings. Pause, then straighten up. Carefully.

Dragon Flag

Reps 3

Holding on to a bench, bring your whole body into the air in a straight line, then lower down as slowly as possible.

7. Chris Hemsworth

When your other half swoons at Hemsworth’s Asgardian physique in any Marvel film’s regulation shirt-off scene, it’s tempting to point to the big man’s godlike genetics. Tempting, but wrong. ‘You just have to look at Hemsworth in his surf-bum days to see that he’s not naturally muscular,’ says McTaggart. ‘When he landed the role of Thor he put on about 10kg of lean mass by following a strict diet and bodybuilding regimen.’ In other words, he’s mortal – he just works harder than you.

Chris Hemsworth's Avengers: Age of Ultron back workout

6. Chris Evans

You’re doing something right when they have to fake your body for the ‘before’ shots, and Evans’s emergence from his super-soldier cocoon in Captain America is a film-stealer. For the sequel he combined size and agility with combinations like the squat-to-box jump: do five reps of back squats with a weight that you can just about manage, then go straight into a set of five box jumps. Rest a minute, and repeat three times, soldier.

Chris Evans' Captain America legs workout and diet plan

5. Terry Crews

Not many men can make singing a Vanessa Carlton hit into a career-defining moment, but Crews’ performance of A Thousand Miles in the otherwise-dreadful White Chicks marks the exact moment he went from muscular ex-NFL heavy to reliable comic film-saver. He’s since parlayed his physique and comedy chops into fame as tough-but-adorable police sergeant Terry Jeffords on TV’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Hale Caesar in the Expendables movies.

Terry Crews' top 5 gym crimes

Unleash the Cobra

To build shirt-packing muscle, Crews uses a dizzying array of pulling moves in his ‘Cobra back’ workout. Try three rounds of this poisonous pairing for size.

Wide-grip pull-up

With your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width, pull your chin over the bar. Pause, then lower. Go to failure and rest for 60 seconds – no cheating.

Close-grip pull-up

4. Jason Statham

Then, with your hands slightly narrower than shoulder-width, pull your chin over the bar, pause, then lower. And yes, go to failure again.

‘Most people don’t know that Statham use to be a world-class athlete – he competed in diving at the 1990 Commonwealth Games,’ says McTaggart. ‘His role as Frank Martin in the Transporter trilogy showcases just how athletic and badass he is, and that he has a build most dream of having.’ Including Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, apparently. Get his functional strength with a Statham-favourite warm-up: three pull-ups, five press-ups and seven squats, for as many rounds as possible in five minutes.

Get a body like Jason Statham

3. Arnie

‘Arnold Schwarzenegger changed my life when I went to see Conan The Destroyer at the cinema,’ says Mitchell. ‘Without his inspiration I think pretty much all the experiences of my life would have been different, thanks to the pull of the gym and its results on my appearance, my lifestyle and how people react to me. Arnold set a benchmark for movie physiques that will never be matched and any judge who doesn't have him as their number one choice is missing everything about physical culture of the last 40 years.’ Strong words.

Build T-800 Triceps

The Governator may not be in his physical prime, but – with Terminator Genisys coming up – he still hits it hard. His advice? ‘Dumbbells are better than barbells for your delts and tris. First, the Arnold press. Start with a weight you can do six times. After six, pick the next weight down. Work down the rack and do at least five sets. No rest, because picking up the lighter weight should be easy. Once you finish that, do lateral raises the same way. When I did this, I couldn't move my arms after, but it works.

2. The Rock

Anyone who gets bigger after they leave pro wrestling behind knows something about bulking, and Dwayne Johnson’s showing no signs of stopping. His daily diet? Steak, four egg whites and porridge for breakfast, meat, rice (or baked potatoes) and chicken for meals two to five, and a show-stopping ten-egg omelette in the evening. Pie: optional.

12-week Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson training plan

1. Henry Cavill

Surprised? Don’t be. Others might have the edge on bulk or physicality, but it’s the new Superman’s combination of both that bagged him the top spot. It also assisted his performance – which is sort of the point, after all. ‘By doing physically difficult things, by changing his body of his own will, Henry changed his attitude and his bearing,’ says Mark Twight, who trained Cavill for the part. ‘He looked huge. He walked huge. His attitude broadcast his physical capability.’ Next up: making Batman look small in 2016, ahead of DC’s oncoming blitz of superhero movies. If anyone can…

Henry Cavill's Superman training plan

From dishing out vigilante justice in the Kick-Ass movies to his upcoming role as superhero Quicksilver in Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Aaron Taylor-Johnson is no stranger to training hard for the screen. His role in 2014’s Godzilla is a prime example, with Taylor-Johnson starring as Ford Brody, a US army lieutenant who plays a key part in the fight against a giant, city-smashing lizard.

‘Ford is really put through the ringer over the course of the film, both internally and externally’, says Taylor-Johnson. ‘His expertise at disarming bombs makes him the kind of expert the military needs and it’s all hands on deck.’ To convince as a member of the armed forces, the actor kept up the rigorous routine he started with trainer Richard Smedley to get him in impressive shape for Kick-Ass 2.

‘Aaron did a lot of TRX work for core training,’ says Smedley. ‘It hits parts of the stomach that it’s difficult to access through floor exercises. In terms of muscular formation, I didn’t want him to get a dumpy bodybuilder’s look – I wanted him to look athletic so there was a lot of carrying and moving with heavy weights, which gives good definition but also boosts functional strength.’

Smedley used his military background to put the actor through his paces. ‘He did a lot of moves that engaged his core in the same way that it would be during stunts on set. Unrealistic, one-dimensional stomach exercises were out – all the kicking and punching he was doing was coming from his core, so he had to address that first before doing hypertrophy work.’

