For Mark Wahlberg, every job begins with training. Whether he’s playing a beefed-up personal trainer as he did in last year’s Pain & Gain, or a leaner, more athletic Navy SEAL as he does in this month’s Lone Survivor, Wahlberg gets to the gym with personal trainer BriAn Nguyen months in advance of filming in an attempt to nail the perfect look for every role he takes on. “When I first met him when he was working on Invincible, he didn’t move too well,” Nguyen says, explaining that Wahlberg’s traveling gym was at least partially to blame. “He had two huge semis filled with isolation machines! We moved him back into the functional realm.”
To take Wahlberg down from the size he was in last spring’s Pain & Gain and make him look like a functionally fit Navy SEAL, Nguyen had him use circuit training, including the following kettlebell complex, which was performed twice a week.
Mark Wahlberg’s Lone Survivor Kettlebell Complex
The Main Points
Perform reps of each exercise for 30 straight seconds
Don’t rest between exercises
Take one minute rest at the end of the complex
Repeat five to six times through
Go heavy; Wahlberg uses a 24kg bell
The Exercises
Single-arm Kettlebell Swing (Right)
Single-arm Kettlebell Swing (Left)
Goblet Squat
Offset Push-up*
Two-hand Kettlebell Swing
Threaded Lunge**
*Start with the kettlebell lying on its side on the floor. Place your right arm on the floor and left hand on the body of the kettlebell. Do push-ups, switching hands with each rep.
**Hold a kettlebell that you pass under your lead thigh on each rep—i.e., when you step with your right foot, pass the weight from your left hand to your right.
