Back in the 1970s he split his time between being the bodybuilding rival of Arnold Schwarzenegger and getting painted green to take on the role as the Incredible Hulk, now, at 67 years old, Lou Ferrigno has no plans for slowing down.
Lou is currently in Manchester as one of the prominent stars of the For the Love of Sci Fi convention but while he was there, he talked to LADbible about his time as the original The Incredible Hulk, working with the legendary Stan Leeand also the mistakes made when working out.
Advert
From experience, he says people are making a huge blunder when hitting the gym these days. He said: "People today are glued to their iPhones when they should ditch technology to work out in the gym. It's not a help or a quick fix."
But back in 1977 it was very different. That was when the world first really heard the name Lou Ferrigno. He starred alongside none other than Arnie in the documentary film Pumping Iron. At the time he was a bodybuilder often competing against The Terminator when working out was a whole different ball game.
He said: "It was all different then, we started all that back then. It wasn't like it is now, I think people don't realise there's no quick fix. It takes a lot of hard work to get to where you want to be."
And I can tell you from my experience in the gym with him, he works hard when training even if he says he doesn't.
Arnie recently admitted to changing up his work-out routine as he gets older, and Lou has had to do the same - kinda.
Advert
He said: "My workout routine hasn't really changed over the years. I just train lighter than I did. I've had a lot of injuries over the years, so you have to train smarter and lighter. I do 55 minutes of weights and 30 minutes of cardio along with including protein in every meal."
He even said he was a fan of Mark Wahlberg's infamous routine which starts at 2.30am. He said: "I read about Mark's workout. I thought it was really good, I like it. I get up early and train."
Along with taking on Arnie in '77, he also landed the role of The Hulk in the original The Incredible Hulk series.
During his starring role in the classic Marvel show, he managed to spend a lot of time with the late and great legend, Stan Lee.
"I owe my whole life to Stan Lee. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be where I am today. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Stan Lee. He created the Hulk and he was amazing. He did a few cameos on the series, it was great," he said.
Advert
But as time goes on there has been many reworks of The Hulk - some of which Lou isn't the biggest fan of and claims they look a bit 'rubbery'.
He said: "The CGI is fake, looks rubbery, it's for the big screen - I was the real deal."
Now Lou spends a lot of his time in the gym and entertaining fans at conventions, like the For the Love of Sci-Fi event in Manchester.
The event takes place over the weekend of 1st and 2nd December at Trafford Park. Along with Lou, Spencer Wilding (Darth Vader in Rogue One) and Gaten Matarazzo and Caleb McLaughlin, who played Dustin and Lucas on Stranger Things also star.
Featured Image Credit: The Incredible Hulk / Pumping IronTopics: Celebirty, Hulk, TV and Film, UK Entertainment, US Entertainment, Marvel