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Get Taylor Lautner's Twilight Abs
Posted on Nov 25th 2009 2:00PM by Myatt MurphyFiled Under: Fitness, Celebs & Entertainment
Photo: Bauer-Griffin
No one understands fitness quite like Hollywood's hottest trainer Jordan Yuam. The owner of Jordan's Virtual Fit Club, you probably know him better as the man responsible for Twilight star Taylor Lautner's newly transformed physique. But what's impossible to know is just how many creative exercise techniques Yuam has up his sleeve. Techniques that have helped him remake the musculature of Lautner -- and the rest of his celeb clientele -- at an almost record-breaking pace.
Yuam's techniques are so highly unique and innovative that trying to describe them all would fill this entire website, but we did manage to get him to share a portion of his exercise expertise with us. Here are just three of the many methods Yuam regularly uses with Lautner that are guaranteed to make a world of difference in your workouts.
1. Make your muscles multi-task. When Yuam trains clients, he uses a series of highly creative exercises that oftentimes require several pieces of gym equipment to be used at the same time. For example, he will attach stretch bands to dumbbells (or barbells) in order to create two separate forms of resistance in the same exercise.
Why is this so effective? "As you lift, press or curl the weights, your muscles get challenged not just from raising the weights, but also from the tension of stretching the resistance cords simultaneously," said Yuam. It's a one-two combo that helps keep constant stress on your muscles (especially at the top of most exercises, when it can be all-too-easy to lock your elbows and/or knees to give your muscles a breather.) "This simple trick helps you work even more muscle fibers within the same workout, so you achieve more results in even less time," said Yuam.
2. Don't be afraid to turn up the volume on your workout. A lot of beginners (and even seasoned exercisers) tend to stick with the tried-and-true formulas of strength training when they lift weights: do 3-4 exercises for large muscle groups; 2-3 for smaller muscle groups; three sets of 8-12 repetitions per exercise.
Although what he officially uses with his clients from head to toe is hush-hush for now, Yuam's philosophy centers around high-volume training where his clients undergo higher numbers of reps and sets that go beyond what the average person typically attempts in their own routine. "In some workouts, I might ask a client to do five different exercises per body part, or, have them do an exercise for as many as thirty repetitions," said Yuam. It all comes down to surprising your muscles with as many different possible variations as possible, so they're left little choice but to grow and change. "The trick is to make your workouts less boring for your body 'before' it tells you it's bored," said Yuam.
3. Focus on your muscles, not what you're moving. Many people obsess more about the amount of weight they're lifting, rather than making the effort to concentrate on the muscles they're using. This can be especially difficult to avoid doing with muscle groups you can't see as you exercise, such as your back, rear deltoids (the back of your shoulders), hamstrings (the back of your thighs) and glutes (your butt).
"You need to make sure that the primary muscle group you're trying to target is benefiting from the resistance of the exercise," said Yuam. "If you can't feel that muscle group doing the majority of the work as you exercise, chances are, you're relying on other secondary muscles or momentum to move the weight instead." That type of training only leads to workouts that aren't just less effective, but more injury-prone (since you're most likely placing too much stress on smaller muscles that shouldn't be handling the bulk of the weight in the first place.)
As you exercise, make a point of focusing on the muscles you're trying to hit at all times throughout the entire movement (and each and every repetition). In other words, if you're doing an exercise that works your back muscles, you should 'feel' your back muscles working from start to finish-or else, you're robbing them of results.
Can't get enough of "Twilight" heart-throb Taylor Lautner? Then you're in luck, he told our sister site StyleList just what he looks for in a woman.
Fitness expert Myatt Murphy is the author of the best-selling books, The Body You Want in the Time You Have, Ultimate Dumbbell Guide and The Men's Health Gym Bible.
