Chris Hemsworth's incredible preparation to play Thor

While the movie Thor: Love and Thunder is currently shooting for a release in 2022, its lead actor, Christopher Hemsworth, continues to undergo a complete weight training program to get a superhero physique. Of course, this is not the first time the Australian has done this, as he is now used to undergoing training worthy of the greatest athletes to play Thor on screen. His physical activity is so intense that even his understudy, Bobby Holland, recently confessed to having difficulty keeping up with the pace imposed by the most famous son of Odin.

Who is Chris Hemsworth?

Born in 1983 in Melbourne, Chris Hemsworth made his television debut in 2004 in an Australian series. But it was not until 2011 that he became known to the general public as Thor. Thanks in particular to his extraordinary musculature, he then became one of the headliners of the Marvel cinematographic universe, and subsequently appeared in the various Avengers productions.

Incarnating Thor on the big screen thus allowed him to make his career take off. His impressive muscle mass (192 centimeters for about 90 kilograms), built up over the years during training sessions in the weight room, predestined him to take on the role of a Marvel hero.

In addition to his role as Thor, the Australian actor has also appeared in various successful films such as Snow White and the Huntsman, Men in Black: International and more recently Tyler Rake. At 37 years old, he is now considered a sure thing in Hollywood cinema.

How did Chris prepare for the role of Thor?

To play the role of Thor, Chris Hemsworth had to build up his body. In the company of his personal trainer, Luke Zocchi, he multiplied the weight training sessions with the objective of gaining volume (about 10 kilograms of muscle).

During the first films, the Australian actor based his bodybuilding training program on exercises consisting in lifting heavy loads. If this allowed him to promote his muscle growth to gain mass, Christopher Hemsworth has however changed his approach. Not very comfortable on the screen, he now favours more functional weight training exercises to sculpt his body while developing his agility and explosiveness.

Each session of his weight-training program begins with a warm-up. To build up muscle (but especially dry muscle), the actor alternates between weight training and cardio in high-intensity sessions lasting between 30 minutes and 1 hour. With the help of his physical trainer, his goal is to find the right balance between bodybuilding exercises and more functional training. In other words, he develops his musculature while soliciting his cardio to obtain an optimal physical condition.

Chris Hemsworth develops in priority the muscle groups of the upper body, in particular the biceps, triceps, pectorals, shoulders and abdominal muscles. These are the muscle groups that appear most often on the screen and which should therefore be looked after.

The actor spends a lot of time at the gym doing bodyweight exercises. His workouts are often composed of bear crawls, burpees, pull-ups and bodyweight exercises. He completes this with bodybuilding movements such as squats, bench press, deadlift or hammer curl.

In addition to weight training, Chris Hemsworth incorporates fitness, boxing and yoga sessions into his weight gain.

What are the differences with Captain America's training?

Another actor well known on Hollywood sets, Chris Evans, aka Captain America, has also built a muscular figure.

Originally having a dry musculature with visible abs, Chris Evans had to gain muscle to play the Marvel superhero. His weight gain was based on polyarticular exercises such as squats to solicit the thighs, deadlifts or bench press. To best recruit his muscle fibers, Captain America used heavy loads but performed few reps. He also added body-weight movements to his program and did not hesitate to vary the holds.

Unlike Chris Hemsworth, the muscle-building sessions of Chris Evans The sessions could last more than 2 hours and ended with a work of the abdominal strap. His sessions were therefore less intense and functional than Thor's.

His training in detail

BACK : DAY 1

Deadlift: 5 sets of 20, 15, 12, 10, 10

High pulley pull: 5 x 15

Rowing machine : 4 x 12

Dumbbell Rowing: 4 x 12

Swiss ball lumbar extension: 4 sets

PECS : DAY 2

Bench press: 8 sets of 12, 10, 10, 8, 8, 6, 4, 4

Dumbbell bench press: 4 x 12

Press pecs hammer machine : 4 x 15

Weighted dips: 4 x 10

Screw pulley pull : 4 x 12

THIGHS : DAY 3

Squat: 7 sets of 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 3

Thigh Press: Start with X plates on each side, repeat until failure, remove 1 plate on each side and repeat failure again. Continue until there is 1 plate left on each side and hit failure 1 last time. A partner may be helpful. I don't give the number of plates because everyone is different and the load depends on your level. It can be dangerous to follow what Chris is doing on this exercise.

Lunges body weight walk: 4 x 20

Leg curl: 3 x 20

Standing calf: 3 x 20

SHOULDERS: DAY 4

Dumbbell military press: 7 sets of 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 3

Arnold Stretch: 4 x 12

Shrugs at the bar: 4 x 12

Dumbbell lateral raise: 3 x 15

Front raises: 3 x 15

Birds with tilted bust: 3 x 15

ARM: DAY 5

Biceps curl: 3 x 10

Front bar: 3 x 10

Preach curl EZ: 3 x 10

Triceps extension: 3 x 10

Hammer grip curl: 3 x 12

Rope triceps extension: 3 x 12

EZ Bar Curl: 3 x 20

curl handles with dumbbells: 3 x 20

ABDOS CIRCUIT

Front plank gainer: 1 minute

Hanging crunch on bar: 12

Sheathing on the side: 1 minute

TOES TO BAR : 12

What did Thor eat?

To develop his muscle strength, Christopher Hemsworth adopted a demanding diet consisting of between 6 and 7 meals a day (i.e. a meal every 2 or 3 hours). At each meal, the Australian actor had to ingest a large number of calories thanks to foods such as chicken, fish, eggs, brown rice, quinoa, sweet potatoes, vegetables or bananas.

Breakfast : 1 cup of oatmeal, 1 banana, raisins, 1 glass of skimmed milk, 4 egg whites + 1 whole egg, 50 g of cottage cheese, 1 orange juice.

Morning snack : cottage cheese, 1 turkey wrap, nuts, 1 protein shake.

Snack : Beef jerky

Lunch : 3 chicken fillets, 100g brown rice, broccoli, 1 cup of red beans, 1 glass of fat free milk

Dinner: 3 salmon fillets, 100g Quinoa, 100g asparagus, 1 glass of skimmed milk and 1 yoghurt 0%

Evening snack : 2 hard-boiled eggs, 2 slices of wholemeal bread, 1 protein shake

But his fitness trainer recently confided that Chris Hemsworth had modified his diet for the Avengers 3 and 4 films. He resorted to a 95 % vegan diet, favoring plant-based protein sources.

You want to follow a similar program to achieve your goals, go for it!

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