TO PLAY THE role of Kraven the Hunter, Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass, Bullet Train) knew his on-screen physique was vital to playing Marvel’s trophy-hunting anti-hero in Sony’s sixth film based on the principle players of Spider-Man’s rogues gallery. “The costume is my stomach and my arms,” he said in an interview ahead of the movie’s release on December 12.

The bar for what a blockbuster superhero should look like was raised and set by Hugh Jackman in 2013’s The Wolverine. Jackman looked leaner, bigger, and more vascular than any leading man in the history of comic book films. Since then, other actors like Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, and Henry Cavill have all overhauled their bodies to raise the bar for what it takes to embody these larger than life figures – and now Taylor-Johnson takes his place as one of the most imposing physiques put to screen.

The man behind Jackman’s 2013 transformation is David Kingsbury, a UK-based trainer who has been instrumental in setting the modern standard of on-screen muscle. Kingsbury worked with Taylor-Johnson to help the 34-year-old actor prepare for Kraven the Hunter, a film in which the actor is more often shirtless (or at least, sleeveless and in an open vest) than not. It was a uniquely challenging prep that demanded hard workouts, flexible scheduling, and on-the-fly nutritional changes.

Men’s Health US caught up with Kingsbury to discuss the details of Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s beastly transformation—and the lessons you can take away for yourself.

MEN’S HEALTH: What was the main focus of transforming Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s body for the role in Kraven The Hunter?

DAVID KINGSBURY: We had a couple of months of prep time, and he needed to get a lot leaner than he was. He put in some good hard work before he started working with me to gain some muscle, but then we had to [lean him out] quickly to get him the definition he needed to look right on screen.

He also had some fairly heavy-duty stunt sequences early on, so we had to start prepping those as well. We had to get a bit more conditioning in for some sprint sequences and some hard sequences we did out on the snow in Iceland.

MH: What’s one unique challenge to working with actors?

DK: People think that actors have all the time in the world because they’re getting paid to get in shape. It’s really far from the truth. In fact, they have far less time than normal people to train… so much less time. But because there is less time to train, there is that ability to focus on narrowing down what’s going to be beneficial. I think [normal] people do too much most of the time.

MH: How did you structure ATJ’s schedule to be flexible during long and sporadic days on set?

DK: When we had more control of the schedule, we would do an upper-lower split four days per week. You’ve got a nice muscle training frequency of twice per week per muscle group, and you don’t have excessive volume so that [Aaron] is able to recover well, train again, and mix in those stunt rehearsals. We’d also do some conditioning work, like sprints on the track or some sled work.

Sometimes we would change the program to an upper-lower, push-pull-legs split. You don’t necessarily know when you’re going to have rest days, so you can’t design a perfect week of training. There is no week anymore, it’s just a rolling program. With the upper-lower, push-pull-legs split, you’re still training every muscle twice per week, but maybe over nine or 10 days. We’d shorten the sessions and split them out over five days versus four. We were still able to get the desired sets and reps done.

We followed a low-volume approach, meaning not too many working sets. But the working sets he did were taken relatively close to failure within six to 10 reps, so you’ve got those stimulating reps that support muscle growth. [See below for more details into Taylor-Johnson’s training.]

MH: What about his nutrition? Obviously, that plays a key role in getting a person lean.

DK: He was consuming a large amount of calories due to his activity levels. We didn’t track calories. For his macros, it was a fairly even split of 33 per cent protein, carbs, and fats. Because I was working so closely with him, we based how much he ate on his activity levels for the day. A day where you’re sitting in a trailer for 12 hours versus a day where you’re doing eight hours worth of stunts looks vastly different in terms of how you supply the body with energy.

There was a big focus on nutrient-dense and easy-to-digest foods. We didn’t want him to eat anything that would slow him down, and because he was shirtless on a regular basis, you don’t want him to be bloated. His diet was based around eggs, steak, fish, chicken, potatoes, fruit and white rice and raw honey.

When you’re on set, you need to eat quickly to get the food in between takes. Even simple things like having his food pre-cut made it easier for him to eat.

MH: How was prepping ATJ for Kraven different from some of the other moves you’ve trained clients for?

DK: The difficulty with shoots like this is there’s a lot of shirtless scenes or the character is in costume with their arms and abs out… [you] have to maintain that level of leanness throughout the shoot. That’s really difficult. To peak for one day is simple. You feel terrible, do your day, and then it’s done. When you have to maintain a level of leanness for that period of time, you really have to consider the foods you’re eating more seriously.

Also, when you’re on a film set, you never know what’s happening day to day. The call times are sent out at 10 p.m. the night before, and you don’t even know if you have time for the gym the next day. You have to be flexible with the planning and adjust as you go.

MH: Speaking of peaking, what does go into prepping an actor’s body for those heroic, full-physique shots?

DK: There are moments in these films where you go, “wow, that person is a superhero,”—and for the audience, it’s their first time seeing that person shirtless. We work harder for those particular scenes. Typically, I’ll speak to the director to find out what the key scenes are.

Then, it’s a six- or seven-day process of slight over-hydration with a slight reduction in carbohydrates so the body is flushing out water. One to two days prior to the scene, there’s an increase in carbohydrates and a reduction in water intake. We’ll also pump up for the scene, potentially using additional carbohydrates and sodium.

MH: What do you do if the director pivots while you’re halfway through this process?

DK: That kind of thing can happen. I’ve been on shows where I’ve had to go, “No, we can’t shoot that scene today. We started water loading.” It’s my job to communicate so the actor doesn’t get left in the middle of not being in the right shape for the shoot on the right day. People don’t understand the process and how vastly different a person can look in a five-day window.

MH: What are three key points someone should focus on if they want to achieve their own version of an on-screen superhero physique?

DK: Number one is to focus on the quality of your training. Prioritise less volume per session for less muscle damage and improved recovery, so you’re able to train more frequently at a higher level. A lot of people train six days a week and do six, seven, even eight sets per muscle group per session, and that can be difficult to recover from. Try an upper-lower split, where you’re training every muscle twice per week, doing two to three working sets per exercise. There’s no excess there; just get those basics right.

