The Mario Lopez workout has been the subject of much debate. The actor, who has consistently maintained a lean and muscular body similar to the physique of Mark Wahlberg, most recently displayed his toned physique in Dancing with the Stars.
Boxing Workouts to Shed Body Fat
Mario Lopez would spar all the time to burn body fat and keep his conditioning up. He would often fight with amateur fighters trying to make it in boxing. He claims to have sparred with Oscar De La Hoya, James Toney and Shane Mosley.
Lopez wrote a workout book called, Mario Lopez’s Knockout Fitness, obviously inspired by his boxing hobby. In his book, Mario admits the hard truth that getting in shape is hard work. If it were easy, everybody would have a killer bod.
Mario Lopez’s Workout Plan
The actor changes his workout approach constantly. The reason for this is that he is in ‘maintenance mode’ in regards to his muscle mass. Now he just trains to burn fat and keep the size of his muscles.
However, in order to build to this size, you need a balanced muscle gaining workout approach that is focused heavily on achieving a v-shaped body with a low body fat percentage. Here is a workout that is specifically aimed at this look:
- Visual Impact
- Here the emphasis is on achieving a balance between muscular development and muscular hardness and density. A cool trick that is revealed in the workout is how to make your skin super tight around your muscles.
You must also realize that he has two advantages. Mario has a natural v-shape frame (small hips) so he can focus on building up the chest and shoulders. He also has relatively short upper arms (he is 175 lbs and 5’10’’) so it is easy for him to build impressive looking arms.
What is the Diet that Mario Follows?
Mario Lopez published another non-fiction book, called Extra Lean. This one is a cookbook. The actor acknowledges the importance of diet when trying to achieve or maintain top shape. Attempting to lose body fat just through exercise alone, even if you workout as much as he does, is an uphill battle.
In his book, he has provided over 40 recipes as well as 1200-1300 calorie meal plans based on lean meats and vegetables. This is a solid diet approach – the reason being that we dramatically over estimate how little we can eat if we are to lose bodyfat.
Lopez admits that he likes to eat. In order to maintain a low body fat percentage we need to eat a very low calorie diet. Either that – or we can exercise a lot like Mario. Here’s Mario’s typical daily menu:
- Breakfast: Fruit, yogurt and Granola
- Lunch: Chicken and Rice
- Dinner: Sushi
- Splurge: Chocolate-chip cookies or Rocky-road ice cream
Spending a Lot of Time in the Sun
Whether he realizes it or not, he has struck gold by working out outdoors and spending time in the sun. Walking around shirtless is a great motivator to keep in top shape. This also works the other way around.
As you can see, he does some of his workouts, such as sprinting outside. Training outside of the gym, and especially at the beach, is simply way more fun. It doesn’t hurt to have a cute babe by your side too. Also, the natural vitamin D that is produced by the sun is responsible for our overall health. It is a mistake to avoid the sun altogether.
It’s a Lifestyle
In his own words, Mario is addicted to exercising. He’s been consistently in top shape ever since he starred in the TV show Saved by the Bell as a teenager. As you can see from the photo above, now (left) he’s maintaining the body that he used to have as a teenager (right). Staying active has enabled him to preserve a youthful appearance. Many people age themselves prematurely by getting fat as early as in their 20’s!
In order not to get bored he likes mix up his training. In addition to lifting weights and boxing three times per week, Mario would bike, run, swim, do yoga and also play basketball. This activity level adds up to a high level of caloric expenditure. So he’s able to maintain a very lean body.
I think Mario’s one of his best points I’ve heard for a while is our estimation on how much we eat.
I was working out really hard so eating healthy ALL the time was not a problem but I could lose any more body fat … I couldn’t work out why?
Until I started to count my calories again …even though i was nibbling healthy Nuts, fruits, cottage cheese, natural yogurts … I was blowing out way over my calories deficit level … I dropped the healthy snacks and now my body has started to lose fat again
Raymond
Yavor,
You have mentioned a lot of great resources here. I personally follow both Visual Impact and Eat Stop Eat and I have seen results from both. The key to getting or staying lean really is simply to maintain a calorie defecit and this becomes easier once you understand how much you can afford to eat. Of course if you are very active like Mario, you have a little more leeway.
Alykhan
Guys, yeah the take home message is – people over eat! I remember an article about Jason Stathm’s training – he would do a super intense routine 6x per week for 6-8 weeks and eat only 1800 calories.
Most people eat 2500-3500 and on top of that don’t train much. Well – they can’t expect to get results
Does the Hollywood phyique work I am 270 pounds and would like to get this physique?
Derek,Yes it works but it is best to have at least a few months gym experience. The program WILL help you lose fat, it’s just that I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have been training for a while at least.