To prepare for his role as Wolverine in the latest X-Men Origins movie, Hugh Jackman went back to his trainer Steve Ramsbottom for some rigorous workouts and hard-core training. As a result, Hugh gained 15 pounds of muscle. Ramsbottom divided his weight training into two different phases.  The first phase focused on building muscle mass where the tempo is altered as you raise and lower the weights.

“It’s a lot more difficult and what it does is it increases the time under tension that you have on that muscle so you force adaptation and force breakdown in the actual muscle and, in turn, it ends up growing.”

The second phase focused on strength training which involved heavy weights to increase strength, but not mass.  During these phases that would last anywhere from 6 to 12 weeks, Jackman would do one to two hour weight training sessions five days a week.  During the last week of each phase he would only lift on one day and the other days were filled with yoga, pilates, running and stretching.

One thing that Jackman didn’t want to do is look like a body builder, so it was important that he didn’t bulk up too much.  His trainer said,

“It’s a very athletic role that he has to play. So he needs to look the part but he needs to move properly so we tried to focus on athletic movements. Things that would not make him move like a bodybuilder but move like an athlete.”

Naturally, if he is working out this intensely he had to follow a strict diet.  He ate six meals a day that were high in protein and full of vegetables.

X-Men Origins is in theaters in May 2009.

Source