Secondly, aim for progressive overload, which can be with the addition of more weight or more reps with the same load. You want to try and hit those targets on a regular basis. Muscle gain is a slow process and the best way of achieving it is progressive overload over time with repetitive movements.

Lastly, you can get in great shape with bad nutrition, but if you’re looking to get in shape and stay in shape, you need to do it with quality foods. You need to make sure that you’re getting micronutrients and fat-soluble vitamins. For longevity in this process, healthy whole foods are key.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Upper Body Workout for Kraven the Hunter

To help Taylor-Johnson build and maintain muscle, Kingsbury had the actor follow a high-frequency, low-volume program – not too dissimilar from how many bodybuilders and physique athletes train. The Kraven lead trained each muscle twice per week, performing two to three hard sets (about one rep short of failure) per exercise for about six to 10 reps. Each session, Taylor-Johnson’s focus was to do one more rep than he did last time to drive muscle growth.

You’ll notice a lot of machine movements listed in the workout below. “Machines make a lot of sense for people that are trying to build muscle,” Kingsbury explains (a sentiment we agree with here at MH). “You can push harder [with machines]. There’s less coordination required and more motor unit requirement.”

Directions: Kingsbury likes to utilise a rep range of six to 10 for building muscle and strength. He also emphasises progressive overload, which is when you gradually increase the weight, frequency, or number of reps you perform each week.

For each of the exercises below, select a weight that you can do for eight reps. After you warm-up, perform your first working set. Rest for two minutes and then perform another working set. (If you’re new to lifting weights or haven’t been in the gym for a few weeks, start with two sets.) You’ll likely get fewer reps than your first set. Write down how many reps you got and try to add one rep to each set the next time you do this workout. When you’re able to do 10 reps, add about five pounds and start the progression over.

To warm-up to your working sets, do 50 percent of your planned working weight for six to eight reps, rest for 45 seconds, and then perform four reps with 70 percent of your planned working weight. Follow this protocol for every exercise so your muscles are properly prepared for two to three hard working sets.

Incline Smith Machine Bench Press

2 to 3 sets of 6 to 10 reps

Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown

2 to 3 sets of 6 to 10 reps

Machine Shoulder Press

2 to 3 sets of 6 to 10 reps

Chest-Supported Row

2 to 3 sets of 6 to 10 reps

Triceps Pushdown

2 to 3 sets of 6 to 10 reps

Single-Arm Machine Preacher Curl

2 to 3 sets of 6 to 10 reps

This article originally appeared on Men’s Health UK.

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The post Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven the Hunter trainer shares his hero transformation secrets appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

The Aussie actor has made a career out of stacking on lean mutant muscle to play James ‘Logan’ Howlett/Wolverine, 11 times in total, over a staggering 25 years. Each time he’s spent months in the gym, not to mention eating his way through a battery hen farm’s worth of chickens.

“I’ve learned you can’t rush it. I’ve learned that it takes time,” Jackman said during an interview earlier this year, ahead of the release of Deadpool & Wolverine, with his best mate and fellow gym grinder, Ryan Reynolds. “So, we have six months from when I finish [Broadway’s The Music Man] to when I started filming. And I’m not doing any other work. I’m going to be with my family and train. That’s going to be my job for six months.”

Jackman added: “And apologies, chickens. Run a mile. Start running now because I’m coming for you.”

Over the years, the actor, who regularly swaps shiny shoes in Broadway shows for adamantium claws, has given us glimpses of his brutal training regimen, with stories of getting up at 3.45 am to eat egg-whites and mammoth training loads. In 2016, the 56-year-old actor joined the 1,000-pound powerlifting club. What’s that, you ask? It means Jackman could bench 107kg bench press, deadlift 186kg, and squat 156kg, which adds up to a thousand pounds (453kg) in a single day.

This year, ahead of Deadpool & Wolverine, Jackman upped his calorie intake to a monster 6,000 per day, enabling him to stack on a startling amount of size.

So, how does Jackman manage to achieve such jaw-dropping results? Here’s a look at his workout and diet routine.

@thehughjackman

Hugh Jackman’s workout routine

Hugh Jackman’s muscle-building regimen was overseen by trainer David Kingsbury, who followed the tenets of progressive overload, gradually increasing the amount of weight Jackman lifted. Working in 4-week blocks, the pair added weight for the first three weeks, and then reduced it in the fourth, when they upped the number of reps. Here’s the weekly split:

Day 1: Chest & Shoulders

• Barbell Bench Press: 4 sets of 10 reps
• Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 4 sets of 10 reps
• Behind-The-Neck Press: 4 sets of 10 reps
• Cuban Press: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Triceps Dips: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Triceps Pushdown: 3 sets of 12 reps
• Lat Raises: 3 sets of 8 reps
• Front Raises: 3 sets of 8 reps
• Rear Shoulder Flys: 3 sets of 8 reps
• Overhead Press: 3 sets of 8 reps

Day 2: Legs & abs

• Back Squat: 4 sets of 5 reps
• Front Squat: 4 sets of 10 reps
• Leg Press: 4 sets of 10 reps
• Calf Raise: 4 sets of 12 reps
• Leg Raises: 4 sets of 12 reps
• Ab Wheels: 4 sets of 10 reps
• Knee Raises: 4 sets of 10 reps
• Decline Sit-Ups: 4 sets of 10 reps

Day 3: Back & biceps

• Weighted Pull-Up: 4 sets of 5 reps
• Dumbbell Rows: 4 sets of 12 reps
• Bodyweight Rows: 4 sets of 10 reps
• Incline Dumbbell Curls: 4 sets of 10 reps
• Zottman Bicep Curls: 4 sets of 8 reps
• Cross Body Curls: 4 sets of 8 reps
• Pronated Curls: 4 sets of 8 reps

