Lou Ferrigno Hulk – Our childhood hero

Biography

An American bodybuilder who has won such high-profile titles as Mr. America and Mr. Universe, Lou Ferrigno secured his success also on the big and small screens, becoming the star of various American television shows and blockbusters about the adventures of the superhero Hulk . The peak of its popularity occurred in the 80-90s of the XX century. But now he continues to delight fans with new movie roles.

Anthropometric data of Lou Ferrigno:

• Height: 196 cm
• Weight: 124 kg
• Biceps: 58 cm
• Chest: 145 cm
• Hip: 74 cm
• Drumstick: 50 cm

Childhood and youth

Louis Jude Ferrigno was born on November 9, 1951 in Brooklyn, New York. Parents – Victoria and Matt Ferrigno. The boy’s father is from Italy and worked in the local police.

Lou Ferrigno in childhood

Lu’s childhood was overshadowed by the consequences of a disease at the age of 2 or 3: he lost about 80% of his hearing because of an infectious disease. As a result, the hard of hearing boy became the subject of ridicule from the local guys.

“They called me Deaf Louis and made fun of them in every way,” the bodybuilder recalls.

However, later, having already become famous, Lou will say that hearing loss helped him find his place in life, focus on his own abilities. Offended by peers, the boy found solace in reading. He read all the comics about superheroes (he was especially impressed by Spider-Man and the Hulk), imagining himself in their place.

Lou Ferrigno in his youth

Soon, the desire to fend for himself led him to the gym. And at 13, a teenager began to swing, inspired by the example of the main character of the film “Hercules”, played by Steve Reeves – the main icon of bodybuilders of those times.

Ferrigno graduated from St. Athanasius Grammar School and Brooklyn Technical School, where he studied metalworking.

 

Bodybuilding

Young Ferrigno’s passion for bodybuilding was not a whim at all. The guy stubbornly walked towards his goal and spent all his time in hard training. In 1969, Lou won his first major title, becoming Mr. America among juniors.

Bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno

Four years later, in 1973, Lou celebrates his first adult victory – the title “Mr. Universe” and becomes the new bodybuilding star, known for his outstanding physical characteristics as Big Louis (athlete’s height of 196 cm, competitive weight 130 kg).

In 1974, Lou takes part in the Mr. Olympia competition, but gives way to Arnold Schwarzenegger and takes 2nd place. The next year, history repeats itself, only this time Ferrigno gets 3rd place on the podium. About this confrontation, Arnie and Lou in 1975 was even put on the documentary film “Pumping Iron.”

Lou Ferrigno and Arnold Schwarzenegger at the Mr. Olympia Competition

Despite his sporting successes, Ferrigno could not make a comfortable living. He had to work by profession: the man was a sheet metal worker at one of the Brooklyn plants. But one day, in front of Lou’s colleague, his arm was cut off with a machine, and the bodybuilder left the factory and did not return to his profession.

A short episode of his biography is occupied by the career of the Argonauts Toronto football team defender in the Canadian Football League, but the athlete left the ranks of the legionnaires after a severe leg injury. Ferrigno returned to bodybuilding for a short while in the early 90s, having decided to compete for the title “Mr. Olympia”, but having taken 10th and 12th places in two competitions, he left professional sports.

Lou Ferrigno Training Program

The main difference between the program of Lou Ferrigno from most ever known is the clear conviction of the athlete that there should not be strict boundaries and restrictions on the definition of the training scheme.

In his judgment, Lou relies on the fact that muscles after training cannot recover evenly.

So it is necessary to feel and realize which muscles can be given a load at the moment, and which still require recovery.

Indeed, one can agree with him, because no one person can be an absolute copy of anyone, either in appearance or personality, and also refers to physical health.

This is unique.

Following exactly this manual, which Lou Ferrigno developed from his own experience and his own successful practice, helped Lu Ferrigno to achieve such impressive results.

Arm muscle training

Basic exercises:

• pulling back grip,
• push-ups on the bars,
• lifting the barbell and dumbbells to the bicep,
• French bench press with a barbell on an inclined and horizontal bench.

Leg muscle training

Basic exercises:

• squats in various variations,
• extension and bending of the legs in the simulator,
• leg press in the simulator,
• deadlift on straight and bent legs.

Back and chest muscles training

Basic exercises:

• bench press,
• pull-ups,
• mixing in the upper block,
• deadlift.
• craving for the belt.

Shoulder muscle training

Here exercises such as:

• bench presses with dumbbells from a sitting position,
• rod pull to the chin while standing,
• breeding dumbbells from a tilt position and similar exercises.

Most importantly, when choosing exercises and the amount of load, do not deviate from the basic principle of inner sensation and intuition. It is this knowledge that will tell you what, when and in what volumes it is necessary to perform for extreme and effective pumping of the muscles of the whole body.

