Mark Wahlberg is famous for a lot of things: being from Boston, starring in Boston-related movies like The Departed, having a former life in hip-hop group Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, owning a chain of burger restaurants (named, of course, Wahlbergers). For me, it’s his fitness game that really stands out. It may be impressive to star in not one but two movies alongside an animated teddy bear, but imagine working out practically every single day before dawn.
Seriously: Wahlberg is part of what he calls the “4 a.m. club” and has long been dedicated to getting his sweat on in the wee hours of the morning (for which he wakes up at... 2:30).
I’ve long been a fitness girly, so when I got the opportunity to actually work out with Wahlberg — the ultimate fitspo king — I screamed (from both excitement and fear). It would go down at an F45, a global fitness studio specializing in functional fitness that the actor teamed up with back in 2019 as an investor and brand ambassador. In March, he was named the Chief Brand Officer — and has since put together “Wahlberg Weeks,” seven days of different F45 workouts, each of which has that Wahlberg touch. (After trying one, I’d say that his “touch” is increased intensity.)
Thankfully, I didn’t have to wake up at an ungodly hour to try the workout with Wahlberg. I arrived at the midtown Manhattan studio ahead of the 9 a.m. start time, ready to get my ass kicked.
The Wahlberg F45 Workout
The first thing I noticed when I stepped into the studio? Wahlberg looks like he could deadlift a car. This did not help soothe my pre-workout jitters.
Once everyone arrived, Wahlberg moved to the front of the room and talked about how excited he was to debut another round of curated workouts. “You’re going to leave with such a sense of accomplishment,” he said. I couldn’t control my eyebrow raising — who knew if my body could handle a Wahlberg-level strength training session?
Nonetheless, it was time: F45 trainers began going over the exercises we were to do at each of the 12 stations. This particular workout was called “Southpaw,” and it was all about muscular endurance. So while the exercises included some pretty standard strength moves — like bench presses, sumo squats, deadlifts, and step-ups — each interval was extra long. The idea? To get your body to push through muscle fatigue.
Each station featured two different exercises, and you were supposed to do each for 90 seconds straight, followed by... zero time to rest. The only comforting thing about this was the fact that one exercise in each circuit was more of a dynamic stretch (think good mornings, bootstrappers, and a child pose-to-downward dog flow). But I really only had time to catch my breath as we switched stations, and these transitions were supposed to be as quick as possible.
Sweating & Suffering
For the record, I’m well-versed in the world of strength training and have worked out with weights for years. I’ve also been to a number of F45 workouts before. So while this wasn’t my first rodeo, it certainly felt noticeably more challenging — and it’s all because of the longer intervals.
When the instructors said that each exercise was to be done for 90 seconds — instead of a more typical 30, or even sometimes 60 — I didn’t think much of it. But when I found myself actually attempting to do step-ups holding weights for over a minute, I quickly realized that it was not for the faint of heart.
Roughly 45 seconds into doing lunges with a 15-pound dumbbell in each hand, I thought my quads were going to explode. The same thing happened after just 30 seconds of doing bench presses with heavy weights. Each time, I looked at the timer at the front of the room in horror, realizing that I had barely made it halfway through each interval by the time my muscles began quaking from fatigue.
The only thing that kept me going? Knowing that Wahlberg was wandering the room, providing motivation to every single person in the class. When I was ready to give up doing deadlifts, he came up to me and said, “Come on, you got this! You’re strong!” I might blow off a regular instructor telling me that, but it’s basically sacrilegious to ignore Wahlberg of all people telling you to keep going in a workout. Imagine letting Marky Mark down — you just don’t do it.
Survival Of The Fittest
Forty-five minutes later, the workout was over. Miraculously, I made it through the dramatically long intervals (and only took a few breathers). Wahlberg clapped for everyone at the end and commended us for finishing the class.
I was panting, drenched in sweat, and my entire body felt like Jell-O. But I did feel strong. I went up to Wahlberg afterwards and we chatted for a bit. Plot twist: Not only did I do the entire workout, but I did it while pregnant. I had to tell him (he’s a family man, after all). “No way! That’s incredible,” Wahlberg said to me. “If you can do that, you can really do anything.”
Stepping out of the F45 studio, I truly felt like the baddest b*tch.