Day 4: Chest & arms

• Incline Bench Press: 4 sets of 6 reps
• Dumbbell Press #1: 4 sets of 6 reps
• Dumbbell Press #2: 4 sets of 6 reps
• Dumbbell Press #3: 4 sets of 6 reps
• Cable Flys: 4 sets of 10 reps
• Narrow Grip Bench Press
• Triceps Pulldowns: 4 sets of 8 reps
• Dips: 4 sets of 8 reps
• Diamond Grips: 4 sets of 8 reps

Day 5: Core & legs

• Deadlifts: 4 sets of 5 reps
• Romanian Deadlifts: 4 sets of 10 reps
• Zercher Squats: 4 sets of 12 reps
• Incline Sit-Ups: 4 sets of 10 reps
• Barbell Landmines: 3 sets of 10 reps

Leg Day

• Back Squat: >85% 1RM  3 sets of 6 reps
• Leg Press: >85% 1RM 3 sets of 6 reps
• Bulgarian Split Squat: 60-80% 1RM 3 sets of 14 reps
• Dumbbell Lateral Lunge: 65-85% 1RM  3 sets of 10 reps
• Medicine Ball Slams: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Hanging Leg Raise: 3 sets of 10 reps

 

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Hugh Jackman’s cardio workout

Jackman isn’t just an iron junkie. He also nails his cardio. Jackman bookends his workouts with a 10-minute cardio warm-up and adds a 20-minute finisher. In the cutting phase of his Wolverine regime, Jackman used the rowing machine as his main form of cardio. In an Instagram post, he revealed that he regularly engages in pyramid training, with sets ranging from 400 metres to 2,000 metres.

“It’s all about evolution,” says Mike Ryan, another of Jackman’s longtime trainers. “From one workout to the next I’ll always have something new to add to the equation. 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.”

It wasn’t always the case, says Ryan. “[Back in 1989], he was very, very skinny. We used to call him Chicken Legs.”

Safe to say, nobody is calling Jackman that today.

@thehughjackman//Instagram

Hugh Jackman’s training diet

Jackman is a macro fiend, hitting the same foods on repeat, as he knows they’re a reliable protein delivery system. In a photo he shared on social, Jackman revealed some of the meals he consumed as part of the bulking phase of his Wolverine transformation:

Black Sea Bass – In his bulking phase, Jackman consumed around 2,000 kcal worth of black sea bass. It’s a sound choice, low in calories and fat with a healthy dose of selenium and omega-3 fatty acids. And bang for buck, bass is one of the best sources of lean protein around.

Chicken burgers – Jackman consumed at least two chicken burgers per day. That’s roughly 2,000 very tasty calories.

Grass-Fed sirloin steaks –Long a favourite of The Rock, you’re looking at 1100 calories and 25 grams of protein, per steak, plus a decent hit omega-3s.

Eggs – Jackman famously got up at 4am to eat egg-whites. You’re better off eating the whole thing for a nutrient payload. Getting jacked (or ‘jacked-manned’) is often called ‘yoked’, after all.

Muesli – At breakfast, Jackman also likes his muesli, a great source of antioxidants and soluble fibre.

Sweet Potato – The bodybuilder’s potato, this superfood gives you fibre, vitamins, and minerals.

Chicken – Ask any body builder: poultry packs protein!

Brown Rice – Brown rice packs more fibre, vitamins, and minerals than its white cousin due to the presence of bran and germ. It’s also a nutrient powerhouse, stocking magnesium, potassium, iron, and B vitamins, and manganese, helpful for bone development and wound healing – useful when you’re spending your day hauling huge loads.

Spinach – An easy way to get some iron and folate-rich greens.

Avocado – Avo is a great source of omega-3s, as well as nutrients like beta-carotene, riboflavin, niacin, folate, pantothenic acid, magnesium and potassium. Eat with impunity.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s complete training and diet regimen

The post Hugh Jackman’s complete workout and diet regimen appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

Taylor-Johnson’s goals for the production were lofty. He set out to gain a serious amount muscle in six months. That’s the type of mission even a superhero wouldn’t scoff at – so the actor brought in experts to help him along the way. He tapped Nate Schmit to handle his diet, then brought in trainer David Kingsbury to help fine-tune his workouts to build up the Kraven physique. 

Men’s Health got an exclusive look at the details of the program directly from Taylor-Johnson and his team to learn more about what it took to build up the Kraven body ahead of the film’s release in Australia on December 12.

Sony Pictures

Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven the Hunter nutrition

To eat like the world’s greatest hunter, Schmit built Taylor-Johnson’s diet around real food and stripped away the extras, like sugar. “The idea was, we have this monumental task of eating this much food – how can we do it, and keep you functional?” Schmit says. That meant getting protein from real sources in any way possible, from bone broth and gelatin gummies and marshmallows to steaks. Then, they added carbs for plenty of fuel to burn.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven the Hunter upper body workout

After the diet had run for three months, it was time to kick the training into gear. Taylor-Johnson began working with Kingsbury to refine the accumulated mass into the svelte, slightly-scary Kraven shred to drop body fat. “From my perspective, it was the perfect starting point because this person’s already got muscle mass,” the trainer says. “Building quality muscle takes months and years. Dropping body fat takes weeks.”

The post Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven the Hunter workout appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

NEW EVIDENCE HAS shed light on the optimal amount of sets we need to be getting through in our workouts in order to build muscle.

Until this point, various studies have suggested that muscle gain will increase as volume increases, with different muscle groups requiring different amounts of sets for optimal muscle growth. However, it hasn’t been studied to the same extent as this particular piece of research.

In a YouTube video shared by Dr Mike Israetel, who holds PhD in Sport Physiology, and sport scientist PhD Dr Milo Wolf, the two experts discussed the findings of the study which was published in Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise.

Focusing on the quadriceps and trained squats, leg presses and leg extensions, the study compared three training volumes:

• Group 1 (Low Volume): 22 sets of quad training per week, split evenly over 2 workouts.
• Group 2 (Medium Volume): 22 sets of quad training, adding 4 sets of weekly quad training every 2 weeks, resulting in 42 sets per week. This was 32 sets per week on average for the 12-week study.
• Group 3 (High Volume): 22 sets of quad training, adding 6 sets of weekly quad training every 2 weeks, resulting in 52 sets per week. This was 38 sets per week on average for the 12-week study.

