Harrison Ford’s Workout Routine For Indiana Jones Will Get You Jacked

There are two types of fit bodies: One that is made in the gym by doing many sets and reps of high intensity exercises, and another that is built through functional movements like running, jumping, squatting and lunging, which come in handy on a daily basis.

For a globe-trotting archaeologist who has to rummage through ruins to find treasures for a living, the latter obviously makes more sense. This is because each assignment and location will demand something different out of him. His workout, as a result, cannot be the same every day. It has to have a lot of variations. It has to prepare him to take on the unexpected.

That’s why an actor like Harrison Ford, while training for a role like Indiana Jones, had to take a detour from the textbook approach to getting fit. His character was required to jump off big rocks, crawl through muddy roads and sprint at the sight of sudden danger. Sometimes, all these would happen back to back, leaving him no time to catch his breath like a regular gym-goer would. AskMen India reveals how he prepared for this film:

Multi-joint movements

Instead of relying on isolation exercises to tone his body, Harrison Ford’s workout routine for Indiana Jones had to be heavy on compound exercises. These essentially involved movements that targeted multiple muscle groups at the same time, getting them all to work in tandem.

This got his body to look shredded from head to toe, rather than strengthening just one particular part at a time. He also focused on multi-joint movements, as his character was required to carry out actions like throwing and leaning back and ducking down to protect himself from danger.

Circuit training

As mentioned above, a treasure-hunter like Indiana Jones would have no time to rest in between his work. He’d have to jump, bend, lean, push and pull back to back and sometimes, all at once. That’s why Harrison Ford was not allowed too many rest periods in his workout. Circuit training had to be his jam, where high intensity exercises were performed one after the other until he got the wind knocked out of him.

His first round would involve pull-ups, push-ups, squats and lunges, followed by the second round, which included dips, close-grip push-ups, flat dumbbell chest press and box jumps, and lastly, the third round, which entailed jump push-ups, dumbbell step-ups, high cable chops and front medicine ball squats. Notice how the exercises got tougher with every new round. Ford would do anywhere between 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 15 reps each.

Aerobic training

In order to burn fat and get his strength training efforts to be visible on his body, Harrison Ford had to make cardio an integral part of his everyday workout routine. Moreover, Indiana Jones had to have amazing stamina, given the high intensity movements he’s required to perform back to back

A combination of walking and jogging would help the actor shed weight and look shredded. Moreover, he’s been cycling for as many as 40 miles on a daily basis for the forthcoming part of the action series.

High protein diet

For the lean and mean physique Harrison Ford has sported in the Indiana Jones, he had to make some serious changes in his diet. The actor would ensure that his meals are portion-sized and contain a high amount of protein, while keeping the carb intake under control. Now that he’s cut out meat and dairy products, he resorts to vegetarian whole foods like legumes and lentils. Moreover, he is a firm believer of getting fit the natural way and steers away from protein powders and supplements of any sort.

Happy birthday, Harrison Ford! Hope you keep entertaining audiences with many more action thrillers in the years to come.

Cover artwork by Dhaval Punatar/AskMen India

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