Want to sculpt a beastly body? Try Smedley’s core-busting circuit.

1 Weighted jump

Try this weighted version of a plyometric jump with a dumbbell in each hand. ‘It builds your quads quickly because it hits the fast-twitch muscle fibres and stretches them,’ says Smedley.

2 TRX plank

Increase your planks' intensity by suspending your feet in the stirrups of a TRX. ‘Work your way up to this move,’ says Smedley. ‘It can put strain on the lower back, so strengthen the muscle by perfecting your floor planks first.’

3 Three-chair press-up

Arrange three chairs in a triangular formation and assume a press-up position with your feet on one and hands on the other two. ‘It allows you to get much further down and access the outer parts of your pectoral muscles,’ says Smedley.

4 Farmer’s walk

‘It’s functional,’ says Smedley. ‘Walking with heavy weight plates in each hand is a great core exercise but it also gives good shoulder definition.’

Watch the exclusive video below to hear Taylor-Johnson’s thoughts on the film

Godzilla is in cinemas from 15th May

‘If you watch Marvel Avengers: Age Of Ultron, there are two things you’ll notice about Chris Hemsworth throughout the movie,’ says Joe Wicks, The Body Coach. ‘First, his arms are massive and his veins are popping in every scene. And second, you’ll notice the size of his back and lats. His wide frame makes every other character look tiny, unless he’s standing next to the Hulk of course (who has a CGI-enhanced advantage).’ The workout below will help you build a mighty back to rival the Norse god himself.

1 Wide-grip pull-up

Sets 3
Reps To failure
Rest 2min

‘The pull-up is the king of all upper-body exercises,’ says Wicks. ‘Not only does it put your forearms and biceps to the test, it zeroes in on your lats, which are the muscles that give your back shape and size.’

Grasp a bar with an overhand grip so your palms are facing away from you and your hands are double shoulder-width apart. Contract your upper back muscles to help pull your sternum towards the bar. Then lower under control.

2 Single-arm bent-over dumbbell row

Sets 3
Reps 10-12 each side
Rest 90sec 

‘This exercise allows you to go heavy but also keep your lower back safe, because you rest one knee on the bench,’ says Wicks. ‘This enables you to keep your spine straight and really engage your lat muscles as you pull the dumbbell towards your hip.’

Support your knee on the bench with the other leg planted wide for balance. Keep a natural arch in your back and your core braced. Keeping your elbow tucked in, lift the weight slowly to the side of your chest. Pause, then return slowly. Complete all reps on one side, then the other. 

3 Lat pull-down

Sets 3
Reps 12-15
Rest 60sec

‘If your back, biceps and forearms aren’t pumped already, this really will be the finisher,’ says Wicks. ‘Make sure you focus on squeezing your back muscles when you pull the bar down towards your chest.’

Adjust the pad so it sits snugly on your thighs to minimise movement. Grasp the bar with a wide grip, looking forward with your torso upright. Retract your shoulder blades and pull the bar down in front of you to your upper chest. Squeeze your lats at the bottom of the move. Resist the temptation to lean back too far to aid the movement. 

To find more workouts and meal ideas from The Body Coach check out his Instagram and YouTube channel.

Marvel Avengers: Age Of Ultron is out in cinemas nationwide on April 23rd

Winter might be coming for the inhabitants of Westeros, but you’ve got the opposite problem – summer is on its way, and dressing like the men of the wall isn’t an option. Fortunately, there’s a solution at hand – by training like one of the Night’s Watch, you can build a body that’s functional, strong, and ready for anything. Choose your weapon, and get at it.

The Weapon: Sword

Almost everyone has one – from Joffrey’s Hearteater to Stannis’s Lightbringer. Fighting styles vary from the Braavos’ thrusting and parrying to the Westoros-style hack-and-slash, but the main thing is – you need to be strong to swing one.

The Gym Version: Clubbell

These are your secret weapon in wrist-strengthening, forearm-strengthening readiness for a swordfight – get them here. The move you want is the ‘shield cast’ – hold the clubbell vertically in front of you, then bring one around your head – as if you’re parrying an overhead chop – and back into position. Repeat for 10 reps – if you haven’t won the swordfight by then, you’re in trouble.

The Weapon: Armour

Obviously, some people don’t bother with this – Khal Drogo, for instance, was more of a shirts-and-skins style combatant. But Gregor ‘The Mountain’ Clegane, played this season by World’s Strongest Man competitor Hafþór Júlíus "Thor" Björnsson, wears a suit so heavy that ‘no normal man could wear it.’ Badass.

The Gym Version: Weighted Vest

These will add toughness to virtually any move you care to name – but for real castle-storming toughness, the weighted stair run is the ticket. Find a decent flight of stairs – not in the underground, the police don’t like weighted vests – and run up it. Walk down, then repeat. Aim for five ‘sets’, depending on the size of your castle.

The Weapon: Bow

Studies done on the skeletons of medieval bowmen reveal that they were, in a word, jacked – and with good reason. English longbows typically had a ‘pull’ of 40kg – not a patch on the Mongol horse-archer standard of 80kg – making firing one 12 times a minute the equivalent of a really heavy set of one-armed rows. Important to get right, unless you want to risk embarassing yourself at a funeral.

The Gym Version: Resistance Band

You only need one move here: the Archer’s Draw. Hold one end of a resistance band in one hand, bring your arm out straight, and then ‘draw’ the other end back across your chest – like a bowman, basically. Lower under control – and, unlike a real bowman, make sure you work both sides.

