Rick English’s body has to be ready for anything—the 47-year old British stunt man might need to jump down an elevator shaft as Batman one day, backflip off a building the next, and then crash a motorcycle … on purpose. To maintain a body that can do it all, English trains it all—and keeps his shape all year.
“I tend to kind of train to keep balanced, body-wise the whole year round,” he says, doing full-body circuits, cardio on the bag, and lots and lots of balance work in his 45-minute morning sessions.
But being among Hollywood’s most in-demand stuntmen and bouncing from set to set means English doesn’t always have time for his full training sessions—just like those of us who don’t throw themselves off motorcycles for fun, English sometimes has to slip in a workout in a poorly-equipped hotel gym, or even his hotel room.
During a recent interview, English gave us a peek at one workout he does in those situations. It was designed by his wife, who’s a personal trainer, and uses three pieces of equipment—a TRX suspension trainer, an ab wheel, and a Praep sports copilot, a pair of handlebars used to create instability during pushups. If you don’t have the TRX, just skip the move. And if you don’t have the Praep, English says, swap in regular pushups instead.
Here’s how to do his workout.
Section 1: Warmup
Exercise 1: Air Squats – 10 reps
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart, toes pointed slightly out from parallel.
- Push your butt back to initiate the squat.
- Bend your knees to descend until your thighs are at least parallel to the floor, keeping your chest up and your weight balanced though the foot.
- Press back to standing.
Exercise 2: Lateral Squat Jumps – 10 reps
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart, toes pointed slightly out from parallel.
- Push your butt back to initiate the squat.
- Bend your knees to descend until your thighs are at least parallel to the floor, keeping your chest up.
- Press back up so forcefully that your body leaves the ground, jumping slightly to the right.
- On the next squat, jump back to the left, landing in the start position.
Exercise 3: Pushups – 10 reps
- 1. Assume a classic pushup position, with hands directly beneath your shoulders, your body forming a straight line from head to heels.
- Maintain this rigid body line as you bend your elbows to lower your chest towards the floor.
- Press back to start, maintaining the straight body line.
Exercise 4: Shadow Boxing: 1 minute
Exercise 5: Pushups: 10 more reps
Exercise 6: TRX Pullup – 10 reps
- Set TRX straps so you can sit beneath them and grab the handles above you with your arms outstretched. Grab the handles.
- You can keep your legs straight in front of you, or your knees bent with feet flat on the floor.
- Keeping a proud chest, use only your arms to pull your torso up until your upper chest is at the same level as the handles.
- Control your body to lower back to straight arms.
Section 2: Mobility
Exercise 1: Spider Crawl to Plank Hold – 10 on each side
- Assume a classic pushup position, with hands directly beneath your shoulders, your body forming a straight line from head to heels.
- Lift your right leg and bring it up so bring your right foot up close to your shoulder so that your foot is flat on the ground.
- Return your leg to the top of the pushup position, and bring your left leg up in the same way.
- Return your leg to the top of the pushup position, and hold the plan for 10 seconds.
- Continue alternating—10 seconds of plank, then a spider crawl on each side.
Exercise 2: Lateral Lunge with Rotation – 10 on each side
- Stand with your feet together, toes pointed forward, with the weights in front of your legs.
- Take a big step to the right, pushing your hips back and descending as you step by bending your right knee, keeping it tracking over your right toes. Keep your torso upright as you descend, the position of your arms not changing in relation to your body.
- At the bottom of the lunge twist your torso to the left, and then to the right.
- Press back to start, and perform the move to the left.
Exercise 3: Spiderman Pushup – 10 reps
- Assume a classic pushup position, with hands directly beneath your shoulders, your body forming a straight line from head to heels.
- Maintaining a rigid torso, slowly bend your elbows until your chest is just above the floor. As you descend, bring your right knee up to your right elbow.
- As you press back up, straight your right leg back behind you.
- On the next rep, spider your left leg up instead of your right. Continue alternating in this way.
Section 3: Tabata Pairs
In this section, there are two exercise pairs. Perform the first exercise for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds, and then move to 20 seconds of the next exercise. Rest for 10 seconds, then repeat the pair three more times—20 seconds on, 10 seconds off—for four total rounds of each pair.
Pair 1:
Exercise A: Mountain climbers
Exercise B: Burpees
Pair 2:
Exercise A: Jump Rope (No rope available? Do fast shadow boxing.)
Exercise B: Ab wheel
Section 4: “The 100” Finisher:
Perform each of these four exercises for 30 seconds, then move to the next exercise without resting. Try to get 25 reps of each move in the 30 seconds—which will make 100 total reps in the 2 minutes.
Exercise 1: Air Squats
Exercise 2: Praep Pushup (or regular pushups)
Exercise 3: Reverse Lunge with Rotation
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Take a large lunge step backward with your right leg, descending as you step until your knees both form 90-degree angles.
- At the bottom of the move, rotate your torso to the right, then back to the front.
- Press through your right foot to stand back up.
- Do the next rep by stepping with your left leg, and rotate your torso to the left. Continue alternating in this way.
Exercise 4: Plank with Plyometric Tuck
- Assume a classic pushup position, with hands directly beneath your shoulders, your body forming a straight line from head to heels.
- Jump both feet up so they’re just behind your hands—kind of like doing a mountain climber with both legs at the same time.
- Jump back to the pushup position, and repeat.
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