How to get a body like Thor: Chris Hemsworth’s quick, daily exercise secret
"Phenomenal genetics": Chris Hemsworth with parents Leonie and Craig at the San Sebastian Film Festival on September 29. Photo: Getty
Chris Hemsworth can be seen doing a quick workout in a Bangkok hotel, in a video clip that garnered nearly six million views in its first 24 hours.
The footage was posted to Instagram on Tuesday by Hemsworth, who spends less than two minutes – in bare feet and board shorts – smashing his regimen with bear crawls and ‘pops’ as his trainer Luke Zocchi barks orders.
It’s not every day you see a snippet of how Thor gets his battle body. But, interesting as the video is, the most fascinating detail wasn’t shown: What Hemsworth does between workouts.
During 10-hour days on the Thailand set of action thriller Dhaka, he breaks off from work every hour and does a simple workout: 20 push ups and 20 squats.
Zocchi said it’s something he developed with Hemsworth’s stuntman to help the Australian-born star stay in peak condition on set.
Get your Thor on
So does it work and who can do it?
The 20/20 routine is “100 per cent a good little hack” for anyone wanting to get or stay fit, exercise scientist and author Craig Harper told The New Daily.
“What’s good about this is it requires almost no skill and it actually involves a lot of muscles, so there’s almost a full body experience in a short amount of time,” Mr Harper said.
“It’s very, very practical. No equipment, no resources, no needing 300 square metres of space.”
The Hemsworth choice of exercises are also key.
“One is upper body, one lower body and so you’re covering all of your muscle groups,” Mr Harper said.
“Because you’re doing it non-stop for a couple of minutes there’s a cardiovascular benefit.
“On the hour, you’re giving your metabolism a bit of a kick and waking up your nervous and muscular and cardiovascular systems.”
Mr Harper said while the idea of exercise is easy for a lot of people the execution can be tougher, which is the beauty of Hemsworth’s hack.
“People want to be in shape but don’t want to do the work. If you did this every hour for eight hours a day, that’s 16 minutes a day.
“So it’s not like it’s a big commitment. You could do it at work. Someone could realistically say, ‘For the next 30 days I’m going to give this a go’.”
The caveats
But Mr Harper issued a disclaimer that 20/20 exercise isn’t for everyone: “If someone is pretty healthy and pretty good to go, it would work well.”
“They could do five push ups and five squats, or two and two because intensity is relative to the individual.”
Still, while the exercise expert admitted Hemsworth’s workout video had caught his eye, he warned: “All you’re seeing is one part of the puzzle.”
“There are a million variables. He’s youngish, he’s got a massive training background, he’s got phenomenal genetics, his diet is probably mind-blowingly strict.
“So to look at him and think, ‘If I do that I can look like Thor’, it’s like going, ‘Look at The Rock, he drives a red ute I’m going to get one and be like him’.
“And you can be guaranteed that’s not all the training he does.”
Personal trainer Tash Khoury, owner of boutique Melbourne gym Prime Athletica, said the benefits of Hemsworth’s hack would “depend what a person’s fitness base is”.
Someone of average fitness “would definitely change their body”, Ms Khoury said.
“They would tone up, they would build more shape in their legs and glutes and chest.
“And if they’re coming from a decent baseline, it would be great.”
