Bulking Up Supplements

The movies can have a huge influence on people’s lives because when they see a superhero or an action hero on screen with huge bulging muscles, it will often make them feel inadequate, and they will subsequently want to end up achieving the same kind of results themselves.

One such figure who has wowed audiences with his incredible physique is Chris Hemsworth, who has played the role of Thor since 2011, and is due to star in the latest movie in the series – Thor: Ragnarok.

This video from the Buff Dudes features the workout that Chris Hemsworth used to increase strength and build muscle for his part in this movie:

As you can see from the exercises that are included in this workout, he mainly focused on developing his biceps, triceps and shoulders with isolation exercises.

There are no big compound exercises, so you could easily do most of this workout at home in your home gym if you have some dumbbells, a weight bench and a barbell or EZ bar. However it is easier in the gym because they will have a cable machine and a preacher curl machine, which you will need to perform two of the exercises.

Here is a guide to each exercise:

Barbell Bicep Curls

The first exercise is a classic move for building biceps – the barbell bicep curl. With this one you are really isolating your biceps by standing up straight and lifting a weighted barbell to your shoulders. The key here is to avoid cheating by bending your back and let your arms do all of the work.

You should aim to do 3 sets of 10 reps.

Skullcrushers

The next exercise is the skullcrusher, which will primarily work your triceps instead of your biceps. Here you simply need to grab a barbell or an EZ bar, lie flat on a bench, hold the bar with both hands just behind your head and extend your arms upwards.

You should aim to do 3 sets of 10 reps.

EZ Bar Preacher Curls – SUPERSET 1

The middle phase of the workout marks the start of the superset section where you will be working hard with no rest periods to really get the blood pumping to your biceps and triceps. You will start by doing EZ bar preacher curls to really isolate your biceps, and the great thing about this particular move is that it is impossible to cheat by using your shoulders.

You should aim to do 3 sets of 12 reps.

Lying Dumbbell Extensions – SUPERSET 1

As soon as you have finished the EZ bar preacher curls, you should go straight to a bench and perform lying dumbbell extensions. This is basically a variation of the skullcrusher, except that you will be holding dumbbells in each hand, and twisting your hands inwards as you extend your arms upwards to target different areas of your triceps.

You should aim to do 3 sets of 12 reps.

Dumbbell Hammer Curls – SUPERSET 2

The next superset starts off with the dumbbell hammer curl, which is another exercise that will really hit your biceps hard. With this one you are simply holding a dumbbell in each hand with a neutral grip (as if you were holding a hammer) and bringing them up to your shoulders. Once again you need to avoid bringing your shoulders or back into the exercise because you really want your arms to be doing all of the work.

You should aim to do 3 sets of 12 reps.

Rope Pressdowns – SUPERSET 2

As soon as you have finished the dumbbell hammer curls, you want to start doing the rope pressdowns to hit your triceps. As the name suggests, you are simply gripping on to the rope handles with each hand, and then pulling downwards, with your elbows tucked into your sides to ensure that your triceps are being fully engaged.

You should aim to do 3 sets of 12 reps.

Barbell Wrist Curls – SUPERSET 3

To complete the workout, Chris Hemsworth (or at least his trainer) included a few exercises to really work the forearms. The first of which is the barbell wrist curl, which is simply where you sit down on a bench holding a barbell with an overhand grip, and curl your hands upwards to develop strength and muscle in your forearms.

You should aim to do 3 sets of 20 reps.

Barbell Reverse Wrist Curls – SUPERSET 3

Once you have completed the previous exercise, you will be going straight on to the reverse wrist curls, which is exactly the same as before, except that this time you will be using an underhand grip instead. This move will also help to develop your forearms, and is the final exercise of this particular workout.

You should aim to do 3 sets of 20 reps.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, there is nothing particularly remarkable about Chris Hemsworth’s Thor workout because these are all fairly common exercises.

However it clearly seems to work because he always has massive arms and shoulders in all of the Thor movies, and I’m sure he will look equally as ripped in the latest Thor: Ragnarok movie as well.

Indeed I actually tried this workout this week and my arms were really feeling it during the supersets. What I like about this particular workout is that it includes a few exercises for your forearms as well, which are so often neglected.

Anyway the point is that it is definitely worth giving this workout a try if you are looking to build bigger arms because you should achieve some excellent results.