America, Fuck Yeah! Today is July 4th, and in celebration of our Independence Day, I am going to share some tips on how to become Captain America.
Men’s Fitness - The studios had a very specific idea about how they wanted Chris to look,’ says Evans’s personal trainer Simon Waterson, the man also behind the transformations of Daniel Craig as 007 and Jake Gyllenhaal as the Prince of Persia. ‘My brief was to build Chris a strong, big and lean body that was realistic, functional and in proper proportion. In the movie, his character is physically transformed into the perfect soldier specimen so he had to look the part.’
With the help of his trainer, Simon Waterson, Evans increased his weight from 77kg to 82kg, while reducing his body fat percentage from 12.5% to just 8%.
Chris Evans’ Captain America Workout
According to Evans’ trainer, Chris was on the road a lot, so he did a lot of body weight exercises. Now I don’t necessarily condone doing just body weight exercises, because any skinny bitch can do them, but there is something to be said about a guy who can bust out 30 Pull-Ups. And everybody should be ready to drop down at any moment and blast out 100 Push-Ups - you never know when somebody might challenge you to a push-up contest.
So what were Captain America’s core body weight exercises? Real-fucking-basic:
- Push-Ups
- Pull-Ups
- Sit-Ups
That’s it. So simple. Just rep the fuck out of those and you won’t be in too bad shape. That being said, you won’t be Captain ‘Merica without some HEAVY ASS WEIGHTS.
When Evans could get to the gym, his trainer had him focusing on compound lifts, heavy weight, low reps.
‘Chris had done some weight training before, but as with a lot of guys it had been focused on the vanity muscles of the chest, arms and abs,’ said Waterson. ‘These guys are always amazed when I point out that they have muscles on the backs of their bodies too. But Chris was great to train. He understood the importance of a balanced physique. I had to work him hard but at a sensible pace – I couldn’t afford to have him sidelined for four weeks with an injury.’
It wasn’t all cupcakes and creatine though – Evans especially hated leg training. ‘But then who loves training legs?’ said Waterson. ‘Because if you are doing it properly it is the most painful session there is. Legs never hurt just for a day afterwards – it always lasts into the week. But your legs and glutes are the biggest and strongest muscles in your body so you must train them hard to get bigger and leaner everywhere else. So many men ignore legs because they want big arms, but pushing your lower body to the limit will transform your upper body faster than anything else thanks to a big growth-hormone response.’
Captain America’s Leg Workout
Perform one warm-up set for each exercise, then do three sets of six to eight reps at your eight-rep max.
- Barbell Squat - 3 sets of 6-8 reps
- Lunges - 3 sets of 6-8 reps (per leg)
- Incline Leg Press - 3 sets of 6-8 reps
- Standing Calf Raise - 3 sets of 6-8 reps
- Hamstring Curl - 3 sets of 6-8 reps
.
Captain America’s Diet
‘The biggest challenge for Chris was eating enough to put on muscle but avoid storing any excess energy as fat,’ said Waterson. ‘We relied on low-carb protein shakes in between meals and snacks such as fruit and nuts. I also had him take branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) throughout the day to reduce muscle tissue breakdown and encourage growth. The aim each day was about 2g protein per kg of bodyweight.’
Two grams of protein per KG of bodyweight? I like this Waterson guy.
Breakfast:
Bowl of porridge with dark berries and walnuts
Morning snack:
Protein shake and 5g BCAA
Pre-workout snack:
Apple with almonds
Post-workout snack:
Protein shake and 5g BCAA
20min later:
Chicken salad with brown basmati rice
Afternoon snack:
Protein shake
Dinner:
Lean protein, such as fish, chicken or beef, with vegetables. No starchy carbs.
Happy 4th of July Two Scoopers. Now go out there and rip a super-set of push ups before you strip off your lax pinny today at the beach, that way you can walk around all swole, making bitches wet and shit, like Captain America.
-Tony “Too Proud to be an American” Muscoli
