The hardest workout Chris Hemsworth ever did while working on the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Thor: Love & Thunder. Hemsworth made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in 2011’s Thor as the crown prince of Asgard who is stripped of his divine power by his father, Odin. He has appeared in eight movies, not counting the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder, which will be his fourth solo outing.
In Love and Thunder, Thor faces a struggle unlike any other, therefore Hemsworth had to dress the part. The actor described his “brutal” training routine for the movie, which included swimming and martial arts in addition to conventional strength training, in an interview with Disney (via The Direct). Hemsworth claims that Love and Thunder made him probably the biggest and fittest actor he has ever been. He also claims that the film was “brutal” on his body.
For Love and Thunder, Hemsworth followed a similar training schedule to that of Thor. Thor experiences depression and loses his renowned body after Asgard is destroyed in Ragnarok and Thanos snaps his fingers in Avengers: Infinity War. The battle rope exercise that the title character uses to get in superhero shape to face Gorr is seen in the Thor: Love and Thunder movie trailers.
“This was particularly hard because the target weight we aimed for was quite a ways above where I’d been before. This was probably the biggest and fittest I’ve ever been. We had 12 months where I was at home just training and puppeteering the body and manipulating. We’d try more swimming, then try more martial arts, and adjust calories. It was a really fun exploration. I got really big and fit, but then just had to hold it for four months, which was very hard,” he said.
He added, “I enjoy working out, I do. It’s become a hobby now, it allows me to kind of live a full life and play with my kids, surf, and do all sorts of stuff. So it was a chore at one point, and now it becomes an addiction, I love it, I do love it. I don’t like working out necessarily to get to Thor-size, that is brutal on my body, and just the amount of food and so on.”
The Australian star was questioned about if he was allowed to take a break from practising for the Netflix role because he is completely clothed throughout when he spoke with extratv about his Spiderhead role. That wasn’t the case, according to Hemsworth. He was filming Love and Thunder at the time.