At 55 years old, Hugh Jacked-man, er Jackman, bulked up to reprise Wolverine in the MCU film Deadpool & Wolverine, and he has his trainers to thank for whipping him into shape to maintain the impressive physique he's had across 10 films as his X-Men mutant character.
The affable Aussie actor shared a shirtless thirst trap mirror selfie showing off his bodacious bod and captioned it with:
"I am grateful."
So are we, Hugh. So are we.
He said in a narrated voice note:
"I've had a lot of people talk to me or ask me questions about how I got into shape and what I did, what I ate, how I trained, what I did, how hard is it at your age and all of these things and honestly, I just wanted to take a second to say, 'Yeah, I had to turn up and I had to, yep, I had to do those deadlifts and I had to eat those meals but I had an incredible team that helped me."
Jackman explained there were many people involved, including trainers Beth Lewis and Michael Ryan, who helped him reach his maximum fitness and nutrition goals prior to starting production on Deadpool & Wolverine.
"There's not a hope in hell I would have got there without them," he said and gave a special shout-out to Lewis, who gave him an extra boost when he needed it without overworking him too hard.
"I am in better shape and when I say shape, what I mean is physical health, my knees, my shoulders that have bothered me for years—gone. She's helped me get through this, get the results I needed, but feeling fantastic," said Jackman.
He also thanked his US and UK team who made sure he kept up with his daily nutritional diet, which was key to bulking up, for nearly a year.
He continued:
"I didn't have to think out what I was shopping for, cooking for. I just had someone counting up my macros, which, for those people who don't know, is basically how many grams of protein or fat or carbohydrate you have at different phases in your training in order to get the result."
"For over a … year and a half, I had someone preparing me meals, which made it so much easier."
He also expressed gratitude for his makeup artist, assistant director, and producing team, who all helped get him on track when he was particularly "grumpy" as a result of dehydration and "eating tilapia and beans for days."
"It's really important to me that I acknowledge those people who have spent a lifetime doing what they do," Jackman said towards the end of his message.
"They're the top of their game. They're the best in the world and I feel so privileged to have them in my corner and I would not have achieved that result without them. So, thanks."
Fans thanked the humble actor for his service.
Jackman spoke to
People magazine about his fitness regimen in preparation for the Deadpool threequel, which marked his return to playing Wolverine since he was last seen for the character's swan song in 2017's Logan.
“When I came back to it, it was really fun and I was thrilled," Jackman said.
But it wasn't an easy road to bulking up back to Wolverine-sized proportions.
He recalled of his training sessions:
"My body was a little sore at the beginning, but I was thrilled that my body was still responding."
"And I realized how good it is for your brain. But the hardest bit…the food."
“I have to eat a lot. For me, for my body type, I'm naturally skinny. To get the size on, that's the hardest bit."
Jackman continued:
"That's the bit that does my head in.”
“Yeah, the five, six meals a day, which sounds great to some people."
"I'm sure they're like, ‘Well, that sounds great.’ But it's not like the type of food that you would really necessarily enjoy."
Jackman said Deadpool co-star Ryan Reynolds “couldn’t believe” the physical transformation he witnessed during filming, which began on May 22, 2023, after a series of delays.
Co-star Rob Delaney, who played Peter Wisdom—a.k.a. PeterPool—was also wowed by Jackman's shredded physique.
The 47-year-old said of Jackman in an interview with Virgin Radio UK:
“Hugh Jackman, right? He’s so ripped and muscular and sleeveless and often shirtless and that he’s a very nice guy. I thought that the superhero muscles in these movies were like cosmetics."
"Not that they weren’t literally on your body, but that they were more about show than strength.”
Delaney went on to say how impressed he was after witnessing Jackman "routinely drop to the floor and do press-ups," doing as many as 800 press-ups a day in "slow and perfect form."
“So literally, if a bus fell on you and he was there, you wouldn’t have to worry. He would promptly remove it from you and you’d be okay," added Delaney.
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