guardianactual
MuscleChemistry Registered Member
Jackman focused on the core compound movements (squat, bench press, deadlift, pullups).
Let’s dig a little deeper into the strength component of the program:
For the first three weeks, strength is the focus (five reps per set of the major lifts). With strength gains come size and muscle. You will have a tough time adding muscle without improving your strength at the important/major lifts – think of it as building the base. The percentage-based lifting (more on that soon) only applies to the major lifts.
Jackman’s training program looks similar to Layne Norton’s PHAT program (a very popular and effective training protocol that combines power and hypertrophy – the PH in PHAT).
Each of Jackman’s workouts begins with a core lift – for example, on chest/shoulder day, it is the bench press. After that, he adds in 3-4 accessory lifts with a focus on the particular muscle or group of muscles of that day.
And he ends each workout with supersets/burnout sets to really hammer the arms, shoulders, and other accessory muscles.
There is no magic cure to getting an awesome physique – consistency, discipline, and focusing on the important stuff in the gym matter the most. If you have time, you can always add in the accessory work. But you don’t need it.
Kingsbury’s program is great because he focuses on percentages – chances are you aren’t as strong as Hugh Jackman, but you would lift weights appropriate to your one rep max, not his one rep max. Figure out your working one rep max (about 95% of your true one rep max) and base all of your percentages off of that. Progressive overload is one of the biggest keys to getting bigger and stronger – continue to push the envelope in the gym! But using the guideline laid out here will ensure you don’t progress too quickly, which could lead to a plateau, burning out, or worst of all, an injury.
For the accessory exercises, simply pick a weight that challenges you through the appropriate number of reps. Doing 10 or 12 or 15 reps isn’t some magical number – you should be able to lift a heavier weight for 10 reps than the weight you use for 15 reps. Pick something that makes the last two or three reps difficult (but don’t go to failure every set – your body can’t handle that type of training over the medium or long term).
An example day from Jackman’s program:
* Day 1 - Rest SetsxReps Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4
* Warm up * Dynamic stretch, Foam roll *
1 BB Bench press 150 4x 5/4/3/10 * * * *
2 Dumbbell shoulder press 60 4×10 * * * *
3 Behind neck press 60 4×10 * * * *
4 Cuban press 30 3×10 * * * *
5a Tricep dips 15 3×10 * * * *
5b Tricep pushdown 60 3×12 * * * *
6 Lateral raise, Front raise, Rear fly, Overhead press 60 3 x 8+8+8+8 * * * *
The warm up would be tailored to that day. So a chest/shoulder/upper body day would feature some foam rolling for the back, some work to stabilize the shoulders, and so on.
It’s a pretty straightforward upper body workout day. Bench press, common upper body accessory lifts, and some superset moves at the end.*You notice the rest is a lot shorter for the accessory lifts – for your main lifts, you will be lifting heavy and your body will need that time (150 seconds) to recover.
Kingsbury on picking weights:
For the first 3 weeks the weight should increase each week, then during the fourth week the weight is reduced to be able to perform 10 reps.
We worked off a percentage system to figure out exactly what weights we should be lifting each week. For all of the weeks the percentages are worked out from your working one rep max. To figure out your working one rep max take 95% of your one rep max.
Some other interesting takeaways:
Not a lot of direct core work. From Kingsbury:
We don’t generally do that much direct ab work. But what we do is generally around 4 weeks from shirtless scenes we increase the ab work slightly. So on deadlift day and squat day, we would add some hanging knee raises, roll outs, and decline resisted sit ups. 3-5 sets 8-15 reps of each.
A six pack is built in the kitchen, and you really strengthen your abdominals during most of the major lifts – Jackman did ramp up his core training near the end of the program, and he was using the ab wheel (a very effective exercise) at least once a week.
Consistency. From Kingsbury:
The Rock offered Jackman training advice for Wolverine
We followed this plan for 6 months with no variation other than the weekly change in weight/reps. Then we swapped some of the main lifts but stuck to exact same format. Example being we swapped back squats for front squats.
