For actor and comedian Kevin Hart, age is just a number. Hart, who celebrated his 45th birthday on Jul. 6, 2024, coupled his cake and candles with a birthday post on social media showing off his ripped physique.
“Fit, 45, and loving it!!!!!!” Hart captioned on Instagram while showing off his impressive physique and six-pack abs. More importantly, though, Hart’s photographer also provided a rundown of some of the entertainer’s go-to strength training exercises.
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Hart might be downright deadly with a microphone in his hands, but he’s clearly no slouch in the weight room, either. Let’s take a look at some of his go-to gym exercises and teach you how to do them:
Kevin Hart’s Go-To Upper-Body Exercises
According to an Instagram post by set photographer Art Streiber, Hart threw together the impromptu photo-op at an impressively-furnished weight room packed to the brim with everything he needs to stay in fighting (and filming) shape.
[Hart is] ripped, shredded, and jacked … he’s fit as a fiddle at 45,” said Streiber of Hart. He also shouted out a few of the Borderlands star’s go-to upper-body exercises:
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Shoulder Press
Shoulder pressing is an essential movement pattern for building round, capped deltoids and has plenty of real-world carryover as well. There are plenty of shoulder press variations out there, but we’re particularly fond of the standard barbell shoulder press.
How To Do It
Unrack a barbell from a squat or power rack with a narrow, just-outside-shoulder-width grip and hold it in the front rack position.
Inhale and brace your core while ensuring that your elbows are directly under the barbell.
Tense your entire body and push the bar off your collarbones and past your face by tilting your head back and driving the bar straight up.
As the bar passes your head, move it back through while extending your elbows overhead.
Single-Arm Lat Pulldown
Studies show that unilateral, or single-limb, exercises can help identify and remedy muscular imbalances in strength or size. Pro tip: If you’re mismatched from side to side, start with your “weaker” side and only match the reps or weight you use with your stronger arm afterward when doing the single-arm lat pulldown.
How To Do It
Grab the handle attachment with your non-dominant arm and sit in the seat or onto a weight bench.
Brace your core and then pull the handle by driving your elbow down and back, tucking your upper arm against your torso as you pull.
Pull until your upper arm comes fully in line with your torso.
Dumbbell Row
We think the dumbbell row is one of the best dumbbell exercises out there. It’s accessible, easy to customize, and is a fantastic back-building movement as well. Here’s how to do it.
How To Do It
Place a moderate to heavy dumbbell on the floor alongside a weight bench.
Place one knee and the corresponding palm onto the bench, then stick your other leg out behind you like a kickstand.
Ensure that you’re properly bent over in a hinge position with your torso nearly parallel to the floor, then grab the dumbbell with your free hand.
Row the dumbbell up and back into your hip, keeping your upper arm tucked tightly to your side. Avoid twisting your torso as you row.
Pull-Up
Pull-ups are a bread-and-butter back exercise, and for good reason. You can do them anywhere and they’re useful for beginners and advanced exercisers alike. If you only do one back exercise, it should probably be a pull-up variation.
How To Do It
Hang from a stable bar with a shoulder-width (or slightly wider) overhand grip.
Brace your core and ensure your shoulders are pulled up near your ears; this will stretch out your back muscles.
Ensure that your body is still and not swinging, then pull yourself up to the bar by driving your shoulders down and away from your ears and bending your elbows.
Upright Row
This move targets your shoulders and upper back simultaneously. You may have heard that upright rows can cause shoulder impingement — studies have shown that you can mitigate this risk factor by not elevating your arms higher than a 90-degree angle relative to your torso. (1) Here’s how to do this one safely:
How To Do It
Stand upright with your feet under your hips while holding a barbell, EZ-curl bar, or dumbbells down in front of your waist.
Brace your core and row the weights vertically by bending your elbows and driving them upward so the weight(s) travels just in front of your torso.
Lift until your arms are at a 90-degree angle to your torso, or parallel to the ground.
Additionally…: Hart also reportedly performed a few core exercises and some lower-body moves such as crunches and step-ups, as well as presumably a Russian twist variation which they called a “barbell swing”.
Benefits of Strength Training After 40
There’s plenty of persistent misinformation surrounding strength training, but word is spreading quickly — lifting weights isn’t just for athletes or aesthetics. Hitting the iron is one of the best things you can do to retain your health and improve your quality of life, especially after 40.
Studies show that people begin to lose skeletal muscle mass around middle age. (2)
Resistance training protocols have been shown to mitigate age-related muscle loss and improve various performance metrics as well. (3)
[Related: Best Pre-Workout Supplements for Beginners]
You don’t need to spend hours per week slaving away in the weight room, either. A 2017 study published in the journal Sports Medicine on weight-lifting workout volumes (4) noted that just 1 to 4 sets per muscle group, per week, are more than enough to build muscle and strength — if they’re done with high effort. This is especially true for beginners who don’t have years of lifting experience under their belts already.
Hart is set to appear as Roland in Lionsgate’s Borderlands adaptation, which hits theaters in the U.S. on Aug. 9, 2024.
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References
Kolber, M. J., Cheatham, S. W., Salamh, P. A., & Hanney, W. J. (2014). Characteristics of shoulder impingement in the recreational weight-training population. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 28(4), 1081–1089.
Delmonico MJ, Beck DT. The Current Understanding of Sarcopenia: Emerging Tools and Interventional Possibilities. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2016 Jul 7;11(2):167-181. doi: 10.1177/1559827615594343. PMID: 30202329; PMCID: PMC6125026.
Yoo SZ, No MH, Heo JW, Park DH, Kang JH, Kim SH, Kwak HB. Role of exercise in age-related sarcopenia. J Exerc Rehabil. 2018 Aug 24;14(4):551-558. doi: 10.12965/jer.1836268.134. PMID: 30276173; PMCID: PMC6165967.
Ralston, G. W., Kilgore, L., Wyatt, F. B., & Baker, J. S. (2017). The Effect of Weekly Set Volume on Strength Gain: A Meta-Analysis. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 47(12), 2585–2601.
Featured Image: @kevinhart4real / Instagram
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