One word comes to mind - relentless. Yes, Mr Jackman has massive steel claws that shoot out of his knuckles, but the intensity, the relentlessness in the fighting scenes (yes, I know it's a film and it's not real, but just go with it...) that is what we should be like when we hit the gym. It reminded me of a certain Mike Tyson. People feared him. When Tyson was in a fight, he had immense power, and he was relentless, and that overpowered his opponents. Even when his opponents landed a few good shots, it did nothing, because he was a like a steam train.
Anyway, back to Jackman and his claws. I remember reading an interview he did with Men's Health about the training he did for that movie, and he put himself through a grueling training program. I just want to put something out there right now, Hugh Jackman is 45 years old and is in incredible shape, so to those people out there who blame their age for the lack of results, pipe down! He managed to add 10kg of new mass for The Wolverine in 2013, and he even admitted himself that he underestimated the time needed to develop the physique that he needed for the movie. He found an exercise that really helped him, and its a very popular one, but also one that many people hate doing - the deadlift. A study at McMaster University came to the conclusion that the deadlift can trigger a 100% increase in testosterone production and a tenfold boost to your human growth hormone. This really helped Jackman 'beef up' for the movie. There is a photo that I first saw getting posted around Twitter of Mr Jackman deadlifting 210kg - unreal! especially for a guy who isn't the size of Jay Cutler. Hugh Jackman really adopted 'The Wolverine's' character when he worked out - 'I pretend to be Wolverine all the time. I know when you write that it'll sound ridiculous and everyone will think I'm drunk or crazy and that I wear my claws to the gym. But when I wake up, I'm not the guy who can lift 485lb. So I think I am Wolverine lifting it. I have to get mad'. That was a quote from the interview he did with Men's Health. Even though The Wolverine is not real, Jackman took that character and used it for his training, which obviously helped him, because for a guy in his 40's, he is in awesome shape.
When I looked through a sample workout that he used for filming The Wolverine, it didn't actually surprise me. Here are some of the exercises - Deadlift, Pull up, Incline dumbbell bench, Bodyweight row, Weighted press up, Narrow chin up, Barbell bicep curl, Rope tricep pushdown, Narrow press up. Notice anything?? there are no silly exercises that you may have seen on Youtube, It's old school training at its best. I have seen some shocking exercises by so called 'fitness experts', and you know what? nothing beats old school, just ask Arnie! They are all basic exercises, using basic equipment, but its HOW you use them that's key.
So, you want to up your training? I suggest you take a page out of Hugh's book - be relentless, train like an animal!
Lee Gregory Fitness