Films

In 1976, Lou Ferrigno was invited to star in the series The Incredible Hulk based on the Marvel comics. This happened with the filing of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who refused this role, since he had already starred in Conan Barbara, but proposed to the producers the candidacy of Lou, his rival for Mr. Olympia.

Lou Ferrigno in the series The Incredible Hulk

The series appeared on the screens from 1978 to 1982 and brought the newly-minted actor incredible popularity. This work made Lou friends with Bill Bixby, who played Professor David Bruce Benner, whose alter ego becomes the green-skinned monster Hulk. Ferrigno called Bixby his teacher in the acting profession.

The following works of Lou were Italian projects: in the film “Hercules” about the adventures of the mythological hero, as well as the fantasy film “The Magnificent Seven Gladiators”, the ex-bodybuilder played the main role.

Lou Ferrigno in the movie Hercules

A real triumph awaits Ferrigno in the late 80s. He plays Sinbad in the Italian-American adventure film Sinbad Over the Seven Seas, and also plays in the crime action movie The Cage. Hero Lu in this tape is a former officer who went through the war in Vietnam and entered into a duel with the mafia already in civilian life.

And finally, in 1988, a new series of films about the Hulk starts on television: “The Return of the Incredible Hulk” (1988), “The Court of the Incredible Hulk” (1989) and “The Death of the Incredible Hulk” (1990). Lou Ferrigno took part in all three films and thereby finally established himself in the status of the most charismatic performer of this role.

Lou Ferrigno in the movie Sinbad Behind the Seven Seas

Since 2000, for 7 years, the actor has been playing himself in the sitcom King of Queens, which tells the story of the life of a funny married couple, Doug and Kerry Heffernan. In 2003 and 2008, when the Hollywood adaptations of the Hulk adventures with Eric Bana and Edward Norton starring on the big screens , Ferrigno was also invited for the episodic role of the guard and voice acting for the Hulk himself. Despite the appearance of other performers of this role, Lou considers his Hulk the best.

“I was the first to show the muscles of this superhero on the big screen and make him believable. I don’t think anyone else can play the Hulk like I did, ”he admitted in an interview.

Ferrigno’s “signature” voice of the Hulk also sounds in such Marvel comic adaptations as Avengers (2012), Avengers: Grimm (2015), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Tor: Ragnarok “(2017),” Avengers: War of Infinity “(2018).

Lou Ferrigno in the series Star Trek Continues

Despite his considerable age, Ferrigno is still in great shape and has acted in film a lot, although not as often as in his youth. In 2015, in the filmography of Lou, the role of King Skizurr appeared in the adventure film “Scorpion King 4: The Lost Throne”. In 2017, fans of creativity enjoyed the cameo Lou in the web series “Conmen”, and in 2018 – in the action movie “Enter the Fire”.

Filmography

• 1978 – The Incredible Hulk
• 1983 – Hercules
• 1983 – The Magnificent Seven of the Gladiator
• 1987 – Desert Warrior
• 1988 – The Returns of the Incredible Hulk
• 1989 – The Cell
• 1998 – The Godfather
• 2000 – The King of Queens
• 2009 – “I Love You Man”
• 2015 – “King of Scorpions-4: the lost throne”
• 2017 – Conman

This dependence of the response amplitude on the frequency of stimulation is called the optimum and the pessimum of the frequency of stimulation. For example, a-motoneuron can send impulses to a muscle with a frequency of 20 pulses, 40 pulses, 50 pulses. Depending on the frequency, the magnitude of the contractile response will be different. This is one of the ways to regulate the strength of muscle contractions lou ferrigno hulk. In reality, all skeletal muscle contractions occur in response to periodic stimulation and are tetanic. Comparison of a single muscle contraction with tetanic shows that the stress that develops during tetanus is higher than the maximum stress recorded during a single; the difference often reaches a ratio of 4 1.

For skeletal muscle is characterized by another kind of activity – contracture. After the cessation of tetanic irritation, the muscle fibers relax at first incompletely – their initial length is restored only after a certain time lou ferrigno jr swat. This phenomenon is called post-tetanic (residual) contracture. The nature of contractures consists in the residual prolonged depolarization of the muscle membrane. In the whole organism, contracture occurs under conditions of pathology and manifests itself in a long-term contracted muscle contraction.

