Photo courtesy: Centr
Since Chris Hemsworth starred in Thor (2011), he’s been celebrated for his physique as well as his acting. The fourth Thor movie, Thor: Love and Thunder, opens today, and the 38-year-old Aussie will again flex his muscles as the God of Thunder. The 6’3″ Hemsworth has to get jacked again and again as his body fluctuates for roles. You can see a more-average-sized version of him in Spiderhead, which recently launched on Netflix, contrasting with the superhero-sized version of him on big screens now. Hemsworth talked about his training for Thor: Love and Thunder with Extra:
“This was particularly hard because the target weight we aimed for was quite a ways above where I’d been before. This was probably the biggest and fittest I’ve ever been. We had 12 months where I was at home just training and puppeteering the body and manipulating. We’d try more swimming, then try more martial arts, and adjust calories. It was a really fun exploration. I got really big and fit, but then just had to hold it for four months [while shooting], which was very hard….[L]ook, I enjoy working out, I do. It’s become a hobby now, it allows me to kind of live a full life and play with my kids, surf, and do all sorts of stuff. So it was a chore at one point, and now it becomes an addiction. I love it, I do love it. I don’t like working out necessarily to get to Thor-size. That is brutal on my body, and just the amount of food and so on.”
CHRIS HEMSWORTH’S WORKOUT
Chris Hemsworth and his long-time trainer (and friend since childhood), Luke Zocchi, devise a plan to hit the target lean bodyweight via exercise and diet.
Zocchi explains:
“It’s just heavy weight-lifting, training at least once a day, sometimes twice a day. People are surprised [we] don’t normally train over, like, an hour in a session. It’s normally an intense, heavy workout. But we’re normally done within an hour because we’ve just pushed him that hard over that hour. But it’s an intense hour. It’s not like we’re standing around and taking photos for Instagram.”
In addition to weight-training, Chris Hemsworth mixes in high-intensity interval training (HIIT cardio), boxing, swimming, yoga, and other forms of fitness. When it comes to weight-training, Hemsworth and Zocchi favor circuits (exercises for different bodyparts done without resting) or giant sets (exercises for the same bodypart done without resting) to crank up the intensity and achieve a more athletic and less-bulky look.
In May on Instagram, Hemsworth shared a full-body circuit of seven exercises done with just a 45-lb. barbell, which he performed without rest (10 reps per exercise; 20 reps for lunges, counting both legs), and prescribed going through the circuit 10 times in a row. For many reading this, the exercises may seem easy with just an empty barbell, and that’s probably true of the overhead presses, squats, and rows; but 200 total reps of 45-pound lunges will strike almost everyone like a lightning bolt as the circuits pile up. And 800 reps in a workout is a lot more than you’re probably used to. (A typical bodybuilding workout is under 300 reps and often no more than 200. Did we mention all those lunges?) This is a marathon but at the pace of a sprint. Hemsworth cautioned: “This ones a monster, not for the faint hearted, go at your own pace and give it a crack!”
CHRIS HEMSWORTH CIRCUIT WORKOUT
Reverse Curl 10 reps
Narrow-grip Shoulder Press 10 reps
Overhead Triceps Extension 10 reps
Squat 10 reps
Barbell Row 10 reps
Lunge (holding barbell on opposite side) 10 reps per side
Standing Barbell Twist 10 reps
CHRIS HEMSWORTH CHEST ROUTINE
Incline Dumbbell Press 12 reps
Seated Machine Chest Press 12 reps
Cable Fly 12 reps
Wide-arm Pushup 10 reps
Four times through. No rest between exercises. Rest one minute between each giant set.
CHRIS HEMSWORTH’S DIET
Eating can be a chore when you need to fill out a 6’3″ frame with lean mass. “When we go into prep for movies like Thor, it’s a massive increase in food,” Luke Zocchi told Page Six. “He eats, like, six to eight meals a day….We’ve kind of got a structure. He found if he eats a really big meal he, like, feels too heavy, so they’re 450-calorie meals broken up into the eight. We try to eat every two hours and get 450 calories in [each time].”
Zocchi explains that Hemsworth’s meals, prepared by his personal chef, are high-protein—steak, chicken, or fish—with low-glycemic carbs, typically white rice, quinoa, or sweet potatoes. At other times, meals will be only a protein shake.
TYPICAL CHRIS HEMSWORTH MEAL
6 oz. grilled skinless chicken breast
252 calories, 50 g. protein, 0 g. carbohydrates, 1.7 oz. saturated fat
1 cup white rice
205 calories, 4 g. protein, 45 g. carbohydrates, 0 oz. saturated fat
Trainer-to-the-stars Luke Zocchi talked about what happens each time Chris Hemsworth beefs up to play Thor again: “I usually just keep running him food all day. I’m like his grandmother just giving him food.” That is, if grandma gave grandson only high-protein, nearly fat-free, sugarless food, because the God of Thunder has to grow muscle but never add fat. After all, there are always more supervillains to conquer.
To see how much Chris Hemsworth can bench press, check out: Celebrity Bench Presses
