(Source: skitkdmg)

The obscure reference to the group Sublime not with standing, Tabata training is great because it delivers big results in little time. So, if you’re short on time and looking to get in and out of the gym quickly, or just looking for some killer workout finishers — Tabatas are a great way to go.

The Tabata method is easy to understand and apply, but take heed, it’s NOT easy to do. Put simply, Tabata workouts are brutal! Many folks don’t make it through the full four minutes, and others that do often end up puking following the first few workouts.
This is why it’s necessary to gradually progress (periodize) your Tabata training. Later, I will provide you with both an 8-week and 12-week progression model designed to help you maximize your Tabata training efforts while avoiding excessive fatigue and overtraining.
That being said, progression or no progression, in order to use the Tabata method successfully, you must be willing to work hard!

WHAT IS TABATA TRAINING?
If you don’t already know what a Tabata interval is, it’s a high intensity interval training protocol originally created by Japanese researcher Dr. Izumi Tabata. Each Tabata interval consists of 20 seconds of high intensity (as hard as you can go) exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest. This is repeated for eight rounds, totaling four minutes time.

FAT LOSS VS. CONDITIONING: IT’S WHAT YOU EAT, FOOL!
Tabatas are great for both fat loss and improving one’s work capacity (conditioning). In truth, there is usually little to no difference between fat loss exercises and metabolic conditioning exercises, both should be very intense in nature and demand a total body effort.
The only thing that separates a conditioning program from a fat loss program is the diet. You most certainly can improve your work capacity (endurance/conditioning) without going on any special calorie or carb restrictive diet. But, in order to lose body fat, some diet adjustments need to be made and strictly adhered to.

TABATA TRAINING
Traditional Tabata protocol would suggest choosing only one exercise, such as squats, and repeating that same exercise throughout the entire Tabata interval. I prefer to use either two different exercises performed four times each, four different exercises performed two times each, or eight different exercises each performed once within a given Tabata workout. I find this strategy achieves better results for several reasons:

1. When you only use one exercise such as squats for the entire Tabata, the legs gradually fatigue with each working set. This centralized leg fatigue causes you to slow down as the workout progresses and reduces the overall intensity of the Tabata, thereby reducing it’s effectiveness as a conditioning tool. Utilizing more than one exercise prevents centralized muscle fatigue and helps you maintain the same high level of intensity in each round.
2. Mixing in more than one exercise boosts the overall metabolic demand because it involves more muscles. Put simply, more muscles worked means greater energy demand, which in turn means faster fat loss.
3. Doing the same exercise eight times for four minutes straight is monotonous and just plain boring. The beauty of the Tabata paradigm is that it allows us to do anything we want in those four minutes as long as the intensity is high. With that type of freedom, I’d like to think of myself as being a little more creative than simply using squats, squats, and more squats!

WHEN TO USE A TABATA WORKOUT
How and when you use Tabata protocols is largely determined by your training goal.
For Fat Loss — You can use Tabatas up to three times per week. I have used up to three different Tabata intervals per fat loss workout. When training to lose body fat, I always use them after strength training. Doing so will ensure that you have the energy to dedicate to keeping your current level of muscle size and strength while strength training before moving on to your Tabata fat loss training.
For Improved Conditioning — You can use Tabatas throughout your workout, either before, during, or after your strength training. I know this breaks the rules, but sports (and real life) tend to break the rules anyway, so why can’t we during training?
During most sports (football, MMA, etc.) you’re often required to call upon every ounce of strength you have and explode throughout the entire competition, even when you’re tired. So, mixing conditioning and strength work together can help prepare you specifically for this challenge.
This is especially important for MMA fighters and other combat athletes because you have to lift up, take down, and push your opponent around the entire fight, no matter how “gassed” you may be.
To put it simply, in a sports specific conditioning phase you need to throw the old rule of’strength before cardio’ out the window if you want to be the last man standing when the smoke clears!

TABATA WORKOUT PROGRESSIONS
Not everyone is capable of starting out doing the entire 4-minute Tabata. So, you’ll need to gradually build up your ability to successfully complete the full Tabata without losing intensity, overtraining, or puking up your pre-workout meal all over the hot girl with the glorious set of after-markets doing Swiss ball crunches beside you.
Just so you understand the chart, here is what each figure means

— 10/20 x6 = 10 seconds work / 20 seconds rest x 6 rounds.

