A Glimpse at Stephen Lang's Workout Evolution over the Years

Stephan Lang has been Hollywood's go-to tough old guy for over a decade at this point, and for a good reason. Even as he is approaching his 70s, Lang has kept his physique in tremendous shape. 

While he is scarily close to becoming an industry typecast for an old soldier, Lang has not deterred from the path of fitness. Instead, he has been working with newer ways to accommodate physical fitness into his elder years. 

In an interview with Muscle and Fitness, the Avatar star opened up about his fitness regimen and how it had evolved over the years. 

How Stephan Lang Was Inspired To Get Fit

Like many other Americans of his time, Lang was inspired to get fit by the Father of the Fitness Movement, Jack LaLanne. He recalled pumping iron since '69 when he was still in college. 

As he got older, training with weights became a form of meditation for the veteran actor. He also admitted that weight lifting was a very personal and interior pursuit, at least for him. 

Then, there was also the benefit of adding a little appeal to his already handsome self. Lang did not shy away from admitting that there was a degree of vanity to physical training and that it complemented his profession. As an actor, he had to look good doing what he did. 

"The older I get the more vital it is," he claimed. 

Stephan Lang's Workouts Evolved After 'Avatar'

Lang also explained that his sweet spot was between 150 to 160 pounds, hovering around 10% body fat. 

Of course, in his career span, he had to take on a variety of movies and TV shows where he played characters that demanded different physical appearances.

However, one transformation stood out. For Avatar, he had to buff up to about 190 pounds, and so he was bench-pressing 250 pounds at the time. 

Although he eventually took his body back down to its sweet spot, the damage had already been done, and his shoulders had begun giving up on him. To mitigate further damage, he took up yoga and integrated that into his workout routine. 

He got so invested in doing yoga that for the next year or so, he didn't do weight training at all. After realizing that he'd overdone yoga, he stumbled into another idea.

I’m on this quest to find this balance between weight training and yoga. They can be complementary.

Staying Fit in One's Elder Years

In another interview with Men's Health, the actor also handed out a few good tips for people working on their fitness in their latter years. While he suggested that listening to your body and adjusting your workouts accordingly was a good place to start, there were four tips that would be useful to everyone as they got older. 

1. Staying Lean

According to the Terra Nova star, once you reached a certain age, it was easier to keep the weight off and stay lean instead of gaining a few pounds to shed them later. 

2. Setting Realistic Goals

He also advised that in your older years, you would not be able to compete against the records you set when you were young. In Lang's words, 

I'm not as strong as I was. And I accept that, and it's cool. But I want to be as strong as I can possibly be.

3. Accepting Change

One other thing that Land realized was that not all people age the same. So, just because someone older that you could do a certain routine, it didn't necessarily mean that you can too. Playing to your body's strength is the key. 

4. Resting

At the risk of sounding counterintuitive, Lang also shared that resting was essential to maintaining a fit body. He claimed that it revitalized the body and gave your "engine" the time to cool down.