Once upon a time, Tom Holland was best known for starring in the stage version of Billy
Elliot and the 2012 disaster flick The Impossible.
Of course, that all changed when the British actor appeared in Captain America: Civil War,
donning the iconic Spider-Man suit to fight against Steve Rogers.
"What's up everybody?!"
Marvel fans everywhere thought Holland absolutely killed it as Peter Parker and they also agreed
he looked ripped as everybody's favorite web-slinger.
He might've even made some of his co-stars jealous for how well-liked he was in the flick.
"Listen, Tom's a little a------,alright?
Tom has his own base camp, he has like an entourage, he's a lot.
He's a lot to deal with."
But how did he physically transform from a scrawny tot into one of the world's most famous
superheroes?
Here's everything you need to know about how Tom Holland turned himself into Spider-Man.
Shaking it into shape
Unlike a certain actor who's best known for playing Star-Lord, Tom Holland was in great
shape long before landing the role of Spider-Man.
He started out taking hip-hop dance lessons in England as a kid and went on to study ballet
for two years in hopes of landing the title role in Billy Elliot.
In addition to helping him get bigger, Holland's dance background has really aided him as an
actor.
He told Interview Magazine, "I'm very happy I had that training.
It's been so valuable to my career, and I've used it on almost everything I've done since."
That experience certainly came into good use when he cross-dressed for Lip Sync Battle
with exactly zero fear of losing any dude cred.
Hitting the mats
Every Avenger has his or her particular skillset.
Iron Man flies and blasts stuff.
Black Widow does martial arts.
Spider-Man climbs walls, does flips, and makes Olympic gold medalists look like old men.
Of course, Peter Parker got his acrobatic skills courtesy of a radioactive spider bite.
Tom Holland, on the other hand, gained his gymnastic abilities after years of hard work,
dedication, and risking his neck.
Like his dancing history, he credits his stage work on Billy Elliot with his earliest exposure
to gymnastics.
"They trained me in gymnastics while I was during that show and it's just something I
kept up while finishing the show and for my auditions for Spider-Man."
Holland is also into free running, a form of parkour that emphasizes "creative expression."
In other words, it involves a lot of acrobatics, not to mention some semi-dangerous stunts.
Speaking with Metro, Holland once explained, "Me and my mates go free running all the time….I've
probably jumped four meters on to grass and two meters between buildings."
In addition to keeping him agile and limber—which is essential if you're going to play the wall-crawler
himself—Holland's gymnastic abilities might've helped him land the role of Spider-Man in
the first place.
During the audition process, he transformed what would've been a run-of-the-mill screen
test into an eye-catching exercise of his flipping skills.
"And I basically did a somersault into frame and a somersault out of frame; I need them
to know that I've got some gymnastics abilities and stuff."
Considering Tom Holland is the guy currently wearing the Spidey suit, it looks like his
acrobatic skills paid off.
"Finally, here we go."
Changing things up
Another training technique Tom Holland has adopted to swell up to Spider-Man size is
circuit training.
This controversial exercise involves wearing an elevation mask while performing multiple
sets of reps, like burpees or bicep curling, one after another, with almost no rest in
between stations.
And that's not the only experimental exercise he's tried; he's also given electronic muscle
stimulation a whirl along the way, too.
"And they put pads on you and you workout while the pade electrocute you.
And it sucks.
It really really sucks."
And while he had some trouble with it at first …
"I tell you, I did it once and I didn't go to the toilet for two days."
...He's since given it another go, hopefully with less troubling consequences.
Punching it out
If you want to be an Avenger, sooner or later you're going to throw down with some bad guys.
Luckily, Holland is big into combat sports.
Not only is he an MMA fan, showing up at UFC events, he also spends quite a bit of time
in the gym, learning all he can about the sweet science.
As a result, Holland totally knows what he's doing when he pulls on a pair of gloves.
"My mind just got blown.
His might be as well."
When he's not punishing those punching bags, Holland also does every other gym activity
imaginable, including chin-ups, side lateral raises, and even borrowing Thor's hammer to
beat on some massive tires.
So, perhaps one of the most effective elements of his workout regime is how consistently
he hits the gym, while still mixing up his routines.
"Ah, that was awesome."
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