This weekend in Vancouver, Apolo Anton Ohno has solidified himself in history as the most-decorated American Winter Olympian of all time. Like the medals he earned at Salt Lake city and Turin, his silver medal (1500 m) and bronze (1000 m) required lots of off-season training – about 12 hours of training per day.
“If you want to build leg strength, jumping with resistance is probably the fastest way to do it,” Ohno told Men’s Fitness in its February 2010 issue. Specifically, Ohno wears a 45-pound vest while doing one-legged chest-to-knee jumps. As if that wasn’t hard enough, he keeps the raised foot behind him at 90 degrees parallel to the ground.
Ohno’s recommendation to try at home: walk sideways up the stairs (one step at a time) with a speed skater position; this will strengthen your glutes, hamstrings, and calves.
Of course, the short track speed skater also has to supplement his training with the proper diet:
“I have many post-race meals but one of them is Coconut Chicken Curry with Washington fingerling potatoes. It’s the perfect match for a long day of training or racing where I need to fuel my body with the right proteins, carbohydrates, and vegetables to boot. I make it in a slow cooker. One of my good friends, Sov, initially showed me his version of the recipe.” Men’s Fitness
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Iron Man 2 opened last Friday and brought in over $130 million in box office sales, putting it at #5 for top grossing opening weekends of all time. The blockbuster action flick’s all-star cast certainly spent a lot of time in the gym preparing for their roles. We’ve already reviewed Robert Downey Jr.’s workout and the diet and fitness plan Gwyneth Paltrow used to tone up for the big screen. Today, we take a look at the training Scarlett Johansson did to squeeze into her catsuit for her role as Black Widow.
On commitment…
“There is no magic wand to wave over oneself to look good in a latex catsuit. Eating healthy and getting fit is about commitment, determination, consistency and the dedication to self-preservation,” Johansson wrote in a letter to the Huffington Post.
Staying active while busy…
“Pull ups, crunches, lunges, squats, jumping jacks, planks, walking, jogging and push ups are all exercises that can be performed without fancy trainers or gym memberships. I’ve realized through this process that no matter how busy my life may be, I feel better when I take a little time to focus on staying active,” said Scarlett
From the trainer…
SELF Magazine caught up with Johansson’s trainer Bobby Strom, who also trains her husband Ryan Reynolds, to get some details on the workout routine the actress used. “No workout was ever exactly the same because I didn’t want her to get bored. I wanted to keep her in a place where she wanted to do more,” he says. “I was having her do a lot of balance, coordination, and core work, but what she really loved was the strength training–things like pullups and kettlebells–and the idea of feeling and looking strong,” said Strom.
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Gwyneth Paltrow recently shared the workout and diet program she used to prepare for her role as Pepper Potts in Iron Man 2 with the readers of her GOOP newsletter.
“Well, I am not going to lie, the process was an arduous one,” said the 37-year-old actress. “My trainer, Tracy Anderson, basically, like, pummeled me into submission and made me do all kinds of crazy things. She really changed my body for this movie,” Gwyneth Paltrow told Us Weekly.
“This regime got me into the shape of my life and I continue to return to it when I have a specific event so that I can do ridiculous things like be a 37-year-old mother of two and wear shorts!” said Paltrow.
Tracy Anderson is well known as being one of the best celebrity trainers out there, having designed programs for many of Hollywood celebrities. Here’s the 3-part routine Anderson put Gwyneth Paltrow through as she got ready for what could be the summer’s hottest blockbuster….
1) Cardio – Each morning, the actress would begin with 45 minutes of dance cardio (videos available on the Tracy Anderson website).
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