20 Amazing Bodies of The Walking Dead Stars

The dead are alive! Here we delve into the fitness and lifestyle secrets of the beloved cast from the iconic show. From Andrew Lincoln's stamina-focused training for his role as Rick Grimes to Norman Reedus's relaxed approach for Darryl Dixon, each star brings a unique perspective to maintaining their health under the demanding conditions of filming. Lauren Cohan champions exercise variety, while Danai Gurira emphasizes wellbeing through varied workouts. Jeffery Dean Morgan finds fitness in farm life, and Melissa McBride reflects on the show's impact.

1. Andrew Lincoln

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Andrew Lincoln played Rick Grimes on the show. In a 2012 interview with Men’s Health, he shared his approach for training for the series. Lincoln revealed that stamina is the main thing he values. "Of course, I want to be in good shape and be fit, but I want to have stamina. It's not an exercise in vanity. It's about being able to do stuff.”

2. Norman Reedus

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Norman Reedus plays fan-favorite character Darryl Dixon, which lead to him getting a spin-off. He shared his fitness secrets with Men’s Journal. “I have a trainer in New York I use every so often when I’m getting ready to go back on the show. Nothing too specific. I just try to shed any holiday pounds and get my mind right. When I’m down there [in Atlanta], I have a gym in my house, so I try to work out when I can, but sometimes when you work so many hours all you can do is get home and fall on your face. I’m also running through the woods in 103° heat and my crossbow weighs a ton, and I’m always riding bikes and building things, so the pounds melt off.”

3. Lauren Cohan

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Lauren Cohan played Maggie Greene on the show. She shared her fitness routine with Shape Magazine. "I am the queen of exercise variety. This week I was in L.A. and I took a Pure Barre class, went to Burn 60 [an interval workout class] twice, ran the track at UCLA, made it to the gym, and took a yoga class. I also really love to dance. I dance through workouts that aren't even about dancing! At home, all my furniture is pushed to the edges of my living room so that I can dance around the room.”

4. Danai Gurira

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Danai Gurira played the fan-favorite character, Michonne, on the show. She shared her approach to fitness with Women’s Health. “If I haven’t worked out, if I haven’t exercised and connected with my body in some way, it chips away at my feeling of well-being,” she says. “It might be lifting weights, it might be boxing, it might be something a little less intense. There’s no need to break records tomorrow. It’s just about slowly finding what feels good and what feels rewarding.”

5. Jeffery Dean Morgan

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Jeffery Dean Morgan played the villainous Negan on the show. He and his wife, Hilarie Burton, live on a farm. Morgan tells Men’s Journal that he likes to chop wood. “I’m a little bit obsessed with it. I love an ax, but I recently got a log splitter, which has changed my life as I near 55.”

6. Melissa McBride

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Melissa McBride plays Carol Peletier on the show. She talked about the impact the show has had to AMC.com. “I think being a part of something that sort of just took over, it still has not quite settled in my mind. I understand how big the show is. I experienced how big it got and that's maybe why it's hard to fathom that I’m a part of it. It's bigger and more unexpected than I ever could have imagined, and I still have not quite grasped that I am indeed a part of this massive thing. I think one of these days, maybe even years from now, I will look back with a different perspective. You know, see the whole of it.”

7. Jon Bernthal

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Jon Bernthal plays Shane Walsh on the show. He also stars on The Punisher and shared his workout secrets for the show with Men’s Journal. “Today we got up at 4 in the morning. Usually we’ll start with a little strength work, whether it is taking on squats or the bench press, doing five sets of three at the maximum weight. There’s a lot of supersetting, and bodybuilding weight practices. Then we work on a lot of MetCon [metabolic conditioning], doing as many rounds as we can, trying to get each movement just right. It will usually be about five or six full-body moves, like pull-ups or cleans. We’ll do that for somewhere around 20 minutes or so. Then in the afternoon we’ll do boxing or jiu jitsu workouts between scenes. I always want to box, but they really try to keep me working my whole body as much as possible. On top of that, learning the fights for the show or weapons training is almost a whole other workout on top of that. So it probably works out to three separate big, different workouts a day. It’s pretty gnarly.”

