6 action stars share the workouts and diets that help keep them ripped
Action stars make their money by keeping their bodies in the best possible physical condition and their workouts and meal plans are often seen as insane to us mere mortals. We took a look at the workouts and diets of six top action stars to give you some inspiration for your own health journey.
Workouts and diets of 6 top action stars
1. Mark Wahlberg
47 Day Challenge โ . Thanks for joining in or following along on Instagram โ hope youโve gotten some extra motivation to put in the hard work and achieve your goals in life, whatever they may be. #InspiredToBeBetter @PerformInspired pic.twitter.com/siTdhvBgAP
โ Mark Wahlberg (@markwahlberg) September 15, 2018
Born in 1971 Mark Whalberg had a misspent youth in his hometown of Boston, Massachusetts. Then when his big brother Donnie asked him to join a boy band called New Kids on The Block Mark decided to try his hand in the music industry, he turned Donnie down but went out on his own. This was the birth of Marky Mark which with his Funky bunch released a few hits in the early nineties which then led to Whalberg getting his start in Hollywood. He then racked up credits in movies such as The Basketball Diaries, Three Kings, and Boogie Nights. He also had parts in the Academy award-winning films, The Departed and The Fighter.
Wahlbergโs overall success in music was helped by his brother Donnie especially after New Kids on The Block hit stardom and Donnie became a teen idol. Mark had no singing ability, but his good looks and charisma helped him overcome this and with his backup dancers, a DJ, and he recorded a debut album, Music for the People. His rock-hard physique was famous around the world, especially when he signed a contract with Calvin Klein to model their underwear.ย Unfortunately, news of his criminal past started resurfacing causing his reputation to take a hit in the public eye, this onslaught his switch to acting.
Mark Wahlbergโs Workout Plan
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Wahlbergโs fitness programs and success is motivated by his roles in films, such as The Fighter and Lone Survivor. As an actor especially an action star, he has enhanced his workout routines, earning him impressive muscles. His physical and mental successes are attributed to his hard work and discipline. Wahlberg usually wakes up at 2.30 am to start his workout. He works out twice a day and maintains both intensive and extensive exercises. The intensity of his workouts will vary depending on his present or expected film roles. Wahlberg believes that cryotherapy reduces inflammation and improves sleep, and that is why he occasionally participates in it.
Before he embarks on intensive workouts, Wahlberg does a lot of warm-ups, such as body stretches and skipping ropes. He then switches to various strength exercises using heavy bands, dumbbells, and kettlebells. His exercises include pull-ups, cardio, bench press, kettlebell lunges, treadmill, and sled pushes.
Mark Wahlbergโs Diet Plan
Wahlberg wakes up early and eats his breakfast ahead of the rest of his household. His diet includes heavy proteins, such as egg whites, meatballs, turkey burgers, etc. He eats a lot of food in terms of quantity and exercises frequently. He starts out with steel oats, peanut butter, blueberries, and eggs. His lunch involves meat and green peppers, and he wraps up with fish and veggies during dinner.
Here is Wahlbergโs diet plan:
- Breakfast One: peanut butter, steel oats, eggs, and blueberries.
- Breakfast Two: three turkey burgers, sweet potatoes, and a protein shake.
- Breakfast three: two boiled eggs, grilled chicken, avocado, tomato, and lettuce.
- Lunch: Meat and green peppers
- Evening Snacks: grilled chicken
- Dinner: fish with veggies
2. Tom Cruise
Thank you to the amazing cast, crew and people of Abu Dhabi. Thatโs a wrap. #MissionImpossibleFallout pic.twitter.com/yKhcO9Cy61
โ Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) March 27, 2018
Tom Cruise was born in 1962 in Syracuse, New York. At high school, he aspired to be a priest, but he later developed an interest in acting and abandoned his urge for the priesthood. At the age of 18, he dropped out of school and started pursuing his acting career. In 1981, his first film, Endless Love, appealed a lot to male and female audiences. With his handsome looks and charismatic smile, Cruise was a top star in some of the best films of the 1980s, such as The Color of Money, Rain Man, and Top Gun. In the 1990s, he was the best-paid actor and received multiple Academy Awards nominations. Through his biggest franchise, Mission Impossible, he has scooped about $3 billion globally and became one of the worlds biggest action stars. To improve his shape and enhance his performance, Cruise focuses on proper dieting and workouts.
Tom Cruiseโs Workout Plan
Cruise does numerous workouts, such as weight lifting, cardio, rock climbing, swimming, sea-kayaking, fencing, and treadmill. That is why he is endowed with a lean ripped body. He spends many hours daily working out for various movie roles. For his movie, Rock of Ages, he spent three hours daily dancing and some hours in the gym. Unlike other celebrities who train only when they’re about to have a role, Cruise maintains his training even without a role in mind. He also engages in other physical activities, such as jogging, hiking, and playing tennis. This is meant to maintain his body and keep it moving.
