The latest celebrity body to make the headlines is that of the Australian actor Chris Hemsworth who plays Thor in the new film by the same name. Chris stands at 6 foot 3 tall, however, before training for Thor he was fit but certainly not a muscle bound Nordic God.
Chris had never done any weight lifting before Thor, he was a pretty slim guy really, which makes the transformation all the more impressive.
Chris found that building muscle was not just about performing a lot of weight lifting. He was surprised at how much he needed to eat to build his muscle, and admits that he actually found the eating part almost as hard as the lifting.
“Eating when you’re not hungry and taking in that amount of food is exhausting.”
He told Men’s Health magazine that he would be constantly eating specific foods to supply proteins and carbohydrates, such as chicken and broccoli.
To build muscle you need to take in a lot of food, and not just protein. Protein is essential for building and repairing muscle tissue, but carbohydrates are also needed to ensure that your muscles and liver are fully stocked with glycogen, which is needed for muscle activity. Without adequate glycogen, which is made from dietary carbohydrates, you cannot workout.
This is a mistake many people make when they start lifting – they think that they should consume a protein shake only and avoid carbohydrates. After exercising there is a 2 hour window when the muscles take up additional carbohydrate, if there is no carbohydrate in the diet then the next source is in breaking down existing muscle tissue to synthesize new glucose – this happens at the very time that you want the muscles to be repaired. So ensure that you take in a high GI carbohydrate after exercise, as well as proteins.
After his bulking phase he had gained a lot of additional fat, so then had to strip down his fat with intensive cardio workouts and metabolic circuits.
This could become one of the great celebrity body transformations of 2011.
Men’s Health shared Eric Cressey’s Thor circuit training workout:
- Sledgehammer Slam – 8 reps on each side
- Lateral Hop – 8 reps on each side
- T-Pushup- 8 reps on each side
- Mountain Climber – 15 reps total
Do all of the exercises without pausing then rest 60 seconds at the end before repeating.
You can learn more about Eric Cressey on his website, www.ericcressey.com. His workouts have featured in Mens Health, Mens Fitness and ESPN.
Also starring the Thor are Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins.
Source: Mens Health Celebrity Fitness
Photo by Rwoan