Want Your Nerd to Look Like Your Favorite Superhero?

Well now they can courtesy of Men’s Health magazine who has just released some great workouts courtesy of your favorite action stars.

Ryan-Mens-Health-Magazine-March-2009-ryan-reynolds-4045146-928-1222

Don’t get me wrong the ladies here at We Date Nerds love our nerds just the way they are but we can all strive to be healthier in life (myself included). While some of us are jocks at heart, I know that a lot of nerds out there don’t really enjoy working out so I thought getting the workouts directly from Wolverine or Superman might help get them excited about exercising….your welcome ladies.

Check out Men’s Health online to get detailed breakdowns of how these stars got ready for those roles that thankfully required them to be shirtless frequently including Jake Gyllenhaal for Prince of Persia, Paul Walker for The Fast and the Furious, Stephen Moyer for True Blood and Hugh Jackman for Wolverine.

As you loyal readers know I’m partial to Thor aka Chris Hemsworth so that’s the specific workout I’m going to share but definitely check out all the workouts mentioned above to achieve your superhero goals.

How did Chris Hemsworth transform himself into the God of Thunder?

chris-hemsworth-thor vs. home and away_workout

Chris before he bulked up for Thor and after

Get a Body like Thor: Circuits One & Two

To give you an upper-body like Thor star Chris Hemsworth, strength and conditioning expert Jamie Sawyer has devised this workout. Perform circuit one and circuit two, once a week

Circuit One:

Side-to-side pull-ups: Reps 6-8
Grab a chin-up bar with an overhand grip, hands wider than your shoulders. Pull yourself up and to the left, touching your chin to your left hand. Repeat on the right hand side.

Rest 10 secs

Cable crossovers: Reps 8-12
Stand with your back to a cable crossover machine, with a handle in each hand. Lean forward. Bring both cables in front of you. Then release to the start.

Rest 20 secs

High-incline treadmill
Set the treadmill to a 10% incline and a speed of around 70% of your flat-out sprint. Then sprint for 45 secs.

Rest 10 secs

High-incline treadmill
Set the treadmill to a 10% incline and a speed of around 70% of your flat-out sprint. Then sprint for 45 secs.

Rest 10 secs

Med ball throws against a wall: Reps 6-8
Stand left side-on, 2m from a wall with a medicine ball in the crook of your right arm. Bring it back, then fling the ball into the wall, turning to land with your other foot nearest to the wall. Repeat with the other arm.

Rest 20 secs

Cable wood chops: Reps 6-8
Stand by a cable machine, feet wider than shoulder-width apart, holding one cable handle with both hands. With straight arms, pull the cable from above your right shoulder across the front of your body, until the handle is in line with your left hip.

Rest 20 secs

Farmer’s walk
Select a pair of heavy dumb-bells and put them on the ground at your sides, with 5m of clear space ahead of you. Pick up the weights, hold them at your sides with straight arms, walk 5m, turn and walk back.

Rest 60 secs

Repeat circuit 3-4 times

Circuit Two:

Zercher squats: Reps 4-6
Rack a bar at waist height. Squat, and grip it in the crook of your elbows, stand and step back. Spread your feet wider than shoulder-width and squat until your elbows touch your knees. Pause, then stand.

Rest 10 secs

Eccentric lateral holds
With a dumb-bell in each hand, arms at your sides, raise your arms out and up until the weights are level with your shoulders. Hold for 30 secs, fighting to keep the descent as slow as possible.

Rest 20 secs

Rowing intervals: Reps 20 / 10×4
Warm up with a minute of gentle rowing, building up speed. Set the resistance to full. Row flat out for 20 secs, then go steady for 10 secs. Do 4 minutes total.

Rest 10 secs

Barbell punch press: Reps 6-8
Set a barbell in a corner, one end locked against the floor. Hold the barbell in your right hand. Rock back and ‘punch’ it forward, for the rep count. Reverse your stance, repeat with your left hand.

Rest 20 secs

Med ball slams: Reps 6-8
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, a med ball held in both hands. Raise it above your head as high as you can, then slam it forcefully down onto the floor in front of you. Mind your toes.

Rest 30 secs

Weight plate circles
Grab a heavy weight plate in both hands. With arms slightly bent, rotate it over and around your head, in constant motion for 30 secs, then do 30 secs in the opposite direction.

Rest 60 secs

Repeat circuit 3-4 times

2 thoughts on “Want Your Nerd to Look Like Your Favorite Superhero?

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s