He has a private gym at home where he works out with his friend David Beckham. His favourite exercises include crunches, incline dumbbell bench presses, cable flyers, and flat or decline barbell bench presses. For shoulder workouts, he does overhead presses, side laterals, and face pulls. He works out his arms using various exercises, such as barbell curls, tricep dumbbell extensions, and triceps rope pushdowns.
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Tom Cruiseโs Diet Plan
Cruise is known for eating a very clean diet that includes veggies, oatmeal, chicken, fish, and fruits. He’s aware that ripped abs emanates from low-body fats, clean diets, and abdominal exercises and often advocates a low-calorie diet and workout regime which he got from David Beckham. In a day, he eats less than 1200 calories. Cruise loves carbohydrates โ cheeses, fats, maize, and leafy vegetables. He has the freedom of eating any food as long as he is aware of how much he eats. His health secret is to consume a lot of fibre, low carbs, and staying hydrated. To get toned and build muscles, he follows a healthy diet, observes proper nutrition, practices adequate rest, and adopts a good workout plan. However, Cruise avoids processed and junk food and instead takes a lot of veggies and fruits. To maintain an optimum body temperature, he drinks a minimum of 10 glasses of water per day.
3. Hugh Jackman
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Born in 1968 in Sydney, Australia, Hugh Jackman is a successful actor, dancer, and singer who is famous for his action movies and stage musicals. During his youth, he grew up in Sydney where he began acting as King Arthur in Camelot when he was five. In 1991, he graduated with a degree in communication from the University of Technology, Sydney and started working temporarily to pay for his school fees at the Actors Centre Australia. In 1994, he landed a role in the movie, Correlli. In 200o, he made his Hollywood debut in X-Men where his role as the antihero Wolverine turned him into an action star. He hosted the Academy Awards 2007 where he showcased his skills as a premier singer and dancer. In 2019, Jackman acted as a British adventurer in the stop-motion animated film Missing Link where he performed excellently.
Jackman understands the role of fitness in his performances both on stage and screen, and that is why he focuses on proper workouts and dieting.
Hugh Jackmanโs Workout Plans
Jackman uses specific workout plans to achieve two objectives โ to bulk and cut. During the bulk phase, he uses a combination of low-intensity training and intervals to reduce the levels of body fat. However, during the cut phase, he adjusts calorie intake and the number of cardio workouts.
To achieve excellent bulk, Jackman applies the progressive overload strategy, which entails increasing the amount of weight during training until he gains more strength. The timeline for his bulking is four weeks. For the first three weeks, he increases weight and then reduces it in the fourth week while increasing the number of reps.
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Here is Jackmanโs workout plan:
- Barbell Bench Press – Barbell Bench Press is one of the strength exercises that target upper body muscles. To build a lean mass, Jackman increases weights gradually until he reaches the maximum.
- Back Squat – Jackman uses this exercise to tone and build his lower body muscles, such as hamstrings, quads, and glutes. Depending on the intention of training, he may use light or heavy weights.
- Weighted pull-up – This workout is intended for the growth of the upper body muscles. Jackman uses the exercise for both bulking and toning.
- Deadlift – Jackman uses this workout to enhance his strength. The workout is targeted for lower body muscles, such as the waist.
Hugh Jackmanโs Diet Plans
Jackman varies his diet depending on which stage of the regimen he is in. For instance, he consumes carbs during weight training and avoids them on other days. He always eats lean, clean, and wholesome food. His favourite food includes brown rice, sweet potatoes, and chicken.
Here is a highlight of the food he eats on a training day:
- Oatmeal – Oatmeal is rich in antioxidants and soluble fibre. During breakfast, Jackman eats one cup of healthy oatmeal, which can lower cholesterol levels.
- Steak – Steak is Jackmanโs second meal of the day. He eats one serving of lean steak.
- Sweet potato – Sweet potato is rich in fibre, vitamins, and minerals. Their great taste and nutrients are what make Jackman like them.
- Broccoli – Broccoli is beneficial for everyone, and that is why it’s no big surprise that this thick green vegetable appears on Jackmanโs diet.
- Chicken – Chicken is clean, lean, and stuffed with protein, hence ideal for bodybuilders.
- Brown rice – Brown rice has been associated with an assortment of benefits, including lower cholesterol and the avoidance of blood clumps.
- Spinach – Spinach is rich in vitamins and iron; hence suitable for fitness enthusiasts.
- Fish – Jackman’s fourth meal of the day comprises of fish, which can make for a tremendous source of omega-3 unsaturated fats, nutrients, proteins, and minerals.
- Avocado – Omega-3 unsaturated fats can be found in avocado. You can likewise find riboflavin, beta-carotene, folate, niacin, pantothenic acid, magnesium, potassium, and a large number of nutrients.
