'Wolverine' Hugh Jackman's workout secrets

The actor claims he has gone beyond his usual limits to pull off a physique that would be in-sync with the animalistic character of Wolverine.

Everyone's favourite mutant anti-hero Wolverine is returning to the big screen on 26 July in the latest instalment of the X-Men franchise and Hugh Jackman promises that this time around Wolverine will be fitter, more ripped and scarier than ever in The Wolverine, a sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

This time the actor claims he has gone beyond his usual limits to pull off a physique that would be in-sync with the animalistic, brutal character of Wolverine so that he would look 'scary'. 'I think this is the best or closest to the way that I imagined the character. I've been spending a lot of time training. I don't think I've ever done so many deep lunges in my life and for someone with really long legs that is very difficult, let me tell you (laughs). It is important for me to let you know the lengths I've gone to physically, because I did not think it would be good enough for people to say of Wolverine: 'he's in good shape, he is big, looks like he goes to the gym', he told TOI.

'Wolverine is this animalistic, brutal kind of character.I thinks when you see him ready to fight, you're going to be frightened of him. It's more than saying: 'wow, great body. Wow, he's waxed his chest.' It's more like: 'whoa, this guy frightens me.' I wanted a very lean animalistic look. You can see my veins popping. It's not always pretty but I think that's important. Unfortunately it takes time and commitment for a man my age to look like this. It takes a lot of chicken (laughs). I'm very strict with my diet and I've been in training for eighteen months. And I have spent a lot more time in the gym than ever before.'

The actor has always been one of Hollywood's most dedicated actors who's had to get in shape for older instalments of the X-men movies or Real Steel but this time the training was gruelling and he actually took up meditation to focus better. 'The bottom line is you've got to train until you want to throw up and you have to eat until you want to throw up. And that's pretty much it.'

Meditation on the other hand allowed him to focus: 'Over the years I've really got to know my body. I know what it takes to get ready, I know how long it's going to take to get there and I know what I need to eat. I've really adjusted my diet and narrowed it down to the least painful way for me.'

He followed a strict 6000-calories-a-day diet which included 12 ounce steaks (which made him wonder whether he should turn vegan) and he revealed to ET Online that his first meal after the shooting got over was: 'Burger and fries a burger with everything,' said Jackman. 'And I spent about three hours choosing the ingredients of that burger.' It's interesting note that fellow superhero portrayer Henry Cavill (who played an immensely ripped Superman) also had a similar meltdown and gorged on a tub of ice-cream and apple pie.

Jackman told MovieFone that he kind of liked the challenge: 'I kind of like the challenge, but it is important to externalize that internal struggle, that animal versus the human that [Wolverine] embodies. It's [an] important theme in the character and the story, the control versus chaos, and having that very lean, muscular body with veins.'

The actor's ability to transform his body to suit the role is phenomenal considering the emancipated thin look he needed to pull off the look of a prisoner and then the slightly chubby look to play factor owner and mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer in Les Miserables.

One man who's known Hugh Jackman for years and has amazing insight into his workout is Mike Ryan Jackman's personal trainer for over 20 years. In fact when they first met at a gym, Jackman was nicknamed chicken legs! Here are some things we can take away from the Wolverine workouts that Mike shared with Men's Health:

• Warm up first with ten minutes of cardio and light bodyweight movements
• Do the pairs of exercises as supersets ( only two exercises with pyramid sets)*

*Basically a superset consists of two sets of exercises (for example dumbbell bench presses with bent-over dumbbell rows) done alternatively with minimum rest in between. Rep count for each set would look something like this: 50-40-30-20-10-5-10-20-30-40-50.

• Choose weights so that your form is right (ideally, this will lead to muscle failure by the last set)
• Try and train in the morning for better intensity
• Always warm up sufficiently, not just cardio but even movements before adding the weight
• Keep a training diary and keep on increasing the weight so that you don't get comfortable
• Focus on the movement rather than missing the set
• Don't overtrain and get enough rest at least seven hours of sleep a night

One thing's for sure, Wolverine is going to be bigger and scarier than ever before and we can't wait for the movie to hit the theatres. (Read: Celeb fitness workout secrets)

You may also like to read:

• Aamir Khan's fitness secrets
• Arjun Kapoor's weight loss and fitness secrets
• John Abraham's fitness secrets
• Hrithik Roshan's fitness secrets
• Salman Khan's fitness regime
• Ranveer Singh's fitness secrets
• Randeep Hooda fitness secrets
• Imran Khan's fitness secrets
• Akshay Kumar's fitness secrets
• Sushant Singh Rajput's fitness secrets
• Suriya's fitness regime
• The 50 fittest Indian Men
• Top Bollywood Fitness Transformations of 2013 (Male)

For more articles on celebrity bodybuilding secrets, check out our celeb bodybuilding section.Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for all the latest updates! For daily free health tips, sign up for our newsletter. And to join discussions on health topics of your choice, visit our forum.