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Modern actors aren't as willing to sacrifice their health for muscle as their historical counterparts, especially because the lean look is preferred over the mu

Modern actors aren't as willing to sacrifice their health for muscle as their historical counterparts, especially because the lean look is preferred over the muscle-bound appearance of yesteryear. Thus, (with rare exceptions, like Christian Bale between The Machinist and Batman Begins), what you see on screen today is hard-earned through hours a day in the gym, a very regimented diet, and hydration timing. Generally, to get to the level of single-digits body fat you see on screen, you're looking at 3-6 months of clean eating (or more, depending on the actor's physique when they land the role), meaning among other things, no alcohol, no sweets, and lots of eggs or chicken meals. Someone being paid a few million dollars can afford to pay a nutritionist to custom-design a diet to meet specific appearance goals, a and they have a huge incentive to stick with that diet. For example, Chris Pratt had to give up beer, pizza, and all dietary pleasures for six months to go from being the fat guy on Parks and Rec to the main hero of Guardians of the Galaxy. On top of the diet, the actor is spending hours on near-daily exercise for several months. Chris Hemsworth eschews cardio for pure muscle-building, but Paul Rudd and Kumail Nujani each spent a year preparing for their Marvel roles, using a blend of cardio and full-body workouts (as, in contrast to Thor, Ant Man and Kingo have lean physiques but neither actor was particularly athletic when cast), while Pratt spent nearly 6 hours a day, 6 days a week, for over 6 months on cardio activities to cut weight for the first Guardians movie (as he already had the muscle for the character underneath his excess bulk and just needed to reveal them). But the real trick to the "cut" look on screen is dehydration; actors don't drink for several hours before shirtless scenes, which makes them appear thinner and more defined. (In several interviews, Kumail Nujani talks about nearly passing out after several filming several shirtless scenes for The Eternals, which required him to limit water consumption for nearly 12 hours before shooting.) This is something you can actually try yourself at home: take a before pic, spend a few hours on a long cardio activity like running or biking, and then take an after pic before you rehydrate. You will appear thinner and your muscles (if they were visible beforehand) will appear more well-defined, even though they aren't any bigger.