8. Christian Serratos

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Christian Serratos plays Rosita Espinosa on the show. She shared some of her skincare secrets with The Cut. “I started double-cleansing probably around the time my daughter was born, because I noticed that when I would wipe my face dry on a towel after cleansing, I still had makeup around my hairline or the edges of my face. And I was mostly annoyed with the fact that the makeup was getting on my towels.”

9. Michael Rooker

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In addition to playing Merle Dixon on The Walking Dead, Michael Rooker also plays Yondu in the Guardians of The Galaxy franchise. He talked about doing his own stunts with Smashing Interviews. “I didn’t do a lot of major action stuff in this one. I like doing physical stuff, but this was easy enough for me. I really didn’t have many major fights. Yondu is just … you don’t want to mess with this cat. His weapon of choice is pretty powerful, so you don’t want to screw around with the guy. He’s a tough old boy.”

10. Alanna Masterson

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Alanna Masterson plays Tara Chambler on the show. After having her daughter, Masterson was subjected to body-shaming. However, she hit back on Instagram. “Dear Instagram trolls, body shamers, and the men and woman who think it's ok to comment on my weight: I hope that you don't have children. And if you do, I hope you teach them about kindness and acceptance. I hope they learn that it isn't ok to make fun of people or call people names.”

11. Khary Payton

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Khary Payton played Ezekiel on the show. He shared how he stayed in shape on the show to Muscle and Fitness. “We film in Atlanta where it’s hot and humid, and I lose weight if I’m not doing something. So I have this CrossFit-style regimen that’s just 20 minutes. I do five pullups, 10 pushups, and 15 body-weight squats. I do as many rounds as I can in 20 minutes. By the time I get halfway through, I’ve got to cheat on the pullups. By the time I’m done, I’m in a pool of sweat on the floor. My best is nine rounds.”

12. Austin Amelio

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Austin Amelio played Dwight on the show. In an interview, he revealed that he has adopted a vegan diet. “I watched that documentary ‘What the Health’ ten days ago, and the next day I was like, ‘I’m done.’ It’s been 10 days, completely vegan the whole entire time, and I feel better than I felt like in years.”

13. Tom Payne

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Tom Payne, who played Jesus, works with trainer Tom Fitzgerald on his diet and exercise. Fitzgerald told The Hollywood Reporter that Payne eats a lot of protein. “Most people would need a period of ‘cutting in’ after a program like this,” Fitzgerald explains. “However, Tom has such a fast metabolism that just keeping up the calories is the main challenge; losing fat in order to show muscular definition happens almost automatically.”

14. Lauren Ridloff

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Lauren Ridloff played Connie on the show. She revealed to Shape that she is training to run the New York City Marathon, and shared her reasons for doing so. "It was more about meditation," she says. "It was about reentering myself and problem solving, troubleshooting, all of those things...You know, my mind just wanders [when I run]. I never know where it's gonna go, which is quite nice."

15. Steven Yuen

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Steven Yuen played fan-favorite character, Glenn Rhee. He told The Guardian that he wants to represent the Asian community through his work. “Where I try and speak from as an actor is always feeling, I guess, isolated. I warred with that for a lot of my life – of feeling disconnected from a system, a majority, or a group. I deeply wanted to connect, so I would bend and twist and break myself to try and conform.”

Discover the secrets behind the enviable physiques of our favorite Netflix stars. From the Henry Cavill's grueling pre-workout routine to the effortless beauty of a renowned actress, these celebrities prove that staying fit and healthy requires dedication and a well-balanced lifestyle. Join us as we delve into the wellness regimens and diets of stars like Chris Hemsworth, Ruby Rose, and more. With exclusive insights from interviews and behind-the-scenes revelations, we present the ultimate guide to the hot bodies of Netflix stars. Prepare to be inspired by their fitness journeys and perhaps find your own motivation along the way. Read on to see how they maintain their stunning physiques and the stunning photos that prove their hard work pays off.