The results found that the high volume group (52 sets per week, 38 on average) resulted in greater muscle thickness and size as well as an improvement in strength gains. The study concluded that progressively adding four or six sets per week every two weeks elicited greater lower body strength and size over the 12 weeks.

Does this mean we should be completing 52 sets per week? The experts said it’s unlikely. Linking this study back to our training, it’s suggested that we could increase hypertrophy and strength by completing more than 22 sets a week. This could be achieved by adding 4-6 sets per week. However, that’s not as simple as it may seem.

The study also mentioned that the limited certainty of the findings warrants caution due to the variation between results. For example, in the groups there were quite wide differences in results between participants. It’s also important to add that in this study, the participants were training extremely hard.

To put this into context, the high volume group completed 26 sets of quads with 2 minutes rest. The programme contained:

• 9 sets of squats
• 9 sets of leg press
• 8 sets of leg extension

It’s pretty brutal to say the least, not to mention how much time this would take. A 30-minute lunch break workout this ain’t.

MH says: Not everyone can add more volume to their training, especially to this degree and with every single muscle group. Doing so would likely sacrifice adequate recovery and therefore increase the risk of injury, so of course work within your limitations.

The key takeaway is that despite this study’s findings, you don’t have to work to such high levels as 52 sets per week. However, you could focus on increasing weekly volume from where you are now and ensure you are working close to failure at the end of those sets.

How many sets for building muscle?

As a rule of thumb work 0-5 reps from failure, with an amount of sets suitable for your experience level.

Referring to a more recent systematic review, it found:

• The best hypertrophy results came from 30-40 sets per muscle per week
• A minimum effective dose of 4 sets per muscle group per week
• Somewhere around 10-20 sets per week still delivered good hypertrophy results

If you want to absolutely maximise muscle growth: 30-40 sets would deliver the best results, but it’s important to note that above this point isn’t for everyone. 10-20 sets would be a more realistic goal.

This could look like:

• 3-6 sets close to failure for a particular muscle group per workout, working on the basis that you train 3 times a week.

You could start here and increase weekly sets gradually as you get stronger and more acclimatised to the amount of work. The most important variable is to train with intensity on a consistent basis.

Using the new research as well as taking an individualised approach to your programming will likely improve your muscle gains, without you needing to skip the stairs.

This article originally appeared on Men’s Health UK.

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The post Research has unveiled how many sets you need to do to build muscle appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

This simple two-move chipper will leave your sleeves stretched, and your itch for a pump satisfied, all in less than 10 minutes.

Form check

Grab an empty Olympic barbell or pair of light dumbbells (8-12kg each, should do it) and get to work. Aim for 100 high-quality bicep curls, using a full range of motion and lowering the bar down over 3-4 seconds on every rep. When you hit failure and can’t perform another rep – or can no longer control the eccentric (lowering) portion of the lift – put the bar down and perform 15 dips, hitting those triceps. Dips complete, take a breath, grab your bar and continue on from where you left off.

Keep going in this fashion until you hit 100 reps of curls, performing your dips each time you have to break.

100 x barbell curls (take each set to failure)

Stand tall, gripping your barbell at waist height, shoulder-width apart. With minimal momentum, curl the bar upwards towards your chin. Squeeze here and lower the weight slowly over 3-4 seconds. Repeat.

15 x dips (every time you break from curls)

Jump up on two parallel bars, your palms facing inwards and your arms locked out straight. Lean forwards and bend at the elbows, slowly lowering your body until you feel a deep stretch in your chest. Pause here before driving yourself back up to the top explosively.

This article originally appeared on Men’s Health UK.

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What’s more, exercise alone isn’t a suitable plan to rip up your midriff. To say goodbye to belly fat for good, you’ll have to focus on losing fat across your entire body and the best way to achieve that? An emphasis on an nutritional intervention that elicits an energy deficit.

‘[Excess belly fat] is linked to high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and stroke’

But that’s not to say that your ultimate goal can’t be to lose belly fat. That’s as good a goal as any, and if that is your aim, science certainly has your back. A study published in the British Medical Journal found that your belly may increase your risk of dying early. The 2.5 million-person study revealed that as waist size increases so does all causes of mortality. The study found that for every four inches (10cm) of added waist size, the chances of early mortality increase by 11 per cent.

‘Belly fat is the fat that is stored around the organs in the abdomen and its excess is linked to high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and stroke. Therefore, having more belly fat can increase the risk of dying from these diseases,’ said study author Tauseef Ahmad Khan, from the department of nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto.

‘People should be more concerned about their waist rather than focusing only on weight or BMI. Waist is a better indicator of belly fat and while one cannot target where one loses fat from, losing weight through diet and exercise will also reduce waist and therefore belly fat.’

Khan is exactly right, losing weight and dropping your body fat percentage is the only way to ultimately get rid of your belly. But if you want to know what belly-fat exercises to use to expedite your path to that end point, we can help you with that.

Types of belly fat and the dangers

Before we get to the exercises, first of all it’s important to say that not all belly fat is created equal. According to Harvard Health, there are two kinds of fat in your stomach:

Subcutaneous fat

The soft layer of chub that sits directly under the skin – the wobbly bits – and is generally harmless.

Visceral fat

The stuff you can’t see, which forms around your organs and has been proven to negatively effect health by increasing the risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

The bad news is that belly fat is metabolically active, and excels at pumping out various inflammatory substances that interfere with hormones that control appetite, mood and brain function. It can also impact your cortisol level, potentially sending your stress levels through the roof.

The good news is that it’s easy to get rid off, providing you know what you are doing. And a lot of it comes down to the type of exercises. However, they probably aren’t the exercises you think. Let’s start with the ones you shouldn’t do, but everyone does (or has done).

Exercises that WON’T burn belly fat

Abdominal exercises. Simply put, bashing out endless reps of sit-ups won’t have any real impact on your belly fat, according to a study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning. Of course, these kind of exercises will help strengthen your abdominal muscles, and even build them, but they won’t shift the layer of fat above them.

