The Wolverine Transformation: Week 0— Research and Preparation

18 min readMay 6, 2019

In this article, I plan on sharing the steps I’m taking to change myself from being overweight, out-of-shape, and feeling lousy to shredded like Hugh Jackman was in the 2013 film, The Wolverine.

This article covers:

Where I am now versus where I want to be.
My goals to get to where I want to be.
The Wolverine Diet (aka, how I need to eat).
The Wolverine Workout (aka, how I need to exercise).
My biggest challenges to tackling these goals.
How I plan to overcome my own challenges.
A checklist of the things I need to do to get ready to start next Monday.
The reasons why I’m doing this.

In about a month, I’ll be 38.

And I wake up every day feeling like crap. When I see pictures of myself on social media I groan at the sight of my visible gut. In fact, I’ve started to wear button downs and dark t-shirts to hide my tum.

I find myself napping constantly; when I don’t, I’m easily exhausted. Even cutting the grass in my yard is enough to wipe me out.

Depression? You betcha.

I am NOT in great shape.

That’s why I’ve decided to make a change with a little help from my friend Hugh Jackman.

Go big or go home.

Okay, Hugh Jackman isn’t really my friend. Yet.

But he’s the perfect model for what a male body can become when you’re over the age of 35. For the 2013 film, The Wolverine, Hugh got into incredible shape, looking even better than he did when he made the first X-Men film back in the year 2000.

Perhaps I’ll have claws, too, when I’m done? Image from Fox.

For many, Hugh’s condition when he was in the Wolverine is considered the pinnacle of diet/workout regiments to produce the “perfect male body.”

Of course, everyone’s definition varies.

But shit. That’s what I wanna look like. He’s my “Tyler Durden.”

This will be my goal in this series: to go from looking like I do now (see below) to how Hugh looked — or at least close to it — in just twenty-five weeks.

Where I am now versus where I want to be.

Here are a few quick stats for Hugh Jackman when he was in his Wolverine shape in 2013:

Hugh was 44-years-old when he filmed The Wolverine.
He is 6'2" (nerd alert: that’s probably too tall for Wolverine who is short AF in the comics, but I digress).
He weighed around 195–205 lbs when filming The Wolverine.
It’s believed his body fat percentage was in the vicinity of 6–8%.

Now let’s compare the current me.

I will be 38-years-old on June 10th.
I stand 6'0". In case you were wondering, I’m too tall to play Wolverine accurately, too.
I currently weigh around 225–230 lbs., the heaviest I’ve ever been.
My body fat percentage is 22.16% (rough estimate using cheap ass calipers and an online calculator, but that number feels about right based on past numbers/appearances).

The good news is that my age, height, and build are all right around Hugh’s. But the obvious difference is in my body fat percentage and overall muscle mass.

I’ve worked out before, so I’m not a total weakling. But looking at pics of Hugh deadlifting online, I can see that I’ve got a little ways to go.

Here is Hugh lifting 90–100% of his maximum deadlift:

He’s lifting over 400 lbs in that image, or 185 kg, twice his own body weight.

Shit, I’d be surprised if I could even lift my own body weight without totally throwing out my back.

Setting goals based on where I am now versus where I want to be.

Okay, so I now have some goals that I can map out.

I need to reduce my overall body fat percentage, taking it from 22% to 7% in 25 weeks. That means I need to shed off 0.6% overall body fat each week. Tim Ferriss managed a similar feat (granted, he was already in great shape) going from 16.72% to 12.23% in 4 weeks, nearly twice the rate I hope to shed fat.
I need to be able to lift twice my target body weight (we’ll pencil in 200 lbs for now) at the end of the period. Assuming I can do a single rep of 200 lbs now, that means I need to increase my deadlift weight by 8 pounds per week. That’s a lofty goal, but it’s a goal nonetheless.

Goals are great and all, but I’m going to need a roadmap to get there.

What should I eat?

And how should I exercise?

In addition to diet and exercise, I’ll also need to know the sorts of challenges I’ll face on my way to my Wolverine body.

What can keep me from these goals?

And how can I overcome those obstacles?

The Wolverine Diet

First things first: eating right.