He might be 54, but double Oscar winner Sean Penn is turning his hand – and his newly muscular torso – to an action role for the first time in his illustrious career in The Gunman. Penn plays sniper Jim Terrier, a mercenary assassin forced into hiding when the target sights are honed on him by a Congo hit squad. To convincingly portray a trained killer, Penn used a combination of compound, functional weight training moves to pack on lean muscle without compromising agility, and armed himself with the lethal hand-to-hand combat skills of krav maga.

Below, fitness expert Niko Algieri has devised the workout that would get you into Jim Terrier’s enviable shape.

The Gunman Workout

“The first thing that’s evident in the film is Penn’s perfectly proportioned and balanced physique,” says Algieri. “But it isn’t all for show. He’s mobile as well as powerful. For that Penn would have used military-style, full-body functional training, starting workouts with compound moves and focusing on building muscle with body part splits later in the session. This Gunman workout will help you move heavy loads quickly, stimulating your nervous system, forcing the release of testosterone and meaning you’ll develop power and grow muscle fast.”

1 Thruster

Sets 5 Reps 5 Rest 90sec

Take the bar from the squat rack when standing. Rest the bar across your upper chest with your hands holding it in place and your elbows as high as you can get them. Keeping your chest up, back straight and core tight, squat down until your thighs go past parallel to the floor, pushing your knees wide to maintain stability. Then explode up, keeping your weight on your heels. As you approach the top of your squat, transfer the momentum to your shoulders and press the bar overhead. Lower the bar to catch it on the top of your chest and shoulders and repeat.

Algieri says “Squat all the way down until your hip crease breaks 90°. From there, explode up using your quads and glutes to accelerate into the overhead press.”

2 Sumo deadlift high pull

Sets 5 Reps 5 Rest 90sec

With your feet twice shoulder-width apart, grab the bar with an overhand grip and your hands just closer than hip-width apart. Keeping your chest up and arms straight, lift the bar to waist height, driving your hips forwards. As the bar rises, draw your elbows high to bring the bar to chest height, keeping it close to your body throughout, and shrug your shoulders. Reverse the move to return the bar to the floor.

Algieri says “Make sure your knees track over your toes by pointing your feet outwards slightly and make sure you control the bar when lowering it, so it doesn’t jerk you forwards as you finish the lift.”

3 Power clean

Sets 5 Reps 5 Rest 90sec

With the bar on the floor, grasp it with an overhand grip, hands shoulder-width apart, and your shins close to the bar. Keeping your chest up, hips back and back flat, raise the weight to chest height by powerfully pushing through your heels and driving your hips forwards, keeping the bar close to your body. Quickly drop into a half squat, bring your arms under the bar to catch it on the top of your chest and stand up. Carefully return the bar to the floor.

Algieri says “Think explosive and focus on two pulls. Rapidly extend your ankles and knees at the same rate while keeping your arms straight for the first pull. As the bar passes your knees, drive your hips forwards and pull up on the bar as if you are shrugging to bring it high enough for you to drop under it.”

Jim Terrier’s Upper-Body Exercises

On completing all three powerful lifts, focus on a body part with these isolation exercises for four sets of 10 reps each for a muscular upper body like Sean Penn’s in The Gunman.

Chest

Incline dumbbell flye “These help develop your upper pecs and gives your chest a fuller, muscular look,” says Algieri.

Triceps dip “Work your chest through a deep weighted stretch while also hitting the triceps and front deltoids.”

Press-up “The classic press-up is amazing for chest and triceps development. Add more weight by wearing a weight vest or have a partner load 10kg plates on your lower back (safely).”

More chest exercises

Shoulders

Military press “This standing shoulder press move builds strong front and rear deltoids and works your core throughout.”

Reverse flye “This exercise will help balance and strengthen the often overlooked and under-stimulated rear deltoids.”

Lateral raise “The final killer. Your arms will feel like they’re going to drop off.”

More shoulder exercises

Biceps

Standing cable curl “This mimics the classic standing biceps curl for fuller arms.”

Preacher curl “This seated biceps isolation move takes other muscles out of the equation so you’ll hammer your biceps to the limit.”

Standing hammer curl “Switching up the angle with these targets any overlooked muscles in your biceps and protects your wrists.”

More biceps exercises

Triceps

Cable pull-down “Aim for full flexion and extension without moving your upper arm.”

Half dip “Like the dip, but keep your body upright and only bend your arms to 90° so you target your triceps.”

More triceps exercises

Core

TRX complex (pike into knee tuck into mountain climbers) “Jim Terrier has a solid core in the movie, and the fastest way to achieve this is by hitting this TRX tri-set. Perform 10 reps of each move without rest. Rest for 60 seconds and repeat for four sets in total.”

More core exercises

Don’t recognise former Great Britain 110m hurdler Andy Turner? You’re not the only one. One minute he’s got the physique of a light, nimble sprinter – the next, one fit to grace the big screens of a superhero blockbuster.

Turner won European and Commonwealth gold medals and a bronze model in the 2011 world championships as well as competing in the Olympics three times. After retiring from athletics at the end of 2014, Turner needed some form of training routine to fill the void and, drawing inspiration from his brother who competes as a fitness model in Australia, he decided to see if he could get into similar shape. With a revamped diet and overhauled gym routine, the 34-year-old has put on 10kg of muscle with roughly the same body fat in just under six months, and says it’s taught him more about exercise, nutrition and his body than he ever expected. MF spoke to Turner to find out what he’s learned and how it can help you get similarly impressive body transformation results.

What inspired the body transformation?

When you’re an athlete you’ve got to target your whole year around competing for the Olympics or  the world championships, but since I retired from the sport I’ve had a big void in my life and I didn’t really know what to do. I had nothing – no training, no goals. I’ve always been lean and slim because of running but I’ve never been able to hold on to muscle and be lean at the same time. My brother Garry’s a fitness model and he’s about to compete in the Arnold Classic [Schwarzenegger’s annual fitness event, now known as the Arnold Sports Festival, held in Columbus, Ohio]. I decided to see if I could do it too. I want to see if I can take my body to a level it’s never been at before.