Here’s an example of Tabata training over a 12-week time frame:

Week 1 — 10/20 x6

Week 2 — 10/20 x7

Week 3 — 10/20 x8

Week 4 — 15/15 x5

Week 5 — 15/15 x6

Week 6 — 15/15 x7

Week 7 — 15/15 x8

Week 8 — 20/10 x4

Week 9 — 20/10 x5

Week 10 — 20/10 x6

Week 11 — 20/10 x7

Week 12 — 20/10 x8

Now, if you’re a more fit, better-conditioned athlete, you may need only eight weeks to build up to the full Tabata.

Here’s an example of an eight-week Tabata workout progression:

Week 1 — 10/20 x6

Week 2 — 15/15 x4

Week 3 — 10/20 x8

Week 4 — 15/15 x6

Week 5 — 20/10 x4

Week 6 — 15/15 x8

Week 7 — 20/10 x6

Week 8 — 20/10 x8

Ready for your try your hand at a TABATA WORKOUT ?

No Timer? You can use this TABATA TIMER site

THE TABATA SIX
Alright, enough talk. Here are my 6 Favorite Tabata Workouts. (Demos to come later)

Cont’d from WHAT IS TABATA? Article

No Timer? You can use this TABATA TIMER site

TABATA WORKOUT #1 — Barbell Tabata Complex (4 Exercises)
In this complex, you pick four barbell exercises that you can easily transition between. Perform the first exercise for as many reps as you can in 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds, and perform the second exercise as fast as possible for 20 seconds. Now, rest for 10 seconds and repeat this process for the following two remaining exercises.
Once you’ve completed all four exercises you’re only half way done, because you’ll only be two minutes into the Tabata. Go back to the first exercise and repeat the entire complex again without ever dropping the bar.
Here’s a sample of a four-exercise Barbell Tabata Complex (with each movement done twice):

1. Reverse Lunges (Alternating legs) (rack position)
2. Shoulder Press or Thruster
3. Romanian Deadlifts
4. Hang Cleans
5. Reverse Lunges (Alternating legs) (rack position)
6. Shoulder Press or Thruster
7. Romanian Deadlifts
8. Hang Cleans

TABATA WORKOUT #2 — Barbell Tabata Complex (8 Exercises)
This complex is performed exactly the same as the previous complex described above, only you perform eight different exercises once instead of four exercises performed twice.
Here’s an example of an eight-exercise Barbell Tabata Complex:

1. Reverse Lunges (Barbell on shoulders; back squat style)
2. Good Mornings (Bar still on shoulders)
3. Shoulder Press or Thruster
4. Hang Cleans
5. Front Squats
6. Bent Over Row
7. Romanian Deadlifts
8. Push Ups

Note: When performing barbell complexes like the one above, its okay not to use “perfect” Olympic lifting technique on moves like cleans and snatches. Why?

1. We’re not Olympic lifting, we’re doing a barbell complex.
2. We’re not trying to build peak power, we’re trying to build conditioning and lose fat.
3. Good Olympic lifting form is needed to help you lift heavy loads as fast and efficiently as possible. The loads used in the complexes above are not heavy at all, and therefore don’t require you to have “perfect” form. As long as you don’t lose optimal spinal alignment and maintain good rhythm, you’re fine.

So, all you perfect Olympic lifting form Nazis can relax!

TABATA WORKOUT #3 — Kettlebell Tabata Complex (4 Exercises)
I have to tell you, kettlebells have been growing on me lately. I still think that aside from swings, you can do many of the same exercises with a simple dumbbell. But that being said, I do find myself using KB’s more often to get a different feel than I do with dumbbells.
Here’s one of my favorite kettlebell Tabata interval workouts:

20 sec 1-arm swings (right arm)
 ::: 10 sec rest

20 sec 1-arm swings (left arm) 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec Front Squats (right arm)
 
::: 10 sec rest
20 sec Front Squats (left arm) 
::: 10 sec rest
20 sec Push Press (right arm) 
::: 10 sec rest
20 sec Push Press (left arm)
 
::: 10 sec rest
20 sec 2-arm swing
 
::: 10 sec rest
20 sec 2-arm swing 
::: 10 sec rest

You can also do this same KB Tabata workout without switching sides each time like this:

20 sec 1-arm swings (right arm)
 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec Front Squats (right arm)
 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec Push Press (right arm)
 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec 1-arm swings (left arm) 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec Front Squats (left arm) 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec Push Press (left arm)
 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec 2-arm swing
 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec 2-arm swing 
::: 10 sec rest

TABATA WORKOUT #4 — Resistance Band Tabata (8 Exercises)
Call me crazy, but I love using resistance bands due to their simplicity, versatility, and low cost/ big return ability. For exercises like the ones below, my bands of choice are JC bands.
Although you might expect to find these little neon-colored bands in a drug store next to the feminine hygiene section, don’t be fooled, this JC Band Tabata workout will smash even the fittest athlete!