I eat for shit. Seriously, it’s bad, y’all. Here is where my diet is currently:

I literally eat donuts 5–6 times per week. Each of these “meals” accompanied by a sugary-ass Starbucks Vanilla Iced Coffee drink (or two). This is super high calorie (probably in the 1,500+ range) and mega-carb loaded.
I’m not much of a lunch eater, usually working (or napping) straight through it. Occasionally, I’ll snack, but not on anything healthy. Chips, my kid’s granola bars, cold breakfast cereal, or whatever else is “easy.”
Dinner is a little better. My wife and I subscribe to Sun Basket which at least has healthy meals. But that only comes three days per week. Thus, I tend to fill the non-Sun Basket days with fast food.
Late night is treacherous. My willpower drops to zero and my sugar cravings are off the charts. That’s when rush to the nearest 7–11 to get cookies, snacks, and soda.

The Wolverine Diet will be a massive change to my normal eating routine.

I’ve done a bit of research on what Hugh ate to get into shape.

According to Hugh, his food was normally bland.

It’s chicken breast, but steamed and no salt, and steamed spinach.

Hugh’s Wolverine trainer, David Kingsbury, had this to say about Hugh’s diet:

The food varied through the different stages. However, we followed one nutrition principle throughout the entire training: carb cycling. We had carbs on weight training days, and went low-carb on rest days.
The most important part of dieting comes in calculating the amount of calories and macronutrients for the specific goal. He ate very clean throughout the entire film, but more importantly, he consumed the right amount of calories for his goal.

Here is what his typical day of eating looked like on a day that Hugh was training:

Meal 1: 1 egg and 1 cup of oatmeal.
Meal 2: a steak, a sweet potato, and 1 cup of broccoli.
Meal 3: a chicken breast, 1 cup of brown rice, and 1 cup of spinach
Meal 4: a fish filet, an avocado, and 1 cup of broccoli

Another tidbit about Hugh’s diet I discovered was that he ate only in an 8 hour period each day, utilizing a nutritional concept called intermittent fasting.

By only eating during an 8 hour period, you can focus on other tasks without having to worry about food. For Hugh, he eats during 10 am and 6 pm. This means that after his early morning workout, he can focus on his shoot for a few hours before having his first meal. If his shoot goes into the late hours of the night, he can simply sleep when he is done.

So what do I need my macronutrient and dieting goals need to be?

According to thewolverinediet.com, Hugh ate roughly 4,455 calories per day, 50% protein, 20% carbs, and 30% fat. Of course, Hugh had to bulk up. I need to, uh… “bulk down.”

I dug up this calculator online to figure out what my macros need to be.

While I question its accuracy (it was totally a lead magnet fishing for emails so they could sell me products), it’s as good as place as any to start.

This is based on the following assumptions:

I weigh 230 lbs and wish to weigh around 200 lbs.
I currently have somewhat of a sedentary lifestyle. In other words, as a professional writer, I don’t get up and move around a lot during the day. Since this is how I make my moolah, this probably won’t change.
However, I plan on offsetting my lifestyle with heavy exercise. I’m challenging myself with 90 minutes of exercise four days per week (MTTF).
I’m looping in the same macronutrient split that Hugh used, 50:20:30.

The Wolverine Workout

Next, I need a workout plan. Researching thewolverinediet.com, there is a bit of hope in Hugh’s story.

It’s important to keep in mind from above that Jackman’s body wasn’t always huge. Throughout most of his life he varied between being skinny and athletic. In fact, Jackman’s personal trainer for the past 20 years Mike Ryan claims that everyone used to call him “Chicken Legs.”

Thanks to a long life of waiting tables and selling cars, my legs are in pretty good shape. It’s just everything north of my belt that needs a little work.

Here is where the nightmare begins:

According to Ryan, Hugh wakes around 4 a.m. before a 6 a.m. shoot and his average workout can last around 3 hours. While this sounds crazy, an insane amount of training will get you that big. However, most workout sessions are around an hour and a half for Hugh.

That’s about what I penciled in for myself: four workout sessions per week running about 90 minutes each.

Hugh’s training sessions and Wolverine Workout focuses on always switching things up to “shock” the body. Each morning begins with a 10-minute cardio routine followed by a strict weight lifting session that focuses on compound movements. After each session is always some form of cardio, whether Hugh is swimming or jogging on a treadmill. Cardio lasts for 20 minutes and is medium to low intensity.

Ugh, cardio, how I hate thee.