4. Jason Statham
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Jason Statham was born in the now-famous Shirebrook, Derbyshire, on the 26th of July 1976 to Barry Statham and Eileen. Statham had a natural passion for athletics from a tender age, and he developed a keen interest in diving as a young boy. He had dreams of becoming a professional diver, which prompted him to work on those skills, and he became a member of the British Olympic team which participated in Seoul, Korea, in 1988. Statham was one of the best British national divers for over a decade. However, he changed course later when he had some poor performances on the worlds biggest stage during the world championships.
Statham is a man with physical attributes that many people envy. He landed one of his most significant breakthrough gigs that brought him to the limelight due to this. He was spotted by an agent who gave him a platform to lead the European clothing retailer campaign for French Connection. He then got another gig for a Levi’s Jeans commercial, which propelled his modelling career to a different level.
Statham’s stardom reached another level when he became a background dancer in the ’90s in various music videos.
He then developed his career further going on to become an action star. He has had starring roles in various high-profile action movie franchises such as The Transporter, The Expendables, Fast and the Furious, and Crank, among others.
Jason Statham’s Workout Plan
Due to numerous movie shooting engagements that frequently entail changing locations, Statham doesn’t have a strict workout plan. Instead, he trains according to the kind of roles he plays in the movies; however, there are basic workouts that he does as a routine to keep his body and mind in check. Statham has a more accidental program that is situational and he has a trainer who helps him with his routine training program. In some cases, his team carries the training materials to the shooting locations for his films.
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His average training routines often include the below:
He does Progression to Deadlift Max of One-rep, which involves a series of warm-ups with one-rep bench press exercises, setting the precedence for utmost fitness. He does Warm-Ups, Rowing for about ten minutes at a pace of twenty strokes per minute (SPM). He does Pyramid Circuit from one exercise to the next, seamlessly without resting; he does Ring Pull-ups, Barbell Squats, Static Hold Circuit, and Decline Parrallette Pushups.
He also has Cool Down moments by picking up two 70-pound kettlebells and performing a farmer carry for 500 meters, and he does front squats, which assist him in body conditioning.
Jason Statham’s Diet Plan
Jason Statham has a diet plan that enables him to maintain his physical attributes. If you watch Statham’s movies, you may wonder if he is a real human being. Between 2007 and now, he has gone a notch higher with his workout. He seems to have dropped all the fats, and he is all muscles through and through. But what is the big secret?
Well, Statham strives to keep his metabolism at an optimal level to enhance his lean muscle mass: this means he has to maintain a super healthy diet. His diet is full of nuts, fish, oats, and chicken; he also loves steamed veggies, miso soup, and brown rice. Mr. Statham consumes clean and healthy food, and he drinks three litres of water daily; he does not entertain fries and has a strict eating schedule that does not go beyond 7 pm.
5. Daniel Craig
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Daniel Craig was born in Chester, England, in 1968. He was raised in Liverpool, where he treasured arts and loved going to the theatre with his siblings; he was influenced significantly by his motherโs friends who were actors. Craig then moved to London at the age of 16, where he joined the national youth theatre to pursue an acting career and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Craig had a career breakthrough when he made his debut on the big screen in The Power of One he then had roles in various movies such as Lara Croft, Tomb Raider, and Road to Perdition. In 2006, Craig took over the infamous role of James Bond in Casino Royale, reinvigorating the franchise; he has since continued as Bond in the blockbusters Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Spectre with his final round as Bond in No Time to Die which is due for release in 2021. Between his rounds as Bond Craig has starred in other significant features like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Logan Lucky.
Daniel Craigโs workout plan
As an action star who is famously known as James Bond, Craig has muscle that can only be attributed to an insane workout program. However, it’s unclear whether Craig has particular workout plans since he moves around frequently with his acting schedule.
Craig has often changed his workout program to align his physical attributes with the films he is in.
But one thing to remember is that anybody who takes a keen interest in Craigโs workout program needs to also be at his physical level. When you follow Craigโs program, you should take great caution not to rush things. Craig has a team of professional trainers and doctors who take care of any injury or help him in the recovery process after shooting a strenuous movie.
Having said that, remember to use common sense and donโt over commit yourself to following Craigโs workout. Now letโs dive deep into Craigโs workout plan; Craigโs workout program runs from Monday to Friday with enough time over the weekend for the muscles to rest and recuperate to sustain his overall body health.
