Zac Efron has been in the media quite a lot lately. Aside from talk about his new movie “Bad Neighbors” and his shirtless performance at the MTV Movie Awards, people have been talking about the Zac Efron Workout.
It is no secret that the actor has been in great shape lately. He was featured in the 2012 Men’s Health Magazine and has one of the best bodies seen on a human being, according to Seth Rogen.
The Challenge
Although he is not completely ripped and doesn’t have big muscles, Zac Efron has one of the best male bodies in Hollywood.
Efron is one of those guys that have a high metabolism, which is why he can consume a lot of calories and still not gain any weight.
However, this presents a challenge for the 26 year old movie star who weighs only 68 kilos. The high metabolism makes it hard if you want to gain weight and even harder if you want to build lean muscle mass.
It is also important to give your body at least 2 days rest from the gym. This allows you muscles to recover. You must also alternate the parts of your body that you are training on different days.
So if you focus on your upper body on Monday, you should train your lower body on Tuesday and alternate like this throughout the week.
You should take Wednesday off and then concentrate on your legs and triceps on Thursday.
This time off is vital as your muscles can only grow, when you give them a rest. The best exercises to do to build lean muscle mass are bench presses, dead lifts and squats. These exercises use more muscle groups, while helping you to lift heavier weights.
How Does Zac Efron Workout?
Zac believes in doing exercises that build strength and get rid of fat. This is why he prioritizes cardiovascular exercises. He is also one of those people who doesn’t like going to the gym very often, but rather prefers to work out in the great outdoors, doing hiking, cycling and running activities.
Zac enjoys playing sport such as soccer and basketball and engaging in other adrenaline rushing activities such as rock climbing and surfing.
Zac Efron is an early bird who believes in working out at the crack of dawn. He says that this helps him to stay ahead of his schedule and gets the toxins out of his body as efficiently as possible.
Zac has had to engage in some hardcore workout routines to develop his military style body.
He regularly performed exercises such as bench presses, squats, pull and push ups, bicep and tricep curls as well as weight crunches and side bends for the abs. To develop his shoulders, biceps and triceps, he has also done dips on parallel bars.
One of Zacs secrets to developing muscle is to take it slow. Even though you might its better to workout faster or use your body’s momentum, the secret is to do your weight training slowly so that you engage each and every one of your muscles.
The Zen Way
Efrom has mentioned that he also uses the Zen Diet meal plan. This company provides pre-packed nutrition meals that contain adequate nutrition and calories for those who want to build body mass and take care of their bodies, but live a very busy lifestyle.
This is what Zac says has helped him in his goal to eat right.
Workout Breakdown
The Zac Efron workout is designed to build muscle in your entire physique. The biceps will be the muscle that grows the most as it will be getting hit hard twice per week with heavy exercise for a few sets and light exercise for high reps and short rest periods.
These routines will maximize muscle growth.
The shoulders will be getting hit heavy on Mondays with shoulder presses and light on Wednesday with isolation movements. The triceps are also getting a good workout with the pushing movements, skull crushers and rope push downs.
The chest and back receive a good workout once a week. This is to add some muscle to the back and chest without putting too much strain on these areas. The legs get their workout once a week.
The legs are perhaps the easiest part of your body to work out. Your legs can be strong and athletic, but don’t need to be huge.
The key to getting a balanced workout is to focus on lower body movements just 2 to 3 times per week. If you focus too much attention on your lower body, you will end up with chaffing thighs and sloppy fitting pants.
How to Warm Up for a Zac Efron Workout?
Everybody knows how important it is to warm up before a high intensity work out such as weight lifting. If you fail to do proper warm up exercises, you stand the risk of injury.
Once you get injured, your goals of gaining muscle will go out the window.
If you want to get warmed up for lifting weights, then your warm up should consist of lifting weights. Running is not going to prepare you for lifting weights, but lifting weights will prepare you for this.
What to Do for Abs
Before you think about getting those sexy V abs, you must lose all your excess body fat. This is purely because the leaner you are the more visible your V abs will be. Once you achieve a slimmer waist line, you will start to notice the V shape in your abs.
However, theses exercises can help you achieve more pronounced V abs. Side to side knee ups are a great way to achieve these abs and so are leg raise from dip bar and spread leg.
Renegade rows are the ultimate workout to achieve V abs.
4 to 6 Workouts are Not Necessarily Better than 3
Most people think that the more workouts you do, the better it is for building muscle, however, this is not true. Once you have had 3 full sessions, the law of diminishing returns kicks in. By lifting 3 days per week, you allow your body enough time to recover and gain strength.
The Zac Efron Workout
Monday – Upper Body Workout
Start your Monday morning workout with a low grade 2 minute jog or 6 minute run.