1. Squat and Row
2. Swimmers (back straight, arms straight, touch band to shoulders)
3. Tight Rotations (right side)
4. Tight Rotations (left side)
5. Punches (right leg forward)
6. Punches (left leg forward)
7. Swimmers (back straight, arms straight, touch band to shoulders)
8. Squat and Row.

TABATA WORKOUT #5 — Fighter’s Band Tabata (4 Exercises)
This Tabata is a favorite of my fighters because it develops the upper-body conditioning necessary to continually throw punches, push, pull, and clinch with your opponent for the entire fight.
Plus, this Tabata is great for folks who are looking for a non-leg dominant way of improving conditioning and accelerating fat loss. My bodybuilders and figure competitors love to use this Tabata after an upper-body lifting day.
This entire Tabata is performed with a staggered stance. Switch your lead leg each round. Here’s how it’s done:

20 sec punches (left leg lead) 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec punches (right leg lead)
 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec alternating row (left leg lead)
 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec alternating row (right leg lead)
 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec punches (left leg lead)
 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec punches (right leg lead)
 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec alternating row (left leg lead)
 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec alternating row (right leg lead)

Or, you can alternate each round this way:

20 sec punches (left leg lead) 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec alternating row (left leg lead)
 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec punches (right leg lead) 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec alternating row (right leg lead)
 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec punches (left leg lead)
 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec alternating row (left leg lead)
 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec punches (right leg lead)
 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec alternating row (right leg lead)

TABATA WORKOUT #6 — Bodyweight Tabata (4 Exercises)
Bodyweight training is great for folks who train at home, train outside, or travel frequently and are stuck in a hotel room.
Even if you do have access to gym equipment, sometimes it’s nice to get away from all that stuff and just allow your body to move the way it wants:

20 sec Speed Squats
 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec Burpees
 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec Mountain Climbers (keep neutral spine)
 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec Speed Skips (in place) (lift knee above hip) 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec Speed Squats 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec Burpees
 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec Mountain Climbers (keep neutral spine)
 
::: 10 sec rest

20 sec Speed Skips (in place) (lift knee above hip) 
::: 10 sec rest

Tony Horton

Compound Exercise – Muscle Mass Building Exercise
Jean Lam + Train With Me

If you’re looking for a hard, massive and muscular body, compound exercise is the answer. Compound exercise is a type of exercise in which involves several muscle groups at a time. This is very beneficial for the body since you can usually workout 3-4 muscle groups. One of the greatest advantages of compound exercise is you can do a whole body workout just by doing a few exercises in a few minutes. In contrast to isolation exercise which usually focuses on only a single muscle group, compound exercise allows you to limit your isolation exercise sets for instance because you’ve already worked your muscle groups to a certain extent.
Due to the nature of compound exercise, it’s a great muscle mass building exercise and it also builds greater strength gains. Ask any serious body builder in a gym and they will tell you that compound exercise is a sure-fire way to gain muscle mass fast. Below are compound exercises and they work several muscle groups simultaneously.

BENCH PRESS
Bench press is the favorite exercise of most body builders, which can either, be performed with a barbell or two dumbbells while you’re lying on a bench. Usually what can be performed with a barbell can also be done with two dumbbells. The bench press’s primary focus is on the chest muscles called the pectorals and the secondary muscles worked are the triceps and the shoulder muscles also known as the deltoids. You have to hold the barbell in a wide grip position or one dumbbell in each hand and push it up and down until you can feel your pectorals stretched. You have to lift heavy such that you can do between 6-10 repetitions. If you can do 15+ repetitions, the weights are too light and if you can do only 4, they are too heavy. About 2-3 sets is a good start for beginners. If you incline the bench, you’ll focus more on the upper pectorals for your chest.