But this gut ain’t going away without it, so I gotta suck it up.

I follow Hugh on Facebook and know that he’s a huge fan of rowing. I like rowing, too, so I’ll probably make that my cardio outlet.

What about weight lifting?

The Wolverine Diet has a neato graphic showing what a typical four-day workout routine looked like for Hugh Jackman when he was training for The Wolverine.

Pretty intense, but nothing I haven’t done before when I’ve tried to get into shape. I actually have “okay” form, too, although I plan on focusing heavily on that — this “old man” doesn’t want to throw his damn back out, you know.

Kingsbury had this to add in his interview with bodybuilding.com:

The primary goals of this plan were to improve strength and size while keeping body fat to a minimum. We used a program that included progressive overload to ensure continual strength gains. The system may look complicated at first, but once you get started and have your numbers recorded, it becomes a very easy system to follow.
The training program is designed on a four-week schedule. During these four weeks the reps for the main lifts are changed each week. For the first three weeks the weight should increase each week. Then, during the fourth week, the weight is reduced to be able to perform 10 reps.
We worked off a percentage system to figure out exactly what weights we should be lifting each week for the main lifts. For all of the weeks, the percentages are calculated from your working 1-rep max. To figure out your working 1-rep max, take 95 percent of your 1-rep max.
The Main Lifts
Barbell Bench Press
Back Squat
Weighted Pull-Up
Deadlift
Week 1
Set 1: 5 reps 60% of W1RM
Set 2: 5 reps 65% of W1RM
Set 3: 5 reps 75% of W1RM
Set 4: 5 reps 75% of W1RM
Week 2
Set 1: 4 reps 65% of W1RM
Set 2: 4 reps 75% of W1RM
Set 3: 4 reps 85% of W1RM
Set 4: 4 reps 85% of W1RM
Week 3
Set 1: 3 reps, 70% of W1RM
Set 2: 3 reps, 80% of W1RM
Set 3: 3 reps, 90% of W1RM
Set 4: 3 reps, 90% of W1RM
Week 4
Set 1: 10 reps, 40% of W1RM
Set 2: 10 reps, 50% of W1RM
Set 3: 10 reps, 60% of W1RM
Set 4: 10 reps, 90% of W1RM
Once the first block of four weeks is complete, add 5–10 percent to your working 1-rep max. Increase 5 percent if progress is slow, and 10 percent if you can reach your target reps comfortably. Use this rule to plan each new four-week block.

This shines a light on a few things I’ll need to learn before I can start. Specifically, what is my working 1 rep maximum (W1RM)?

My biggest obstacles.

If getting in shape was easy, everyone would do it.

Therefore, I have to be incredibly self-aware about my biggest challenges.

As a successful entrepreneur and marketer, there are always a few challenges that you’ll meet when you give yourself big goals.

Here are the typical goal challenges I expect to face:

Everyone’s going to tell me that “it’s impossible.” I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard this on the road to success in other areas. I just have to ignore them as usual.
And people will give their two cents. This is where I trip up a lot. I’m going to hear a lot of different feedback from a lot of different sources, all trying to get me to think their way. While I don’t mind constructive feedback — I get it all the time with Reddit and work — I have to figure out what/who’s legit and what/who can be ignored.
Staying focused. I’m ADHD AF, and super spontaneous. Fortunately, I take a pill these days that helps out a lot with that. I also find that if I write about something, I can keep myself on track. Hence this blog series.
Finding time. Okay, I don’t ever make this an excuse. Since I’ve been an entrepreneur, I’ve learned that finding time is simply a matter of cutting out shit that doesn’t matter: namely TV and cell phone usage. Plus, I spend my mornings eating donuts and napping. I’m willing to bet that takes up at least 90 minutes per day.
Depression. Man, depression can kick my ass. I take a pill to keep my head straight, but depression will always be a dragon chasing me. When I’ve been on a workout kick before, depression is what made me stop. I’ll have to combat that to succeed.
This is America. It’s waaaay easier to get shitty food here than it is to get healthy stuff. Fortunately, I’ve got the funds and resources to get around this.

Since a lot of these tie into the stuff I’m already doing with entrepreneurial stuff, I see them as minor challenges that I’ve already dealt with.