Next time you find yourself switching your workout program up again after another few weeks or a month… let that sink in. Feel free to change the rep schemes, rest time, and accessory lifts, but for the best possible gains, you must focus on the important compound lifts over the long term.
Wolverine Workout Program – Cardio
Here is a link to the cardiovascular component of Jackman’s Wolverine training program.
I’d say the cardio component isn’t as vital for the average person, as it is time-consuming, and you won’t get as much fitness bang for your buck relative to the strength/weight training.
And if you are doing to be training as much as Jackman was (multiple sessions per day), you really, really need to dial in your diet. More on that soon.
Kingsbury:
I am going to talk through the 12 week phasing that we followed in the preparation for the Wolverine movie. You can use this to plan your 12 week body composition goals, alternatively you can start at any point if your fitness and conditioning levels allow it.
Just a note to say our weight training workouts stayed consistent all the way through the 12 week phase prior to shooting.
Jackman did a lot of high intensity cardio (sled work), but he also focused on low intensity cardio – a great way to strengthen the cardiovascular system and burn fat without really taxing the body or nervous system.
The low intensity cardio is best performed at the end of the fast or before your first meal of the day (the Rock, Dwayne Johnson, is also a huge proponent of cardio before eating – this is when your body is in its highest fat-burning mode):
Kingsbury’s low intensity cardio:
Duration 30-90min
Important factor – this workout HAS to** be performed before the first meal of the day.Choose from one of the cardio methods** and stick to a steady pace, i.e. a brisk walkHeart rate shouldn’t exceed 65% of you *max heart rate.
Like Kingsbury, I love to use the erg/rower for conditioning work. It is low impact compared to running, and it doesn’t promote poor posture like the bike does (perhaps promote isn’t the right word, but the bike definitely isn’t back friendly for long stretches of time). The rower also is a great way to add muscle and/or definition to your arms and back. *
An example interval workout for Jackman:
Rowing machine 1600m of sprints
For this set of intervals first row at a steady pace for 500m as a warm up. One the warm up is complete, the** intervals begin. Sprint with maximal effort for 100mRow very gently for 100m Repeat this further 7 times until** the 1600m is covered.
Then row for a couple of minutes cool down.
More on the sled:
I would say this is the most popular use for the sled at our facility. Short bursts with the heavy sled, longer drags with less weight, it’s all good. Try training with a set plan and rest period, without this it’s quite easy to stray from the plan you might have have in your mind, “did i say ten I meant three.”
A great drill as a finisher for the sled conditioning is suicides. Push out to a close marker, turn round push back, then repeat with 2-3 more markers progressively further away. It’s horrible and you might see your breakfast.
Diet:
Here are three important nutritional tips from Jackman’s trainer.
1. Carb cycling
2. Fasting
3. Calorie cycling
Carb and calorie cycling are incredibly effective, and you don’t have to view them as “diet” tools. It is simply an eating lifestyle. Eat more calories and more carbs on intense workout days, and less calories and carbs on off days or lower intensity days. This way you aren’t always in a caloric deficiency headed for burnout.
More on intermittent fasting – does it work?*I believe it does, as does Kingsbury:
I began to incorporate periods of fasting into my plans several years ago, and the results have been really profound. At first this “against the grain method” seems to oppose all that has been recommended and taught in recent times. But having been converted to it by a friend of mine I haven’t looked back.
There are several ways you can achieve great results through fasting, very commons methods are the 16-8 Diet*and 5-2 methods. The 16-8*diet follows a 16 hour fast and 8 hour feed period every day of the week. Where the 5-2 method follows 5 regular days with two 20 hour fasts each week.
