‘Luke Cage’ Star Mike Colter Reveals His Diet And Exercise Routine To Beef Up For Netflix Series

Mike Colter is sharing the diet and exercise routine that helps him transform into a superhero in Marvel’s Luke Cage series on Netflix.

Colter, 41, doesn’t work out every day or even make his life revolve around training. However, he did tell Men’s Health how instrumental dieting, stretching and sleeping are to him becoming Luke Cage.

When it comes to his diet, Colter takes in a lot of protein and muscle-building carbs. While he sticks to his routine of a shake and oatmeal for breakfast, he does admit to having cheat days where he may drink some wine.

Colter believes that without a proper diet, there is no point in working out.

“[People] skip the diet part. If you work out really, really hard and you don’t put the fuel in the tank, you’re basically wasting your time,” he said. “The muscles are not going to respond if you don’t put in the carbs and the complex carbohydrates that you need to recover.”

The actor is bi-coastal with his family in California and work in New York. For that reason, it isn’t always easy for him to fit his workouts in. For Colter, getting to the gym three days a week is considered great which means he has to pack a lot into his workouts when he can.

The Men’s Health article lists “a circuit of shoulders, lunges, bench press, leg press, and squats” along with a core workout as the actor’s go-to. However, he wanted to call people’s attention to the importance of stretching.

While Colter admitted that he can identify with the countless people who want to skip stretching as part of their workout routine, he stressed the importance of cooling down the muscle matter. Aside from dieting and stretching, Colter said he tries to get seven or eight hours of sleep to be his best.

Still, living the life of a bi-coastal actor means many hours on an airplane and less in the comfort of a bed. That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t find a way to get the rest that he needs.

“Even if you can’t get it all at once, you got to find a way to nap. Like, I get on a plane and can only get six hours, then I have to get another hour,” he said. “I have to. Sometimes I come home to LA on the weekends after a long time away from home, and I take a nap while my daughter is taking a nap.”