Ryan and I both share the same hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia. So naturally, I’ve been following his career since he was cast as Berg in “Two guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place”. Back then in 1998, he wasn’t known for much. He was a skinny, lanky guy who was living out of a motel in LA.
Fast forward now to 2011 and we’ve seen him named the “Sexiest Man Alive” by People Magazine, and is arguably the most envied body in Hollywood today. It’s not so much his size that gets him all this attention, but his ability to put on the perfect amount of muscle in the perfect places, combined with a wicked low bodyfat percentage to show it all off.
Of course, the million dollar question is, how does he do it? I mean, he hasn’t always looked the way he does. In fact, prior to the 2005 filming of “The Amityville Horror”, he had quite an underwhelming body. It was certainly nothing to take a second look at. Reynolds has recently admitted in interviews that it’s very difficult for him to gain muscle naturally.
His trainer, Darren Chapman (also the trainer of Jessica Biel), found it crucial to put Reynolds on a customized diet to help put the muscle on. You see, Ryan is what most people in the fitness industry would call a “hardgainer”.
Ryan Reynolds Diet
He needed to eat constantly. Instead of eating the normal 3 meals a day, his trainer had him eating very small meals every 2-3 hours. Somedays, he would have 10 tiny meals throughout the day. “Your body doesn’t need to store fat for energy if you’re feeding it all the time,” Reynolds explains.
“I attribute my results mostly to nutrition” – Ryan Reynolds
Ryan learned a great deal about building muscle while researching for his roles in “The Amityville Horror” and “Blade: Trinity”. “I learned that 80% of building muscle is diet,” says Reynolds, “We got the food down to a science, making sure I was getting enough calories to gain mass, but not fat. A lot of oatmeal, eggs, protein bars for snacks, chicken, fish or steak for dinner. I ate a lot of small meals all day long. Lots of protein, but plenty of carbs, too. I really don’t believe in that no-carb stuff. It’s probably not good for you – and it makes you pretty cranky.”
If you’re serious about transforming your body, a customized nutritional program is crucial. Everyone needs a slightly different amount of food, depending on their current weight, activity level, and goals. Nutritionist Kyle Leon explains this more in detail in this video:
[By the way, Kyle’s own muscle building and nutritional program can be found here. It is completely customizable to you - unlike nearly every other program on the net. For hardgainers, I really can’t recommend it enough.]
Ryan Reynolds Workout
It wasn’t all nutrition though. In fact, without his workout and a few little-known fitness tricks, his body wouldn’t be anywhere near where it is today.
Ryan’s personal trainer is a member of the UK’s Olympic bobsled team, and Ryan says that he is one of the most inspiring individual he’s ever met. He had him training as if Ryan himself was competing in the olympics.
“If you hate your workout, you’re not going to do it. Customize your fitness plan to meet your needs” – Ryan warns.
“Workouts were about 2-3 hours,” Ryan tell us, “Generally starting off with sit-ups. Then heavy weights for muscle bulk. I’m a pretty scrawny guy so we cut cardio entirely and just focused on bulking up. Weight training involved a variety of exercises too numerous to mention at reps of about 8-12, for 6 days a week. After the first week I was longing for the sweet release of death, but soon enough got really into it.”
Due to Ryan’s hardgainer genetic makeup, he was lucky enough to not have to worry about cardio at all. He’d work one body part per day, one day dedicated to chest, one to back, one to legs, one to shoulders, and mixed in arms somewhat randomly.
Ryan’s Secret
I feel it’s important to mention one last thing that Ryan Reynolds used to give him his edge, something that most people fail to implement in their routines; it’s a technique called the “Shrink Wrap Effect”.
In short, the Shrink Wrap Effect involves getting smaller than you want to be through dieting and working out, holding that size for a month or so, then working their way up to their desired weight. What this does is it allows your skins to shrink a little bit, thus giving your skin a “stretched” or “shrink wrap” effect over your muscles (particularly yours abs) when you hit your desired size. This makes you look tighter, leaner, and more ripped than you would if you had simply dieted down to your desired weight to begin with.
For a more detailed overview of the Shrink Wrap Effect, take a look at this video [opens in a new window, scroll down to video #3]:
That’s pretty much it. If you take anything away from this, it’s that a proper diet and workout plan is key to getting the body you want. That said, you don’t have to spend your life savings on a personal trainer and dietician to get results like Ryan Reynolds. A simple yet incredibly effective customized diet plan like Kyle Leon’s and a killer workout like Rusty Moore’s is all you need. If anyone else tells you otherwise – they’re lying.
- Josh
Article by JoshVales
Josh is an Expert Trainer and Best-Selling Fitness Author. His mission is to cut through all the B.S. about losing fat and gaining muscle that's spread by so-called 'gurus' and broscience. He wants to help people reach their fitness goals through truth and knowledge.
Josh has written 61 awesome articles for us at Last Stop Fat Loss
Twitter: @laststopfatloss
