These are the Fitness Tips Chris Evans Uses to Stay in Superhero Shape

Chris Evans, best known as Captain America in the Marvel movies and currently voicing Buzz Lightyear in Pixar's Buzz Lightyear, works incredibly hard to maintain a fit and ripped physique, when it's needed for a role. Way back when shooting the first Captain America, he had said of the gym: "It was grueling, it was brutal and I’d find any excuse possible not to go" and added: "But I had to do it." His commitment is just one reason why he's one of the most beloved stars on the planet. How does he stay so fit? Read on to see 5 ways Chris Evans stays in shape and the photos that prove they work.

1. He Worked With A Trainer

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Everyone needs a little motivation to stay on track, and working with a world renowned personal trainer is certainly a great way to get there. Chris worked with personal trainer, Simon Waterson, to get in shape and build muscle. “For anyone embarking on a new fitness regime, I like to tell people to never make anything too unobtainable. Set your goals low so you always can achieve them, so you then feel that sense of achievement, which in turn will give you motivation which allow you to go to the next steo and the next level. The worst thing you can do is set the bar too high. You’ll never feel…the euphoria of reaching a goal. So if you try to do some bodyweight press-ups, don’t care about setting the goal at 100. Set it at 8 or 9 or 10. It’s about taking incremental steps, and not being unkind to yourself, mentally and physically,” Waterson, who also trained Daniel Craig and is the author of Intelligent Fitness, has said.

2. He Eats Lean Proteins

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Chris Evans likes to adjust his diet and exercise routine to roles that he’s training for. When he was preparing for Avengers: Endgame, he ate plenty of lean protein as part of his diet to bulk up and condition his muscles. "According to the FDA, any seafood, meat, or poultry can be labeled as lean protein when it contains less than 10 grams of total fat, 4.5 grams or less of saturated fat, and less than 95 milligrams of cholesterol per 100 grams and per labeled serving size," Mascha Davis MPH, RDN, a private practice registered dietitian nutritionist, founder of NomadistaNutrition.com and author of the upcoming book Eat Your Vitamins, tells our sister site Eat This, Not That!

3. He Makes Healthy Choices

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To build his muscle up, he had to be really healthy and ditch the pizza and burgers for a while. Even though he had to take in a lot of calories to build muscle, he still made extremely healthy choices involving plenty of fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, supplements, and healthy fats.

4. He Takes Supplements

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He’s big into supplements when needed. “Supplement-wise I used a bit of glutamine, whey protein shakes, branched-chain amino acids, then 500mg supplements of Omega-3, Omega-6 and Omega-9 fatty acids every single meal to make sure that my joints were functioning well—I needed it because the working out was so intensive, especially with things like the gymnastics,” Evans said. According to the Mayo Clinic, “glutamine is a substance naturally produced in the body to help regulate cell growth and function.” Always talk to your doctor before adding any supplements to your diet.

5. He Focuses On Each Muscle Group

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To perfectly carve out and condition each muscle, he focuses on one group at a time. Evans ties in plyometric exercises and acrobatics as part of his routine and claims that this is what helped him prepare for his role as Captain America. "For many athletes, plyometric training has proved to be an effective conditioning program that helps develop power and strength. Though it’s been around since the 1960s, people often ask, 'What is it?' In short, plyometric training involves three types muscle contraction exercises that lead to more forceful contractions. These exercises can have amazing results, but it is important that training be guided and individualized to get the best results and avoid an injury," says ACE.

Liam Neeson seems to be on everyone’s mind these days as he makes surprise appearances in everything from Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi to FX’s Atlanta to the Netflix U.K. teen comedy series Derry Girls. Fortunately, the 70-year-old veteran actor stays in shape to handle all the work. It’s important to the Oscar-nominated actor to stay healthy and fit because he keeps busy. Read on to see five ways Liam Neeson stays in shape and the photos that prove they work.

1. He Has a No-Frills Approach to Fitness

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Neeson doesn’t do extreme workouts or follow an unorthodox fitness regime, instead favoring a no-frills approach. His basic fitness routine includes weightlifting, strength training and cardio, paired with eating healthy.

2. He Enjoys Running

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Neeson’s fitness program includes running, and he makes time to complete an 8-mile loop, often with a workout buddy to make it a little more fun. His routine also includes building endurance and stamina. Such training can increase heart and lung fitness and bone and muscle strength over time, according to the Mayo Clinic.

