Mark Wahlberg has made himself into a resident Hollywood name, with quite an impressive frame to go along with it. His recent roles in movies like “The Fighter” and his shirtless scene in the comedy “Date Night” are both evidence that he can pack on some muscle mass. If you are a bit more nostalgic the young man Marky Mark was pretty ripped as well. Remember The Funky Bunch and “Good Vibrations”? Mark at a young age used the gym as a means to stay off the streets and out of trouble. His dedication certainly paid off as it landed him an underwear modeling gig with Calvin Klein (Although not as intense as the CK Superbowl ad) and catapulted his acting career. It’s really no surprise that he has been able to maintain his physique over the years as his career depends on it and since he trains himself. We uncovered the basics behind the Mark Wahlberg workout.
The Plan
Fortunately for us we have a pretty good idea of what the Mark Wahlberg workout is and the ideology placed behind it. At times a lot of his exercise can be devoted to training for movies scenes that require athletic prowess. For example he boxed for two years to prepare for “The Fighter” and played ice hockey two hours a day to get ready for “Four Brothers”. Naturally both of these activities are pretty cardio intensive and time consuming. Mark however does not incorporate much traditional cardio into his routine (Remember he has pretty active days while training for films including boxing). Rather he manipulates his rest periods for fast high intensity resistance training workouts from his home gym. Here is a look at the split Mark is currently up to:
Day 1: Legs, Back and Biceps
Day 2: Chest, Shoulders and Triceps
Day 3: Legs and Biceps
Days 4-5: Recover
Repeat
As you’ll notice biceps is in there twice, who doesn’t like a little tighter fit around the sleeves? Even more importantly, legs of all things are in there twice! Marky Mark sure wasn’t self-conscious about having any chicken legs while pulling his signature move: dropping his pants on stage during his rap career. Training legs a lot is a smart move. It gets the heart rate up high thus burning a lot of calories, which is part of the reason he can get away without doing much cardio. Another key point of this split is that these workouts are completed in about 30 minutes. This really emphasizes the short rest periods, which are ideal for boosting growth hormone levels (Training legs multiple times a week doesn’t hurt the hormone profile for building muscle either). The short workouts coupled with the two days of recovery ensure that Mark is building maximal muscle from his workouts and not overworking his joints.
The Diet
What’s a solid training program without a solid diet though? In order to stay screen ready or at least close to it Mark follows a pretty typical diet. The focus is high protein, low carb and low fat. Although the low carb and fat part may not be ideal for packing on muscle it will ensure a favorable body composition. At this point in his career after all adding muscle isn’t as important as keeping up definition. A strict diet is a necessary component to that (Especially as he ages).
As you can see Mark is no fool when it comes to the gym and building a reputable physique. Whether you choose to follow his split or simply take some ideas away from his training style you can be sure for it to be effective. If you are however deciding to train something twice a week now, legs would be the take away. As discussed they training legs will burn more calories and boost your body’s natural hormone levels. Sorry guys you can only pump up those python biceps every so often, but at least the elevated hormone levels will help with bicep growth.