Just the other morning I met up with a new potential client for coffee at Panera, and I asked him the question I ask nearly everyone when the topic is how to get maximally jacked and lean.
“So, do you have a favorite physique? Maybe a celebrity or something?”
And almost without fail, nearly everyone has that one photo in their phone that they keep coming back to - the one you pull up from time to time and say, “Dang, it would be so sick to look like this dude/gal.”
You’re probably no different.
Over the years, I’ve ebbed and flowed between wanting to look like Brad Pitt from Troy and Zac Efron from Baywatch.
Maybe for you it was Ryan Reynolds from The Amityville Horror (a random genre of movie to be jacked in) or Deadpool.
For this guy, it was Chris Hemsworth from Thor, and who can blame him?
Chris Hemsworth’s physique is absolutely next level - arguably the perfect combination of aesthetics and brute size, which in tandem flawlessly captures not only the heartbeat and admiration of the ladies but the respect and inner applause of the men as well.
In my personal opinion, that unique combination is the epitome of the ultimate physique - the one that captivates all audiences.
My Very Important Disclaimer on Wanting to “Look Like” Other People
Now, as a quick side note, I know a lot of people like to frown upon this idea of “trying to look like someone else,” so I’d like to speak to that briefly.
I try to give people the benefit of the doubt when they tell me they want to “look like” someone they admire in terms of fitness or physique.
If you pull up a picture of Ryan Reynolds and say, “Take me here,” I know what you mean.
You’re not asking me to drive you to the nearest plastic surgery facility to reshape your pecs to look just like his…
You’re saying you want to build a similar amount of muscle and shed a similar amount of body fat to get a similar result.
You’re saying, “Let’s move toward this physique in my own specific context,” and I respect that.
It’s not like when I first saw that scene of Brad Pitt in Troy I was thinking about how to grow long blonde hair at the same time. I wanted to know what I would look like if I were carrying that much muscle at that body fat percentage.
Does that make sense?
I just want to be sure to tread really carefully when I speak about wanting to “look like” other people.
It’s not about “looking like” someone else because you’re insecure. It’s about being inspired by a strong, muscular physique in someone you admire and setting a personal goal to achieve similar outcomes in your own context.
It Might Be Easier For Men Than Women
To be honest, I think men are generally better at keeping these distinctions in mind than women.
That’s not a dig at women, I just think women are perhaps a bit more likely to want “hips like J-Lo” or the “ratios of a Victoria’s Secret Angel” - and that's much different than saying you want to be jacked like Thor.
In fact, I think it’s a very dangerous way of thinking for women who are looking to understand their dignity and self-worth, which is want to make it very clear that I would never want to encourage body negativity of any kind.
As you read this article, please understand that “looking like” someone else in the fitness industry should never (in my opinion) come at the expense of dismissing your own self-worth.
So, ladies, if you think you want to “look like” some other girl who you think is the epitome of beautiful or sexy, my encouragement to you would be always to hold your own beauty, dignity, and self-esteem in a precious place.
If you want to build muscle, lose fat, and feel confident in your own skin, I think it’s best to do so out of self-love - not envy or insecurity.
And although this article will most likely attract men looking to get uber-stacked, I wanted to be sure to include that for my female audience. Consider it your daily dose of advice you didn’t ask for.
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk about what you showed up for - how to get as jacked and lean as Chris Hemsworth was in Thor.
Is It Even Possible to Look Like Thor?
Frankly, it’s probably not possible for most. Ouch!
But I don’t say that to play the “genetics card” (although he certainly seems to have phenomenal genetics for aesthetics).
It’s deeper than that - an impossibility that speaks more to the willingness of the individual.
I say that because most people don’t want his physique badly enough to tailor their entire lifestyle toward that outcome.
Simply put, looking like Chris Hemsworth as he was in Thor just doesn’t happen by accident unless it happens by accident. And if you’re already jacked like Chris Hemsworth by accident, you probably skimmed over this article without a second thought.
But, let’s say you’re crazy enough to attempt it like me.
Here are my top seven tips about how I personally would approach it.
7 Tips for Getting Jacked Like Thor
1. Your Physique Is Now Your Full-Time Job
This first step is more of a mental adjustment than anything. Your food, training, and recovery are now of paramount importance at all times. You have to maximize all of the variables.
