(source: youtube.com)
Majority men idolize Hugh Jackman, or how most people remember him, Logan from X-men and The Wolverine franchise. He is famous for his acting and for his fitness routine, which he specifically built for these movies. In 2013, when Jackman first appeared in ‘The Wolverine,” he was already an A-list actor with repeated on-screen presence in Marvel movies. The first X-Men movie was released in 2000, where he first played Logan. To this day, his character holds the longest-running action superhero position under Guinness World Records. But one thing that fans couldn’t stop notice is his body transformation from a lean Logan in 2000’s X-men to a ripped Logan in 2013’ Wolverine. Jackman flaunted his super-built body at the age of 44 in Wolverine, which is nothing but remarkable. How did he manage to have this body, and that too in his late middle ages? Logan gives credits to a special Wolverine diet and workout, which starts at 8 am every morning.
Critics agree that his appearance in The Wolverine movie’’, Jackman is at his best shape and body of his career. His British fitness trainer, David Kingsbury, already has a reputation for training Top-ranked stars for big-budget movies. Along with personalized workouts, he took a nearly 4000 calorie diet per day, split into different macronutrients and a limited amount of carbohydrates, protein, and fat. His daily diet comprised of six small meals, which perfectly fit into the definition of intermittent fasting.
A Specialized Intermittent Fasting
Jackman relied on the standard 16:8 method of intermittent fasting. Considering the popularity of weight-loss diets, the Intermittent fasting benefits are no more a secret, which is why he tried to make it a part of his dietary habits. The 16:8 method means that a person eats all of his daily calories in the 8-hour eating slot and follows 16 hours long fast every day. For him, this 8 hours eating slot started at 10 am and ended at 6 pm. So, the fasting period for him was mostly spent in the evening and night, resting his body and sleeping. This is a brilliant technique that provides sufficient time for the body to heal after a workout and prevents hunger and unhealthy food cravings as when you’re awake and not doing anything, you’re prone to stare at the fridge.
Most of the shootings were scheduled after 6 pm, making it hard to stick to his intermittent fasting. He shares that keeping a fast was the most difficult when he was shooting or spending time in social gatherings where everyone sits and snacks for hours. The last meal that he took was set for 7 pm, which is too early if you are attending a dinner with friends and family, but still, he managed to do it.
In the eight-hour eating slot, he didn’t just eat anything. While he wanted to gain 20 pounds for his muscular built, he was eating between 4000 to 4500 calories per day. Before filming for Wolverine, he completed the musical drama Les Miserables, based on the French Revolution, where the spectators saw his lean body. Jackman was only 170 pounds when he started preparing his body for The Wolverine- skinny, compared to his 6 feet 2 inches height.
The Lean Meat Based Diet
Most people find weight loss and detoxification as benefits of Intermittent fasting, but the truth is that it has a lot more to offer. Jackman’s high-calorie diet, which he was eating mainly consisted of lean meats divided into five to six small meals in between eight-hour eating window. This diet included 50% protein, 30% fat, and 20% carbs, all obtained from fresh and healthy sources. For snacks, he added healthy fats such as nuts and nut-spreads.
Sometimes his protein sources changed from meats to protein shakes or both. There were no supplements added to his diet, and most of the nutrients he got from food sources alone. This special Wolverine diet and workout gave him the 12-pack abs those he proudly flaunted in shirtless scenes in The Wolverine.
Here is what his meal looked like:
(source: Hugh Jackman/ twitter.com)
A Little Help from Carb Cycling
With this intermittent fasting, he also followed carb cycling. For those who don’t know, carb cycling means to adjust the carb intake and set its ratio along with other macronutrients, i.e, protein, and fat, according to the high and low-intensity workout days. During the high-intensity workout days, his carb intake reached up to 57% of his daily diet, and on rest days, he dropped it to 16% to balance the total nutrients. It helped his insulin levels to remain stable while the body burns fat without working out, keeping the overall weight maintained. The next time someone talks about intermittent fasting for weight loss and perfect body, think about Jackman’s smart 16:8 planning for maintaining weight.
The Daily Exercise Routine
Intermittent fasting benefits soon started to appear when Jackman started exercise under his celebrity fitness coach’s supervision. These workout sessions were in the morning before 10 pm when he was still fasting. Surprisingly, exercising on an empty stomach burns fatter, especially if a person follows heavy resistance training. His trainer made him follow resistance training, broken up into exercises and rest days. In addition to the weight loss from intermittent fasting, this diet helped him stimulate growth hormonal secretion, which aided in muscle building and keeping a low body fat along with healthy bones and overall great energy. Neat, isn’t it?
Intermittent Fasting and Exercise Results
(source: Getty images)
Hugh Jackman’s miraculous transformation from 170 pounds to 190 pounds by following his diet and workout was all over the media when ‘The Wolverine’ hit the screens. This routine sounds exhausting and confusing for some people because the daily adult dietary requirements are only 1500-2000 calories. This 4000-calorie diet plan of Hugh Jackman has undoubtedly helped him sway Logan’s character for the movie, but it may not satisfy all others who want to look like him. Nonetheless, to gain 20 pounds and for a ripped body, Jackman’s miraculous transformation shows his determination and dedication, which all of us need.