bluecalm 6y ago
Just look at athletes before widespread steroid use. They have spent way more time training than actors and haven't looked like that even in sports that require dehydration like boxing. That's exactly the problem with lying about steroids. It took a while for Arnold and his successors to admit that they were on 1000mg of test per week (plus other stuff of course; normal production of even high test men is below 100mg). Now people believe that yeah that bodybuilders are obviously juiced but physiques of elite athletes like soccer players or Hollywood actors are natural because they are smaller. Remember, significant % of guys in your local gym are on juice. There are no doping controls in Hollywood. Testosterone won't kill you, it may even make your life better if you use it wisely. Would you take it if million dollars and fame were on the line? We know they take it because we know quite well how juiced up physiques look. Besides, if someone who is not a professional athlete did 6 hours of serious training per day their body would give up sooner rather than later unless the recovery was "enhanced". I don't condemn steroid use btw. I oppose widespread lying about it by the users and the media.
- eredengrin 6y ago
  > Just look at athletes before widespread steroid use. They have spent way more time training than actors and haven't looked like that even in sports that require dehydration like boxing. How widely are you thinking, and where are you getting your stats? People have been using steroids for decades now, so comparing pre-steroid athletes to modern day athletes is apples and oranges. Exercise science has come a long way over the decades, not to mention the cultural ideal body images have also changed.
- audiometry 6y ago
  >I don't condemn steroid use btw. I oppose widespread lying about it by the users and the media. Yeah this is the thing that annoys me. Recently listening to Tim Ferriss interviewing an amazing female powerlifter. She deadlifts 4x body weight and other sorts of remarkable feats. So the entire 2 hour show discussed her insane training regimen and diet and other forms of wellness. Hearing how much she squats in a week was daunting (“what am I doing with my own weak training then!?”) Then I googled her (Stefi Cohen) and she has shoulders like cannonballs (female Dan Green) and ripped abs like a male bodybuilder. So very obviously steroids play an essential role in her training /recovery capacity. I have no problem or quibble with that. Want to take that, fine. Probably the only way you’ll meet the records she has established. What I dislike, though, is the interview where everything BUT drugs is discussed. Drugs enable the recovery that enables her insane workload. Especially when Ferriss purports to dig into “the secrets of high performers”. Well this is one vital secret. I felt like this interview was deceptive in a way. Like I said earlier, I’m not opposed to steroid use. I decided not to use them myself. But it would be refreshing to hear about the high performers among us who do. I’d like to know their thinking around the decision. I’m sure it valid and more refined than whatever I’d expect them to say.
  - CydeWeys 6y ago
    It's annoying but there's one obvious reason they don't talk about it: Not only is it cheating in their sport, but it's even flat-out illegal. So of course they don't talk about it. Even though it's completely obvious from everything else they're talking about. Hell, just listen to her voice! The testosterone use is undeniable.
WalterBright 6y ago
A friend of mine blew out his knee in a skiing accident. After his operation, he needed rehab, and went to the best he could find. It was where pro football players went for rehab. He said he couldn't believe how hard they worked out, so he asked one. The guy laughed, and said something like: "If I don't get back in shape, I lose several million dollars and my career." They're highly motivated, to say the least.
samatman 6y ago
This is just wrong. Nujani is on gear, and what's more, he has an NDA which means he can't talk about it even if he wanted to. I can't prove it, of course. But don't fool yourself, that's what's happening. Look at his jawline if you don't believe me, what diet is supposed to do that?
- gamblor956 6y ago
  Nujani is on gear, and what's more, he has an NDA which means he can't talk about it even if he wanted to. Najani gave a series of press interviews in 2019/2020 as part of the original press campaign for The Eternals, so I don't know why you think an NDA would apply here. (And for that matter, the SAG agreement with the studio would generally bar an NDA of that nature.) He had a year to get into shape, and a wife to make sure he kept to his diet, and that sort of transformation is definitely doable for a normal guy in a year. If anything, his transformation is pretty underwhelming given that he had a full year to get ready; if he had been doing steroids his arms and chest should be significantly larger. Look at his jawline if you don't believe me, what diet is supposed to do that? His jawline in that picture is natural; that's what it can look like when you have <9% body fat and you're extremely dehydrated and sucking in your cheeks when the picture is being taken.
nradov 6y ago
Even elite professional endurance athletes don't do 36 hours of cardio training per week so I suspect that part is an exaggeration. The practical maximum is something around 25 hours. More than that is counter productive because it doesn't allow for enough recovery time. Over training actually makes people weaker.
