Taylor Lautner was a skinny 17 year old when he was required to build muscle to play the character Jacob Black in Twilight: New Moon
. Lautner's goal was to gain 30 pounds of muscle which he successfully achieved in about 9 months.
Taylor Lautner's personal trainer Jordan Yuam revealed some principles and practices which helped The Jacob Black Actor successfully achieve his stunning body with the Taylor Lautner workout. Here is how it goes.
Taylor Lautner Workout: Keep The Workout ShortAccording to Yuam Taylor Lautner workout plan does not mean spending hours in the gym. The resistance program in Taylor Lautner workout is no longer than 50 minutes with an additional 15 minutes of abdominal exercises and 10 minutes of stretching. For extremely overweight and obese people, Yuam recommends 20 minutes of cardio. 10 on the treadmill, 10 on the elliptical, but no more. According to Yuam, there are no shortcuts, and eating a healthy diet is extremely important. Also Yuam states, never use anabolic steroids for bulking up.
Taylor Lautner Workout: Allow Time for RecoveryForget about lifting every day. That's definitely not part of Taylor Lautner workout plan and it's not what your body needs. Yuam recommends resistance training three days per week. Example on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. "Overworking the body sabotages a person's goals while burning them out mentally and physically," Yuam says. "It is during the recovery that muscle growth occurs"
Taylor Lautner Workout: Push Your LimitsGetting bigger muscles is about lifting heavy weights. Yuam pushed Taylor to lift heavier than he normally could in 10 reps by stacking about 40% more weights with a bar or dumbbells. So if you can lift, say, 120 pounds 10 times, go with 170 pounds. Then, using a spotter, perform only the lowering half of lifts. ("It's critical that your spotter be strong enough to lift the weight back up by himself," Yuam says.) For a bench press, that means slowly lowering the weight to your chest. This lets your body adjust to the new weight even before you're ready to raise it. The move is taxing on your muscles, though, so limit your "tasting" to 2 or 3 sets of 5 reps every other week.
Taylor Lautner Workout: Vary Your VolumeDon't stick to just lifting heavy. To maximize muscle growth, Taylor would often use a variety of reps and the pounds of weight he lifts. "If you're aiming for a great body, you have to follow this principle," says Yuam. Consistently change your workout routine because the more your muscles are forced to adapt to a new routine, the more they grow bigger. For instance, instead of consistently doing three sets of eight to ten reps, occasionally decrease the weight and shoot for four sets of fifteen reps. A recent study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that men who regularly varied their rep counts and trained different muscle groups increased their bench strength by twenty percent and their leg-press strength by forty three percent.
Taylor Lautner Workout: Create TensionFree weights are the best, but they have a drawback: Some areas of a lift are easier than others, so your muscles aren't being worked consistently. That's why Lautner often attaches giant rubber bands to a bar or dumbbell he's going to lift, and then anchors the bands to the base of a power rack or a pair of heavy dumbbells. "The bands create more tension, making the lift harder and forcing your muscles to peak out at the top of the movement," Yuam says. As a result, your body recruits more muscle fibers and works them harder, accelerating growth. Bands are available in most gyms.
Taylor Lautner Workout: Cut Down on Cardio"I was exercising so hard that I began to lose weight," says Lautner. Sound great? Not if you normally have trouble building muscle mass. When it's combined with weight training, cardio saps strength and limits muscle growth, especially if you spin your wheels for longer than 20 minutes before or after lifting, according to researchers at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas. So be careful not to overdo it. "If you're trying to gain lean mass, focus on weight-lifting with the proper technique and the right plan," Yuam says.
Taylor Lautner Workout: Don't Overwork Your Abs"Many dudes work their abs any time they hit the gym," says Yuam. "That's the reason not a lot of them have a six-pack." Your abs are fust like any other muscle group, and the same rule of muscle building applies: Don't overwork them. Lautner targets his abs only 3 days a week and does a combination of exercises to work his entire core. "The result is a balanced, more detailed musculature," Yuam says. One of his favorite combinations is the hanging leg raise to reverse crunch, holding for 7 to 10 seconds. That works your whole core, preventing a muffin top.
Taylor Lautner Workout: Step to the SideMost weightlifting exercises involve moving forward or backward; they don't train your body to explode in other directions. Lautner needs a versatile body because he does his own stunts on the screen. (And you need one for everyday life. Your basketball crossover will be lousy without it.) The solution, Yuam says, is to perform side-to-side exercises in addition to traditional lifts. These boost your ability to move in any path. For example, work a few sets of lateral hops and lunges into every leg workout.
Taylor Lautner Workout: Have a Recovery PlanTraining and eating are only two-thirds of the muscle-building equation. "The other third is recovery," says Lautner. He takes every third day off and never works out more than 5 days a week. "If you constantly pound your muscles, they'll never have time to repair."
