Mark Wahlberg’s Deepwater Horizon: Actor Shares His 100 Days Weight Training Routine for the Movie

Mark Wahlberg
Photo Credit: Instagram @markwahlberg

Actor Mark Wahlberg is always in tremendous shape when portraying a character on screen. For instance, the 45-year-old bulked up to play boxer Micky Ward in 2010s The Fighter.

Wahlberg had to get into even better shape for his role in 2013s movie Pain and Gain, where he played bodybuilder Daniel Lugo. Mark Wahlberg will be showing off his in-shape body in Deepwater Horizon, which hits theaters in September.

A photo posted by Mark Wahlberg (@markwahlberg) on

Wahlberg says he trained for 100 consecutive days in preparation for the film. Director Peter Berg wanted Wahlberg as heavy as possible, which led to the actor’s daunting weight training workout routine and strict diet plan.

Deepwater Horizon is a movie based on a real-life oil spill. The offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20, 2010, and created one of the worst oil spills and man-made disasters in American history.

Wahlberg says that the strict training was fun for a couple weeks, but after a while it became difficult to even sit down to put his socks on. Although his training and fitness routine was intense, you can’t argue with the results: Wahlberg looks incredibly ripped in Deepwater Horizon.

While training for the film, Wahlberg was in the zone; he would sometimes train at 3:00 a.m. and enjoy roasted chicken after his workouts. His diet was very strict, and didn’t allow for pasta, bread, or wine. Instead, the action star ate healthy carbs like yams and sweet potatoes, which helped him get into the best shape of his life.

Whatever role the actor is playing, his biceps are always pumped due to a strict workout routine and a daily diet plan.

Mark Wahlberg’s Fitness and Workout Routine

Throughout Wahlberg’s movie career, he has bulked up from 165 pounds to an incredible 221 pounds. Wahlberg is a big fan of heavy weight lifting, and has intense workouts with personal trainer Brain Nguyen.

Nguyen says that Wahlberg is more than just an actor, and believes that Wahlberg trains at the level of an elite athlete. For Pain and Gain, Wahlberg would perform a full-body exercise with dumbbell rear lunges, rope jumping, clean pulls, barbell deadlifts, push presses, one-legged barbell squats, barbell bench presses, farmer’s walks, inverted rows, cable chest press’s, standing biceps cable curls, leg presses, triceps pushdown, seated side lateral raises, and quadriceps, hamstring, and lower back exercises.

A photo posted by Mark Wahlberg (@markwahlberg) on

The following is Mark Wahlberg’s weekly workout schedule:

Monday, Chest, Arms and Abs: Mark Wahlberg’s Monday workout is a chest, shoulder, and triceps routine. This is an intense workout with exercises like parallel bar dips, standing shoulder presses, and cable triceps press-downs. He follows that up with stretching, abs, and cardio in the afternoon, including bicycle crunches, side crunches, hip-ups, and 30 minutes on the treadmill or elliptical.

Tuesday, Legs, Back and Biceps: Wahlberg’s Tuesday workout targets the legs and back with exercises like jump squats, leg presses, and calf raises. He also performs biceps, stretching, and cardio at night.

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday, Full Body Workout: His Thursday exercise is a full-body workout that consists of multiple circuits, which include barbell deadlifting, power cleans, split squats, and cable bicep curls. At night, he fits in an abs, stretching, and cardio routine with medicine ball twists, side crunches, and a treadmill or elliptical workout.

Friday, Chest, Arms and Biceps: Friday’s chest, arms, and bicep workout includes dumbbell chest flies, side shoulder raises, and a shoulder military press. At night, he works his biceps, stretches, and does some cardio with machine bicep curls, seated bicep curls, and elliptical or treadmill exercises.

Saturday, Legs, Back and Abs: Saturday includes calf raises, walking lunges and dumbbell rows. At night he performs bicycle crunches, medicine ball twists, and elliptical or treadmill exercises.

Sunday: Rest

Mark Wahlberg’s Diet Plan

Wahlberg’s diet is just as intense. His daily diet plan is centered on eating chicken, steak, some pasta, whey protein, and blueberries, bananas, raspberries, and apples. He usually eats three large healthy meals and three smaller snack size meals each day. Wahlberg often gets 30% of his calories from lean protein, 40% from carbohydrates like whole wheat, legumes, fruit, and vegetables, and 30% from healthy fats.

The intense training routine is not slowing down anytime soon. Mark Wahlberg is set to reprise his role as Cade Yeager in the fifth Transformers installment entitled Transformers: The Last Knight, which will hit theaters in 2017.


Sources:
“Mark Wahlberg’s 100-day training session,” Belfast Telegraph website, April 25, 2016; http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/fashion-beauty/mark-wahlbergs-100day-training-session-34657672.html.
“Mark Wahlberg’s ‘Pain & Gain’ Workout,” Bodybuilding website, March 1, 2016; http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mark-wahlbergs-pain-and-gain-workout.html.