noarchy 6y ago
>while Pratt spent nearly 6 hours a day, 6 days a week, for over 6 months on cardio activities to cut weight for the first Guardians movie (as he already had the muscle for the character underneath his excess bulk and just needed to reveal them). The problem is that they tell these stories, and people believe it. If he had really done six hours of cardio per day he'd likely disappear and have no muscle. Diet and exercise is, make no mistake, a huge part of it - all of that has to be on point. The reality very much involves manipulating hormones, and that means steroids, growth hormone, etc.
- gamblor956 6y ago
  If he had really done six hours of cardio per day he'd likely disappear and have no muscle. I suppose if you spend all of your day in front of a computer, you'll have difficulty understanding what the human body is capable of on its own with enough time and discipline and you'll just assume everyone is taking shortcuts. Najani isn't some special case; he's a prototypical example of "easy gains" that pretty much any guy can get with a year of dedicated training and diet if you're focused on muscular appearance rather than muscular performance. (For those who understand the lingo, this means he focused heavily on large fast-twitch muscles which grow quickly and easily, at the expense of the slow-twitch and medium twitch muscles that would relevant for most athletic performance.) Members of the military routinely do 12+ hours a day of physical exercise, including hours of cardio, and yet none of them have problems disappearing (and only about 2.5% of military personnel use steroids). Triathletes, similarly, can spend 6 hours a day or more on exercise. Cardio doesn't consume muscle unless you combine it with starvation. Muscles are the last-ditch choice of fuel. On a proper diet, cardio burns glycogen and fat. And if you're as fast as Pratt was when he started his that exercise regime, you've got plenty of fuel for hours of daily exercise, no steroids or hormones required (except for the ones your body generates itself in response to exercise and diet).
  - noarchy 6y ago
    >I suppose if you spend all of your day in front of a computer, you'll have difficulty understanding what the human body is capable of on its own with enough time and discipline and you'll just assume everyone is taking shortcuts. You're assuming an awful lot. I am sure there are more than a handful of people here who know when there is reason to be suspicious of someone's gains. >Members of the military routinely do 12+ hours a day of physical exercise, including hours of cardio, and yet none of them have problems disappearing (and only about 2.5% of military personnel use steroids). Triathletes, similarly, can spend 6 hours a day or more on exercise. Members of the military get very fit. But the body transformations we're seeing in Hollywood are emphasizing physique. Practical fitness is less of a consideration. And many bodybuilders do very little real cardio. Even when getting lean for competition, some do little more than fast walking. Triathletes competing in the Ironman will obviously do more than 6+ hours on event day. I don't personally know of any who train like that. Three hours per day would be more like it, and not necessarily every day. There must be room for recovery. I can speak more personally about road cycling. Six hour training blocks simply don't happen. Even six hour races are not that common even at the top pro levels. >Cardio doesn't consume muscle unless you combine it with starvation. Muscles are the last-ditch choice of fuel. On a proper diet, cardio burns glycogen and fat. Obviously the diet is key here. And my original point wasn't specific enough about this, but here goes: a lot of these Hollywood "transformations" aren't being honest about the diet versus the claimed exercise regimen. I don't want to take anything away from them in terms of their accomplishments - it is tough to nail all of this to achieve the body they're getting. And steroids help.
jonnyone 6y ago
>Modern actors aren't as willing to sacrifice their health for muscle as their historical counterparts, especially because the lean look is preferred over the muscle-bound appearance of yesteryear While it's true that the Schwarzenegger look isn't in vogue, it's a bit of a myth to think that steroid usage would lead to that look in any short amount of time. There are many steroid "stacks" (meaning some kind of testosterone ester with other steroids on top) that are designed for the lean, dry look that many movie stars have reached in recent years. I don't doubt that some stars work for it naturally, but I do believe many have used them in the short term. I also don't think it's incredibly risky to your health in the short term, depending of course on the steroid.
- gamblor956 6y ago
  I don't doubt that many actors have used steroids, especially in the past. I simply doubt that many stars use them today, given that they don't need to anymore. Stars are given months to get in shape before filming begins (in the case of the Marvel actors, approximately a year before filming), and that's plenty of time for someone reasonable in shape to develop a muscular physique without steroids. Getting a visible 6-pack is a lot easier than people think it is. It doesn't require steroids, just discipline and time.

