Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine Workout Breaks the Rules

There are very distinct rules in the fitness world.  If you ask any guru, their rules are locked in stone.  Of course, they all have *different* rules, so it gets fuzzy.

The Strength Coach Rules:

The strength trainers, the kettlebell instructors, the functional coaches and the powerlifters will all tell you it’s all about getting strong in the big compound lifts.  That the big lifts give you the biggest response, and isolation lifts are a waste of time.

The Bodybuilder Rules:

And the bodybuilder guys and the oldschool body scuplting girls will tell you it’s all about time under tension in the target muscle.  That it’s not about how much weight you lift, it’s about fatiguing the muscle and getting enough volume of work.

And never the twain shall meet.

Except Hugh Jackman’s trainer goes the *shocking route* of taking what works from both sides:

If the bar ain’t bendin, then you’re just pretendin #xmen #daysoffuturepast pic.twitter.com/7sDhbPNNUm

— Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman) July 30, 2013

Get Strong

Obviously Hugh Jackman got strong.  I know you’re dying to do the math on that deadlift:

4 red bumper plates (45lbs each) = 180
2 blue bumper plates (35lbs each) = 70

2 45lb hex gripper plates = 90
2 25lb hex gripper pates = 50

195 each side
+ 45lb bar

= 435lbs

It’s often been said that a 1.5x bodyweight deadlift is sort of a “starting place” for men and real fitness, and that every average gym guy should be working towards a long term goal of a 2x bodyweight deadlift.

Keep thinking about those numbers, because it’s going to have a lot to do with the next thing we are going to talk about:

 

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Holy what Josh!  You’re showing someone doing biceps curls!  Heresy!  You’ll be kicked out of kettlebell training world forever!

So check it out – the strength and kettlebell and functional folks actually haze people for doing arm work or isolation work, but clearly Hugh Jackman is hitting it hard on the isolation stuff too.  What gives?

According to Men’s Fitness: Trainer, David Kingsbury made the basis of Hugh Jackman’s workouts about getting stronger in the three basic barbell lifts:

Deadlifts
Squats
Bench Press

They started really light, would build up for 3 weeks, have a backoff week, and then build up for another three weeks, followed by another backoff week.

In other words: Rinse and repeat until strong.

If you’ve never trained like this before, it’s called “Wave Cycling”, and it’s a form of periodization that’s simple, elegant, and genius for building strength.

And with that strength, you *qualify* to do isolation movements

Earning The Right To Do Isolation Movements

One of the coolest things I saw in the 8 week internship I did at the world famous Results Fitness, was that the figure competitor girls would do some isolation work if they qualified.  Same thing with guys, no curls or tricep work until you qualify.

At the most basic – if you couldn’t do bodyweight chinups, you don’t qualify to do curls.

It was a really cool concept, so I’ll give you my qualiftications, from my book System Six: Easy Fat Loss:

Guys:

1.5 x bodyweight deadlift x 3 reps

bodyweight chinups x 10 reps

Girls:

1 x bodyweight deadlift x 3 reps

bodyweight chinups x 3 reps

And for some ladies who got strong like this, lets not forget that Vanessa Hudgens deadlifted 180 pounds, and Jena Malone deadlifted 235 pounds, both while training for the movie Sucker Punch.

 

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Back to Hugh: Strength and Isolation Work

No one gets arms like Hugh Jackman’s without getting strong AND doing isolation work.

Obviously he’s got the strength.  And he’s following a pretty solid strength oriented plan – 3 weeks building up weight, 1 week de-load, start again.

We know he did a variation on this for the first Wolverine movie he did a variation with different phases: 3 weeks strength, deload, 3 weeks tempo work, deload, then three weeks of explosive lifting, then deload and repeat.  And that was his original get huge program.

Either way is a solid, strength program – either straigh up wave cycling, or alternating periodization.  Either way, the goal was the same – get strong in the basics.

And then on top of the solid strength work, he would add extra volume of arm work.

The isolation work is the icing on the cake, so to speak.  And he earned it with the strength work.

So check in, and see if your program is heading in the direction of getting strong in the three basics, like Hugh’s.  And – if it is – then you’re alowed to do some arm work.

by Josh Hillis
author of System Six: Easy Fat Loss
and The Stubborn 7lbs How to Go From Good to Rockstar