Chris Evans Workout Captain America Scrawny to Brawny or CGI?
Chris Evans “Captain America” workouts are showing up all over the Internet right now. It seems nearly everyone is claiming to know the special workout that took Chris from scrawny to brawny (like in the movie.)
Here’s the latest Captain America trailer – this will give you an idea of what I am talking about:
Of course, you wont find the suggestion on any of these fitness sites that the look is CGI enhanced. But seriously, look at the video and these pics -
The “skinny” Chris Evans as shown below, appears to have his head CGI’ed onto someone else’s body, probably using a green screen. So don’t assume this was the actual starting point.
Here is actually what Chris Evans looked like before training for “Captain America” -
And then here is the “brawny” Chris Evans….
Looks like Chris Evans gained a ton of muscle, doesn’t it? Lets break the transformation down…
Chris Evans Workout Captain America
(Click here to see my post on Chris Evans regular workout…)
Many people assume Hollywood actors really gain 20lbs of muscle in as little as 6-12 weeks. Why is this? Most Hollywood actors only have 6-12 weeks to train full time for upcoming roles (its kind of like how most people start training for a summer body two weeks before Memorial Day weekend…) So why do they look so big? A couple reasons – 1) Sometimes training starts earlier than 6-12 weeks out. 2) Specific training techniques are used to maximize the appearance of gains (this will work great for you guys on a time crunch before summer bbqs begin.) 3) Lots of attention to fat loss to reveal muscle mass. This works great on the big screen and in real life.
Like most people, your average actor can gain 0.5 to 1lb muscle per week under perfect circumstances (unless he is a total untrained beginner or has the genetic capacity to gain more at a faster rate – either option is not likely.) The trick is to make the muscle gain look like more is by adding muscle to strategic locations (think shoulders, upper chest, traps, arms, upper back, and inner chest – more on workout specific stuff below), AND then losing body fat so your muscles become MORE visible (this is why Brad Pitt at 155lbs for Fight Club actually looks bigger than his typical weight at 170lbs.)
(Chris Evans talks to MTV about his Captain America bulk up…)
“I’m pretty skinny naturally,” he said. “So for the most part, when I try to get big, I have to eat everything. And that’s tough, oddly enough, when you just don’t want to eat food, you’re just full, but you have to eat another piece of chicken, you have to. It’s the worst.”
“The workouts were exhausting,” Evans continued. “It’s the workouts that, you know, make you want to vomit. It’s horrible. You try to think of any way to get out of it before you go. And you’re just so glad when you’re done.”
How Chris Evans Trained to Gain Muscle Fast
Option 1 – To maximize muscle gain and avoid over-training, many actors follow a workout plan that alternates upper body and lower body workouts – usually two days on, one day off. In some cases, lower body workouts are significantly minimized to focus just on the upper body (which is mostly what you would see on camera anyways.) Exercises to focus on include deadlifts, squats, cleans, snatches, presses (bench press, shoulder press), and pulls (chinups, rows.) Add in bicep curls, some tricep work (skull crushers), calf raises, and some ab work and you are good to go. Keep reps low 6-8, and sets at 3-5.How to Deadlift
How to Bench Press
Kettlebell Clean and Press
Option 2 – To give the illusion of more muscle growth, some actors follow a weightlifting plan which focuses specifically on muscles which when made bigger make you look bigger period. Specifically the shoulders, upper and inner chest, traps, upper back, and arms. Focusing on gain mass in one’s shoulders gives the visual illusion of being wider, plus large traps and arms are ALWAYS visible when wearing any kind of clothing, so there is good payoff for effort here as well. Instead of alternating between upper/lower body workouts, instead focus on two-3 body parts per workout (chest/back, shoulders/traps, lower body/triceps/biceps) and do four workout sessions per week.
Chest options:
Bench press (decline, flat, or incline), dips, flys (standing cable, incline)
Back options:
Chin ups, pull ups, lat pulldowns , rows (seated or bent over)
If you can only do one chinup, try band assisted chinups or negative chinups.
Shoulder options:
Overhead press, upright rows, lateral raises, rear deltoid raises.
Traps:
Shrugs – any kind.
Lower body:
Squats, deadlifts, romanian, hamstring curls, calf raises
Biceps/Triceps
Curls, tricept extensions – any variety you choose, any angle.
You will want to choose a 2-3 exercises per body part per workout. Make sure you do low reps and heavy weight for one exercise per body part per workout. Always choose to go heavy on multijoint exercises like squats, and deadlifts as well as primary exercises like shoulder presses (overhead presses), shrugs, and rows. For lateral raises, bicep curls, tricep extensions, and all remaining exercises in a session – go with a higher rep range 10-12 and lower weights.
What about abs? You can work abs after each workout. The kind of exercises you do depends on whether or not you want to add size. If yes, focus on all kinds of crunches and side bends, if not – aim for planks, abs roll outs, hanging leg lifts and renegade rows.