bluecalm 6y ago

Just look at athletes before widespread steroid use. They have spent way more time training than actors and haven't looked like that even in sports that require dehydration like boxing. That's exactly the problem with lying about steroids. It took a while for Arnold and his successors to admit that they were on 1000mg of test per week (plus other stuff of course; normal production of even high test men is below 100mg). Now people believe that yeah that bodybuilders are obviously juiced but physiques of elite athletes like soccer players or Hollywood actors are natural because they are smaller. Remember, significant % of guys in your local gym are on juice. There are no doping controls in Hollywood. Testosterone won't kill you, it may even make your life better if you use it wisely. Would you take it if million dollars and fame were on the line? We know they take it because we know quite well how juiced up physiques look. Besides, if someone who is not a professional athlete did 6 hours of serious training per day their body would give up sooner rather than later unless the recovery was "enhanced". I don't condemn steroid use btw. I oppose widespread lying about it by the users and the media.

eredengrin 6y ago
> Just look at athletes before widespread steroid use. They have spent way more time training than actors and haven't looked like that even in sports that require dehydration like boxing. How widely are you thinking, and where are you getting your stats? People have been using steroids for decades now, so comparing pre-steroid athletes to modern day athletes is apples and oranges. Exercise science has come a long way over the decades, not to mention the cultural ideal body images have also changed.
audiometry 6y ago
>I don't condemn steroid use btw. I oppose widespread lying about it by the users and the media. Yeah this is the thing that annoys me. Recently listening to Tim Ferriss interviewing an amazing female powerlifter. She deadlifts 4x body weight and other sorts of remarkable feats. So the entire 2 hour show discussed her insane training regimen and diet and other forms of wellness. Hearing how much she squats in a week was daunting (“what am I doing with my own weak training then!?”) Then I googled her (Stefi Cohen) and she has shoulders like cannonballs (female Dan Green) and ripped abs like a male bodybuilder. So very obviously steroids play an essential role in her training /recovery capacity. I have no problem or quibble with that. Want to take that, fine. Probably the only way you’ll meet the records she has established. What I dislike, though, is the interview where everything BUT drugs is discussed. Drugs enable the recovery that enables her insane workload. Especially when Ferriss purports to dig into “the secrets of high performers”. Well this is one vital secret. I felt like this interview was deceptive in a way. Like I said earlier, I’m not opposed to steroid use. I decided not to use them myself. But it would be refreshing to hear about the high performers among us who do. I’d like to know their thinking around the decision. I’m sure it valid and more refined than whatever I’d expect them to say.
- CydeWeys 6y ago
  It's annoying but there's one obvious reason they don't talk about it: Not only is it cheating in their sport, but it's even flat-out illegal. So of course they don't talk about it. Even though it's completely obvious from everything else they're talking about. Hell, just listen to her voice! The testosterone use is undeniable.

WalterBright 6y ago

A friend of mine blew out his knee in a skiing accident. After his operation, he needed rehab, and went to the best he could find. It was where pro football players went for rehab. He said he couldn't believe how hard they worked out, so he asked one. The guy laughed, and said something like: "If I don't get back in shape, I lose several million dollars and my career." They're highly motivated, to say the least.

samatman 6y ago

This is just wrong. Nujani is on gear, and what's more, he has an NDA which means he can't talk about it even if he wanted to. I can't prove it, of course. But don't fool yourself, that's what's happening. Look at his jawline if you don't believe me, what diet is supposed to do that?

gamblor956 6y ago
Nujani is on gear, and what's more, he has an NDA which means he can't talk about it even if he wanted to. Najani gave a series of press interviews in 2019/2020 as part of the original press campaign for The Eternals, so I don't know why you think an NDA would apply here. (And for that matter, the SAG agreement with the studio would generally bar an NDA of that nature.) He had a year to get into shape, and a wife to make sure he kept to his diet, and that sort of transformation is definitely doable for a normal guy in a year. If anything, his transformation is pretty underwhelming given that he had a full year to get ready; if he had been doing steroids his arms and chest should be significantly larger. Look at his jawline if you don't believe me, what diet is supposed to do that? His jawline in that picture is natural; that's what it can look like when you have <9% body fat and you're extremely dehydrated and sucking in your cheeks when the picture is being taken.

nradov 6y ago

Even elite professional endurance athletes don't do 36 hours of cardio training per week so I suspect that part is an exaggeration. The practical maximum is something around 25 hours. More than that is counter productive because it doesn't allow for enough recovery time. Over training actually makes people weaker.

noarchy 6y ago

>while Pratt spent nearly 6 hours a day, 6 days a week, for over 6 months on cardio activities to cut weight for the first Guardians movie (as he already had the muscle for the character underneath his excess bulk and just needed to reveal them). The problem is that they tell these stories, and people believe it. If he had really done six hours of cardio per day he'd likely disappear and have no muscle. Diet and exercise is, make no mistake, a huge part of it - all of that has to be on point. The reality very much involves manipulating hormones, and that means steroids, growth hormone, etc.

