There's no denying that
Jason Momoa is big – not just in terms of the growing list of roles to his acting resume, but also in body mass. He played the barbaric (but ultimately sweet) Khal Drogo in
Game of Thrones and now is in full swing working with DC to play superhero Aquaman, both characters with brute strength clearly made visible by the fact that they're both usually shirtless.
The Hawaiian-born actor has to be in top shape to do the characters justice, meaning he's had to work out
hard to gain a lot of muscle. In fact, he put on an astounding 25 pounds of pure muscle in a short amount of time for the role of Aquaman, who featured in the recently released Justice League and is set to star in a solo effort in 2018.
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So did he swim thousands of kilometers in order to get the heir of Atlantis physique? Of course not. No way can you get guns like those simply by paddling in the pool a few hours each day. Plus, the 38-year-old told Men's Health magazine “swimming can be boring. To me, it’s like going on a treadmill.”
According to Muscle and Strength magazine, Momoa has followed the Accelerated Results 7 (AR-7) routine for a while now. The full-body plan is unique in how it can get anyone in top shape in a short amount of time.
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The key is in using low reps, low weight, and little rest between exercises. Low weights without many reps? Sounds weird right? It comes down to the high tempo and fast pace, meaning you'll start to feel the burn much sooner, with the aim of reaching muscular failure.
This also means you'll be able to do the workout a few times a day, as Momoa did. Training for Aquaman, he was in the gym two hours a day for about five-to-six days a week. This level of dedication and having to work through the pain of deliberate muscle failure clearly paid off.
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The AR-7 routine was developed by personal trainer Eric Laciste, who Momoa's been training with since his role as Conan the Barbarian in 2010. The gym where Momoa trains with Laciste is LA-based is one that's seen other actors and stuntmen get ripped for films like 300 and Fight Club.
"It’s this huge warehouse and just a bunch of f**king bad-asses crushing weights," Momoa said, describing the gym.
But it seems also before he started doing the Aquaman workouts, Momoa wasn't all that interested in hitting the weights.
"It's very hard sometimes to just work out. It's monotonous and you can get stuck in a rut," Momoa told Men's Health. "I get bored, so I do a lot more boxing, surfing, climbing – I do the things I love to do when I'm not training for a role."
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"When I have to change my body type, then we just switch it up. Doing a lot more weights for size; a lot more cardio for definition."
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Whatever he's doing, it's working.
