WHEN WE HEAR about celebrity workouts, they tend to be extreme. Chris Hemsworth in particular is well known for his brutal workouts, and he’s gone to great lengths in the past to look as big as humanly possible when playing Thor – here’s his 1,000-rep bodyweight challenge, for example. His approach changed with Avengers: Doomsday, however.
Now 42, Hemsworth has decided to get more efficient with his training, according to his longtime PT, Luke Zocchi. Hemsworth is no longer training all day long, blasting every single muscle group and eating ten meals a day to hit his macros. This time around, the focus was on gaining muscle in certain places, in line with what would be seen on screen. “He’s seen the costume, and you can really see his shoulders and his arms,” Zocchi told The Independent.
Hemsworth did 45-minute strength sessions – relatively short stints, by his standards – every second day. This was coupled with combat training and activities like swimming and surfing, which he does regularly anyway. Hemsworth’s push day is the height of simplicity, featuring just five moves and a warm-up, but providing enough of a challenge to add size to the chest, shoulders and triceps.
Chris Hemsworth's 'Avengers: Doomsday' push workout
Warm-up:
Shoulder circuit with light dumbbells
Lateral raise – 3 sets, 8 reps
Front raise – 3 sets, 8 reps
Overhead press – 3 sets, 8 reps
Workout:
Seated dumbbell shoulder press – 4 sets, 8-12 reps
Incline dumbbell bench press – 3 sets, 12 reps
Single-arm cable lateral raise – 4 sets, 12 reps each side
Cable machine rear delt flye – 3 sets, 15 reps
Cable machine straight bar triceps push-down – 3 sets, 12 reps
Why Chris Hemsworth toned down his workouts for 'Avengers: Doomsday'
Hemsworth’s previous training plans just weren’t going to work for Avengers: Doomsday. He needed something more sustainable, which is why Zocchi stripped back his workouts and made them more efficient.
“When we did Thor: Love and Thunder, that was during Covid so we had a year to prep,” Zocchi said. “We trained super hard for that film, and Chris was huge in it.” That heavy training load took a toll, however. Hemsworth had to eat ten meals a day to gain mass, and the heavier frame made it harder for him to surf.
“This time he was like, ‘Yeah, I don’t know if I want to do that again’,” Zocchi said. “We haven’t killed ourselves anywhere near as much on this one and he still looks really good. Because he’s built that foundation so many times, I think it’s a bit easier to get back to that point.”