gamblor956 6y ago
If he had really done six hours of cardio per day he'd likely disappear and have no muscle. I suppose if you spend all of your day in front of a computer, you'll have difficulty understanding what the human body is capable of on its own with enough time and discipline and you'll just assume everyone is taking shortcuts. Najani isn't some special case; he's a prototypical example of "easy gains" that pretty much any guy can get with a year of dedicated training and diet if you're focused on muscular appearance rather than muscular performance. (For those who understand the lingo, this means he focused heavily on large fast-twitch muscles which grow quickly and easily, at the expense of the slow-twitch and medium twitch muscles that would relevant for most athletic performance.) Members of the military routinely do 12+ hours a day of physical exercise, including hours of cardio, and yet none of them have problems disappearing (and only about 2.5% of military personnel use steroids). Triathletes, similarly, can spend 6 hours a day or more on exercise. Cardio doesn't consume muscle unless you combine it with starvation. Muscles are the last-ditch choice of fuel. On a proper diet, cardio burns glycogen and fat. And if you're as fast as Pratt was when he started his that exercise regime, you've got plenty of fuel for hours of daily exercise, no steroids or hormones required (except for the ones your body generates itself in response to exercise and diet).
- noarchy 6y ago
  >I suppose if you spend all of your day in front of a computer, you'll have difficulty understanding what the human body is capable of on its own with enough time and discipline and you'll just assume everyone is taking shortcuts. You're assuming an awful lot. I am sure there are more than a handful of people here who know when there is reason to be suspicious of someone's gains. >Members of the military routinely do 12+ hours a day of physical exercise, including hours of cardio, and yet none of them have problems disappearing (and only about 2.5% of military personnel use steroids). Triathletes, similarly, can spend 6 hours a day or more on exercise. Members of the military get very fit. But the body transformations we're seeing in Hollywood are emphasizing physique. Practical fitness is less of a consideration. And many bodybuilders do very little real cardio. Even when getting lean for competition, some do little more than fast walking. Triathletes competing in the Ironman will obviously do more than 6+ hours on event day. I don't personally know of any who train like that. Three hours per day would be more like it, and not necessarily every day. There must be room for recovery. I can speak more personally about road cycling. Six hour training blocks simply don't happen. Even six hour races are not that common even at the top pro levels. >Cardio doesn't consume muscle unless you combine it with starvation. Muscles are the last-ditch choice of fuel. On a proper diet, cardio burns glycogen and fat. Obviously the diet is key here. And my original point wasn't specific enough about this, but here goes: a lot of these Hollywood "transformations" aren't being honest about the diet versus the claimed exercise regimen. I don't want to take anything away from them in terms of their accomplishments - it is tough to nail all of this to achieve the body they're getting. And steroids help.

jonnyone 6y ago

>Modern actors aren't as willing to sacrifice their health for muscle as their historical counterparts, especially because the lean look is preferred over the muscle-bound appearance of yesteryear While it's true that the Schwarzenegger look isn't in vogue, it's a bit of a myth to think that steroid usage would lead to that look in any short amount of time. There are many steroid "stacks" (meaning some kind of testosterone ester with other steroids on top) that are designed for the lean, dry look that many movie stars have reached in recent years. I don't doubt that some stars work for it naturally, but I do believe many have used them in the short term. I also don't think it's incredibly risky to your health in the short term, depending of course on the steroid.

gamblor956 6y ago
I don't doubt that many actors have used steroids, especially in the past. I simply doubt that many stars use them today, given that they don't need to anymore. Stars are given months to get in shape before filming begins (in the case of the Marvel actors, approximately a year before filming), and that's plenty of time for someone reasonable in shape to develop a muscular physique without steroids. Getting a visible 6-pack is a lot easier than people think it is. It doesn't require steroids, just discipline and time.