Rock-solid bod secrets from the world’s fittest men

All dudes want to drop the flab around their midsections to expose that concealed six-pack. What could be better than getting the scoop directly from the iconic ab-possessed? As compiled from eatthis.com, Men’s Health magazine and the bestseller Serve to Win, get the world’s finest fat-melting, muscle-building tips by some of the fittest men on earth.

Hugh Jackman



The Wolverine hunk believes in pushing through and working around body limitations. When the actor was younger, he injured his back. “One day I was playing cricket and did this kind of reflex catch, reaching up, twisting, and I caught the ball. I’d completely ripped out all the muscles at the base of my spine. I knew from that day that I’d always have to keep myself fit, especially my core,” shares the beefy actor. Discussing his workout regimen, Hugh confesses he likes to ramp it up, “I do an hour and a half a day in the gym and I train really hard. I crank up Godsmack and Metallica, which help with my strenuous workouts.”



Dwayne Johnson



The San Andreas star was arrested nine times by the time he was 17. The Rock then met someone who got him on track by enrolling him into a football team, and eventually became the star’s football coach. “We didn’t have anything. We were poor, $500-a-month apartment, so there was always drama, and I realised I was just adding to the drama. A good man helped me and taught me something that changed my life: getting better every day is a mindset.” The Hercules hottie advises to always apply a positive attitude. “It’s that simple. Taking that mentality of growth, setting the goal, attaining the goal, setting another goal, failing at that, dealing with the failure, trying to remain focused,” he says. Motto imparted by the hunk: Always try to improve, always try to get better than before.

Jason Statham



The Transporter actor who’s another proud owner of the beloved 6-pack likes to rev up his metabolism by working out hard but not for too long. “You can go to the gym six, seven times a week if you’re stupid enough. You can train for an hour and not see any real results because you’re not engaging,” says the fiancé of supermodel and Victoria’s Secret Angel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. “When you train, your body’s like a piece of dynamite. You can tap it with a pencil all day, but you’ll never make it explode. You hit it once with a hammer, bang!” The Fast and Furious 7 star firmly advises you do no more than 40 minutes of intense workouts about four times a week, instead of busting around for hours every day.

Liam Hemsworth



A lesser known fact — after gathering information regarding the mistreatment of animals, The Hunger Games eye-candy quit eating meat. “About six months ago I went and saw a nutritionist to do a blood-diet analysis. He basically told me, based on my blood type and all the other different little tests they do, that red meat was good for me, and I should eat a lot more red meat and various other foods. So I started doing that, and the more red meat I ate, the worse I felt.” At the same time, the star has a lot of friends who are vegan. “Woody Harrelson was actually one of the original reasons I became vegan, because he’s been vegan for about 30 years,” he shares. Discussing his vegan journey, he adds, “I constantly get questions like, ‘How do you get your protein?’ And most of the people who ask you this are not healthy people. It always puzzles me since there are no negatives to eating like this.” The actor who has built his six-pack without animal protein is a big fan of lentils and grains. “I feel nothing but positive, mentally and physically. I love it. I feel like it also has a kind of a domino effect on the rest of my life.”

Novak Djokovic



What does it take to become the number one tennis player in the world? A lot of practice. Nerves of steel. And, if you’re Novak Djokovic, a strict gluten-free diet that he says has played a major role in helping him conquer the number one ranking. The US Open men’s singles winner and reigning Wimbledon champion reveals what he eats during a tournament to maintain his enviable rock-solid abs — an entirely gluten-free diet. After detoxing for two weeks, remarkably, the day after he reintroduced gluten to his diet, Djokovic reveals, “I felt sluggish getting out of bed and was so dizzy. My stuffiness was back. ‘This is the proof,’ the doctor said. ‘This is what your body is giving you to show you it’s intolerant.’ And I pledged from that moment on that whatever my body told me, I’d listen.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd,  2016.

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