Here are the health-specific challenges I face:

Insane sugar addiction. I’ve been sober since 2011. Giving up booze was the best self-improvement decision I’ve ever made in my life. Unfortunately, it left me with crazy sugar cravings. If I’m going to succeed in this body transformation, I need to figure out a way to get rid of this addiction, even if I have to do so medically.
Shitty wrists. I’m a professional writer. So, yeah. Carpal tunnel syndrome like whoa, y’all. This makes push-ups, bench pressing, and a number of other exercises difficult.
I’m in nowhere near as good as shape as Hugh was when he started. Hugh was just coming off Les Miserables when he started getting in Wolverine shape. Plus, he’s been athletic his entire life. I have not. Skinny, yeah, but not athletic at all.

How I plan on addressing these challenges.

The biggest thing to keep me on target is blogging. I want to make sure my information is out there in the public with as many readers as I can get. Fortunately, I’ve got a pretty strong social media following. And if this post goes viral (fingers crossed), that’ll help get some fans cheering me on.

Already, I’m starting to research ways to get me off the sugar cravings. I know that if I eat breakfast in the morning, I don’t want to rush out and get donuts. Where I’ll really have to fight is in the evenings when my sugar craving is at its max and my willpower is at its lowest. This will be especially tough since I’m going to stop eating at 6 pm every night to do the intermittent fasting.

An article I read by Dr. Frank Lipman, MD, founder and director of the Eleven Eleven Wellness Center, gave some cool tips for overcoming sugar addition that I’ve posted below:

How to Fix a Sugar Addition:

Eat regularly. Eat three meals and two snacks or five small meals a day. For many people, if they don’t eat regularly, their blood sugar levels drop, they feel hungry and are more likely to crave sweet sugary snacks.
Choose whole foods. The closer a food is to its original form, the less processed sugar it will contain. Food in its natural form, including fruits and vegetables, usually presents no metabolic problems for a normal body, especially when consumed in variety.
Have a breakfast of protein, fat, and phytonutrients to start your day off right. Breakfast smoothies are ideal for this. The typical breakfast full of carbs and sugary or starchy foods is the worst option since you’ll have cravings all day. Eating a good breakfast is essential to prevent sugar cravings.
Try to incorporate protein and/or fat with each meal. This helps control blood sugar levels. Make sure they are healthy sources of each.
Add spices. Coriander, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and cardamom will naturally sweeten your foods and reduce cravings.
Take a good quality multivitamin and mineral supplement, Vitamin D3, and omega 3 fatty acids. Nutrient deficiencies can make cravings worse and the fewer nutrient deficiencies, the fewer cravings. Certain nutrients seem to improve blood sugar control including chromium, Vitamin B3 and magnesium.
Move your body. Exercise, dance or do some yoga. Whatever movement you enjoy will help reduce tension, boost your energy and decrease your need for a sugar lift.
Get enough sleep. When we are tired we often use sugar for energy to counteract the exhaustion.
Do a detox. My experience has been that when people do a detox, not only does it reset their appetites but it often decreases their sugar cravings. After the initial sugar cravings, which can be overwhelming, our bodies adjust and we won’t even want the sugar anymore and the desire will disappear.
Be open to explore the emotional issues around your sugar addiction. Many times our craving for sugar is more for an emotional need that isn’t being met.
Keep sugary snacks out of your house and office. It’s difficult to snack on things that aren’t there!
Don’t substitute artificial sweeteners for sugar.
Learn to read labels. Although I would encourage you to eat as few foods as possible that have labels, educate yourself about what you’re putting into your body. The longer the list of ingredients, the more likely sugar is going to be included on that list. So check the grams of sugar, and choose products with the least sugar per serving.
Become familiar with sugar terminology. Recognize that all of these are sweeteners: Corn syrup, corn sugar, high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, dextrose, honey, molasses, turbinado sugar, and brown sugar.
Sugar in disguise. Remember that most of the “complex” carbohydrates we consume like bread, bagels, and pasta aren’t really complex at all. They are usually highly refined and act just like sugars in the body and are to be avoided.