MILITARY PRESS
Military press is a massive shoulder building exercise that can also be performed either with a barbell or two dumbbells. This exercise targets the deltoids, the upper back called the trapezius and the rotator cuff. You can either do it standing or seated. While holding the barbell or dumbbells shoulder level, raise them up and down. About 2-3 sets of 8-10 heavy repetitions.

DEADLIFT
Deadlift works a large number of muscles including the lower back, the middle back, the trapezius, the hips, the quadriceps, the hamstrings, the glutes and the forearms. To perform the deadlift compound movement, you have to spread your legs at shoulder width apart, bend your knees slightly above 90 degrees while lowering your arms and grasp a barbell in a shoulder width position. It’s important to keep your back straight at all times. Then you have to raise the barbell up not by focusing on the strength of your arms but rather on your back and whole body. Next lower the barbell down on the floor by bending your knees to return to the initial position, and repeat. About 2-3 sets of 6-10 heavy repetitions.

BENT-OVER ROW
Bent-over row is a very powerful back development exercise and one of the most favorite back exercises for pro body builders. If you want to get a thick muscular back, do bent-over rows. Apart from the back, it also works the biceps and forearms. To perform this exercise, you have to spread your legs at shoulder width aparet, bend your knees slightly above 90 degrees, grasp a barbell in a shoulder width position and lift it towards your chest then lower it slowly. This movement focuses on your upper lats. On the other hand, if you lift it more towards your stomach, you’ll focus on your lower lats. It’s important to keep your back straight at all times. Note that the barbell is still off the ground until you’re finished with the exercise. About 2-3 sets of 8-10 heavy repetitions.

PULL-UP
Pull up is one of the easiest and most excellent ways to train your back and develop a wide athletic V-Shape back. You only need a bar from which you can hang from. But it does not mean pull up is an easy exercise. It’s actually very hard if you’re new to it and chances are you won’t be able to do a single repetition initially. Pull up is a body weight compound exercise and a powerful one to develop your lats, back, rear shoulders, biceps and forearms. You can do wide grip pull ups palms facing away from you which focus more on the upper lats and close grip pull ups palms still facing away to target more on the lower lats. Another related exercise is the chin up which uses a close grip palms facing towards you. Works the lower lats, back, biceps and forearms. You can also focus more on the biceps by squeezing them at the top when you raise your body. About 2-3 sets of 7-10 repetitions. If you can’t do that range of repetitions, you might need to start slowly and progress gradually. On the other hand, if you can do more than 15 repetitions with time and practice, you can use a weight belt and add weights to make the exercises more difficult.

DIP
Dips are such an excellent, flexible and powerful exercise to develop the pectorals, the triceps and the shoulders. You only need two parallel bars at a certain height and you have to grasp both sides with your arms such that your body is elevated when you do so. Then, you have to lower your body and bend your elbows no lower than 90 degrees as this will stress too much the shoulders, and next, raise your body to the initial position. If you incline your body more to the front, you’ll focus more on your chest muscles and if you keep your body straight, you’ll target more on the triceps. Same as with pull-ups, you can use a weighted belt if you can do more than 15 repetitions. About 2-3 sets of 8-10 repetitions.

LUNGE WITH DUMBBELL CURL AND OVERHEAD PRESS
This compound sequence targets the upper body, such as the shoulders, biceps and triceps, and the lower body, such as the hip flexors, quads and hamstrings. They also activate the abs and lower back to keep your trunk stable and maintain proper form. Use weights that are heavy enough that you can do up to 10 repetitions of each exercise, but no more than 12. Stand with your feet at hip-width, your shoulders back and down and your lower back neutral. Step your right foot forward and drop into a lunge — your knee should be over your ankle and your right thigh parallel to the floor. Curl the dumbbells to shoulder-height, and then press them overhead. Step forward with your left foot to come out of the lunge and lower the arms back into the curl then return your hands to your sides. Repeat five times on each leg.

SQUAT AND FRONT RAISE
This sequence targets the shoulders and upper back as well as the lower body and core. Use weights that are heavy enough so that you can do up to 10 repetitions of each exercise, but no more than 12. Stand with your feet at hip-width, your shoulders back and down and your lower back neutral. Stick your behind out and lower into a squat, as if sitting in a chair. Your thighs should be parallel to the floor and your knees in line with your ankles. Raise the dumbbells in front of you until your arms are parallel to the floor. Lower your arms and rise back up to standing. Repeat five times.

