Sebastian Stan's training? It's not a walk in the park. The star can strap on a bionic arm to play the winter soldier, but best of all, believe he is an absolute weapon without the robotic muscle.
"Staying in shape for this role over the past eight years has changed my life," says Stan. His next appearance as Bucky is The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (March 19), a new Disney + series that picks up where Avengers: Endgame left off. "The action is just as big as the movies," says the actor, but when he was making superheroes fit in isolation, he had to change his direction.
"There were many days when Seb only had a kettlebell or a dumbbell," says longtime trainer Don Saladino. Even so, he was able to increase size, strength, and endurance to perform the show's ruthless fight sequences. "What he's achieved with body weight and a few pieces of equipment is ambitious." Here's a look at Stan's pre-shooting strength routine, which was complemented by hundreds of pull-ups, sit-ups, and push-ups.
Directions: Do exercises 1 and 3 as straight sentences and exercise 2 as a triset. Move continuously through each exercise and only rest for the prescribed amount of time between rounds of Triset. Keep the weight of the dumbbell and kettlebell as heavy as possible without compromising shape.
Sebastian Stan's The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Workout
Half-kneeling one-armed kettlebell press Marius Bugge for the men's journal
1. Half-kneeling one-armed kettlebell press
How it goes: Kneel down and hold a down kettlebell (hand on the handle, bell facing the ceiling) in one hand opposite your front knee, palm facing in. Push the weight straight up and rotate your hand so the palm is facing forward and your torso is perfectly aligned on top of the press. Don't arch your lower back. Slowly decrease the weight and do all of the repetitions on one side before switching. 1 minute break between sets. Do 5 x 8 reps on each side with a 1-minute break between sets.