Modes of skeletal muscle contraction. Skeletal muscle is characterized by two main modes of contraction, isometric and isotonic. The isometric mode is manifested when tension increases in the muscle during its activity (force is generated), but due to the fact that both ends of the muscles are fixed, for example, the muscle tries to lift an unbearable weight, it does not shorten. The isotonic mode is manifested when the muscle initially develops tension that can do the job, for example, lift the load. Then the muscle is shortened – it changes its length, keeping the tension equal to the weight of the lifted load. Since isotonic contraction is not exclusively isotonic (elements of isometric contraction occur at the very beginning of muscle contraction), as isometric is not completely isometric either (displacement elements do exist), it is proposed to use the term auxotonic contraction, i.e. mixed the nature.

In real practice, both modes can move from one to another lou ferrigno height. So, when the muscular wall of a hollow organ begins to contract, and the organ contains fluid and the exit from it is closed by the sphincter (heart, bladder), then an isometric situation arises, the pressure inside the hollow organ grows and its size cannot change, since the fluid does not shrink . At a certain amount of pressure, the sphincter opens and the muscle goes into the isotonic mode of contraction for the time of the expulsion of fluid from the organ cavity, when the tension remains constant.

The mechanism of muscle contraction. In order to understand the essence of the process of muscle fiber contraction, it is necessary to recall that each muscle fiber consists of myofibrils, which include longitudinally repeated blocks – sarcomeres, separated from each other by so-called Z-plates (a network of interlaced protein molecules). On top of the myofibrils are covered with a muscle fiber membrane – plasma membrane, which thickness is about 10 nm. The functional unit of the striated muscle myofibrils is the sarcomere lou ferrigno jr. In both directions from the Z-plate stretch thin filaments (filaments), consisting of the protein actin. They are intertwined with thick threads of myosin protein. Myosin filaments form the most optically dense part of the sarcomere, the A-disk lou ferrigno age. The light area in the middle of the A-disk is called zone N. Here there are only myosin threads and there is no actin. In the middle of the H-zone is the M-line, in which there are enzymes (for example, creatinase), which play an important role in energy metabolism. In the areas of mutual overlap, each myosin filament is surrounded by six actin threads, and each actin thread is surrounded by three myosin threads. Small protrusions, called transverse bridges, were found on the myosin filaments. They are located along the myosin filaments in the form of a 2-filament helix. During contraction, these bridges interlock with actin filaments lou ferrigno vs arnold schwarzenegger. The actin filament is formed by two spiral strands of globular actin molecules (G-actin), twisted one around the other. In the longitudinal grooves of the actin helix are thread-like molecules of the tropomyosin protein brent ferrigno. It is a rod-shaped fibrillar protein, the sticks connect end-to-end and form two strands twisted in a spiral around actin. A complex of globular protein molecules under the general name troponin is attached to each tropomyosin molecule.

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The myosin molecule consists of two parts of a long rod-shaped area, which is divided into the neck and tail, and the globular area, represented by two identical heads. The diameter of this part of the molecule is 4 nm, length – 20 nm. If the myosin molecule is treated with proteolytic enzyme trypsin, it will break up into two parts light meromyosin and heavy meromyosin. The latter, mainly formed by the head and neck of the molecule, has enzymatic and actin-binding activity. Myosin filaments are formed by combining individual molecules. The tails of the molecules are oriented to the middle, and the heads are directed in opposite directions and form protrusions on the filament carla ferrigno. Myosin molecules are located in the myosin filament so that the heads are evenly distributed along the entire length (except for a small area in the middle).

When observed in a microscope, it was found that the width of A-disks does not change with a reduction, while I-disks (isotropic) and H areas become narrower, that is, the width of mutual overlap between actin and myosin filaments changes. Proceeding from this, A.F. Huxley in 1954 proposed the theory of the sliding of threads to explain the mechanism of muscle contraction (Fig. 1).

According to the theory, the shortening of the sarcomere occurs due to the active sliding of thin actin threads of relatively thick myosin within the sarcomere. The length of the threads themselves is not changed lou ferrigno jr.. During contraction, each myosin head or cross bridge can connect the myosin thread to the actin one. The tilts of the heads create a joint effort, and a “stroke” occurs, pushing the actin filament to the middle of the sarcomere. The bipolar organization of myosin molecules allows actin filaments to slide in the opposite direction in both halves of the sarcomere.

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The mechanism of this process can be explained by electromechanical conjugation, i.e. transmission of the excitation signal from the membrane to the myofibrils. The key role is played by Ca ions.

hulk actor. In a relaxed state, i.e. at a low concentration of Ca ions, regulatory proteins, tropomyosin and troponin C, block the attachment of myosin transverse bridges to actin filaments. Excitation causes the release of Ca ions from the sarcoplasmic reticulum. This leads to the fact that the concentration of Ca when excited inside the fiber increases and Ca ions combine with the troponin molecule. As a result, the tropomyosin molecule is displaced, which makes it possible to attach the myosin transverse bridges to the actin filaments. This conformational change initiates a series of processes leading to muscle contraction. Therefore, at rest, the proteins troponin and tropomyosin prevent the connection of myosin bridges to actin lou ferrigno vs arnold schwarzenegger. Ca activation leads to inactivation of regulatory proteins, and bridging occurs.