How to Deal with a Sugar Craving:

Take L-Glutamine, 1000–2000mg, every couple of hours as necessary. It often relieves sugar cravings as the brain uses it for fuel.
Take a “breathing break”. Find a quiet spot, get comfortable and sit for a few minutes and focus on your breath. After a few minutes of this, the craving will pass.
Distract yourself. Go for a walk, if possible, in nature. Cravings usually last for 10–20 minutes maximum. If you can distract yourself with something else, it often passes. The more you do this, the easier it gets and the cravings get easier to deal with.
Drink lots of water. Sometimes drinking water or seltzer water can help with the sugar cravings. Also sometimes what we perceive as a food craving is really thirst.
Have a piece of fruit. If you give in to your cravings, have a piece of fruit, it should satisfy a sweet craving and is much healthier.

What I need to do before Week 1.

All right, that was a huge information dump. Now it’s time to put it all together in an actionable checklist format. Here is what I need to get done this week before I start in on this insane transformation.

I need to secure a gym membership. Fortunately, my wife already has a plan at our local YMCA which is only a 3-minute drive from our house. I’m familiar with the gym and it has a kid-watch program for when my son, Jack is home with me during the summer.
Related: I need to know my W1RMs. Before I can start lifting, I need to rediscover what I actually can lift. This will require a quick trip to the gym. So, Saturday, once I get my gym membership secured, I’ll head to the Y and see what’s up.
I need to plan out my meals for next week (and forever). Taking my macronutrient list and the prototypical Hugh Jackman meals, I need to get the ingredients for the meals I’m interested in.
Related: I need to meal prep. This is where I always fail. Cooking meals during the day sucks. But let’s face it: this food ain’t going to be exciting. So I should probably cook it all in advance and throw it in the fridge. Sunday is probably the best day for that. So Sunday morning I’ll hit the grocery store with my meal plan list, but everything I need, and cook it in advance. 4 meals per day for 6 days means I need to make room in my fridge for 24 meals. Wowzas!
I need to prepare myself for sugar cravings. I’m interested in this L-Glutamine, so I’ll probably do a lot more research on it and how it works. Is it BS? Or does it work? And if it works, should I order some on Amazon? If that doesn’t work, I should have a plan for dealing with sugar cravings. Should I go for a walk at night? Maybe I should have my wife hide my credit cards at night?
Related: supplements research. I read on one of those blogs that Hugh was getting sick eating so much protein each day. He had to turn to protein supplements and creatine to reach the protein levels he needed. I can see myself doing the same.
Related: research research research. The more I dive in, the more I want to learn. But again, I need to be careful with having my perceptions change with something new I read.
Meet with doctors. I’ve got an appointment to meet my therapist tomorrow, so I’ll let him know what my plan is (he’s a bodybuilder, oddly enough). Also, I should probably meet with a general practitioner to get details on my overall health such as blood sugar levels, cholesterol, etc., so I can track those metrics, too. Plus, getting feedback on this rapid shift and what to expect is probably a good idea, too.
Related: consult with friends that are experts in health/nutrition. I know a few people who are nutritionists and are in great shape; these are folks that I trust. I’m going to share this blog post with them and get their feedback on what I should do.
Get a calendar. I’m a huge nerd for the book The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. In the book, they describe how Jerry Seinfeld kept to a rigid schedule of writing one joke per day by making X’s on a calendar. After a while, it wasn’t about writing a joke for Jerry, but making sure he never “broke the chain.” I think I need to do the same.

Why am I doing this?

This is a big, fat lofty goal. But my life has been nothing but a series of big, fat lofty goals. Some work out. Others don’t.

I’ve been hanging around a lot of successful people lately. Already, I share a lot of things in common with these folks. I’m smart. I’ve got big goals. I’ve accomplished a whole lot in a very small period.

However, one thing they have that I don’t are great physiques. What good is a big, juicy brain if the body carrying it around is total shite?

Another reason I want to do this is because of my mom. My mom died in 2016 because she had extremely poor health. She had a horrible sugar craving and let depression get the best of her. I don’t want to end up like that.

Finally, I’m a huge D&D nerd. In fact, that’s my biggest and most successful side hustle. How’s that related? I’d like to break the stereotype and become the “buff nerd.” Kinda like Joe Manganiello. He’s also a D&D nerd, but he’s got the whole Wolverine body working for him, too.

Check it out:

Anyways, I’m putting the plan in motion. Wish me luck!

If you have any questions, comments, or feedback, be sure to let me know what’s up down below. Also, be sure to follow along with this blog as I continue this journey and share the details of other fun projects I’m working on.