There is a belief, among some, that you are able to target a specific body part for weight loss, a process known as ‘spot reduction’. Unfortunately, the majority of studies cast doubt of the validity of this process.

So let’s make it clear: in order to reduce belly fat you’ll have to reduce the body fat percentage of your whole body. Simply put, in order to coax your body into utilising its stored body fat as fuel, you must be burning more calories than you’re consuming.

Unfortunately, and we’re sorry to be the bearer of bad news, you have no real control over where you’ll lose the fat first. But that’s not to say that the exercises below – a combination of full-body movements that demand a bucket load of effort and promoting a huge calorie burn – won’t almost immediately start to bring your body fat down and, in time, shave flab from around your stomach, revealing your muscle groups. What’s more, when they do finally make an appearance, they’ll look strong and chiselled.

Implement a selection of these 25 fat burning exercises to hammer the dozens of muscles between your shoulders and hips and get better metabolism at the same time.

The 25 best exercises for burning belly fat

1. Burpee

If you want to lose your gut, you need to work as many muscles as possible. The burpee does just that. The explosive exercise – which entails going from a push-up position to a jump and back to a push-up position – hits every muscle from head to toe.

In fact, a study from the American College of Sports Medicine found that 10 fast-paced reps are just as effective at revving your metabolism as a 30-second all-out sprint, so you can burn your belly fat faster than ever before.

DO IT:

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Lower your body until your palms rest on the floor about shoulder-width apart.
3. Kick your legs backward into a push-up position, perform a push-up, and then quickly reverse the movement and perform a jump when you stand. That’s 1 rep.

2. Mountain climber

Think of the mountain climber as a moving plank. You perform a mini crunch when you explosively draw one knee into your chest.

What makes this move so difficult, however, is that your core has to work overtime to keep your body stable and straight every time you lift a foot off of the floor.

DO IT:

1. Assume a push-up position with your hands below your shoulders and your body forming a straight line from your head to your heels. This is the starting position.
2. Lifting your right foot off of the floor, drive your right knee towards your chest. Tap the floor with your right foot and then return to the starting position. Alternate legs with each repetition.

3. Kettlebell swing

The kettlebell swing might be one of the best calorie-torching exercises of all time. In order to propel the heavy ball of iron, you need to engage big fat-burning muscle groups like your glutes, hips, and quads.

The explosive nature of this movement skyrockets your heart rate right away, but it also hammers your core.

DO IT:

1. Bend at your hips and hold a kettlebell with both hands at arms length down in front of you. Rock back slightly and “hike” the kettlebell between your legs.
2. Then squeeze your glutes, thrust your hips forward forcefully, and swing the weight to shoulder height. Reverse the move between your legs and repeat.

4. Medicine ball slam

If you haven’t used a medicine ball since school, you’re missing out. ‘Your core is your centre of power, so performing explosive movements like the med-ball slam requires all the muscles between your neck and your hips to work together,’ says expert coach Sean De Wispelaere.

And if you pick up the pace and propel the ball with more power and velocity, you’ll elevate your heart rate and burn some serious belly flab, he says.

You don’t even need to increase the weight. A 3-kilo medicine ball will work just fine if you go hard and push yourself.

DO IT:

1. Hold the ball above your head with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Slam the ball on the floor as hard as you can. Catch the rebound and repeat.

5. Dumbell overhead lunge

Add a dumbbell overhead during a lunge, and you suddenly have a core chiseler.

‘As the load shifts with every rep, all of the muscles in your torso need to work together to keep the weight directly above you,’ says Tony Gentilcore, strength coach at Cressey Performance.

The move engages your back and butt, too, because hunched shoulders and weak glutes also contribute to a bulging belly.

DO IT:

1. Grab a pair of medium- to light-weight dumbbells. Press the dumbbells overhead so your palms face each other. Be careful not to scrunch your shoulders up by your ears.
2. Step forward into a lunge position, pause, and then bring your back leg forward to step your feet together. Alternate legs as you walk forward.

6. Treadmill sprints

If you’re looking to drop weight, few exercises are better than short, sharp cardio bouts. Forget about daily 5ks and turn to HIIT instead. A study published in the Journal of Strength Conditioning Research found that participants burned up to 30% more calories doing a fast-paced HIIT workout over a longer, lower-intensity session for the same amount of time. To start, hit fifteen sets of 20 seconds sprinting with 40 seconds rest, and gradually increase your work:rest ratio.

DO IT:

• Increase the incline on a treadmill and sprint at full speed for the designated time.

7. Thrusters

Hit this multi-joint movement made of a squat and a squat and a shoulder press will ignite your glutes, quads, abs, shoulders and arm, while taxing your cardiovascular fitness. It’s the ultimate bang-for-your-buck exercise that hits almost every major muscle group.

DO IT:

1. Hold two kettlebells (or dumbbells) by their handles but so the weight is resting on the back of your shoulder.
2. Slightly bend your knees and squat down, keeping your legs in line with your shoulders.
3. Drive through your legs and straighten them, extending your arms as you do so to raise the kettlebells above your head. Squat down and repeat.

8. Skaters

Spur fat loss, improve agility, build strength, boost power, and skyrocket your fitness: the benefits of skaters stretch way beyond simply burning belly fat, but they’re excellent at that too.

DO IT:

1. Standing with your legs shoulder-width apart. Jump to one side of your mat and bend one leg behind the supporting leg at a slight angle.
2. Come back to standing and leap to the other side of your mat.
3. Shift your weight and land with the opposite leg behind you. Repeat.

9. Tuck jumps

This plyometric exercise absolutely torches calories, which makes it a perfect addition to any body-fat burning workout.

DO IT:

1. Standing with your feet hip-width apart, bend your knees and extend your arms out at shoulder height.
2. Using the power from your legs, bend deeper and jump straight up lifting your knees to touch hands extended.
3. Be sure to land softly and with your knees bent.

10. Squat jumps

Another calorie-sizzling plyo movement, squat jumps are a building block for just about every explosive lower body movement imaginable.