How different is your approach to fitness now compared with when you were competing in hurdling?

It’s completely different. Cardiovascular training has become a thing of the past, which is nice to be honest. I’m enjoying not doing it. My gym routine as an athlete was about 75% legs and the rest just bits and pieces for my upper body and abs, whereas now I’m hitting a particular muscle group and trying to improve it aesthetically. It’s really interesting to me. I’ve always been trying to get explosive power in my legs but not get any size, whereas now I’m trying to get size and strength at the same time.

What have you found to be the most rewarding thing about your new sport?

Seeing the developments that I didn’t know I was capable of achieving. I never believed I could get into the shape that guys on the stage are in, but to know I’m on my way there – that’s quite thrilling. When you can look in the mirror and see your body shape radically changing after just a few months, you’re like, ‘Hang on, things are really changing’. As soon as you get that, you get hooked.

Is there anything you’ve learned from this type of training that could have helped you when competing at hurdling?

The nutrition side of it. I always thought I knew it all. But this has shown me I don’t know my body as well as I thought I did. I think my nutrition is something I should have paid more attention to as an athlete. I simply didn’t feed my body right, didn’t give it what it needed when it needed it.

How much has your diet changed?

A lot. I wouldn’t eat many carbs as an athlete. My diet was quite protein-based, because the coaches would want you to be as lean as possible even though you’re training a lot. Now it makes me think their approach isn’t necessarily correct. I’m still eating ridiculous amounts of protein, but now I am eating much more in the way of carbs – the key is eating them at the right time. As an athlete I was just eating when I could. It was especially hard when I was travelling during competitions when I had to eat at the times set by the hotels. Now I prepare my own food and make sure I have my nutrition on point because that’s the main thing.

What is your weekly diet like now?

Typically I have six egg whites and two egg yolks, scrambled, for breakfast. I’ve also been having brown toast but I’m about to cut that out and replace it with something healthier. I generally train in the morning so first I have a PhD Nutrition VMX² pre-training shake, then during training I have a PhD Nutrition Intra BCAA+ drink. As soon as I’m finished a session I have PhD Nutrition’s Pharma Gain, which is protein and carbs combined. When I get home half an hour later I have 70g of oats and a scoop of protein with water. Three hours later I have a tuna wrap with loads of veg, then another three hours later I have about 250g of chicken or steak with plenty of veg and a small portion of rice or pasta. Finally, just before bed I have Greek yogurt with a scoop of protein powder. For snacks I occasionally eat rice cakes. With this diet, I’m gradually decreasing my body fat but maintaining my size.

How important are supplements for your new training?

I really have to rely on them because they make everything much more convenient. But if I could only have one it would be a pre-training drink. I take PhD Nutrition’s VMX, which is like three or four coffees in one go. It includes beta-alanine, which can make my face start tingling but it really livens me up and gets me ready to attack a session.

What have you found is the most effective method for muscle growth?

Without doubt compound exercises – squats, bench press and overhead press – that involve more than one joint. Working these movements until I’m fully fatigued before moving on to another body part is what I’ve found most effective

What was your hardest training session like for sprinting?

As an athlete my hardest training session would have been when I had to do lactic endurance training. I would sprint 500m then have ten minutes’ rest, sprint 400m have ten minutes’ rest, sprint 300m, have 12 minutes’ rest, then sprint 200m and turn right round and sprint for 100m. When you’re running at a 50-second pace for 400m the lactic endurance side of it is absolute murder – your legs are on fire, your chest is on fire. Now when I’m training, I’m training a particular body part, say shoulders, and I’ll feel just them alone burning. I handle that much better because when you’re training for aesthetics and you can see the results, it’s a completely different feeling and that’s what’s motivating me.

Have you ditched the sprint training now?

As an athlete my hardest training session would have been when I had to do lactic endurance training. I would sprint 500m then have ten minutes’ rest, sprint 400m have ten minutes’ rest, sprint 300m, have 12 minutes’ rest, then sprint 200m and turn right round and sprint for 100m. When you’re running at a 50-second pace for 400m the lactic endurance side of it is absolute murder – your legs are on fire, your chest is on fire. Now when I’m training, I’m training a particular body part, say shoulders, and I’ll feel just them alone burning. I handle that much better because when you’re training for aesthetics and you can see the results, it’s a completely different feeling and that’s what’s motivating me.

Have you ditched the sprint training now?

I go back to the track once, maybe twice a week and do a few sprints but right now I’m still trying to gain a little bit more ‘beef’ so I’m staying away from it. I’m hoping to get on the stage this year so when I get close to that need to burn off any extra weight I’ll go back to it.

What’s your hardest training session?

Legs, without doubt. My legs are used to explosive power. I used to focus on doing five sets of three heavy reps. Now I’m trying to go as heavy as possible for deep squats, usually for five sets. Once my legs are fried I’ll do four sets of ten or 12 reps on the leg press and the same on leg extensions followed by hamstring exercises. One session will involve nearly 20 sets and include every muscle in my legs. A typical week is legs on Monday, shoulders on Tuesday, chest and either biceps or triceps on Wednesday, back on Thursday, and Friday is either shoulders and biceps or chest and triceps.

Do you draw inspiration from the success of your brother and his fitness modelling or do you see that as competition?

As kids we were both hurdlers and yes, it was competitive. But right now in terms of bodybuilding, Garry’s in the Premier League and I’m in the Conference, so I know my place! He’s in ridiculously good shape. He’s in the process of planning everything out for me, I’ve told him I want to compete in four months’ time and I want to do his training and follow his diet. I want to keep my competitive nature no doubt, but right now my brother and me are working more as a team than against each other like competitors.