Strength 1
Continue your routine with 20 reps each on the dumbbell bench presses and dumbbell flys, doing a separate 30 reps on the bar dip. Repeat the strength-training circuit one, two more times. Now for the cardio 2 exercises, start with a 30 seconds HIIT workout and then do a 30 seconds jog and repeat this for 10 minutes.
Strength 2
Continue your workout with 20 reps each on dumbbell bench presses, dumbbell incline bench presses and tricep extensions. Repeat the strength-training circuit two, two more times. For the 3rd part of the routine do a high grade 2 minute jog, 6 minute run or a 2 minute jump rope. End your routine with 20 reps each on ups, bicycle crunches and twisting plank.
Tuesday – Lower Body Workout
Start off your Tuesday morning with a 2 minute jog or 6 minute step ups.
Strength 1
Do 20 reps each on forward lunge with the dumbbell bicep-curl, squat trust and push press. Repeat the strength-training circuit a further two times. For your next routine do a 30 second sprint and then a 30 second jog and repeat for 10 minutes.
Strength 2
Start off with a walking-lunge with the dumbbell bicep-curl, then continue with the squat thrust and squat press, doing 20 reps on each of these exercises. Repeat the strength-training circuit two, two more times. For your 3rd cardio routine, start off with a 2 minute jog or jump rope or alternatively go for a 6 minute run. For your last routine for the day, start off doing 20 reps each on ab crunches and Bosu Ball knee tucks, then end the workout off with forearm planks, holding for 30 second and repeating 3 times.
Wednesday – Bach Workout
A slow 2 minute stair climbing exercise or a fast 6 minute one will help your start your Wednesday morning off.
Strength 1
Doing 20 reps each on the dumbbell rows, bent over dumbbell flys and dumbbell lateral raises will keep you busy for a while. Repeat the strength-training circuit one, two more times. Continue with a slow 2 minute stair climbing or fast 6 minute stair climbing routine.
Strength 2
Repeat the dumbbell rows, bent over dumbbell flys and dumbbell lateral raises, doing the same 20 reps on each one of them. Repeat the strength-training circuit two, two more times. Include the stair climbing exercise once again, doing it fast for 6 minutes or slow for 2 minutes. End the day doing 20 reps each on v ups, bicycle crunches and twisting plank.
Thursday – Upper Body Workout
Start the day off doing a 2 minute jog or a 6 minute run on a steep grade.
Strength 1
Continue with 20 reps each on the dumbbell bench presses, dumbbell incline bench presses and bar dips. Repeat strength-training circuit 1, 2 more times. Next continue with the 2nd cardio HIIT exercise alternating between a 30 second sprint and a 30 second jog and repeating this routine for 10 minutes.
Strength 2
Start this part of your routine off doing dumbbell bench presses, dumbbell incline bench presses and triceps extensions. Do 20 reps on each of these exercises. Repeat the strength -training circuit two, two more times. Continue with a 2 minute jog or 6 minute run on a steep grade. Then proceed doing 20 reps each on the ab crunches and Bosu ball knee tucks. End the day doing the forearm plank, holding for 30 second and repeating it 3 times.
Friday – Lower Body Workout
Finally, start your Friday morning off with a 10 minute jump rope exercise.
Strength 1
Do 20 reps on the forward lunge with dumbbell bicep-curl, then continue with 20 reps each on the squat thrust and squat press. Repeat the strength-training circuit two, two more times. For your second cardio workout, alternate between a 30 second sprint and a 30 second jog, repeating this for 10 minutes.
Strength 2
Continue doing 20 reps each on the walking-lunge with dumbbell bicep-curl, and then another 20 reps each on the squat thrust and squat press exercise. Repeat the strength-training circuit two, two more times. A 2 minute jog or a 5 minute run, will help you continue with the next part of this routine. End your Friday off doing 20 reps each on the ups, bicycle crunches and the twisting plank exercise.
As you can see, there is a strict schedule and routine that you must abide by, in order to see the desired results. If you discipline yourself and take your routine seriously, you will see the results you are after.
Zac Efron is a hard gainer, which basically means he can skip a workout or two an not worry too much about getting out of shape. However, the reason behind him training is simply – his love for it. It also makes him feel good.
This is also linked to our conscious minds. When we look good, we feel good. When you decide to workout, don’t simply do it to be healthy and fit, but rather find a way to enjoy what you doing.
Stir things up a bit by adding your own unique twist and making things fun. You will find that it is so much more enjoyable this way and you will be so much more successful at what you do.
Like Zac Efron says, working out at the start of the day is very important. You have more energy and you have more motivation in the mornings as well. By sticking to this early bird schedule, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you have already been productive for the day, no matter how the day progresses.
Original Source: All About The Zac Efron Workout Program
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