3. He Doesn’t Have a Gym Membership

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Neeson doesn’t need a gym. He does bodyweight workouts and light weight training on his own and also goes on power walks as an extra aerobic activity to maintain his mental and physical health.

4. He Eats Healthy

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Neeson cut down on his carbohydrate intake and eats a high-protein diet with a lot of greens and fresh vegetables. When he’s traveling for work or other reasons, he sticks to his healthy diet regimen.

5. He Does Bodyweight Exercises

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son’s training includes bodyweight exercises, which he can do anywhere without equipment. He does pushups, pullups, squats and other exercises using just his body. Such training can be effective in toning and strengthening muscles.

Chris Pratt has been in countless blockbusters like Guardians of the Galaxy, Jurassic World, Jurassic World: Dominion, and more after getting his start as goofy Andy Dwyer in Parks and Recreation. In his spare time, he spends a lot of time at the gym. Clearly. How does he stay so ripped? Read on to see 5 ways Chris Pratt stays in shape and the photos that prove they work.

1. He Stopped Drinking

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Chris focused hard on his diet and decided to stop drinking while training. He swapped out a pint of beer for a plate full of chicken and broccoli. Cutting out drinking allows him to focus on working out and healthy eating without the empty wasted calories.

2. He Eased Into Training

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He worked his way up in the gym. “To begin with, it was let’s train every other day, with some days off,” said former Navy Seal and celebrity trainer PT Duffy Gaver. “After all, you don’t get fit in the gym, you just get beat up in the gym. You get fit recovering in bed and at your dinner table.”

3. He Did Strength Training And Floor Exercises

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After a quick warm-up to get his heart pumping and blood flowing, Chris would move into high intensity interval training and a lot of burpee reps.

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4. He Did HIIT

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With very little breaks as part of the workout routine, Chris would essentially bodybuild. Weightlifting, combined with high intensity interval training and the right diet is what led Chris to have a muscular, ripped body.

5. He Was Committed

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His dedication paid off. “I think Chris’s body at the time was working for the type of actor he was, but it was time for a change,” Gaver said. “I’m extremely proud of the work I did with Chris because it took him from being a character actor of sorts to being a leading man. And a really highly sought-after leading man.” According to the Mayo Clinic, having a growth mindset can be more beneficial than people think. “Folks with this outlook understand that they can develop their abilities and adapt them to different situations.They know mistakes are inevitable, which helps them recover more quickly from setbacks.”

Henry Cavill is one of Hollywood’s most fitness-oriented leading men. The 38-year-old, most celebrated as this generation’s reigning Superman-slash-Clark Kent, recently took on a new role: Chief Creative Officer at MuscleTech, a globally recognized brand of sports supplements. In a new interview with CelebWell, the British actor revealed all of his secrets to staying fit—from grueling workouts and regimented diet to his go-to trick for keeping his muscles looking as large and defined as possible while shooting. Read on to see his 8 essential tips.

1. His Diet Is Extremely Regimented

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Henry splits his eating up into five meals a day, supplementing his food intake with shakes and supplements. “I wake up in the morning and I have a protein shake, one-and-a-half to two scoops of hundred percent grass fed whey protein, plus a cup and a half of oats, plus a two egg omelet with some ham or turkey in it, and four ounces of filet steak,” he explains. “That's breakfast.” His second and third meal consist of six ounces of check breast with brown rice. His fourth, dinner, is usually five ounces of filet of beef with sweet potato. And, prior to bed he will mix up a beverage. “I'll have a pre-bed shake to make sure I don't go into a catabolic state and that will be, just protein and water,” he reveals.

2. He Cheats Just Once a Week

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Henry does cheat, but just one meal per week. “My cheat meal depends on the week and the country,” he explains. His go-to? Pizza. “You could find pizza from pretty much any country,” he says. Other faves include fish and chips if he is in the UK or a Sunday roast.

3. He Prioritizes Sleep

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Sleep is a crucial part of Henry’s recovery. “I aim for eight, but it depends,” he says about his sleep goals. “So sometimes that is just impossible. So between between six and eight.”

4. His Workouts Are Intense

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Henry shies away from heavy lifting, despite the fact that he once famously lifted deadlift 495 pounds. “I don't really have a huge benefit towards doing a max bench press,” he admits. “It can be handy for some stuff, but I'm never going to use it.” Instead, his workouts are focused on doing high reps of lower weights, or hypertrophy, which involves pumping the muscles with “as much blood as possible,” in order to put enough pressure on them. “So you're doing micro tears and you're creating size in the muscle and not necessarily huge amounts of strength.”