Hereโs a breakdown:
Monday โ Friday
- Full-Body Power Circuit: Clean and Press, Weighted Knee, Weighted Step-ups, Pull-ups, Incline Pushups, and Triceps Dips
- Chest and Back: Incline Bench Press, Pull-ups, Include Pushups, Incline and Pec-Fly
- Legs: Squat, Straight-Leg Deadlift, Hamstring Curls, Weighted Lunges, Shoulders and Arms, Incline Biceps Curls and Triceps Dips
Daniel Craigโs (James Bond) Diet
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Craigโs diet focuses on reducing body fats and building muscles. As Craig gets older, he has cut down carbs and any unhealthy parts of his diet, which means he relies on natural and protein supplements. Craig limits himself to one bottle of alcohol per week to juggle his body, and he does not consume junk food.
Craigโs daily diet is full of fruits, veggies, eggs, fish, chicken, and protein shakes. He takes light foods of about five to six meals a day, and his metabolism is running correctly, giving him a platform to work out and develop insane muscles. Have you seen Craig’s body in the Skyfall or Quantum of Solace movies? His healthy diet does terrific things for his body.
Here is Craigโs diet plan:
- Breakfast: Toast, poached eggs, not fried, slices of toast, Protein Shake, Fruits, and Nuts.
- Lunch: Meat, Fish, Brown Rice, Baked Potato and Yogurt with Nuts
- Dinner: Meat, Fish, Leafy Green Vegetables, spinach, and broccoli.
6. Will Smith
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Born in 1968 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Will Smith began rapping at the age of 12, emulating stars like Grandmaster Flash. At 16, he started collaborating with Jeff Townes whom he met at a party. After the collaboration, he was nicknamed the Fresh Prince and Jeff became known as Jazzy Jeff. In 1986, they produced their first hit together, GirlsAinโt Nothing but Trouble. In 1987, Smithโs debut album, Rock the House, made him a millionaire before the age of 18.
His early success made him have no intention of going to college. In 1989, the pairโs album, And This Corner, pushed them to stardom. Their album, Nightmare on My Street, won the Grammy Award for the Best Rap Performance. In 1990, Smith moved to acting signing a deal with US TV Network NBC to create and star in the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He then moved onto the big screen with his role in Independence Day, which cemented him to be a major player in Hollywood and an action star. He went on to add awesome performances in theย Bad Boys franchise,ย Ali,ย I Am Legend and Pursuit of Happiness.ย In 2019, Smith was revealed as the new Genie in Disney’s live-action remake of Aladdin. Excellent health and fitness have helped Smith succeed in his various performances. He is an advocate of healthy eating and exercise.
Will Smithโs Workout Plan
Smith does weight training five days per week, and he trains two body parts in each workout. He uses the pyramid training strategy, whereby he starts with light weight, goes heavy, and then reverts back to a lighter weight for each exercise. He also does cardio to shed off excess weight and remain lean.
Here is Smithโs daily workout plan.
Monday is chest day
Smith works out his chest on Mondays, and he majorly uses barbell and dumbbell press variations. Here is what he does during the chest workout.
- Push-ups โ three sets, twenty reps
- Barbell bench press โ five sets and five reps
- Incline barbell bench press โ five sets, five reps
- Incline dumbbell bench press โ five sets, five reps
- Upright Cable Flys โ three sets, ten reps
- Lying dumbbell punch โ two sets
Tuesday is shoulder day
Smith works out his shoulders on Tuesdays, focusing on barbell and dumbbell exercises and finishing with dumbbell raises.
Here is a highlight of Smithโs Tuesday routine.
- Dumbbell shoulder press โ two sets, twenty reps
- Barbell shoulder press โ four sets, six reps
- Behind-the-neck barbell press โ four sets, eight reps
- Dumbbell lateral raises โ four sets, eight reps
- Dumbbell front raises โ three sets, ten reps
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Wednesday is back day
Smithโs back workout entails chin-ups and bent over row variations, as shown below.
- Chin-ups โ three sets, fifty reps
- Barbell bent-over row โ two sets, six reps
- Dumbbell bent-over row โ four sets, six reps
- Pulldowns โ four sets, six reps
- Chin-ups โthree sets, ten reps
Thursday is arm day
Smithโs arm exercises entail the use of dumbbells and barbells, as highlighted below.
- Barbell arm curls โ four sets, eight reps
- Cable pushdowns โ four sets, eight reps
- Barbell triceps extensions โ four sets, eight reps
- Dumbell arm curls โ four sets, eight reps
- Dumbbell triceps kickbacks โ four sets, eight reps
Friday is leg day
His leg workouts involve a full range of compound movements, as shown below.
- Front squat โ five sets, five reps
- Full squats โ five sets, five reps
- Dumbbell lunges โ three sets, eight reps
- Leg press โ four sets, eight reps
Will Smithโs Diet Plan
When it comes to diet, Smith has a target that he aspires to achieve. He usually takes a spoonful of protein powder during workouts, and his favourite dinner is a grilled chicken breast with sweet potato and some greens. His breakfast entails eggs and oatmeal, and during lunch, he consumes chicken breast with broccoli.
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