Some specific examples of this might be:
Binging Schitt’s Creek but you know if you watch another episode you’re going to dig into the sleep you need to train properly all week? Turn it off and go to bed. It’s your job.
Work party tonight but it’s going to be pizza and booze? Eat your own high-protein, macro-tailored meal beforehand and enjoy a sparkling water with your co-workers. It’s your job.
Long stressful day at work and leg day sounds worse than hell in the moment? Cowboy up, my friend. You’re the one who signed up for this. It’s your job.
This also means no more stupid excuses about “missing breakfast because you overslept” or skipping leg day because you had a “tough day.”
Or only eating 67g of protein on Saturday because you were “traveling.”
Or having a lackluster training session because you “went out for too many drinks” with your friends on Friday night. Stop that.
If you really want to get after a big boy goal like getting jacked like Thor, you have to stop making excuses and starting owning every detail and outcome of your life - both positive and negative.
That’s a mental tweak and nothing more, but in my opinion it is certainly the first step.
2. Figure Out If You Need to Cut First or If You Need to Get Straight Into Bulking
For most people, looking like Thor is going to be a multi-year or even decade-long pursuit depending on how much muscle you want to add to your frame.
That means you need to tap into that idea that your journey is going to have to be phasic for you to see any kind of meaningful long-term success.
The first step is deciding if you need to bulk or cut, and these are my quick tips for making that decision.
People Who Should Cut First
If you have no semblance of abomination definition, you should probably cut body fat.
The only exception I can think of is if you’ve never trained before and you’re not super overweight. But visible abs are probably a good indication that you’re near or below 15% body fat, which is where most people agree you should stop the gain train before your nutrient partitioning becomes more biased to fat gain (and even that’s still highly debated).
If you’ve never trained before, there’s a good chance you can build muscle and lose fat at the same time, so you could certainly make that your goal in this unique case.
This probably goes without saying, but if you’re very overweight or obese, you probably need to cut body fat first before trying to put on muscle size.
You can still train for hypertrophy along the way, but you should probably be in a caloric deficit.
People Who Should Get Straight Into Bulking
The hardest part about looking like Thor is going to be putting on the muscle mass.
There’s nothing wildly impressive about his level of leanness, but the size and proportions are what turn heads when mixed with that leanness.
Your best gains are most likely going to come when you’re somewhat lean, which is why I would recommend most people who are any degree of “overfat” cut to a lean place in order to maximize those great gains. If you’re overweight and you go into a further caloric surplus, there’s a good chance that excess energy is going to be stored as more fat rather than more muscle - and we don’t want that.
But there are some people that would benefit from getting straight into bulking.
If you’re that classic skinny dude who can’t put on weight to save his life, you should absolutely get straight into bulking, which probably means a modest calorie surplus.
If you identify as skinny fat, I might also recommend getting into a very modest caloric surplus that might be mistaken for maintenance from time to time. You’re qualified to maximize that whole “build muscle and lose fat at the same time” idea, so why not press into it? Plus, cutting when you’re already sort of deflated and squishy can be a big shot to the ego, so why not set yourself up for more positive vibes by putting on some muscle beneath the flubber instead?
3. Get Your Calories Straight and Track Them
Talk to a trusted person in the industry about what your calories should be and get after it.
If you decided you needed to cut, make sure your caloric deficit is appropriate.
If you decided you needed to bulk, make sure your caloric surplus is appropriate and actually working. Wait, what does that mean? Metabolic adaption, folks. Your metabolism is not static.
If your surplus should have you gaining in theory, but it doesn’t have you gaining in practice, guess what? It’s not enough.
Add calories from carbohydrates (if possible) until the scale starts ticking upwards. If it becomes too unbearable to eat more carbohydrates, grab some extra calories from healthy fat sources to help you out.
Beyond that, make sure you are gaining at the proper rate per week, which most experts in the field would agree is around 0.5-1% of body weight gained per week.
Don’t want to track your calories? That’s fine, but that’s like saying you want to brew the best beer of all time but you’re simultaneously not interested in paying attention to the quantities and qualities of the ingredients.
You probably can’t do both if you want to maximize the quality of the outcome. You either get convenience and suboptimal outcomes or you get discipline and optimal outcomes.
If the glory of Thor is your end goal, suboptimal sure isn’t the word I would use to describe it.
