Hugh Jackman took on the role of Wolverine for the last time. Pieces of the Wolverine diet can be found in his appearances on various talk shows.
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Actor Hugh Jackman as Wolverine
People of my generation know Wolverine from the comics and cartoons. For Hugh Jackman, Wolverine was his first role in an American film. As a superhero, you obviously need to look a bit impressive, and Hugh has always portrayed a ripped Wolverine.
Currently, the movie Logan is playing in Dutch cinemas. It is the last time that Hugh Jackman will step into the role of Wolverine.
Wolverine diet
Earlier this week, I happened to be watching Graham Norton when Wolverine and Professor X walked in. Or at least, the actors Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart (to which the nerd adds: “Professor X can’t walk”). In appearances on programs like Graham Norton and the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Hugh reveals a bit about his ‘shirtless-Wolverine-shape’. Just a bit. It’s important to place this in the right context. Moreover, adamantium claws won’t shoot out of your knuckles if you successfully follow the diet. You can imagine what a skeleton covered with this metal does for your BMI:
‘A Wolverine goes to a dietitian…’
For the first part of X-Men, Hugh thought 3 weeks would be enough to get in shape for the shirtless scenes. However, when the director saw his body on set, he decided to push back those scenes by four months. By now, the actor knows he needs 3 months for this.
Dehydration
Three months, of course, is not enough to build an impressive physique if you’re starting from behind or are still at the starting line.
The frustrating part for fans of mutants is that Hugh only explains the last part of the preparation. The full method in short is normal build-burn-dehydrate, the system as bodybuilders then employ. Unfortunately, Hugh skips the first two, biggest steps in his explanation and mainly talks about dehydrating in the last days.
From a week before the scene, he increases his fluid intake to 10 liters per day so he starts urinating a lot. Thirty hours before filming, he stops drinking completely while the body continues to dispose of water through urination. This pulls away the subcutaneous fluid to look as dry as possible.
However, this is pointless if there’s still a thick layer of fat underneath. On Stephen Colbert, he also mentions that you need to be “in pretty good shape” at the start of the three months.
Dehydration is the endpoint. Fortunately, he does point out that this is dangerous. Rightly so, dehydration has cost some bodybuilders their lives in the past.
Read here why you should drink enough water and why it’s important.
Wolverine diet and bulk
As mentioned, there are two earlier phases. You don’t want a high fat percentage for such a role. However, you do want to have built up the necessary muscle mass. We can hear Hugh talk about how he ate 6500 kcal per day.
“Steamed chicken and steamed broccoli”
That shouldn’t be a problem for the Wolverine, however. The Dutch name for that animal is, after all, glutton.
I assume this was during the period before the last three months, as it sounds like a bulking phase for someone his size. Of the three months he mentioned, he only describes the last week. Therefore, I also assume that the rest of that period was used for cutting, to burn fat and retain as much muscle mass as possible. His calorie intake, especially from carbohydrates, would have been significantly reduced during this time.
Vitamin Hollywood
If you belong to the list of muscular A-list actors with six-packs, your name automatically comes up among the supposed users of steroids. There’s especially a rumor circulating about Hugh using growth hormone. There’s as much evidence for that as for Obama wiretapping Trump. However, don’t ask me to personally estimate how likely it is that Wolverine is on HGH or anabolic steroids because that’s where the comparison ends.
Another celeb diet
Now, the faithful reader could accuse me of hypocrisy. Partly rightly so. How dare I, of all people, bring attention to the diet of a famous figure? Didn’t I go off on actors who assume the role of diet gurus two months ago?
Yes, even Wolverine doesn’t tell anything new about nutrition. He only talks about his preparation when asked about it. He doesn’t sell diet books, although they would probably sell like hot cakes.
However, my main excuse is that X-men is just much cooler than GTST.