When did you realise you would be up to competition standard?

It’s not even something that crossed my mind at first. When I started, I just wanted to see what I could do with my body. After speaking with people in the sport and seeing how I’ve progressed, I’ve started to think I can and now that’s all I can think about. I just need to do it because once I’ve got that target I’ve got something to aim for. I feel like if I went there I wouldn’t even be looking to win it – I would see it as a marker of where I am and how far I need to go. For me it’s more about seeing if I can do it.

Andy Turner is an official PhD Nutrition athlete. PhD Nutrition is a specialist in performance supplements and sports nutrition. Click here for more information. 

Check out the Men’s Fitness writers’ own transformation stories here.

When did you realise you would be up to competition standard?

It’s not even something that crossed my mind at first. When I started, I just wanted to see what I could do with my body. After speaking with people in the sport and seeing how I’ve progressed, I’ve started to think I can and now that’s all I can think about. I just need to do it because once I’ve got that target I’ve got something to aim for. I feel like if I went there I wouldn’t even be looking to win it – I would see it as a marker of where I am and how far I need to go. For me it’s more about seeing if I can do it.

Andy Turner is an official PhD Nutrition athlete. PhD Nutrition is a specialist in performance supplements and sports nutrition. Click here for more information. 

Check out the Men’s Fitness writers’ own transformation stories here.

Kirk Miller’s fat-loss sessions aren’t for the faint-hearted - mammoth sessions filled with lard-torching giant sets and intense exercise. Try the one below, and stick to the tempo shown: the first number is the time you take to lower in seconds, the second is a pause, the third is the time you take to lift, and the fourth is another pause. 

Legs circuit

• 1 Squat
• Reps 5 Tempo 2210
• 2 Sprinter Lunge
• Reps 10 Tempo 2011
• 3 Stiff-leg dumbbell deadlifts
• Reps 15 Tempo 2011
• 4 Sissy squat
• Reps 20 Tempo 1010
• Rest 2min

Chest circuit

• 1 60° incline dumbbell press
• Reps 5 Tempo 2210
• 2 30° incline dumbbell press
• Reps 10 Tempo 4011
• 3 Incline dumbbell flye
• Reps 15 Tempo 2011
• 4 Dumbbell bench press
• Reps 20 Tempo 1010
• Rest 2min

Back circuit

• 1 Weighted pull-up
• Reps 5 Tempo 2210
• 2 Deadlift
• Reps 10 Tempo 4011
• 3 Bent-over row
• Reps 15 Tempo 2011
• 4 Dumbbell ski slope rows
• Reps 20 Tempo 1010
• Rest 2min

Shoulder circuit

• 1 Dumbbell overhead press
• Reps 5 Tempo 2210
• 2 Dumbbell side lateral raise
• Reps 10 Tempo 4011
• 3 Bent-over reverse flye
• Reps 15 Tempo 2011
• 4 Dumbbell shrugs
• Reps 20 Tempo 1010
• Rest 2min

Biceps circuit

• 1 Standing barbell curl
• Reps 5 Tempo 2210
• 2 Zottman curl
• Reps 10 Tempo 4011
• 3 Narrow-grip E-Z bar curl
• Reps 15 Tempo 2011
• 4 Reverse-grip barbell curl
• Reps 20 Tempo 1010
• Rest 2min

Triceps circuit

• 1 Narrow-grip bench press
• Reps 5 Tempo 2210
• 2 Lying skullcrusher
• Reps 10 Tempo 4011
• 3 Lying dumbbell extension
• Reps 15 Tempo 2011
• 4 Standing overhead extension
• Reps 20 Tempo 1010
• Rest 2min

Abs and core circuit

• 1 Dragon flye
• Reps 5 Tempo 4011
• 2 Windscreen wipers
• Reps 10 controlled
• 3 Hanging knee raise
• Reps 15 Tempo 2011
• 4 Plank
• Time 20sec
• Rest 2min

Squat finisher

• 1 Bodyweight on squat bar
• Reps To failure
• 2 2/3 bodyweight on squat bar
• Reps To failure
• 3 1/3 bodyweight on squat bar
• Reps To failure

Building bulky upper arms takes work, and while it’s true to say that film stars have it easier when it comes to smashing out hard training sessions thanks to the PTs and private gyms they can use, when it comes down to it, a workout like the one below is very hard no matter who you are.

So we have nothing but respect for Liam Hemsworth, who worked with ex-SEAL Logan Hood to prepare for The Hunger Games and tackled sessions like the brutal arms workout below. 

How To Do This Workout

The workout consists of five exercises and is done in a reverse ladder format, where you start with 10 reps of each move, then do nine, then eight, and so on. The amount of rest is up to you – the aim is to complete the entire ladder as fast as you can, so take as few breaks as possible. Do you think Liam was taking a break? Do you think ANY Hemsworth has ever taken a break during a workout? No chance. Not even Luke.

The suggested warm-up is 10 minutes on the rowing machine, but given you’ll be wielding weights at pace we’d suggest running through at least one round of each move using light weights or no weight at all, just to get the relevant muscles moving before starting in earnest.

Reverse Ladder Arms Workout

1 Bench press

Lie back on a flat bench and take hold of a barbell with an overhand grip with your hands just wider than shoulder-width apart. Lift the bar out of the rack and lower it to your chest, then press it back up.

2 Overhead press

Stand holding a bar on your upper chest in an overhand grip with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Press the bar directly overhead, then lower under control.