1. Henry Cavill

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Henry Cavill shared some of his wellness secrets with GQ. He says that he likes to take a lot of workout supplements, and shared his favorites. “I feel like grass-fed whey protein is too much of an easy answer because that's my diet basically. That's an absolute necessity. I can't travel without it. But moving on from that, actually it’s the Shatter Elite pre-workout. That stuff is really good. I’m working silly hard most of the time, getting up at the crack of dawn or way before dawn and then working all the way through it. Especially when you're really, really tired, it does give you a really good pick up and kick up the ass to get into the gym.”

2. Chris Hemsworth

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In an interview with GQ, Chris Hemsworth talked about what it’s like starring in Marvel projects, and how he deals with criticism of those projects. “I don’t love when we start scrutinising each other when there’s so much fragility in the business and in this space of the arts as it is… I say that less to the directors who made those comments, who are all, by the way, still my heroes, and in a heartbeat I would leap to work with any of them. But I say it more to the broader opinion around that topic.”

3. Ruby Rose

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Ruby Rose is open about being a vegan, and talked about her diet in an interview. “When I’m exhausted and have a full day and just want a hamburger, I’ll just make an Impossible burger or Beyond Meat. I don’t love meat, but it’s the idea of a hamburger. It’s a form of junk food I want and need, but it’s still good for me. Fries and a burger.”

4. Jason Momoa

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Jason Momoa works with trainer, Damien Viera, to help him stay in shape. Viera opened up about their process in an interview with Men’s Journal. “We're looking at movements in scripts that are a year out. It’s very bespoke. There’s no fat in what we do, it’s all a line in Jason’s performance. In broad strokes, everything we do is good for exactly what he's doing.”

5. Gal Gadot

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Gal Gadot makes sure she eats a healthy diet. She opened up about this in an interview with Good Housekeeping. “I try to eat healthy yet balanced. I don't like to deprive myself of anything. I believe in balance in everything, by the way. I love to cook, and I’ve always been a foodie…Since I’m from the Middle East, I’m very much all about the Mediterranean diet. I look at food as fuel, and I want to give the best to my body so I try to eat healthy on most days."

6. Taylor Schilling

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Taylor Schilling is a big fan of journaling. She opened up about this in an interview with Vogue. "If I wake up and write out whatever is clogging up my thinking—fears, worries, whatever it is—that by the time I’m done writing, I’m a little more focused on what I want to have happen."

7. Dacre Montgomery

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In an interview with Men’s Health, Dacre Montgomery revealed how he got in shape for his role in Stranger Things. “I wanted to do this meatier, chunkier jock thing so I still worked out a ton, but I also did a lot of boxing and ate heaps. My carb intake was higher, my meat intake was higher and I just built this chunkier, more muscly version of myself.”

8. Laura Prepon

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In 2016, Laura Prepon gave an interview to People to promote her book The Stash Plan. “When I got to my early twenties, I started having issues with my digestion,” Prepon said. “I was gaining weight just when I didn’t need to be, and my energy levels started to plummet. Not to mention I was bloated and puffy most days. I had just started working on That ’70s Show and was very worried, so I became obsessed with reading diet and health books, looking for answers. I have stacks of them in my house!”

9. David Harbour

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David Harbour’s trainer, David Higgins, talked about how the actor stays in shape in an interview with GQ. “We implemented a 24 hour fast from Sunday evening to Monday night for four weeks. David really got into it. I think the longest fast he did was 48 hours a few times, just to see how it would go.”

10. Alison Brie

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Alison Brie opened up about her process of getting in shape for GLOWin an interview. “A lot of women, especially in my profession, feel like they have to starve themselves to lose weight. I’ve certainly felt that way in the past. But while training for the show, I was eating more than ever and I’ve never felt better.”

