After making fun of Taylor Lautner’s hot physique, his svelte Twilight co-stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson admitted going “nuts” working out for their Breaking Dawn bikini scene. Lautner, on the other hand, had to go shirtless for the previous installments, sticking to an intense regimen throughout the saga —who’s laughing now?

His workout

Lautner’s trademark is his washboard abs.

“His Twilight body was perfect but it wasn’t symmetrical,” Jordan Yuam, his trainer throughout the entire series says. “He was so buff he almost looked cartoonish, but everything was based on the moment he took off his shirt.”

When he wasn’t filming, Taylor’s body was 10 to 12 per cent but for Twilight, Yuam would bring it down to seven per cent.

“Taylor’s always up for a challenge, he’s so focused and disciplined. We’d meet up four times a week to chisel away fat,” Yuam said.

In order to get Taylor ready for his role as ripped werewolf Jacob, Yuam used a combination of classic moves including hanging leg raises and reverse crunches to define his muscles.

The (super) power

“I got Taylor on the power plate,” says Yuam. “It’s instrumental to my work as I use it to create muscle and for post workout recovery.”

He admits that he uses the Power Plate “more than ever” to sculpt his clients’ bodies. It’s high-speed workout as vibrations (around 1,000 per minute) are transferred to your muscles causing them to contract as a reflex action. This creates internal heat that increases circulation, oxygenates blood flow around the body, flushes out toxins stored in fat cells and lactic acid.

“Working out is about recovery and the plate loosens up your stabilizers so you don’t get sore. The idea isn’t to do thousands of reps; 25 is enough (12 minutes on the plate). I don’t believe in workouts that last more than 50 minutes,” Yuam added.

Wolfing food down

“Taylor isn’t naturally big. So the key to maintaining his frame was to make sure he ate right pre and post workout. Breaking Dawn was a challenge, as we had to overlap with his Abduction body for which he was doing a lot of boxing,” says Yuam. “He was burning a lot of calories and finding it hard to eat enough.”

He devised a diet combining healthy fats, carbohydrates and protein.

“He ate simple carbohydrates, such as bananas, to maintain glycogen levels and provide slow energy release throughout the workout as well as whey protein blended with oatmeal to build muscle.”

And right before a shirtless scene, Yuam made sure he ate no fruit and vegetables. Just like a real werewolf.

Here are four ab excercises Taylor Lautner has done

Hanging leg raises

“This helped bring out and thicken Taylor’s upper torso,” says Yuam. “Hanging leg raises helped round out Taylor’s abs. It brings out the muscles around the upper corners of the rib cage and wraps around into his back muscles. I also use this exercise to lengthen the torso. He would do various positions moving from rectal ab area to the oblique area.” 12-15 reps holding for 10 counts each time

How to do it: Grab a chin-up bar overhand and hang with your feet together and your knees bent slightly. Bend your knees to lift your thighs up to your chest. When the front of your thighs reach your chest, hold the position and exhale fully. Then slowly lower your knees back to the starting position, consciously inhaling fully. Try widening your legs a little more each time to increase the effectiveness.

Reverse Crunch

“He would perform 3 sets at 12-15 reps.”

How to do it: Lie like the picture. Then lift your feet off the floor (six inches max) so your thighs are perpendicular to the floor and your legs parallel to the floor. Exhale on your way up, pulling your knees in toward your chest and lift your hips off the floor. As you pull your legs in twist your torso and angle both knees towards your left shoulder to work the obliques.”

Power plate crunches

“Taylor hated these, they made him feel like he was choking,” Yuan said.

Power plate crunches and bicycle crunches take time to get used to the vibration that goes through your back and it resonates through the chest as well as the neck region.

“It may feel uncomfortable and breathing must be adjusted. The direct stimulation helped tighten his whole back area. I had him do 2 sets of 60 second crunches and 1 to 2 sets of 60 second bicycle crunches,” Yuan said.

Cobra pose

“This move helped loosen up his shoulders after lifting a lot of heavy weights.”

“The Cobra pose on a 65 cm exercise ball made sure the front of Taylor’s shoulders didn’t get too tight. Holding that position no longer than five counts and then standing him up and bending at the waist with his head down circling the arms in each direction for eight rotations. I was alternating this movement with the Power plate to get the lactic acid and stabilizers to recover for more sets and reps.”

“Many men with anterior instability issues should utilize both moves so the inflammation in that region is minimal,” Yuam said.