Divine Might

Chris Hemsworth stacked on 10kg of muscle and got leaner than ever for his latest outing as Thor. Use his methods to build a godlike body

- Daniel Williams

A touch of boredom can strike in any job, not least those performed at desks and factory conveyor belts. And while you might think playing a jacked Norse god in Hollywood blockbusters would be an exception to the rule, the truth is Chris Hemsworth was feeling a little ho-hum as he turned his mind to preparing for the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok.

AS THE ACTION HERO SAW IT, this would be his fifth outing as the hammer-wielding Thor, and if the film was going to soar it would need to look, feel and sound different to its forerunners.

Hemsworth had several ideas about how to change things up. More humour. More scope for improv by a stellar cast that includes Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Hopkins and Cate Blanchett. And subtle alterations to the titular hero’s screen-filling frame.

While the God of Thunder would always need to be titanic, Hemsworth figured he could look more athletic than in previous turns. And given that one of Thor’s adversaries in Ragnarok is the grotesquely muscular Hulk, sharpening the contrast between the two protagonists made a certain artistic sense.

To help him get supersized while staying agile, Hemsworth turned to his PT of the past five years, Luke Zocchi, a fellow resident of Byron Bay on the north coast of NSW and the man Hemsworth has called “the best trainer in the world”.

“Chris presented in good shape,” says Zocchi. “He always looks good, basically.” But even though he wouldn’t be pursuing crazy size this time, Hemsworth still had plenty of expanding to do.

It hadn’t been long since he’d crash-dieted to lose all his bulk (and a lot of his good cheer) for In the Heart of the Sea. At his lightest he’d tipped the scales at just over 80kg to play an emaciated sailor adrift at sea, compared to the 100kg he’d weighed for 2011’s Thor.