The next question is how a muscle converts chemical energy into mechanical energy. The contractile proteins themselves, actin and myosin, do not possess adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) activity. However, by contacting actin, the myosin head of the transverse bridge in the presence of Mg ions acquires ATPase activity and catalyzes the breakdown of adenosine triphosphoric acid (ATP). The ATP molecule binds to the active ATPase center of the myosin head and separates it from the actin filament how old is lou ferrigno. Hydrolysis is accompanied by conformational changes in the head of the myosin molecule, translating it into a high-energy state.

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Cyclic activity of cross bridges (rhythmic attachment and detachment), which provides muscle contraction, is possible as long as ATP hydrolysis continues, i.e., ATPase is activated and there is a sufficient concentration of Ca ions. Under normal conditions, muscle relaxation occurs due to the fact that Ca ions released during excitation begin to be actively absorbed by the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SPR). The level of Ca in the sarcoplasm decreases, and tropomyosin begins to prevent the accession of the transverse bridges. The muscle remains relaxed until the next time the membrane depolarizes again.

The muscle mass of the body consists of striated muscle. They are the most voluminous tissue of the human body, reaching 50% of body weight in men. Their activity is controlled by sensory areas of the cerebral cortex and subcortical centers of movement.

The implementation of movements and locomotion is the main function of striated muscles lou ferrigno net worth. In addition, they are the largest generator of biological energy because of their mass and perform the function of the “second heart”, facilitating the return of venous blood to the right heart, propulsively acting on the wall of peripheral veins.

All this further emphasizes the importance of movements for the vital activity of the organism. The striated muscles are subject to age-related involution – mustaches, the proportion of muscle tissue decreases to 27%, muscle tone decreases and the volume of motor activity drops sharply. This is associated with a decrease in the role of muscles as an energy generator and a decrease in the role played by the “second heart”, which leads to edema, stagnant.

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The coefficient of performance (efficiency) of muscular work is very high – 37 – 65%. The energy of muscle contraction is spent on changes in the spatial relationship of contractile proteins.

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Muscle cell The most significant protein fractions of the muscle cell are

• proteins of the myogen group – mainly glycolysis enzymes and myoalbumin;
• myoglobin – red chromoprotein, hemoglobin “sibling”, which determines the red color of muscle tissue; it contains in its composition a free, easily oxidized iron atom, binds and transports oxygen within the cytoplasm of the cell;
• globulins – enzymes and spare proteins that can be converted into myofibrillar contractile proteins during training;
• myofibrillary proteins myosin and actin, enzymes, etc .;
• nuclear proteins – nucleoproteins.

The most significant of the energy fractions are water-soluble nitrogenous compounds, such as ATP (0.25 – 0.4% of the cell’s dry residue) and creatinine phosphate (CrF) – 0.4 – 1.0% of the cell’s dry residue.

The most important nitrogen-free energy fractions include glycogen, which can be up to 2% of the dry residue of the cell. It can be in a free and bound state, and physical training significantly increases the amount of free glycogen, which significantly increases the contractility of myofibrils lou ferrigno now. In addition, fats, cholesterol and mineral salts play a role in the mechanism of muscle contraction.

Of the other inclusions in the cytoplasm of the cell, attention is drawn to the mitochondria (mitochondrial cristae). Molecular biologists believe that they are aerobic ATP synthesis and protein synthesis. The electrochemical potential of hydrogen ions is very high in the membranes of mitochondrial cristae, which makes it possible to consider them as an additional source of intracellular energy, ensuring the efficiency of electrolyte transfer through the cell membrane.

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Located on the cell membrane of the myocyte oppositely charged metal ions (potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, silicon, etc.) determine the work of “ionic membrane pumps.”

Muscle fibers Muscle cells are structurally organized into muscle fibers. Two types of muscle fibers are well known (we mentioned above). These are white muscle fibers, also called “fast”, and red muscle fibers – “slow”.

White fibers are the first to respond to the team’s activities from the central nervous system (CNS), playing the role of a kind of starter. Anaerobic processes of ATP resynthesis are predominantly developed in them, the main way of energy supply is anaerobic glycolysis, which flows into them at a higher rate. Also, white fibers are characterized by a relatively low number of mitochondria and myoglobin, a high activity of myosin triphosphatase, a high buffer capacity, and a well-developed AB.

Due to the busyness, the actor is not very active on Instagram, but this gap in his life is filled by fans: they organized fan pages of his favorite artist on social networks and publish fresh photonews from his life.