Your day might be busy, but is it Mark Wahlberg busy?
The rapper-turned-actor just posted his daily routine on social media, and people around the globe are misplacing their excrement at the insanity of it all.
I mean, waking up at 2:30 AM to workout?
Fuck that with a capital fist!
But all is not what it seems here, so in this article I’m going to explain why you shouldn’t make yourself feel bad by comparing your schedule versus his… but first, here’s Mark Wahlberg’s daily routine in full:
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 2:30 AM | Wake up |
| 2:45 AM | Prayer time |
| 3:15 AM | Breakfast |
| 3:40 AM | Workout A |
| 5:30 AM | Post-workout meal |
| 6:00 AM | Shower |
| 7:30 AM | Golf |
| 8:00 AM | Snack |
| 9:30 AM | Cryo chamber recovery |
| 10:30 AM | Snack |
| 11:00 AM | Family time / meetings / work calls |
| 1:00 PM | Lunch |
| 2:00 PM | Meetings / work calls |
| 3:00 PM | Pick up kids from school |
| 3:30 PM | Snack |
| 4:00 PM | Workout B |
| 5:00 PM | Shower |
| 5:30 PM | Dinner / family time |
| 7:30 PM | Bedtime |
My Take On This Routine
The internet went crazy when Mark Wahlberg posted this, and I saw lots of people putting pressure on themselves, saying things like:
“How can he workout twice per day, and spend so much family time, and still make millions of dollars when I’m struggling to make ends meet???”
The answer is because this routine is not difficult.
Heck, most of you are already doing more than this!
Let’s break it down.
- Mark Wahlberg gets more sleep than you
Waking up at 2:30 AM to train sounds nuts, but perhaps more impressive is the fact that he goes to bed at 7:30 PM. That means Marky Mark’s getting a solid seven hours of sleep every night, which is considerably more than many people.
A 2014 report published by the CDC showed that a whopping 33% of Americans are getting less than four hours on a regular basis, and this can be absolutely devastating from a fitness and lifestyle perspective. Insufficient sleep has strong links to low testosterone, poor in-gym performance, and muscle loss. (1, 2, 3, 4)
- Mark Wahlberg is being paid handsomely to train twice per day
Wahlberg uses an AM/PM double split which has been popular with actors and professional bodybuilders since the 1970s.
His first session (2am) involves a full-body weights workout, and the second session (4pm) is an hour of cardio.
It’s a training strategy which requires a lot of free time (which he has), and it’s considered part of their job. It should go without saying that most people cannot live this way due to financial restrictions and/or family commitments, so don’t beat yourself up about it.
In some ways, the extremity of these methods shines a light on the intense pressure actors are under to look “perfect” on the big screen – a pressure which often leads them down a dark path of unsustainable training methods, questionable substances, and stupid fucking diets.
For example, Superman actor Henry Cavill once endured a monstrous training camp to look his best for a six second topless scene in Man Of Steel! And then there’s Sylvester Stallone, who took this type of behaviour to the absolute brink of insanity during the 1980s. His training for Rocky III is the stuff of Hollywood lore:
- 2 hours lifting weights
- 18 rounds of sparring in a boxing ring
- 2 miles of jogging outside
- 1 hour of jump rope
- 1 hour of swimming
- THIS IS PER DAY.
Mark Wahlberg hasn’t gone as crazy as Stallone did back in the day, but his workout program is still something whihc most “normal people” would find difficult to fit into their lives.
While we’re on the topic, here’s what one of his full-body weights workouts looks like:
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Barbell Deadlift | 4 | 8 |
| Clean Pull | 4 | 8 |
| Hang Snatch | 4 | 8 |
| DB Rear Lunges | 4 | 8 |
| Push Press | 4 | 8 |
| Bulgarian Split Squats | 4 | 8 |
| Barbell Bench Press | 4 | 8 |
| Bodyweight Inverted Row | 4 | 8 |
| Farmer’s Walk | 2 | 100 yards |
| DB Biceps Curl | 2 | 8 |
| Cable Chest Press | 2 | 8 |
| Leg Press | 2 | 8 |
| Triceps Pushdown | 2 | 8 |
| DB Seated Lateral Raise | 2 | 8 |
The second workout of the day (at 4PM) will either be an hour of steady state cardio on an exercise bike or an outdoor HIIT workout on his private golf course (yep).
“Sometimes I find cardio dull, so I’ll ditch the bike and put in some extra work during my golf rounds. I tee off then literally run around the golf course! We’d hit a drive, then sprint to the ball, and rest until the caddies arrive, then hit another ball and sprint again!”
– Mark Wahlberg
- Mark Wahlberg’s workday is only 3 hours
Most people didn’t notice this part.
The vast majority of readers have a tougher schedule, but the sad part is many of them don’t realize it.
For example, the same guy who asked me to do a write-up on Mark Wahlberg’s daily routine owns a restaurant near my gym. He has five children and his home life sounds like a blender without a lid.
To be honest with you, it broke my heart to hear him being so hard on himself for being unable to spend as much family time or earn as much money, and questioning his own work ethic for feeling like he needs a bit of “me time” to relax at the end of a long day – all because a Hollywood actor gets up at 2am! So if you take just one thing away with you today, please stop comparing your life to that of a fucking celebrity.
Further Reading:
If you enjoyed this blog, then you’ll probably also like reading these.
>> A Look At John Cena’s Workout Program
>> How Sylvester Stallone Has Adapted His Training Over The Years
>> The Rules To Ripped
References:
- Dattilo M., et al. Sleep and muscle recovery: endocrinological and molecular basis for a new and promising hypothesis. Med Hypotheses (2011).
- Halson S. L. Sleep in Elite Athletes and Nutritional Interventions to Enhance Sleep. Sports Med (2014).
- Leproult R., et al. Effect of 1 week of sleep restriction on testosterone levels in young healthy men. JAMA (2011).
- Liu Y, et al. Prevalence of Healthy Sleep Duration among Adults – United States, 2014. CDC (2014).