JUMPING MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS
This sequence targets the shoulders and upper back as well as the quads, hamstrings and glutes. Stand with your feet at hip-width, your shoulders back and down and your lower back neutral. Squat down and place both hands on the floor, in front of your feet. Extend your right leg back, then extend your left leg back while bringing your right leg forward — as if running in place. Repeat three times, and then bring both feet back to the squat position and jump up in one explosive motion. Repeat the entire sequence five times.

WALKING PUSH-UPS
This exercise targets the biceps, triceps and upper back as well as the shoulders, pectorals and core. Lie face down with your hands beneath your shoulders and your palms flat on the floor. Engage your abs and press yourself up, until your arms are fully extended. Your hands should be directly under your shoulders and your body should make a straight line. Walk your right hand and right leg one step to the right and follow with your right. Lower yourself back down to the floor. Push up again, and walk back to the left. Repeat five times on each side.

If you include these muscle mass building exercises in your workout and you pay proper attention to nutrition and rest, you’re already on your way to big muscle mass gains guaranteed. So go for it. Good luck.

A lot of the routines on Train With Me ARE compound workouts!

The Spartacus Workout  Part One & Part Two

The Playground Workout

“28 Days” Workout

Formula For Fat Loss

Weeks 1 + 2

Alternate between upper and lower body moves during your workout.

Engaging and sending lots of oxygen and blood to ALL your muscles!

Woot!

 Garrett Hedlund whipped himself into action-hero form by doing a variety of daily workouts, like this one from Tron trainer Logan Hood.

Warmup
1 Rowing: 10 minutes, with your average wattage equal to your body weight.

2 Bag sprawl: Jump over a barrier, such as a heavy bag, and then drop and do a pushup. Stand back up and repeat in the other direction. Go for 40 seconds, rest 20 seconds, and repeat four times total.

Workout
3 Pick up a barbell, and don’t put it down until the circuit below is complete. Hedlund did 7 reps of an exercise before moving to the next, resting only after completing the circuit. That’s a huge challenge, so begin by doing the circuit with just 1 rep each (so that’s 7 reps total after doing all seven moves). Rest as needed, and repeat for 15 minutes.

1. Deadlift
2. Row
3. Hang clean
4. Front squat
5. Push press
6. Good morning
7. Barbell squat

Skinny farm kid Garrett Hedlund transformed himself into Tron’s hero. All it took was hard work and the threat of a skintight suit.

Other kids practiced to make the track team. Garrett Hedlund didn’t have time for that, so he chased cows instead.

His family’s 400-acre cattle farm in northern Minnesota was at the end of the bus route, 2 hours from school. When he arrived home, he spent his time plowing fields and mending fences. But Hedlund wanted to be the fastest kid in his grade school, so chasing wayward bovines during weekend cattle runs became his practice. “Everybody else would drive a truck or a four-wheeler, but I’d go out in my boots,” says Hedlund, the country lilt still in his voice despite 8 years of living in Los Angeles. “When a spooked cow took off, I’d run as fast as I could to chase him back to the herd.”

Soon he was one of the best runners at his school. His speed propelled him into wrestling, football, and cross-country. These things tend to snowball: You prove to yourself that you can succeed at one endeavor, and that gives you the confidence to try another. “You’re gaining the strength to conquer obstacles,” Hedlund says.

Perseverance became habit, and that habit kicked in when Hedlund made the leap to acting. He had to train heavily for supporting roles in Troy and Friday Night Lights. But then he reached leading-man territory with the big-budget Tron: Legacy, and all that prep just wasn’t enough.

“When Garrett came in, he was a little skinny and a little soft,” Tron’s lead training instructor Logan Hood says. Hedlund’s character is a futuristic gladiator, a guy who’s playing a video game from the inside as he hurls discs at opponents and competes in a vicious version of motorcycle roller derby. “We needed him to look more like an action hero—lean with muscle mass.”

For men with competitive spirits—and Hedlund counts himself among them—a challenge can be rousing in itself. But vanity is also a fine motivator, and Hedlund had reason to worry: He’d be wearing a skintight action-hero bodysuit throughout the movie. “They do a body scan so they can formulate the suit around you. It’s three-quarters of an inch of foam rubber that fits you like a glove,” he says. “If you have a belly, your scan’s going to have a belly.” In other words, he needed to shape up. Fast. 

