ALL CREDIT TO THE acting chops of Tom Cruise – who played Jack Reacher in both of the franchise’s films – but at 170 centimetres in height, the fact that he was supposed to resemble the towering, muscled presence described in Lee Child’s bestselling books was always, well, a bit of a reach.
Alan Ritchson, at a hulking 191 centimetres and burly 104 kilograms, seems like a more natural choice for honouring the source material. But while Ritchson has made a habit of playing super jacked characters, he needed to work for his role in Amazon Prime’s Reacher, the third season of which premieres on February 20th.
Before he was cast in Reacher, Ritchson had been doing a workout he came up with when he was a teenager, on repeat, a few times per week. As he previously told Men’s Health US, he would run to a park, do pushups, pullups, dips and situps, and then run home. Every now and then he’d visit a gym if he felt he was getting too skinny or if he needed to buff up for a role, but his natural size was usually enough to get the job done.
That changed with Reacher, as Ritchson was told that he’d need to gain around 12kg to get the role. He started training in earnest and even hired a nutrition coach to help him improve his diet. Here, we breakdown Ritchson’s full regime.
Alan Ritchson’s workout routine
Before we get into Ritchson’s routine, an important asterisk. Ritchson has regularly undergone testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) for a number of years, and has been open about his usage. “I didn’t even know that it was considered an anabolic steroid to some people. It was just: There was a hormone that was missing for me, and I needed it,” he said in his Men’s Health US cover story.
While TRT isn’t quite on the same level as anabolic steroids, Ritchson didn’t achieve his physique completely naturally – which is something to keep in mind if you’re considering replicating his workout routine.
With that out of the way, we can dig into Ritchson’s strength block. The actor works out five days a week, with an even spread of attention given to cardio, his upper body and lower body. To avoid over-training and risking injury, Ritchson usually limits his gym time to 30 minutes or less per day, but for those 30 minutes, he goes hard.
Ritchson’s rigorous approach to his workouts is partly to compensate for his occasionally poor diet. “When I go into that gym, I’m like, I deserve to die for how I’ve eaten, so I’m going to try to work myself to death,” he previously told Men’s Health US. “What I would love to find in my life is a balance, where I kind of eat healthy and then don’t have to work quite as hard. But I’m not doing it yet. I like cookie dough too much.”
Ritchson often shares glimpses into his workouts on Instagram, if not his full schedule. We know that his chest day includes 90 bench press reps, with 30 each on an incline, flat bench and decline. We also know that his “Full body burner day” includes a 15-minute warmup on the stair machine followed by cable flys, shoulder press, Arnold press, cable rows, leg press, and calf raises, with four sets of 25 reps for each exercise.
Below, you’ll find a weekly workout split similar to Ritchson’s.
Monday: legs
Squats – 4 sets, 6-8 reps
Romanian deadlifts – 3 sets, 8-10 reps
Bulgarian split squats – 3 sets, 10 reps per leg
Leg press – 3 sets, 12 reps
Seated calf raises – 3 sets, 15 reps
Standing calf raises – 3 sets, 15 reps
Tuesday: shoulders
Overhead barbell press – 3 sets, 12 reps
Dumbbell lateral raises – 3 sets, 12 reps
Face pulls – 3 sets, 12 reps
Arnold press – 3 sets, 12 reps
Rear delt flyes – 3 sets, 12 reps
Dumbbell shrugs – 3 sets, 15 reps
Wednesday: chest
Incline bench press – 3 sets, 10 reps
Bench press – 3 sets, 10 reps
Decline bench press – 3 sets, 10 reps
Chest dips – 3 sets, 10 reps
Cable flyes – 3 sets, 12 reps
Push-ups – 3 sets, 15 reps
Thursday: Rest
Friday: back and arms
Pull-ups – 4 sets, 10 reps
Bent-over rows – 3 sets, 10 reps
Barbell curls – 3 sets, 10 reps
Hammer curls – 3 sets, 12 reps
Skull Crushers – 3 sets, 10 reps
Cable rope pushdowns – 3 sets, 12 reps
Saturday: full body burner
15-minute warmup on stair machine
Cable flyes – 4 sets, 25 reps
Shoulder press – 4 sets, 25 reps
Arnold Press – 4 sets, 25 reps
Cable rows – 4 sets, 25 reps
Leg press – 4 sets, 25 reps
Calf raises – 4 sets, 25 reps
Sunday: Rest
Alan Ritchson’s diet plan
Ritchson says that the character of Jack Reacher isn’t too strict with his diet. “To Reacher, a calorie is a calorie, it doesn’t matter if it comes from fat or sugar,” he explained to Men’s Health US. “Reacher will eat anything that works for him.”
As it turns out, Ritchson and Reacher have similar philosophies regarding nutrition. “I eat whatever the hell I want, and I’m not kidding,” Ritchson said. He went on to state that he has a deep love for cookie dough, something he doesn’t plan on giving up any time soon – which is probably for the best, if he is to meet his target intake of 4,000 calories per day.
Ritchson allows himself to have cookie dough because he follows the 80-20 diet, where 80 per cent of the time he eats clean, and the remaining 20 per cent he eats whatever he wants. This helps him bulk up and feel good, but also allows him to treat himself regularly.
Below, we’ve put together what a 4,000-calorie day under the 80-20 rule would look like, with a focus on high protein content for bulking and increases to muscle mass.
Breakfast (1,200 calories):
Scrambled eggs and avocado toast with spinach
Banana and peanut butter smoothie
Mid-Morning Snack (800 calories)
Greek yoghurt and granola bowl
Lunch (1,000 calories)
Grilled chicken and quinoa bowl
Afternoon snack (600 calories)
Cookie dough treat (20 per cent indulgences)
Dinner (1,200 calories)
Salmon, sweet potato, broccoli and mixed greens