3 Dumbbell flye

Lie back on a flat bench holding dumbbells above your chest with your palms facing each other, arms almost extended but with a slight bend in your elbows. Lower the dumbbells out to the sides, then bring them back to meet directly above your chest.

4 Dumbbell pull-over

Lie back on a flat bench holding one heavy weight in both hands above your chest. Slowly lower the dumbbell behind your head, then lift it back up. Keep a slight bend in your elbows throughout.

5 Dip

On a set of dip bars, lift yourself so your arms are extended. Bend your elbows to lower until your upper arms are parallel to the ground, then push back up.

Luke Evans – Dracula Untold

What he did: Evans had to get into warrior-like shape for the film. Not too bulky so he could still do the stunts, but big enough to look imposing.

How he trained: Often lots of cardio and supersets. Training had to be done quickly as Evans was fitting it in after 12-hf

What he ate: A super strict diet. No sugar, no sauces, no bread, no creams. Just natural food and lots of proteins. Even the protein shakes were diet versions. Evans also took a lot of supplements including omega 3, vegetable juices, amino acids and plenty of water.

Difficulty rating: 7

Chris Pratt – Guardians of the Galaxy

What he did: Pratt and trainer Duffy Gaver began his training plan six months before they started to shoot Guardians. He had to lose around 27kg while adding muscle and ensuring that he stayed lean so his six-pack remained prominent.

How he trained: He lifted weights four or five times a week for an hour at a time. For the first few months it was mainly traditional bodybuilding sessions to add size, targeting specific muscle groups on separate days (the actual splits changed from month to month). Towards the end he started mixing things up and adding in circuit training and P90X workouts to help get him lean. Pratt varied his cardio sessions by embarking on mountain biking, running, swimming and kickboxing.

More training tips from Chris Pratt

What he ate: A diet low in carbs and high in protein to ensure that body fat was lost while muscle was gained. 

Difficulty rating: 8

Christian Bale –  The Machinist to The Dark Knight

What he did: Christian Bale had to drop from his normal weight of 82kg to the ridiculously skeletal 53kg anorexic insomniac he plays in The Machinist. He then had to jump from that to the bulky 98kg to reprise his role as Batman in The Dark Knight.

How he trained: In order to beef up after slimming down to such a scarily skinny version of himself Bale had to kick-start his metabolism, which had taken quite a battering from his intense starvation. He had to train extremely hard with intense heavy weights, plyometrics circuit training and resistance weight training. Adding in martial arts training, lunges, chin-ups, squats and high-pulls as finishers.

See the full Batman training schedule here

What he ate: When he was losing the weight, Bale went into almost total starvation eating only a can of tuna and an apple every day.

Difficulty rating: 10

Ryan Reynolds – Van Wilder to Blade Trinity

What he did: Reynolds went from being skinny preppy college boy in Van Wilder to a rugged, ripped specimen in what seemed like a short time. He’s now well renowned for having one of the best bodies in Hollywood.

How he trained: ‘I don’t have a set routine. Sometimes my training is very cardio-centric – like when I was training for the New York City marathon a few years ago – but if I’m preparing for a film role I’ll mainly lift weights. There’s also a difference between doing aesthetic training to achieve a certain look and functional training, which I do if I’m preparing for a stunt-heavy film to help me avoid getting hurt,’ says Reynolds.

More from Ryan Reynolds's training here

What he ate: Reynolds is naturally slim, so in order to put on so much muscle he had to take on at least 4000 calories everyday, carbs included. Once the bulk had been packed on he began to trim down and lowered his calorie intake slightly, eating more protein and less carbs. 

Difficulty rating: 8

Tom Hardy – Warrior 

What he did: Hardy had to get lean while staying bulky, and look like a fighter, not just someone that hits the gym four days a week.

How he trained: ‘I call my philosophy signaling. Throughout the day you need to send constant signals to your body, so that it adapts in the direction you point it in. It’s better to do 10 press-ups every hour than 100 in a single burst. If you do things often enough, your body adapts for the task you set it, and you evolve,’ says Hardy’s trainer Paul Munore aka Pnut. 

Check out some of Hardy’s insider training secrets here

What he ate: A lean diet of protein and vegetables, packing in over 3500 calories a day. 

Difficulty rating: 7

Chris Hemsworth – Thor

What he did: Naturally, Hemsworth wouldn’t be able to get quite as big as Thor is portrayed in the comics but he had to get as close as he possible could while still staying agile enough to perform stunts.

How he trained: ‘The kettlebell routines that my trainer put me through were intense, partly because I’d never used them before but also because it’s a heavy combination of cardio and weightlifting,’ says the 30-year-old former Home & Away star. ‘Most of my training previously was geared more around cardio – mainly boxing and Muay Thai, with some elements of weights. I hadn’t experienced kettlebells, but it’s a great way to build functional strength.’

See the full Thor workout here

What he ate: ‘I basically overfeed on protein and endless amounts of chicken breast, steak, fish, vegetables and brown rice,’ says Hemsworth.

Difficulty rating: 7

Hugh Jackman – Wolverine

What he did: Achieve a good muscle density while remaining lean enough to pull off the X-Men standard leather jumpsuit. All at the tender age of 40.

How he trained: ‘I got Hugh to stick to the six-to-12 rep range in our mass-building phase,’ says his trainer Mike Ryan. ‘He’d do four sets, with the third usually being forced reps, where I’d help him get through the last few. Then he’d reduce the weight by 25% and go for 15-18 reps in his last set,’ says Jackman’s trainer Mike Ryan. 

See the full Wolverine workout

What he ate: Six high-protein meals a day, plenty of water and additional protein supplements.

Checkout Jackman's full meal plan

Difficulty rating: 7

Bradley Cooper – The A-Team

What he did: Got lean and muscular while losing enough fat to achieve a low body-fat percentage.