DO IT:

1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Hinge at the hips to push your butt back and lower down until your thighs are parallel to the floor.
2. Press your feet down to explode off the floor and jump as high as you can.
3. Allow your knees to bend 45 degrees when you land, and then immediately drop back down into a squat, and jump again.

11. Froggers

Don’t let this simplicity of this exercise fool you, it targets the entire body, working the arms, abs, glutes, legs and heart in one effective, and for our purposes calorie-crushing, move.

DO IT:

1. Squat down and place your hands on the floor between your feet.
2. Kick your legs back into a press-up position.
3. Reverse the movement back to the low-squat position. That’s one rep.

12. Broad jump

The compound and explosive nature of jumping means that it requires a lot of energy, which is why broad jumps are such a great exercise for calorie burning.

DO IT:

1. With your feet shoulder-width apart, lower yourself into a squat position.
2. Swing your arms back and use them to propel yourself forward, then bring your legs forward for additional momentum.
3. Jump as far as you can and land in a low-squat position.

13. Jumping jacks

No, jumping jacks aren’t an exercise reserved for your half-arsed warm-up, they torch calories, are good for you heart and can be done absolutely anywhere.

DO IT:

1. Stand with your feet together and your hands at your sides.
2. Simultaneously raise your arms above your head and jump up just enough to spread your feet out wide.
3. Without pausing, quickly reverse the movement and repeat.

14. Jumping lunge

Thought the dumbbell overhead lunge was the only lunge you need in your life? Hold on a second, a simple jumping lunge is also an effective calorie killer and, like that other exercise, it’ll work your core too.

DO IT:

1. Lunge forward until your rear knee is almost touching the ground.
2. Jump into the air, bringing your rear foot forward and the front foot back.
3. Land in a lunge and repeat.

15. High knees

Haven’t got access to a treadmill? No problem. Stand on the spot and blast out some high knees. Oh, and if you want to make these more difficult, try testing your coordination with alternating punches too.

DO IT:

1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Aim to lift up your right knee to your chest.
2. Lowing your right knee and lift your left knee to your chest.
3. Continue the movement, alternating legs and moving at a sprinting or running pace.

16. Skipping

Jumping rope for an hour can burn between 800 and 1000 calories, and while we don’t expect you to skip for that long, don’t underestimate how much good a simple skipping rope can do.

DO IT:

1. Hold the rope in your hands with your arms by your sides.
2. Jump on each revolution.
3. Focus on keeping knees soft and core engaged.

17. Devil’s press

Fewer movements require quite as many muscles as this sinisterly named dumbbell delight, and more muscles means a bigger calorie burn.

DO IT:

1. Holding two dumbbells, drop down into a press-up position and lower your chest to the ground.
2. Press back up and quickly jump your legs back towards your chest landing with your dumbbells between your legs.
3. As you begin to stand back up, use the momentum to swing the weights between your legs, then explosively overhead.
4. Lower under control, back to the ground and repeat.

18. Barbell clean and push press

Utilising nearly every muscle in your body and moving a barbell from ground to ceiling is a sure fire way to spike your metabolism.

DO IT:

1. Hinge down and grasp a barbell, hands slightly wider than your shoulders. Shins perpendicular to the ground. Tightly lock your arms and back
2. Explode up, extending your knees and hips and using the momentum to power the bar to your shoulders. Flip your wrists to land it above your chest with a slight bend in your knees before standing up straight.
3. Take a deep breath and brace your core. Dip at the knees and use your legs to help press your barbell overhead. Lower under control to your shoulders, then to the ground and repeat.

19. Alternating dumbbell snatch

Explosively tossing a dumbbell from the ground to overhead? Probably the most fun you can have with a dumbbell (and the most calories you can burn).

DO IT:

1. Hold one dumbbell on the ground between your legs, squatting and hinging down with a flat back.
2. Drive up through your hips and knees, generating momentum to pull the dumbbell up to chin height.
3. Quickly flip your wrist and press the dumbbell directly overhead in one movement. Lock your arm out overhead and stand tall.
4. Lower the dumbbell safely to the ground, switch arms and repeat.

20. Farmers walk

Walking is uncontroversially a pleasant way to wile away the calories. Walking with a heavy set of weights in each hand may be far less pleasant, but its definitely more efficient for ramping up your metabolism.

1. Hinge down and deadlift a heavy pair of dumbbells or kettlebells to waist height.
2. Stand tall, pull your shoulders blades back, lock your ribcage down and brace your core.
3. Stride forward quickly, completing 10-20m lengths, or simply keep going until your grip gives out… then repeat.

21. Sled push

The sled push will not only overload your quad muscles and deliver a massive shoulder burn, it will also scorch calories.

DO IT:

1. Hold onto the handles with your torso lowered and arms straight.
2. Push each leg behind you and drive the sled forward with your core braced.
3. Take long and forceful strides.

22. Reverse sled drag

Targeting the posterior chain with the sled pull, you can fire up your hamstrings, calves, glutes and test your endurance while racking up calorie burn.

DO IT:

1. Attach straps or a rope to your sled and grip with both hands.
2. Explosively march backward with small but powerful steps.
3. Focus on the tension in your hamstrings as you stride backwards.

23. Airbike sprints

Love it or loathe it, the airbike (or assault bike) is an efficient calorie torcher. Complete sprints of 20 seconds full out effort, 40 seconds off with 3-5 sets for a true test of cardiovascular output.

DO IT:

1. Set up on the bike – your back should be straight and the saddle adjusted so you have a slight bend in the knee at the bottom of your cycle.
2. Peddle the feet and use the arms to simultaneously push and pull the handles.
3. Try not to flail around, instead keep your movement as economical as possible.

24. Row sprints

The rowing machine may be one of the least loved pieces of cardio equipment in your gym, but used with intent, and it will be a formidable calorie torching tool. Challenge your cardio by completing sets of 100m full out effort, 30-60 seconds rest, trying to beat your time with each round for 5 rounds.