An example weekly plan (and a really solid one for any person to follow, from Wolverine to the average Joe):
Putting a weekly plan together:
In order to put a weekly plan together I like to categorise the different daily meal options, then you choose which day of food you will use in accordance to your training plan. I categorise them as:
A1- High carb (carbs until 4pm) – regular calories
A2- High carb (carbs all day)- high calories
B1 – Medium carb (carbs in first meal only)- regular calories
B2- Low carb (no carbs just green vegetables) – regular calories
The example days:
Day Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Sautrday Sunday
Training Heavy weights High rep weights Low intensity cardio Heavy weights IntervalsCardio High rep weights Low intensitycardio
Nutrition A2 A1 B2 A1 B1 A1 B2
Jackman consulted The Rock for nutritional advice – he was consuming close to 6,000 calories per day (most of them of the protein variety) during the intense part of training. You don’t need to count calories every day, but it is good to do it once in a while to get a good gauge or measure for where you are at. The Rock recommended adding a cheat day or cheat meal in every eight days – I use cheat days and love them. It’s a great way to stay strict the rest of the time – something to look forwards to, and a great way to get out all of your food indulgences in one day.
I remember when I was bulking last year, I spent one day eating as much as I possibly could shove into my body (mass gainer shakes galore, tons of food, and so on) – and I got to 5800 calories on the highest day. And I couldn’t even shove another grain of rice in me. It would take incredible discipline and willpower to eat as much as Jackman was in preparation for Wolverine.
From Jackman:
“He [Dwayne] went through the diet. It was 6,000 calories, eating every two hours,” Jackman says recalling his initial call with the ex-wrestler. “It was like, two chicken breasts, steamed broccoli, beans and maybe some carbs.”
One again, kudos to David Kingsbury for being so forthcoming with his training program and nutrition outline. So many professional coaches and trainers try and keep their methodologies secret in hopes of generating business by offering some great product or training style (and in particular trainers that work with celebrities – there are countless books, exercise tools, and so on that are marketed from celebrity trainers. At the end of the day, nothing beats consistency, discipline, and hard work. If you combine that with a great training program and nutrition plan (as outlined above) you really can build an amazing physique.
Let’s dig a little deeper into the strength component of the program:
For the first three weeks, strength is the focus (five reps per set of the major lifts). With strength gains come size and muscle. You will have a tough time adding muscle without improving your strength at the important/major lifts – think of it as building the base. The percentage-based lifting (more on that soon) only applies to the major lifts.
Jackman’s training program looks similar to Layne Norton’s PHAT program (a very popular and effective training protocol that combines power and hypertrophy – the PH in PHAT).
Each of Jackman’s workouts begins with a core lift – for example, on chest/shoulder day, it is the bench press. After that, he adds in 3-4 accessory lifts with a focus on the particular muscle or group of muscles of that day.
And he ends each workout with supersets/burnout sets to really hammer the arms, shoulders, and other accessory muscles.
There is no magic cure to getting an awesome physique – consistency, discipline, and focusing on the important stuff in the gym matter the most. If you have time, you can always add in the accessory work. But you don’t need it.
Kingsbury’s program is great because he focuses on percentages – chances are you aren’t as strong as Hugh Jackman, but you would lift weights appropriate to your one rep max, not his one rep max. Figure out your working one rep max (about 95% of your true one rep max) and base all of your percentages off of that. Progressive overload is one of the biggest keys to getting bigger and stronger – continue to push the envelope in the gym! But using the guideline laid out here will ensure you don’t progress too quickly, which could lead to a plateau, burning out, or worst of all, an injury.
For the accessory exercises, simply pick a weight that challenges you through the appropriate number of reps. Doing 10 or 12 or 15 reps isn’t some magical number – you should be able to lift a heavier weight for 10 reps than the weight you use for 15 reps. Pick something that makes the last two or three reps difficult (but don’t go to failure every set – your body can’t handle that type of training over the medium or long term).
