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.)

Of course, you wont find the suggestion on any of these fitness sites that part of the look is CGI enhanced.

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….

If you just went by the “skinny” Chris Evans in Captain America, the transformation looks impossible for a regular person to accomplish. However, look at the pic of the real Chris Evans before Captain Ameria – sure he gained a lot of mass, but not an impossible amount in just a few weeks. This amount of mass gain is achievable for most people provided they still to a solid workout and diet plan. Here’s how it works…

Chris Evans Workout Captain America – “It was grueling…”

(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 and its probably the number 1 technique that you are ignoring in your workout (everyone likes to lift and gain, but no one likes to diet and do cardio…)

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 for example, Brad Pitt at 155lbs for “Fight Club” actually looks bigger than his typical weight at 170lbs.)

“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

To give the illusion of more muscle growth, many actors follow a training 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. Focus on training two to three body parts per workout (chest/back, shoulders/traps, lower body/triceps/biceps) and do four workout sessions per week. According to the August 2011 issue of Men’s Heath, this is exactly what Evans did -

“We would take two muscle groups, whether it was chest and back or biceps and triceps and we would just destroy those muscles, literally, for about two hours. Then we’d cool down with core and abs. I had no idea there were so many ways you could burn yourself out.”

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.

(Side note – I really like Visual Impact and John Romaniello’s Superhero workout plans for building lean muscle. Both plans are great for building lean muscle quickly – at home or at a gym – and can be a great option for anyone currently frustrated with their workouts. Visual Impact focuses on giving you a lean, dense, muscular look while Superhero is a two phase muscle building/fat loss program AND the authors have actually worked with actors who had to get in shape for superhero movies – which is a cool plus.)

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. For more information on how to do these kinds fo workouts, check out this post.

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, John Romaniello’s Superhero workout 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 (see previous post) (or his other program, Adonis Index – check out this link to see the results people have been getting eating larger not smaller meals.) Intermittent fasting is quickly becoming more mainstream as more and more research comes out debunking the myth of eating multiple small meals for increased muscle gain and enhanced fat burning capabilities.

Another example of how you can get lean and build muscle doing intermittent fasting.

Check out the links above for the full method, but essentially intermittent fasting 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, John Romaniello’s Superhero workout, or Tom Venuto’s Holy Grail for custom workout/diet plans.