Álex González Demanding Diet and Training to Maintain Abs of Steel
The abs shown by Álex González in his latest acting projects prove that after the age of 40, it’s still possible to shape your physique. The Madrid-born actor has confessed that he’s not a fan of the gym, but the demands of his latest roles have led him to physical conditioning.
At the same time, he used nutrition experts to create a diet that would allow him to be healthy and gain muscle mass. In a few months he had to transform himself to play El Turco in the series Toy boy.
About his character, the actor said the following:
He’s a perfectionist and it seemed to me that a person who doesn’t admit mistakes or errors couldn’t allow his body to admit any, either. -Álex González
Álex González’s abs workout
The actor got in shape in a short time. Although he had a previous sports background, the role in the series encouraged him to focus on the contouring and definition of his torso.
The script has several scenes in which El Turco appears with little clothing. So, Álex González’s abs couldn’t go unnoticed.
That previous base we talked about was aerobic. The Madrid native stated that he’s been a runner for some time, has done triathlons, and has even done boxing. All of these are disciplines that promote high oxygen consumption by the cells. They are typical activities that we would call cardio.
The point is that aerobic exercises don’t encourage the creation of new muscle mass. They maintain what is there, but the caloric demand is so high that fibers denoting hypertrophy are not formed.
The problem with aerobic exercise and hypertrophy
A scientific study with previously untrained women looked at what happened to muscle fibers and their size after a three-month routine of combined strength and endurance. One of the objectives was to show whether there was anabolism (tissue creation) with cardio workouts.
The results showed that the women used mostly type I fibers from their muscles. On the contrary, they recruited almost no type II fibers in the 12 weeks of observation.
Type I fibers have the most energy structures and the most myoglobin. Therefore, they’re designed to resist fatigue. It’s logical to think that they’re those that are most activated when running or cycling, for example.
Type II fibers are more resistant, if one could say so. They’re the fibers that are activated when we carry something heavy. They deliver a lot of power in a short amount of time. Therefore, they’re also the fibers that are linked to hypertrophy – that is, to the increase in size of the muscle mass.
In conclusion, the aforementioned study corroborates that aerobic exercise gives us resistance, but not hypertrophy. That’s why Álex González had to vary and focus on another training modality that would allow him to define his abs.
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What was Álex González’s routine based on for his abs of steel?
As the actor is not a fan of the gym, he opted for CrossFit. With this variety, he kept up the aerobic activity while incorporating movements with his own body weight and external counterweights to recruit type II fibers.
The truth is that he also had to use gym machines at times, even if he felt forced to do so. So he planned six days a week of short but intense routines of no more than 50 minutes at a time.
Between each set of repetitions to work different muscle groups, his breaks were active. This means that he didn’t stop just to catch his breath, but performed crunches and then continued with the repetitions he had scheduled.
While sports medicine science promotes resting between sets of exercises, by varying the muscle group activated, it’s possible to maximize the use of your time. When Alex Gonzalez did sit-ups after working his arms, for example, he let his biceps cells rest, which helped him recover energy while his abdominal cells used it up.
The actor’s diet to define his abs
No workout is successful if there’s no nutritional support. To do so, the actor made use of experts in the field who designed meals according to his schedule and goals.
The chrononutrition played a preponderant role in González’s plan. He was encouraged to do cardio training on an empty stomach on some days so that his body would use fat as a source of energy.
At the same time, if he was scheduled to do strength training in the evening, carbohydrates were limited during the day and placed in the evening meal. In this way, after the use of glycogen reserves in the gym or in CrossFit, the actor replenished what he had used at dinner.
You do the muscle work, you eat carbohydrates, and your nervous system relaxes, you gain muscle…. It’s all in the timing! -Javier Fernández Ligero, Álex González’s nutrionalist
The role of testosterone after 40
One aspect that Alex Gonzalez’s nutritionist has not overlooked is his age. After the age of 40, men reduce their testosterone production somewhat.
In this context, they’re less likely to build new muscle mass and have more difficulty losing fat. For this reason, the actor underwent blood tests to corroborate the values of the hormone in his body.
Several studies have found a relationship between the amount of circulating testosterone and muscle hypertrophy. For men over 40, a good strategy to support these hormone levels is natural supplementation.
A diet rich in zinc and vitamins A, C, and E is important. These are incorporated into the dietary pattern or supplemented with multivitamin preparations.
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If you want Álex González’s abs, you have to commit
The actors we see with marked muscles have not achieved it by magic. There are workout and diet routines they must follow to the letter.
You may be disappointed when you exercise and limit carbohydrates in your meals, but you don’t gain muscle mass, especially if you’re past age 40.
It’s a good time to consult specialists. There are several factors that influence muscle building (such as testosterone), and we have more and more tools to understand and modify them.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Hudelmaier, Martin, et al. “Effect of exercise intervention on thigh muscle volume and anatomical cross‐sectional areas—Quantitative assessment using MRI.” Magnetic resonance in medicine 64.6 (2010): 1713-1720.
- Azzeme, Mohamad Shahrul Azzfar Mohamad, et al. “The effects of interset rest duration on performance and muscle activation during resistance training.” Journal of Physics: Conference Series. Vol. 1529. No. 2. IOP Publishing, 2020.
- Kowal, Marta, et al. “A positive relationship between body height and the testosterone response to physical exercise.” Evolution and Human Behavior 42.3 (2021): 179-185.