DO IT:

1. Begin with your feet strapped into the rowing machine with the correct setting on the footrests.
2. Maintain an upright torso and reach forward to the handles.
3. Push through the heels powerfully and simultaneously straighten your legs whilst you travel your torso from the forward position to leaning back and drawing the handle high on your chest.
4. Reverse the movement and reach forward, ready to repeat.

25. ‘Deadmill’ sprints

The tread push or ‘deadmill’ sprints are not only a great way to skyrocket the heart rate, but it is also a potent quad and glute burner and builder. Complete all out intervals of 20-30 seconds on and 30-60 seconds off for 3-5 rounds.

DO IT:

1. Either use a curved treadmill with the resistance setting on high, or an electric treadmill with the power turned off.
2. Hold onto the handlebars and take long, purposeful strides.
3. Keep your chest low and maintain a rhythm for the allotted interval time.

This article originally appeared on Men’s Health UK.

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HE’S PERHAPS BEST remembered for his epic chest workouts, high-volume back sessions and soul-crushing leg days, so it might come as a surprise to hear Arnold Schwarzenegger is also a fan of full-body training.

Not that prime-Arnie’s physique isn’t evidence enough, but academic research also backs up the idea that hitting every muscle in one go works well. A 2022 BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation paper found no benefits for split-body programs compared to full-body training on maximal and explosive muscle strength and muscle mass.

If you’re looking for an effective full-body routine, the OG can help. In his Pump newsletter, Schwarzenegger shared one of his go-to routines that works upper and lower body in just 20 minutes.

The workout

Schwarzenegger’s workout consists of just seven exercises. You perform them as a circuit, doing the first exercise, resting for 30-60 seconds, then moving on to the second exercise, etc. After the seventh move, you rest for two to three minutes.

Repeat the circuit three times or perform as many rounds as possilbe (with high quality form) in 20 minutes.

You’ll need a couple of pairs of dumbbells for this workout. A heavy pair are useful for compound moves like lunges and rows, and a lighter pair work best for arm exercises. Some of the moves can be performed with just your bodyweight, but pick weights that challenge you and push you towards failure if you want to see results.

Dumbbell bench press x 15 reps (or sub for push-ups)

Lie on your back on a bench with your feet planted on the floor. Bring the dumbbells up above your chest with the arms straight and the palms facing away from you. Lower the dumbbells either side of your chest, at 45 degrees below your shoulders. Feel a stretch across your chest before pushing the dumbbells away from you, ready to repeat.

Dumbbell row x 10 reps (or sub for inverted row)

Hinge at the hips with a flat back and your hips behind your heels, your dumbbells hanging by your thighs. Row the dumbbells up to your hips while squeezing the shoulder blades together and keeping them away from your ears. Slowly lower the dumbbells, ready to repeat.

Dumbbell front rack squat x 8-12 reps (sub for goblet squat or 20 x bodyweight squat)

Hold your dumbbells on your shoulders with your palms facing each other, elbows raised and chest open. Standing tall, sink your hips back, before bending your knees to drop your thighs until they are at least parallel to the floor. Drive up back to standing, ready to repeat.

Reverse lunge: 6-10 reps per leg (perform with dumbbells, or double the reps for bodyweight)

Stand tall. Keeping your chest up at all times, take a step backward with one leg, bending your front knee until the back knee touches the ground. Stand up explosively, pause and repeat.

Dumbbell curl x 8-12 reps

Stand tall holding a dumbbell in each hand with your arms hanging by your sides, palms facing away from you. Ensure your elbows are close to your torso and your shoulders are unshrugged. Keeping your upper arms stationary, exhale as you curl the weights up to shoulder level, while contracting your biceps. Lower the weights back down slowly.

Dumbbell lying triceps extension x 6-10 reps

Hold a dumbbell with both hands directly above your head. Stand tall, engaging your core. Slowly flex your elbows and lower the weight behind your head as you keep your upper arms still. Don’t let the elbows open away from your head. Extend your arms and repeat.

Side plank x 30 seconds per side

Lie on your side and push yourself into a high-side plank or elbow-supported side plank. Keep your hips high and shoulders away from your ears, hold the position for the allotted time.

This article originally appeared on Men’s Health US.

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The post Try Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 20-minute, 7-move Full-body Workout appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

If a role calls for brutal physicality, a jacked physique with mountainous traps and a washboard stomach, Gyllenhaal will go all in, see Southpaw and this year’s Road House. If, on the other hand, the role calls for coat hanger physique with a haunted hollowed-out face, Gyllenhaal is happy to oblige, as he did so convincingly as Lou Bloom, in 2014’s Nightcrawler.

In terms of his ‘body of work’, the 43-year-old actor is building up a resume that rivals the yo-yoing body transformations of fellow Hollywood star Christian Bale, who went from buff master-of-the-universe in American Psycho to emaciated insomniac in The Machinist to puffy conman in American Hustle.

So, how does Gyllenhaal do it? The answer is he puts in work! For his role of Elwood Dalton in the remake of Road House, an ’80s action classic, Gyllenhaal reportedly spent over a year finessing his workouts and tinkering with his macros to ensure he was in peak physical condition once the cameras started rolling.

For Road House, Gyllenhaal managed to shred down to five per cent body fat, dropping 10kg to go from 93kg to 83kg. That’s a level usually only attained by elite athletes and is a mark that’s extremely difficult to maintain, as Gyllenhaal’s trainer Jason Walsh told US Men’s Health, earlier this year.

“The way he looked throughout the movie, there (are) peaks, right? People don’t see the valleys,” Walsh said. “They don’t see the time in between the peaks, it just looks like one continuous thing. It doesn’t work like that.”

Here, we look at the workout and diet plans that have helped Gyllenhaal achieve remarkable results across his storied career.

How did Jake Gyllenhaal train for Road House?

In order to play the role of Elwood Dalton made famous by the hulking Patrick Swayze back in the ’80s, Gyllenhaal needed to pile on muscle mass, something that can only be achieved by going into calorie surplus while training at maximum intensity. Walsh and Gyllenhaal worked for up to a year on ensuring he was eating the right amounts of protein, carbs and fats to promote muscle growth.

