Mark Wahlberg has posted what a typical day in his life looks like, and people around the world are misplacing their excrement.
Here it is:
- 2:30 A.M. Wake up
- 2:45 A.M. Prayer time
- 3:15 A.M. Breakfast
- 3:40 A.M. Workout 1
- 5:30 A.M. Post-workout meal
- 6:00 A.M. Shower
- 7:30 A.M. Golf
- 8:00 A.M. Snack
- 9:30 A.M. Cryo chamber recovery
- 10:30 A.M. Snack
- 11:00 A.M. Family time / meetings / work calls
- 1:00 P.M. Lunch
- 2:00 P.M. Meetings / work calls
- 3:00 P.M. Pick up kids from school
- 3:30 P.M. Snack
- 4:00 P.M.Workout 2
- 5:00 P.M. Shower
- 5:30 P.M. Dinner / family time
- 7:30 P.M. Bedtime
Is It Really “Insane”?
It’s a routine which clearly works for Mark Wahlberg. He was 2017’s highest paid actor, earning a stupendous $69 million. Perhaps even more impressive is that he achieved it without appearing in a Marvel movie.
But here’s the thing…
I’ve seen a LOT of people be way too hard on themselves after reading this.
It’s important to remember that Mark Wahlberg leads a very luxurious celebrity lifestyle. Sure, he gets up at 2:30 in the morning to train, but he also goes to bed at 7:30 in the evening. That’s 7 hours sleep, which is more than most people get despite the media reporting this routine as “extreme”.
The reason I wrote this article is to show you that it’s NOT insane. If you wanted to live this way, you could totally handle it.
I’m sick of seeing people heap undue presure on themselves:
“How does this guy make millions of dollars, exercise twice per day, and still have time to be with his family?”
- He gets more sleep than you
The thing which jumps out of the screen is the crazy 2:30am wake-up time.
But as I mentioned earlier, Mark regularly clocks 7 hours of sleep per day. If he was going to bed at 11pm and waking up at 2:30am then he would have a whole host of problems (muscle loss, lower testosterone, poor training performance), but he isn’t doing that. (1, 2, 3)
Heck, a 2014 report found that 33% of Americans get insufficient sleep. That means a third of the USA actually gets less sleep than Mark Wahlberg. (4)
- He trains twice per day
If you’re an avid gym enthusiast, then you may have done this before.
Workout #1 is a weights-based session, and workout #2 is one hour of cardio.
It’s a traditional AM/PM split used by many, although it requires you to have a lot of free time on your hands in order to be consistent with it.
It makes sense why it’s so popular with action movie actors, given the intense pressure of building a body which will be judged forever on the silver screen, and some have been more extreme than others. Back in the 1980s, Sylvester Stallone took things to the absolute limit. In his book Sly Moves, he talks about how his diet was so strict he did handstands between takes to beat dizzy spells, and how his training for Rocky III consisted of 2 hours of weight training, 18 rounds of sparring, 2 miles of jogging, a selection of jump rope sessions, and swimming – every day!
Thankfully, people don’t really go that far nowadays!
Here’s a Mark Wahlberg workout from the prep for Pain & Gain:
1) BARBELL DEADLIFT x8
(4 sets)
2) CLEAN PULL x8
(4 sets)
3) HANG SNATCH x8
(4 sets)
4) DB REAR LUNGES x8
(4 sets)
5) PUSH PRESS x8
(4 sets)
6) BULGARIAN SPLIT SQUATS x8
(4 sets)
7) BARBELL BENCH PRESS x8
(4 sets)
8) BARBELL DEADLIFT x8
(4 sets)
9) INVERTED ROW x8
(4 sets)
10) FARMER’S WALKS x100 yards
(2 sets)
11) DB BICEPS CURL x8
(2 sets)
12) CABLE CHEST PRESS x8
(2 sets)
13) LEG PRESS x8
(2 sets)
14) TRICEPS PUSHDOWN x8
(2 sets)
15) SEATED DB LATERAL RAISE x8
(2 sets)
As for the second session, this will either be traditional cardio performed for one hour on a stationary bike, or an impromptu HIIT sesssion on the golf course.
“I tee off then literally run around the golf course! We’d hit a drive, then sprint to the ball, then the caddies would arrive and we’d hit another ball and sprint again.”
- He only works 3 hours per day
And this is where it all clicks together.
This affords Mark the time to train twice per day, play golf, grab almost 5 hours of ‘family time’ and even attend a cryotheraphy session.
If you’re unfamiliar with cryo, it’s often touted as a recovery protocol which can be useful for people who train a lot. In 2016 the FDA dismissed it as a “cool trend which lacks evidence”, and a 2017 meta-analysis published in Frontiers in Physiology agreed. (5)
But that’s not important.
What’s important is to not be too hard on yourself, because chances are your life is ALREADY more “extreme” than this daily routine, it just doesn’t start at 2:30am!
A customer from my gym owns a restaurant and has 5 kids. His home life sounds like a blender witout a lid. I found it incredibly sad to hear him questioning his own work ethic and comparing his life to that of a f**king celebrity who only works for three hours per day.
Who Is Russ Howe PTI?
As featured in Men’s Fitness magazine and voted in the world’s top 50 fat loss coaches by HuffPost, Russ is among the UK’s most subscribed personal trainers with 105,223 men and women receiving his free weekly fitness tips e-mail.
In the gym, clients range from busy parents, to models, to athletes and actresses. Russ also worked alongside the UK government for 8 years in a venture combating childhood obesity in England.
Outside of the gym, he’s a proud Dad to three young lads.
You can receive free tips by joining the e-mail list above, or you can hit the big button below to unlock full workout programs!
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).
- Lombardi G., et al. Whole-Body Cryotherapy in Athletes: From Therapy to Stimulation. An Updated Review of the Literature. Front Physiol (2017).
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