The Thor Workout

Chris Hemsworth hammerHow to Look Like Thor

The results of Chris Hemsworth’s Thor workout are clear for all to see in the media. As the film and the actor remain subject to a great deal of interest, many news and entertainment outlets continue sharing the best traits of Thor. But how did the Australian achieve his impressive physique in time for his work on the fantasy-action film?

It was ex-Navy SEAL Duffy Gaver who trained Hemsworth, and pushed the actor to gain 20lb for the role. Gaver devised an eight week exercise plan, which he split into two.

During the first four weeks, there was a careful focus on helping Hemsworth gain the level of strength appropriate for the God of Sky and Thunder. The second four weeks were dedicated to fat loss…

Weeks 1-4

Hemsworth worked out 90 minutes per day, five days per week.

Session 1: Back and chest

  1. Bench presses
  2. Bent-over rows
  3. Weighted pull-ups
  4. Weighted dips

Session 2: Legs

  1. Squats
  2. Deadlifts
  3. Hamstring curls

Session 3: Arms

  1. Weighted chin-ups
  2. Close-grip bench presses

In week one, Hemsworth did four sets of between 4-6 reps per exercise. In week two, this increased to four sets of 6-8 reps. In week three, this increased further to four sets of 8-12 reps. Finally, week four saw the actor go back to four sets of 4-6 reps per exercise.

Weeks 5-8

After Hemsworth put on the right amount of muscle, the next stage involved maintaining this while also stripping away fat. He achieved this with a mixture of strongman exercises and circuits, which included the Tabata training regime.

Circuit One

  1. Tabata training: 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off)
  2. Eight rounds of snatches
  3. Four rounds of double kettlebell squats

Circuit two

Kettlebell swings: 30 seconds with both hands, 30 seconds on just the right hand, and the same on just the left. Finally, alternative between left and right hand swings for 30 seconds.

Kettlebell cleans: Alternate between five on the right hand and five on the left. Decrease the number on both the left and right by one each time until you’re down to a single clean on either side. Go back up to 5 and finish for a total of 60 continuous reps.

Circuit three

  1. Five minutes of Turkish getups without a rest
  2. Kettlebell windmill (five on the left and five on the right)

The Thor diet

The actor says he “overfed” on lean protein. In fact, he mainly ate chicken breast, fish, vegetables and brown rice.

The results

Experts often say that the “perfect male body” is one that has shoulders which are 1.61 times larger than the waist. It appears that the actor’s physique achieves this coveted V-shape. As Gaver focused mainly on bulking up Hemsworth’s arms and shoulders, you may not expect his abs too be too defined – and this seems to ring true. Judging from photos, we reckon his body fat stands at 10-12%.  

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