- Chris Hemsworth had to get leaner after "Thor" for "Extraction 2," his trainer said.
- He did functional training as well as boxing and pilates to create an athletic physique.
When Chris Hemsworth and his long-time trainer, Luke Zocchi, started preparing the actor for his role in the new action movie "Extraction 2," Hemsworth had just finished filming "Thor: Love and Thunder" — so he was "really big," Zocchi said.
So when it came to their next project, transforming Hemsworth from a Norse god to commando Tyler Rake, they certainly didn't need to add any more muscle. Instead, they were striving for a leaner, athletic physique, Zocchi told Insider.
However, filming "Extraction 2" was physically demanding and required hours of fight scenes, so Hemsworth focused on recovery more than ever by training every other day while filming.
As well as functional workouts, Hemsworth and Zocchi did pilates (sometimes joined by Chris' brother, Liam), saunas, and ice baths, while also seeing a physical therapist, Zocchi said.
Hemsworth did functional, Crossfit-style workouts
Zocchi and Hemsworth became friends as children at school in Victoria, Australia, and he has been training the actor for a decade. Zocchi said he thinks "Extraction 2" is the 17th film they've worked on together.
The film was shot in Prague over six months from the end of 2021 and shut down at one point because of Covid restrictions (Zocchi got it himself at one point during the shoot).
To keep fit, they transformed the meeting center in the city's Four Seasons hotel into their private gym, where they worked out every other day.
To create their own gym, they brought in as much equipment as possible but had to get creative, Zocchi said. For example, instead of using a sled with a track, they dragged a boxing bag across the floor with a rope (which ripped all the gym mats).
During the cold Czechia winter, Hemsworth and Zocchi would play table tennis to warm up before workouts, he said. He would then write up a workout on a whiteboard for himself and Hemsworth to complete together, often competitively.
The bulk of each workout was Crossfit-esque, functional, circuit-style training. For example, they might do 50 chin-ups, 100 calories on the assault bike (as quickly as possible — Hemsworth did it in about six minutes), then 50 wall balls. The rest periods were short to keep their heart rates high, while boxing and kickboxing brought some variety to the workouts, Zocchi said.
This higher intensity training was in stark contrast to the bodybuilding-style workouts Hemsworth had done for "Thor," where the aim was to put on as much muscle as possible by lifting heavy with longer rest periods and following a body part split training structure, meaning they trained a different body part each day.
There was still strength training for "Extraction 2," but just not as heavy as it was for "Thor," and with more bodyweight exercises like chin-ups and push-ups, Zocchi said.
Hemsworth focused on recovery after grueling fight scenes
When Hemsworth wasn't doing gym workouts, he, Zocchi, and his brother Liam did pilates using his own training app, Centr.
"Then we had a really good physio we worked with, but a lot of saunas and ice baths as well," Zocchi said. "We focused a lot on recovery — I was kind of just managing Chris to get him through that film because it was so physically demanding for him."
As the shoot went on, Hemsworth's body was growing more tired, so they tapered down training and increased recovery even more, Zocchi said.
"He was just exhausted from these fight scenes," Zocchi said. "He was basically fighting the whole day for a section of the movie, so that's when we really honed in on recovery."
Hemsworth ate a healthy but relaxed diet with plenty of carbs
For "Thor," Hemsworth aimed to eat 4,500 calories per day over 10 meals to help him build and maintain muscle, but he ate a lot less for "Extraction 2," usually three meals per day. It was important that he kept his carb intake high enough to fuel all his activity and give him energy.
His diet was generally quite relaxed, but Hemsworth chooses to eat nutritious foods, Zocchi said. He wasn't intentionally intermittent fasting, but if he wasn't hungry first thing in the morning, some days he didn't eat until 11 a.m. or midday. Other times, however, the breakfast buffet called.
"If we had a later start, we would get something at the hotel because the breakfast was amazing at the Four Seasons," Zocchi said. "It was kind of dangerous at times."
Even if you train the same as Hemsworth, you won't look the same
Zocchi is often asked what people can do to look like Hemsworth or why he doesn't look like him if they workout the same, but he said genetics play a big role in a person's appearance.
Hemsworth naturally holds a lot of muscle in his arms, for example, Zocchi said. So much so that for previous projects, they've resorted to solely cycling on a stationary bike in a bid to lose some arm muscle.
"Even when Chris gets lean, he still looks pretty big because you just see how much definition there is in his arms and how much muscle he naturally holds," Zocchi said.
"He's got really good genetics. I hate him sometimes."