11. Anya Taylor-Joy

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Anya Taylor-Joy talked about how she balances her busy schedule in an interview with Tatler. “I don’t have time to be a 25-year-old with a hangover. But I’m not someone who needs a drink to dance. Basically I’ve become very efficient at everything. I’m like ‘What do I need out of this situation?’ I need to dance for a couple of hours, see my friends and have a good time’, so I’m like ‘Right, let’s bang it out.’ Then it’s: go home, have a bath, get up for work. I sound mental, but that’s what’s working for me right now.”

12. Ross Butler

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Ross Butler opened up about his workout routine in an Instagram post from 2018. He captioned it, “7 weeks into this workout and diet regiment! Body did a total 180, so insane. @thomasdelauer is a wizard. #workoutwednesday.”

13. Emma Mackey

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Emma Mackey talked about working on Sex Education in an interview with whimn.com. “Work-wise, it’s given us more of a leg up in terms of working with interesting scripts and getting to do some good work, which is what we want to do at the end of the day. It’s a really nice position to be in, but yeah. It’s kind of mad. But I’m grateful for it, and I’m just taking it step by step, you know?”

14. Naomi Watts

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Naomi Watts shared some of her favorite workouts in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar. "I try to work out as often as I can, but I'm not fanatical about fitness,” she said. “My back carries most of my tension and if I'm stressed I can't do high-impact exercise, so yoga and Pilates tend to work better for me."

15. Penn Badgely

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In an interview with GQ, Penn Badgely opened up about his career. He says that having valuable relationships is crucial. “Every relationship you have – every single one, down to your parents, your children, and everybody outside of that – it influences every single relationship in ways that are always unpredictable and a bit tricky. And then everywhere you go, that happens.”

16. Tom Ellis

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In order to play the title character in Lucifer, Tom Ellis worked with Paolo Mascitti. “Tom didn’t really do pullups as part of his sessions before we started working together,” Mascitti told Men’s Journal. “Now he loves them, and likes to push himself as far as how many more he can do every time. That's just an example of the ways he's really taken to the challenge.”

17. Laverne Cox

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Laverne Cox has amazing skin, and she shared some of her favorite products and tips with Allure. “Olay Regenerist has an eye depuffer — I love their eye creams. There's an eye roller from L'Oréal [that's also] a depuffer. So it's those things from the drugstore. I also love that the press-on [nails] are getting so good. The Kiss press-ons you can get, you glue them on — they're so good. When I'm in a pinch, I love going to the drugstore for them.”

18. Katherine Langford

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In this Instagram post, Katherine Langford spoke out about climate change. She captioned the post, “The difference between 1.5C, 2C or 3-4C average global warming can sound marginal. In fact, they represent vastly different scenarios for the future of humanity. The frequency of disasters, the survival of plants and animals, the spread of diseases, the stability of our global climate system and - ultimately - the possibility for humanity to survive on this planet hinge on these few degrees.”

19. Omar Sy

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In an interview with The Guardian, Omar Sy talked about his parents and how proud and close he is to them. “I think it builds your relationship with your parents when you have to explain to people who they are and what they do for a living. It makes you think about who they are beneath the jobs. It connects you to them. I remember having to explain what my mum did when I was Tidiane’s age. When I told people she was a cleaner… Well, I went through different stages with that. For a long time I was ashamed. Then, growing up, explaining it over and over, something changed. Talking about my mum and her life made me feel more connected to her. Expressing stuff helped me to realise things. And I was so proud of her.”

20. Charlize Theron

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In an interview with Red Online, Charlize Theron talked about how she was raised, and what she wants to instill in her children. “I was very lucky to be raised by a single parent who wanted that for me. I wouldn’t be where I am today without that kind of a backbone. I learnt that from a very young age…Look, nothing bad comes from telling your children to pick themselves up and use the things that happen to them as lessons, rather than things that will define then. I don’t want anything to ever define my children.”