An example day from Jackman’s program:
* Day 1 - Rest SetsxReps Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4
* Warm up * Dynamic stretch, Foam roll *
1 BB Bench press 150 4x 5/4/3/10 * * * *
2 Dumbbell shoulder press 60 4×10 * * * *
3 Behind neck press 60 4×10 * * * *
4 Cuban press 30 3×10 * * * *
5a Tricep dips 15 3×10 * * * *
5b Tricep pushdown 60 3×12 * * * *
6 Lateral raise, Front raise, Rear fly, Overhead press 60 3 x 8+8+8+8 * * * *
The warm up would be tailored to that day. So a chest/shoulder/upper body day would feature some foam rolling for the back, some work to stabilize the shoulders, and so on.
It’s a pretty straightforward upper body workout day. Bench press, common upper body accessory lifts, and some superset moves at the end.*You notice the rest is a lot shorter for the accessory lifts – for your main lifts, you will be lifting heavy and your body will need that time (150 seconds) to recover.
Kingsbury on picking weights:
For the first 3 weeks the weight should increase each week, then during the fourth week the weight is reduced to be able to perform 10 reps.
We worked off a percentage system to figure out exactly what weights we should be lifting each week. For all of the weeks the percentages are worked out from your working one rep max. To figure out your working one rep max take 95% of your one rep max.
Some other interesting takeaways:
Not a lot of direct core work. From Kingsbury:
We don’t generally do that much direct ab work. But what we do is generally around 4 weeks from shirtless scenes we increase the ab work slightly. So on deadlift day and squat day, we would add some hanging knee raises, roll outs, and decline resisted sit ups. 3-5 sets 8-15 reps of each.
A six pack is built in the kitchen, and you really strengthen your abdominals during most of the major lifts – Jackman did ramp up his core training near the end of the program, and he was using the ab wheel (a very effective exercise) at least once a week.
Consistency. From Kingsbury:
The Rock offered Jackman training advice for Wolverine
We followed this plan for 6 months with no variation other than the weekly change in weight/reps. Then we swapped some of the main lifts but stuck to exact same format. Example being we swapped back squats for front squats.
Next time you find yourself switching your workout program up again after another few weeks or a month… let that sink in. Feel free to change the rep schemes, rest time, and accessory lifts, but for the best possible gains, you must focus on the important compound lifts over the long term.
Wolverine Workout Program – Cardio
Here is a link to the cardiovascular component of Jackman’s Wolverine training program.
I’d say the cardio component isn’t as vital for the average person, as it is time-consuming, and you won’t get as much fitness bang for your buck relative to the strength/weight training.
And if you are doing to be training as much as Jackman was (multiple sessions per day), you really, really need to dial in your diet. More on that soon.
Kingsbury:
I am going to talk through the 12 week phasing that we followed in the preparation for the Wolverine movie. You can use this to plan your 12 week body composition goals, alternatively you can start at any point if your fitness and conditioning levels allow it.
Just a note to say our weight training workouts stayed consistent all the way through the 12 week phase prior to shooting.
Jackman did a lot of high intensity cardio (sled work), but he also focused on low intensity cardio – a great way to strengthen the cardiovascular system and burn fat without really taxing the body or nervous system.
The low intensity cardio is best performed at the end of the fast or before your first meal of the day (the Rock, Dwayne Johnson, is also a huge proponent of cardio before eating – this is when your body is in its highest fat-burning mode):
Kingsbury’s low intensity cardio:
Duration 30-90min
Important factor – this workout HAS to** be performed before the first meal of the day.Choose from one of the cardio methods** and stick to a steady pace, i.e. a brisk walkHeart rate shouldn’t exceed 65% of you *max heart rate.
Like Kingsbury, I love to use the erg/rower for conditioning work. It is low impact compared to running, and it doesn’t promote poor posture like the bike does (perhaps promote isn’t the right word, but the bike definitely isn’t back friendly for long stretches of time). The rower also is a great way to add muscle and/or definition to your arms and back. *
An example interval workout for Jackman:
Rowing machine 1600m of sprints
For this set of intervals first row at a steady pace for 500m as a warm up. One the warm up is complete, the** intervals begin. Sprint with maximal effort for 100mRow very gently for 100m Repeat this further 7 times until** the 1600m is covered.