In terms of his workout, Walsh prioritised mobility and bilateral posterior work in order to prepare for the movie’s dynamic action scenes, which are heavy on the rough and tumble of MMA.

Essentially, Gyllenhaal trained the way a professional UFC fighter would, with heavy mobility and flexor work and a commitment to progressive overload.

Instagram | @primevideoaunz

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Road House workout

1 Mobility stick stretching – 2-3 minutes

“Generally, we spend a few minutes each session moving, trying to get the core body temperature up before moving into some sort of mobility movement,” Walsh says. “The mobility stick is a great tool to help increase range of motion.”

2 Isometric Inverted hold: 30secs on, 30 secs off, x 3

By holding movements for extended periods, you increase muscular strength and endurance.

3 Shadow box for 30 secs on, 30 off for 3-4 rounds

Walsh had Gyllenhaal work out on a Proteus Motion Machine, a fancy bit of kit that measures strength and power for movements across different angles. “The Proteus is an amazing piece of equipment used mostly by performance centres to help train athletes in every plane of motion and help increase power production,” Walsh says. “We use it primarily for priming the nervous system, proprioception, learning movement patterns and a lot for warming up joints and metabolic training.” We assume you don’t have access to your own Proteus Motion Machine? No, then you can shadow box instead.

4 Sled pull x 2-3 sets

The sled is a powerhouse piece of equipment for building muscular endurance through the glutes, hamstrings and quads and improving leg drive. As Walsh explains, the aim is to go heavy on an AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible) protocol.

“Most of the sets we do are tied sets,” Walsh says. “We try to keep his (Gyllenhaal’s) work capacity up, keeping him moving, keep him sweating, keep him burning fat. We still want the heavy stimulus so we do a lot of heavy sled work.”

5 Safety bar squats: 4 x 6-8

Gyllenhaal and Walsh used these to foundational compound moves to build up the actor’s posterior chain, creating a platform for explosive movements.

“We always keep the heavy primitive work, in one way, shape or form,” Walsh explains. “Whether it’s squats or deadlifts and the variations thereof, we want to keep the muscle coordination at a high.”

6 10 kg plate hold x 30 secs x 3

Not a beach muscle by any means but highly functional, sturdy forearms are critical in improving grip strength. Walsh incorporated grip work, such as plate holds in each session. Grip strength is often indicative of upper and total-body strength.

7 Suspension trainer push-pulls: 3 sets of 6-8

Cross lateral loading was a standout component in Gyllenhaal’s Road House prep, helping build a potent combination of strength and co-ordination, vital in MMA.

8 Swiss-bar floor press: 2 x 10-12

Gyllenhaal’s sculpted pecs in Road House are a product of floor press movements

“It’s important to keep the stimuli broad with variations of reps, sets, loads and different tempos,” Walsh explains.

9 Bag jump-over x 30 secs x 3

These mimic MM training, Walsh explains.

Gyllenhaal also did the following:

10 Chain push-up 2 x 10-12

11 Push-pull rips: 3 x 6-8

12 Climber sprints 20 secs on, 30 off x 6-8 rounds

Jake Gyllenhaal’s diet plan

Gyllenhaal’s Road House diet was a caloric pay load aimed at building bulk and giving him the energy to fuel his massive training loads.  To achieve 5 per cent body fat, Gyllenhaal used a carbohydrate-cycling protocol and was strict eating regime, eschewing sweet treats and calorie dense options.

“In this case, there were things that were taken away, but I had a hell of a lot more calories that I could consume,” Gyllenhaal told US Men’s Health.

Walsh revealed that Gyllenhaal encountered problems digesting whey protein. As a result, the actor’s nutrition team created a new plant-based protein shake formula, which has since been publicly released under the brand name Rise311.

While specifics are scant it’s likely that Gyllenhaal followed a nutritional plan to the one that got him in such amazing shape for 2015 film Southpaw. There, Gyllenhaal ate mounds of protein in the form of fish, chicken, eggs, for his main meals, with supplements such protein shakes before and after workouts. Like all lean-muscle diets, you need a solid focus on natural whole foods, you must drink loads of water and consume salads, veggies, and lean meats on repeat.

How did Jake Gyllenhaal train for Southpaw?

Of course, Road House isn’t the first time Gyllenhaal has transformed his body into wrecking ball shape. In 2015, the actor played Billy “The Great” Hope in Antoine Fuqua’s boxing epic Southpaw. Once again, the actor achieved a powerhouse combination of muscle and power. Gyllenhaal appeared on The Howard Stern Show before the film’s release where he revealed the insane amount of exercise he was putting in.

“I trained twice a day for five months,” he told Stern. “I started at three miles and eventually, I was running eight miles. I would go and work out for two hours doing mitt work, heavy bag and speed bags.” Here’s a breakdown of his brutal workout regimen.

The Weinstein Company, Dreamworks Pictures

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Southpaw workout

• 1,000 sit-ups
• Run 8 miles
• Eat breakfast (mostly carbs)
• 1-2 hours of boxing and sparring
• 1-hour core workout routine
• Eat protein
• 1-2 hours of boxing and cardio
• 1-hour weightlifting workout
• 1,000 sit-ups
• Go to bed

Core Workout Routine

The following exercises make up 1 round. Gyllenhaal performed 2-3 rounds total, resting 1-2 minutes between each round.

• Pull-ups (1 set of 10 reps)
• Arm walk-outs (1 set of 10 reps)
• Bicycle crunches (1 set of 20 reps)
• One leg/arm plank (1 set of 10 reps)
• Dips (1 set of 10 reps)
• Push-ups (1 set of 10 reps)
• Deadlift (1 set of 10 reps, 1-2 minutes of rest)

Boxing Exercises

• Jump rope
• Footwork drills
• Shadow boxing
• Bag work
• Speedball
• Focus pads
• Sparring
• Flip a 110 kg tractor tire 20 times a day
• Hit a 110 kg tractor tyre with a sledgehammer for 3 minutes at a time

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The post Jake Gyllenhaal’s complete training and diet regimen appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.