4. Get Your Protein Straight and Track It
Within those calories, eat protein at least 3x per day in doses of somewhere between 30-50g each from high-quality sources, and get most of those calories and protein from whole food sources if possible.
In terms of overall daily amounts of protein, that’s going to vary from person to person, but this article I wrote should get you headed in the right direction.
As a general rule of thumb, you’ll want to be consuming about 0.7-1.0g of protein per day pound of lean body mass to optimize your muscle-building efforts from a protein perspective.
Also, supplementing with whey protein or a pea protein blend is probably a good idea for convenience and adherence purposes - especially if you are vegetarian or vegan.
Curious about how to do this on a completely plant-based diet? Click here.
5. Make Sure Your Training Program Is Top Notch and Train Like a Freak for Years
Make sure your training program is hypertrophy-based and well-rooted in proven methods.
This means training with the right amount of volume, a sensible array of movements (meaning the right blend of compound moves to isolation moves), and utilizing intelligent progression and overload schemes from week to week.
I can’t outline what that would look like in a single post, but this probably means hiring a good coach.
Trying to DIY your training to Thor status is probably a fool’s errand.
Also, remember that putting on an impressive amount of muscle mass takes years, so be ready to train relentless for a long time before you take on an endeavor like this in ignorant bliss.
6. Sincerely Consider Hiring a Coach If You’re Anything Less Than an Expert or Super-Enthusiast
Funny - I was just talking about hiring a coach!
This truly isn’t even a shameless plug for our own coaching services. Although we would love to have you, this tip makes the list because it’s genuinely probably the quickest road to Rome.
As much as it would be amazing if everyone were as educated in building muscle and losing fat as Dr. Mike Israetel, that’s simply not the case.
Having a coach provides you the peace of mind that your program is incredible and your nutritional strategy is appropriately tailored to the goal.
It also saves you precious time and energy that would be an epic shame to have lost in the stubbornness of your own unwillingness to invest in a coach.
7. Manage Your Recovery Like a Superhero
Although sleep is most likely the most important aspect of recovery on a macro level, there are other ways that recovery can oftentimes be overlooked.
Minimize high-impact activities that might prevent your muscles from recovering on time.
This might be recreational basketball or soccer or even Spike Ball. You can do all of that fun stuff once you already look like Thor, but until then it might be time to lock down your recovery. Or if you must do it, do it sensibly and only on occasion.
Nap when you can.
This hopefully goes without saying, but don’t stay up late for no reason like a dumb-dumb. If you can bag an extra hour or two of snooze, do so.
Drink plenty of water and get as much of your diet from high-quality, whole-food sources as possible.
As a bit of a bonus consideration, you could consider sipping on a nighttime ashwagandha drink. Personally, I use KOS’ Organic Calming Blue Spirulina Blend once or twice per week to help wind down before what I hope becomes an epic night of sleep. Anecdotally, I have found it does exactly what it claims to do: It calms me down and leaves me crawling into bed with a warm and fuzzy sensation that usually leads to a bit more restorative sleep according to my Whoop.
8. Take Around 5g of Creatine Monohydrate Per Day
Although I don’t take creatine right now for personal reasons, the science on creatine monohydrate is pretty convincing in terms of improving strength output and muscle gains.
It is by far the most researched and well-supported supplement in the fitness space alongside whey protein, so it’s a bit of a no-brainer if you’re serious about rivaling Thor.
Just be sure to stay hydrated as creatine monohydrate does pull water into your muscles to aid in its beneficial effects.
Summary of How to Blow Up Like Thor
And there you have it, friends!
My top seven tips on what it would look like to really dig into the idea of pursuing a Thor-like physique as optimally as possible.
Realize that tending to your physique is now essentially a full-time job.
Decide whether you need to cut or bulk first.
Determine the right number of calories to eat and track them.
Identify a daily protein target and hit it consistently.
Be certain your training program is hypertrophy-focused.
Consider hiring a physique coach.
Manage your recovery as optimally as possible
Take creatine if desired.
Thanks for reading, everyone! I sincerely hope you enjoyed the content and learned something.
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And, if you're interested in working with me one-on-one, visit The Vegan Gym and apply for coaching. I’ve had nothing but success in guiding people toward their fat loss goals.
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Cheers, everyone!
-Andrew