Then row for a couple of minutes cool down.
More on the sled:
I would say this is the most popular use for the sled at our facility. Short bursts with the heavy sled, longer drags with less weight, it’s all good. Try training with a set plan and rest period, without this it’s quite easy to stray from the plan you might have have in your mind, “did i say ten I meant three.”
A great drill as a finisher for the sled conditioning is suicides. Push out to a close marker, turn round push back, then repeat with 2-3 more markers progressively further away. It’s horrible and you might see your breakfast.
Diet:
Here are three important nutritional tips from Jackman’s trainer.
1. Carb cycling
2. Fasting
3. Calorie cycling
Carb and calorie cycling are incredibly effective, and you don’t have to view them as “diet” tools. It is simply an eating lifestyle. Eat more calories and more carbs on intense workout days, and less calories and carbs on off days or lower intensity days. This way you aren’t always in a caloric deficiency headed for burnout.
More on intermittent fasting – does it work?*I believe it does, as does Kingsbury:
I began to incorporate periods of fasting into my plans several years ago, and the results have been really profound. At first this “against the grain method” seems to oppose all that has been recommended and taught in recent times. But having been converted to it by a friend of mine I haven’t looked back.
There are several ways you can achieve great results through fasting, very commons methods are the 16-8 Diet*and 5-2 methods. The 16-8*diet follows a 16 hour fast and 8 hour feed period every day of the week. Where the 5-2 method follows 5 regular days with two 20 hour fasts each week.
An example weekly plan (and a really solid one for any person to follow, from Wolverine to the average Joe):
Putting a weekly plan together:
In order to put a weekly plan together I like to categorise the different daily meal options, then you choose which day of food you will use in accordance to your training plan. I categorise them as:
A1- High carb (carbs until 4pm) – regular calories
A2- High carb (carbs all day)- high calories
B1 – Medium carb (carbs in first meal only)- regular calories
B2- Low carb (no carbs just green vegetables) – regular calories
The example days:
Day Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Sautrday Sunday
Training Heavy weights High rep weights Low intensity cardio Heavy weights IntervalsCardio High rep weights Low intensitycardio
Nutrition A2 A1 B2 A1 B1 A1 B2
Jackman consulted The Rock for nutritional advice – he was consuming close to 6,000 calories per day (most of them of the protein variety) during the intense part of training. You don’t need to count calories every day, but it is good to do it once in a while to get a good gauge or measure for where you are at. The Rock recommended adding a cheat day or cheat meal in every eight days – I use cheat days and love them. It’s a great way to stay strict the rest of the time – something to look forwards to, and a great way to get out all of your food indulgences in one day.
I remember when I was bulking last year, I spent one day eating as much as I possibly could shove into my body (mass gainer shakes galore, tons of food, and so on) – and I got to 5800 calories on the highest day. And I couldn’t even shove another grain of rice in me. It would take incredible discipline and willpower to eat as much as Jackman was in preparation for Wolverine.
From Jackman:
“He [Dwayne] went through the diet. It was 6,000 calories, eating every two hours,” Jackman says recalling his initial call with the ex-wrestler. “It was like, two chicken breasts, steamed broccoli, beans and maybe some carbs.”
One again, kudos to David Kingsbury for being so forthcoming with his training program and nutrition outline. So many professional coaches and trainers try and keep their methodologies secret in hopes of generating business by offering some great product or training style (and in particular trainers that work with celebrities – there are countless books, exercise tools, and so on that are marketed from celebrity trainers. At the end of the day, nothing beats consistency, discipline, and hard work. If you combine that with a great training program and nutrition plan (as outlined above) you really can build an amazing physique.