How he trained: Cooper spent two hours a day in the gym with a personal trainer doing lots of strength and core training. He used the ‘3-2-1 Method’—that’s three cardio circuits, two strength training circuits and one core workout, each for 10 minutes. 

What he ate: Cooper had to do away with all salt, flour and sugar. That meant no more sandwiches, one of his favourite snacks. This diet allowed him to get rid of all the stubborn bodyfat that had set up camp around his midsection.

Difficulty rating: 6

Gerard Butler – 300

What he did: One of the most notable celebrity transformations, Butler had to work out intensely for four months to sculpt the famed Spartan warrior physique that we see in the films. 

How he trained: The 300-rep Spartan workout: 25 pull ups, 50 dead lifts with 60kg, 50 push-ups, 50 jumps on a 60cm box, 50 floor wipers, 50 single-arm clean-and-presses using a 16kg kettlebell and 25 more pull-ups (with no rest in between). For dessert, he’d engage in intense exercises like tyre flipping and gymnastics-style ring training.

What he ate: A lot and often. A diet high in protein throughout and initially high in carbs for the bulking portion of his training and then almost completely eliminating them to help reveal ‘that’ six-pack.

Difficulty rating: 9

Henry Cavill – Man of Steel and Immortals

What he did: Mark Twight, the man behind the bodies of the 300 Spartan’s was tasked with turning Cavil from average man to superhero. When the first shots of him post-transformation were leaked it almost broke the internet on a Kim Kardashian bum level.  

How he trained: Cavill had to put himself through the Gym Jones Superhero Training Plan, and it wasn’t by any means fast or easy.

What he ate: We’ve got Cavil's full meal plan from when he was training for Immortals right here.

Difficulty rating: 8

Action star Luke Evans explores the origins of one of the most iconic characters of all time in Dracula Untold. We sat down with him to find out more.

Dracula Untold is in cinemas from Friday 3 October.

Check out Luke Evans' stunt double nutrition plan and workout here. 

What sort of shape was Kit in when you first started working with him?

He was actually in pretty bad shape. He’d been promoting the third series of Game of Thrones and he’d got pretty unfit. The director of Pompeii was panicking when he found out, at one point there was discussion about having to change the costumes on the film because of it.

We had eight weeks to get him in shape so I said I needed total control of his diet and training to get it done.

What was his biggest hurdle to get over?

After my ten-minute freak-out when I found out what shape Kit was in, the first thing we sorted out was the diet. It was actually the thing Kit was most apprehensive about. I think from the outside it seems like the biggest thing to change but once he started he really took to it quickly.

I had him eating four meals a day. In terms of percentages I had him eating 45% carbohydrates, 35% protein and 20% fat.

Kit is genetically predisposed to gaining muscle. I’ve never seen someone change their body so dramatically in such a short space of time. However, the only thing I would say was that he was a perfectionist and he would sometimes hit the gym too hard too a point where sometimes I had to slow him down. 

Did he have to take any supplements to keep up with training?

Obviously when you combine Kit’s filming commitments with his training regime he had a pretty full schedule. I wanted to make sure he was taking the right supplements so he could keep up with the demands on his time. We avoided creatine because Kit said when he’d tried it in the past it hadn’t agreed with him. I had him taking whey protein, casein and BCAAs as well as magnesium to help with his energy levels.

What did Kit's training look like?

The film has a lot of stunts and fight scenes so we needed Kit to be able to keep up with these without picking up injuries. As well as working on bodybuilding, there was a big focus on dynamic work. Towards the end of filming we switched to focus just on bodybuilding. All the shots of Kit topless in the film were arranged to be right at the end of the shoot so we had the time to make Kit look as impressive as possible.

I also had to keep training short, as we couldn’t afford to take Kit away from filming for hours at a time. He trained for 60-minute sessions six days a week.

Can you give us an example of one of Kit's workouts?

For his back workout we’d start with dead lifts. One week we would do five sets of ten to 12 reps then the following week I would increase it to six sets of ten to 12 reps. And then after a certain amount of time I would cut it to three sets of five to seven reps but a little heavier. Then, seeing as Kit really took to chin-ups, we often included them as well as rows.

We would incorporate abs workouts at least three times a week. Not too much because I’m not a big believer in hitting it directly. I played around with volume too as I think your body is very good at getting accustomed to specific stresses.

Pompeii is out now on DVD & Blu-ray

You’re in great shape for The Expendables 3. Was their anything specific you had to do for the role?

I was already in shape after starring in The Legend Of Hercules, so I continued the diet plan I had during that and just ate right. Like Hercules, The Expendables 3 was shot in Bulgaria so I already knew where to eat and what restaurants to go to. It was kind of nice that I didn’t have to take my shirt off, although Sly [Stallone] joked that I needed to stop working out on set. 

What fitness tips did you pick up during filming?

It was great working with all these athletes in this movie, everyone’s lifestyle is so active. [UFC women's bantamweight champion] Ronda Rousey was training for a fight, so I would always watch what she did and spar with her when I could. She would run up a mountain every single day. Then [former WBC welterweight champion] Victor Ortiz was boxing a lot because he also had a fight coming up, so I’d spar with him. You’d also see Randy Couture running with a weighted vest on and Jason Statham doing crazy mixed martial arts workouts. Everyone was very physical and we'd train together but we wouldn’t compete. We helped each other out.

What does your daily workout look like?

For me, I swim a lot. I’ll just go jump in the pool with my waterproof earphones and zone out. It's a great workout, and good for my frame. I’m not a runner; I’ve got really heavy bones. I also lift heavy if I have to look big on camera like in Hercules. I’m pretty strong.

