Hollywood hunk Ryan Reynolds might have turned 36 years old in 2012, but—just like a good wine or hunk of cheese—he only gets better with age. Standing at an impressive 6’2” tall, his height is just about the only part of his physique which Ryan hasn’t dramatically changed over the past few years. In order to play many of the high-energy, action hero roles he’s made his own, he’s had to work hard and make changes to his incredible physique.

Ryan puts his astonishing success down to his self discipline, a self discipline which has got stronger with age. He pushes himself harder, stronger, and longer than many other people and works hard for what he believes in. He even ran in the New York City Marathon in 2008.

Ryan’s roles in the blockbuster movies “Blade Trinity” and “X-Men Origins – Wolverine” meant that he had to gain a full 20 pounds of sheer muscle, and the action movie “Green Lantern” in 2011 demanded he hit the gym once more to transform himself into 200 pounds of ripped muscle. He achieved the latter by following a grueling workout routine every single day, seven days a week, for an hour and a half during the six months prior to shooting the movie.

He follows a healthy diet packed with ground turkey, ground bison, and grilled salmon served up with lashings of fresh, green veggies. While preparing for his ripped movie role in “Green Lantern,” he:

* made sure that he ate lots of protein every day

* ate plenty of energy-giving carbs early in the day but avoided them later on

* ate regularly—every 2 or 3 hours—consuming a total of 8 or 10 meals per day

* drank lots of water throughout the day

During that time, he was an impressive 200 lbs. with only 8% of body fat. That sort of accomplishment sure does take self-discipline and determination—Ryan Reynolds style.

Tagged as: carbs, fit, protein, ryan reynolds, workout