5. Leg Day Is His Favorite (And Least) Workout

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“My favorite workout and also my least favorite workout is probably a good leg day,” he says. “There's something enormously rewarding about finishing a leg day. There’s something terrifying about going into it and yeah. I think that's probably probably the right answer, but if I'm feeling pretty tired and I just want to end up leaving the gym looking good, then there's nothing better than shoulder and arms day.”

6. He Does Cardio

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Henry reveals that he is “trying to integrate more cardio” into his workouts—especially if an upcoming project requires topless scenes. “When I'm coming up to a shirtless scene there will be, I would say 15 minutes to 20 minutes of cardio in the morning and then again another 20 minutes after a workout and 20 minutes before bed." Recently he has been adding interval sprints into his morning training.

7. How He Looks His Most Ripped While Filming

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Henry’s secret to looking his most chiseled prior to shooting? “Before a show, before I shoot a scene and throughout the day, I will do what we call trying to build a pump and then maintain it,” he explains. “And so that'll be using bands and dumbbells and weights just enough to fill the muscles with blood, to make them look their best and their largest, the most round.” He will continue to train and maintain throughout the day, “which can be exhausting, essentially doing like an eight hour workout,” he admits.

8. He Takes These Supplements

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MuscleTech supplements are a big part of Henry’s fitness plan. “I have my basic line of supplements, my regular stack as we call it,” he reveals. “At the moment I stick to 100% grass fed whey protein, and I have that as part of my breakfast, my post-workout shake and my pre bed shake. I also take a pack of multivitamins every day. I use Shatter Pre-workout if I'm feeling particularly tired before workouts. And I also use Amino Build during my workout to make sure that I'm getting the most out of it.”

8. And Here's How He Reloads His Arms

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We asked Henry how he "reloads his arms"—as seen in the viral GIF from Mission: Impossible—Fallout, where he appears to recharge his arms before punching Tom Cruise. "The secret is, there is no secret. That was a happy accident," he said with a laugh. "I was on set and throwing a lot of punches that day and the tendons in my elbows were starting to get quite sore. So I literally was just throwing elbows out to warm them up before throwing punches again. And it happened to look good. And the director told me to keep on doing it.”

Paul Rudd has accomplished a lot in his life. His most recent achievement? Being named People’s “Sexiest Man Alive” for 2021. And it’s well-deserved. Despite being in his 50’s, he still looks the exact same way he did when he starred in Clueless and played Phoebe's love interest on Friends. Read on to see 5 ways Paul Rudd stays in shape and the photos that prove they work—and to get beach-ready yourself, don't miss these essential 30 Best-Ever Celebrity Bathing Suit Photos!

1. He’s Committed to His Diet

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When Rudd joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the superhero Ant-Man, he had to get in shape. Rudd tells Variety that he was extremely committed to his healthy lifestyle while preparing for the film. “I took the Chris Pratt approach to training for an action movie. Eliminate anything fun for a year and then you can play a hero,” he says.

2. He Works Out Daily

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Another part of Rudd’s Ant-Man preparation was working out everyday. Rudd said that he worked hard to make fitness a regular thing. “My day was centered around fitness and health, and that was kind of a first,” he tells People. “Every other time, I had to go about my day and try and find the time to work out. But [this time] everything else about my day kind of had to fit in around the workouts. I was going to be held accountable for it, and there was a reason for doing it. I wasn’t just randomly doing this kind of arbitrarily, which would have made it a lot harder.”

3. He Wears Sunscreen

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Rudd is known for looking the same way for decades, and a big part of it is his skin. "I am a big believer in sunscreen," he tells InStyle. "I'm not one for tanning. I used to be, back when I was rocking the Depeche Mode look. Honestly, I wear sunscreen not to prevent wrinkles but because I don't want to get skin cancer."

4. He Worked With A Trainer

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When preparing for his role in Ant-Man Rudd worked with trainer Brendan Johnston to get in shape. Johnston tells Muscle & Fitness that he saw a huge transformation with the actor. “He was much more athletic,” Johnston says. “Stronger, faster, and agile. He didn’t want to just look like a superhero. He had to move, run, jump, and fight like one, as well.”

5. He Eliminated Things From His Diet

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Rudd’s diet for Ant-Man involved taking things out of his everyday diet, and he admits that it really helped him. He tells AARP, “I started training and eating like an athlete: no sugar, no alcohol, just proteins and vegetables. I really loved it. It was a complete change of life that took me by surprise. I did not think living such a healthy lifestyle would be as fulfilling.”