Do you take any supplements to support your training?

I’ve never really been a fan of supplements. I take glutamine for muscle repair, but creatine just bloats me out. I eat a lot of protein though. When I was in Twilight, I got my weight up to around 220lbs (100kg) and I would eat two steaks a night. Big 12 ounce-ers. I didn’t have much to do up there. I was just the big guy who would randomly say one line here and there, so I worked out to stop myself getting bored.

The Expendables 3 features some iconic action stars. Who did you learn the most from?

Well, Sly. It’s his movie and he really allowed us to improvise quite a bit and he would say 'just have fun guys, don’t worry about the lines.' The script would actually get changed daily to make it more fitting and natural. It was kind of frustrating for [director] Patrick [Hughes] but the changes would always make it better. Sly’s a really smart writer in that way.

Did you pick up any injuries or have any close calls shooting the action sequences?

No injuries, apart from getting stuff in my eyes when motors blew up. My character rides motocross, so I really got to have fun learning how to ride with my stunt double. I’ve always wanted to ride motorcycles, so to actually do it and jump over tanks was amazing, although my stunt double did the massive stunt at the end of the movie. I would take the bike out and ride around the studio [makes motorbike noise] and everyone would be like, ‘there’s Kellan.’

Who is the fittest Expendable in real life?

Terry Crews! His muscles are out of this world.

The Expendables 3 is in cinemas from 14th August. Watch the trailer below

At 68 years old, Sylvester Stallone could be forgiven for hanging up his combat gear and putting his feet up. But for this summer’s The Expendables 3 – the third instalment of Sly’s own star-studded throwback franchise – he’ll be pushing the bar once again, promising some outrageous stunts and an even bigger line-up of action-movie icons including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, Wesley Snipes and Mel Gibson.

‘I’ve never seen Sly more motivated,’ says his long-time trainer and friend Gunnar Peterson. ‘He’s kind of the elder statesmen, so you’d think there would be some latitude granted if he wanted to back off, but he doesn’t want to. I don’t think he goes in going, “I want to be more ripped than those other guys”. He just wants to be the best version of himself he can possibly be.’

The secret to Stallone’s continued success has been constantly switching up his training, keeping in mind his advancing age and the toll that more than 30 years of onscreen ass-kicking has taken on his body. ‘I write a different workout for Sly every day,’ says Peterson. ‘He does a lot of multi-joint movements to keep himself in working order. He’s still doing a lot of dives, rolls and falls, and he’s had a few surgeries, so he needs to stay healthy.’

'Making this kind of movie is like a weird sporting event,' says Stallone. 'And like any sport, you're going to get injured - there's no getting away from it. While we were shooting this film I ended up taking a fall on my back and having to have some metal put in there. All you can do is show up really fit, and then it goes downhill from there.'

With all the hanging off buildings, helicopters and elevator shafts he’s been doing of late, Sly’s latest addition to his workout arsenal has been a greater focus on forearms. ‘One thing that we’ll do is attach a wrist roller to a cable so that there’s constant tension on it,’ says Peterson. ‘He’ll also do lateral raises with dumbbells using fat grips. It’s the same stuff I do with NFL and NBA guys so that they can grip the ball harder and don’t give away turnovers so easily. He gets after that stuff, he loves it.’

Hang tough

Want Stallone’s forearms? It might take years – but Gunnar Peterson’s grip-strength finisher is a good start. Add it to the end of your upper-body day.

Fat-grip lateral raise

Sets 3 Reps To failure

Use Fat Gripz to perform split-stance lateral raises. Holding for a second at the top of each rep will make you gurn like Rocky.

Towel pull-up

Sets 3 Reps To failure

Sling a towel (or a pair) over a pull-up bar, then do pull-ups with a neutral grip. Three reps is impressive – aim for five.

Cable wrist roll

Sets 1 Reps To failure

Attach a wrist roller to a cable machine so that there’s constant tension on your forearms. Raise the weight stack by ‘rolling’ the cable in. Lower it by rolling the opposite way.

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What attracted you to the role?

Making a movie about Hercules has been a passion project of mine for a very, very long time. He’s a character who’s inspired so many people over the centuries, myself included. I had one of those old fashioned painted posters of Steve Reeves as Hercules when I was a kid. There’s a moment in Hercules Unchained, where he breaks his chains from the pillars and screams out, “I am Hercules!” For me as a kid, that was mesmerizing. It was the first project I enquired about doing when I broke into Hollywood 15 years ago, so it’s been many years in the making. Plus I’ve always wanted to wear a loincloth.

What did you want to achieve with the character?

For me, the tone of Hercules had to be right on the money, it had to find that balance between humour, heart, and big, epic action – and I think we were able to do that and ground the story with characters that are a lot of fun. I wanted Hercules to have a cool charm, and to be everything that people always imagine he would be, physically.

What did that involve in terms of training and nutrition?

You only get one crack at Hercules, so I worked as hard as I could to transform my body. I wanted audiences to see the version of the character that I had in my head on the screen, and I knew that would require hardcore strength and conditioning training and dieting. So I started prepping about 8 months out with a strength and conditioning coach and a diet coach. Creating that kind of physique requires astute attention to detail. Sometimes you have to back off on cardio or increase cardio, train three times a day, increase your calories to 8,000 a day or reduce your calorie intake. By the time we started shooting I’d put on 35lb (16kg) of muscle. 

What was the toughest thing about the preparation?

Having reached that physical peak, the most difficult, challenging thing was maintaining it for five or six months during filming, because everything has to match and you have to look the same on day one as you do on day 95. I had to work out twice a day before even getting to the set. It was a big challenge, but it should be a challenge to play Hercules! 

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Hercules will be released nationwide on Friday 25 July