No Pain, no gain: Gravity Defying Workout Becomes Internet Sensation

Fitness fanatic Michael Tavernier's gravity-defying routines leave fellow gym goers open-mouthed - and have catapulted him to social media stardom.

The 40-year-old Londoner has developed his own unique callisthenics-based training programme, featuring moves inspired by the martial arts movies of his youth like Bruce Lee's Enter The Dragon.

His workouts - which have had more than 30 MILLION views on Facebook – includes turning himself upside down on the gym equipment to carry out 'handstand pushups'.

He also uses his amazing upper body strength to perform a 'human flag' by extending his entire frame horizontal while holding on to a vertical apparatus - holding the position for more than half a minute.

Michael goes to the gym 365 days a year – including birthdays and on Christmas Day.

He said: “I first started exercising when I was 14 to 15 years of age and since that time the journey has never stopped.

“Initially when I first started it was very much about heavy weights, but in the last three years, I've started to play around with body weight training.

“It comes from the genre of callisthenics – I've just added my own twist.”

Michael says that he goes into “Beast Mode” when he is training and that rather than doing a particular number of reps, he only stops once when he is physically unable to continue.

The muscle-bound monster has a BMI of 27.7 - meaning that according to official classifications he is technically overweight - but onlookers would struggle to find an inch of fat on his rippling torso.

He can do 100 press ups in 90 seconds and 20 'muscle ups' - full-body pull-ups - in 31 seconds and his workout has earned him the nicknames 'Spider-man', 'Superman' and 'Hercules' from other gym-goers - as well as several spontaneous rounds of applause.

The big-hearted Adonis credits his unbelievable workout routine with helping him cope with the emotional strain of being a full-time carer for his dad, who has stage three dementia.

He said: “My dad suffers from dementia, stage three, the worst type - it is very demanding and also personally it can flatten you.

“So the gym has been so important for me, to keep me going.

“The gym is like a counsellor for me – medicine, it's really kept me mentally strong, physically strong and happy.”

And Michael insists that he will not stop pushing himself to new heights of incredible fitness and unleashing his inner beast.

“The next level is where I am trying to be at, in terms of mastering these moves and performing them one handed," he added.

“That would gain a lot of respect because people out there who know how difficult these exercises are already, to then do them with one hand, amazing might not cover it – it's what we call beast mode.

“There is a beast in Michael Tavernier and he comes out when he is in the gym.”