Hedlund had been there before. His career sputtered for years because he was either too big or too small for the roles he wanted. At 160 pounds, he was passed over for the role of a soldier-type guy. Too thin. So he worked out and put on weight. But then he was too bulky for the skinny-intellectual part that came up next. Eventually, being able to quickly transform his body (and convince skeptical casting agents that he could do it) became a matter of survival. 

There are easy ways to shape-shift, of course: You can starve yourself, or overeat, or just do curls all day long. But Hedlund knew such tactics would be unsustainable and downright dangerous. He’d be yo-yoing through cycles of muscle-imbalance injuries, plus giving in to the inevitable bounce-back binges that follow extreme dieting.

Real weight control requires commitment; once you build a healthy foundation, your body will transform in whatever way you need it to. So during those lean years of his acting career, long before he could afford a gym membership, he regularly ran 2.2-mile loops around the reservoir near his L.A. apartment. Then he’d head home for what he calls “a living-room prison workout” of pushups, situps, pullups, squats, and squat thrusts.

But squat thrusts alone don’t make an action hero. Which is why Hedlund turned to Hood, a former Navy SEAL who had helped train the conspicuously toned cast of the movie 300. Hood had 9 weeks to do with Hedlund what normally would take 6 to 12 months. The plan: “Garrett didn’t repeat any workouts, which helped keep him engaged,” the trainer says. “If you don’t know what you’ll be doing when you  walk into the gym, you don’t fall into a rut.”

Hood needed Hedlund to become leaner and more athletic while adding muscle mass, so part of his workouts involved circuits of farmer carries, bear crawls, tire drags, and box jumps—with no rest in between. Try it. A combination like this builds strength from all angles, and busting through at a fast pace keeps your heart rate up and burns fat.

Hedlund didn’t love the work at first. “But then he started to connect the dots: Doing stuff he didn’t like was going to make him good at the things he does like,” Hood says. That’s because these exercises help train your body for real-world movements. Not all do. Take crunches: How often do you need to lift things while lying on the floor? But a ball slam is basically a crunch in a standing position. It mimics the way you move throughout the day, and how Hedlund had to move onscreen.

In addition to slimming him down and hardening him up, Hood focused on Hedlund’s shoulders. Strength there is key for any physical demand, action sequences included. Without strong shoulders, you’re more likely to injure yourself. “We did a lot of overhead presses,” Hood says. Most days he’d also squat heavy, deadlift heavy, or do heavy push presses—a version that should be part of any workout.

Hedlund started as a sloucher, but by the time filming began, he was walking into the gym with swagger. It wasn’t just confidence showing, though: It was the result of stronger core and back muscles, which helped his posture and gave him a visible physical confidence. “If he stands taller and pulls his shoulders back and down, he looks more imposing, more heroic,” Hood says. “Body-fat percentage doesn’t matter. It’s really about how you look.”

And how you feel.

“You might think the thinner version of yourself is going to be the most positive or confident, but that’s not how it is for me,” Hedlund says. “When I’m over 200 pounds, that’s when I’m the most confident version of myself.”

But he’s also comfortable with a less sculpted self. Perfection is never what he strives for. That’s an impossibility; being afraid to screw up only limits you. It’s why Hedlund says he thinks of life as a new car—one you’ve already scratched. Now you’re free to roam a little looser, to take gravel roads, no longer fearing a ding or a dent.

There are many correct ways to do something, and a setback isn’t the same as a failure. That singular insight is the source of his confidence, he says. It’s what allowed him to overcome all the bumps a farm kid hits as he auditions and struggles and finally breaks through in Hollywood.

Where did he learn that? Maybe back home: When Hedlund was 10, his best pal was a steer he raised for competition. The animal won a blue ribbon. “I came home from school one day and the steer was hanging from the tractor bucket,” he says. It was a shock; he was so focused on nurturing it that he never considered what came next. But after a good cry, he had no choice but to accept that dinner came from the backyard. “Now when somebody says, ‘I saw a bird die when I was 3 years old and I don’t eat meat,’ I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ ” he says. “I eat steak. I eat everything.”

You’re slapped down, you learn, you adjust and move on.

This winter will be huge for him. His career will change. Tron is a legend relaunched, and another movie, Country Strong, puts him alongside Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw in the kind of open land that was his first training ground. There’s an endless horizon when you live at the end of the road in Minnesota. There’s also an endless yearning for forward progress. Garrett Hedlund is on his way.

(Source: menshealth.com)