The upcoming 80s cult classic ‘Road House’ created a buzz among fans, with Jake Gyllenhaal flaunting his insane physique. Ripped muscles and rugged looks for the role of ‘Dalton’ have gotten fitness enthusiasts drooling. Recently, his trainer, Jason Walsh, spoke to Men’s Health about the star’s hardcore routine to get jacked for the role.
Walsh had worked with Gyllenhaal for over a year, getting his physique in shape with an arduous plan. He recalled how they had a dietician, stunt people, and other crew members always onboard. Since he had to embody a UFC athlete, he had to train and keep up accordingly.
His routine was split into several phases, depending on the overall goal. A baseline phase established his conditioning, a hypertrophy phase built his muscles, and a sport-focused routine helped him get in character.
Gyllenhaal had evident washboard abs and a lean physique to set in the fighter vibes for the audience. For this, Walsh increased the star’s range of motion with mobility sticks and a high-tech Proteus motion machine. Warm-up was essential for an intense session, and these techniques were efficient for that.
“Generally we spend a few minutes each session moving, trying to get the core body to mature ho before moving into some sort of mobility.”
Apart from this, Gyllenhaal also performed isometric inverted row holds, heavy push and pull movements, and squats. Walsh believed these exercises gave the star a heavy-duty introduction to strength and stimulus.
“We want to keep the muscle coordination at a high.”
Since the workout was primarily focused on MMA-based training, it consisted of intense forearm workouts, including grip strengthening and core-enhancing exercises. Floor press and chain pushups also made it to the list. All of this served as a variety platter into Gyllenhaal’s new role prep.
How did Jake Gyllenhaal and Jason Walsh implement this training?
For the abs alone, Walsh got the star to perform the routine for 3 or 4 rounds 2 to 3 times per week. This strengthened his core, and depending on the workout frequency, they tweaked the number of times they followed the routine in the week.
The regime also included specialized exercises like kettlebell carry and its variations, zercher squats, and physio-ball chops. These were supposed to add to his mobility and overall strength training to look and move like a fighter.
