Well, to go face to face with Hulk, you need to have god-like strength – and even though most of what Thor does onscreen is thanks to special effects, Chris Hemsworth does go through a rigorous fitness regime to make all of that hammer-wielding look convincing. 

Realistically, there is very little chance that you can replicate (unless staying fit is your day job). But then, you can take pointers and it always helps to take inspiration from the very best. 

So without further ado, let’s take a look at some things that Hemsworth does. 

If you look at this video, you will see that there is a lot of focus on strength, speed and agility. So along with barbell curls to look big, Hemsworth also spends time on the stationary bike to stay swift. 

Interestingly, when Hemsworth was first offered the role of Thor, not many people thought that he’d be able to pull it off.  In an interview with AskMen, he said, “To prepare for the role, I read the comics and noticed the character was 10 times bigger than me. Early on, when my name first came up for the part, I read the blogs and comments of fans saying, ‘He’s too skinny. He’ll never be able to do it.’ That provided the motivation to get into the gym and prove them wrong. In fact, preparing for the role was harder work than the shoot itself. [The routine] was nothing fancy. It was a lot of old-fashioned bodybuilding and force-fed nutrition. We used a lot of pulling exercises, and Kenneth set up a wood-chopping area for me to prepare. Those were important to wield the hammer correctly. We would also add yoga work for flexibility.”

And just like variety is the spice of life, Hemsworth believes strongly in shaking things up from time to time. “My workouts are also about being diverse and mixing things up. It’s easy to get bored. If I’m doing arm day, I’ll work in box jumps in between sets. By working in more cardio, you keep shocking your body and you prevent having problems in certain areas,” he says in an interview with Men’s Health.

We are very excited about watching the movie. And yes, if you haven’t seen the previous editions, here’s what you need to know beforehand.