Action Star Iko Uwais' Workout Preps Him for Intense Fight Sequences
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Actor Iko Uwais approaches his workouts a little differently than your average movie star. He's not necessarily training to build a body that will stand out onscreen—which makes sense, if you're familiar with any of his work.
Uwais is arguably one of the best martial artists currently making movies, standing out in films like The Raid series and on TV in Netflix's Wu Assasins (and its recently released feature film followup Fistful of Vengeance) with his mastery of Silat, a class of martial arts that originated in Southeast Asia. For Uwais, strength training workouts are in service of his practice. He needs the endurance be able to go the distance for the intense, frenetic fight scenes that are the highlights of his films—and capturing those sequences can be tough.
"Sometimes, these [shoots] can go on for hours and hours—even days," Uwais told the MH crew when he shared his typical workout plan from Jakarta, Indonesia. "I need power and speed all of the time."
He breaks his training down into endurance and strength splits, with additional agility and martial arts practice as well. Most of his work with weights uses high rep schemes, which help to build muscular endurance more than packing on mass. His main goal: powerful, fluid movement and the stamina to shoot some of the most talked-about fight scenes in cinema.
Iko Uwais' Martial Arts Strength Training Workout
Endurance Training
Treadmill
15 km/h (9.3 mph) for 10 minutes
Strength Training
Cable Crossover
3 sets of 20 reps
Dumbbell Bench Press
3 sets of 20 reps
Cable Shoulder Press
3 sets of 20 reps
Weighted Decline Situp
3 sets of 20 reps
Plank
3 sets of 1 minute holds
Hanging Leg Raise
3 sets of 20 reps
Agility Training
Silat Movements
10 minutes
Combo Strike Pad Work
10 minutes
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