Rest. Muscle growth is the result of tissue growth and repair. If your muscles are not allowed to fully repair, they will not grow. Allow a full day in between weight lifting sessions and always try to get a good night’s sleep.
Chris Evans Diet
There are two steps to a Hollywood Action Hero diet – eating to gain muscle, and getting lean.
I already covered eating to gain muscle in my post on Chris Hemsworth’s Diet for Thor, and so I wont repeat that here, but I recommend you check it out.
Once you have finished adding muscle – the final step is to get lean. This is the real reason most Hollywood actors look really muscular on screen. Actors like Brad Pitt in Fight Club and Ryan Reynolds in Blade Trinity were actually very very lean as opposed to having a lot of muscle.
You don’t automatically have to do an hour of long boring cardio per day. If you do the right kind of cardio, you can actually get good results in half the time. Many Hollywood stars like Chris Evans, rely on Metabolic Resistance training - basically fast paced resistance training which burns calories and preserves existing muscle mass unlike traditional cardio done in a cutting phase.
Here’s a great video on Metabolic Conditioning from Craig Ballantyne -
When it comes to diet, you have two choices – 1) You follow a cyclical diet plan that has you building lean muscle while staying as lean as possible (I also cover this in my post above on Chris Hemsworth, or you can check out Tom Venuto’s Holy Grail for specific instructions) – 2) You diet to lose fat.
Dieting to lose fat is pretty straightforward but never fun. Eat fewer calories than you burn through daily activities and exercise. If you were eating 500 calories over maintenance to gain muscle, then turn around and eat 250-500 calories under maintenance to lose fat (you may want to slowly taper down 100-200 calories per day.) Keep protein at 1-1.5g per lb bodyweight, keep eating healthy fats, and cut down on carbs to reduce calories. (If you are looking for a specific plan, I like Visual Impact or Tom Ventuto’s Holy Grail.)
On the other hand, if you struggle with preparing lots of food ahead of time, hate eating small meals, and get sick of “rules’ based systems quickly – then I would check out an intermittent fasting program like Brad Pilon’s Eat Stop Eat.
Here’s a recent picture of Brad (currently at 174lbs, 5ft 10in, and about 11% body fat) at maintenance (meaning, not trying to be super lean) -
This is the result Brad gets from following his own simple system for the past 5 years.
Brad is also co-author of Adonis Index (which I also mention periodically on this blog…) Pictured above is Adonis Index Winner David Donoghue – click through to learn more about why you want to get lean FIRST, then build muscle.
Check out Eat Stop Eat for the full method, but essentially this system works well for building muscle while staying lean because larger meals (with 20-30g high quality proteins) actually stimulate increased protein synthesis (especially when combined with whey protein and amino acid supplements – specifically EAA, BCAA, and leucine) while periods of fasting (specifically before training) also help to get you leaner. Its a win win set up as you can get the results you want without having to eat weird food or carry around a giant cooler full of food.
Thanks for stopping by! On your way out be sure to check out my previous post on Chris Hemsworth’s Diet for Thor!If you are frustrated with your current diet and workout, I recommend you try a quality program like Visual Impact or Tom Venuto’s Holy Grail for custom workout/diet plans. How are they different? VI focuses on quickly building up a dense, super lean body in three stages using specific lifting techniques, high intensity interval training, and intermittent fasting while Holy Grail is geared towards taking a more experienced lifter to the next level – lots of information on carb cycling, varying your within day calorie surplus/deficits to build muscle and lose fat simultaneously, when to do what type of training to maximize your results, etc.
The Above a Shameless Screen Grab from How I Lost 20lbs
And the following a Shameless Screen Grab from MTV
In the movie “Captain America: The First Avenger,” Steve Rogers makes it look easy to get big and buff — all it takes is a bit of super-soldier serum. For actor Chris Evans, however, the process was a little more complicated.
MTV News spoke to Evans as part of our Summer Movie Preview Week, and the actor was the first to admit he didn’t enjoy his "Captain America" workout regimen and diet at all.
“Oh my god, when shooting was done I just stopped going to the gym completely for about three months,” he told MTV News.
Then there was the issue of food, because as Evans revealed, “I didn’t really have to diet.”
“I’m pretty skinny naturally," he said. "So for the most part, when I try to get big, I have to eat everything. And that’s tough, oddly enough, when you just don’t want to eat food, you’re just full, but you have to eat another piece of chicken, you have to. It’s the worst.”
That sounds similar to the laments of “Thor” star Chris Hemsworth about eating to bulk up for a superhero role.
“The workouts were exhausting,” Evans continued. "It’s the workouts that, you know, make you want to vomit. It’s horrible. You try to think of any way to get out of it before you go. And you’re just so glad when you’re done.”Once he was allowed to stop the heavy workouts and binging, he happily did so.
“I threw in the towel in December,” he admitted.
Would you be willing to go through what Evans did for the role? Let us know in the comments section or on Twitter!
Stealing the Secrets of others - it's positively
Villainous.
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