He may have already looked god-like in all of his DC appearances, but Henry Cavill took
his workouts to a whole new level in order to play the lead in Netflix's The Witcher.
Here's how he got into the best shape of his life to play Geralt of Rivia.
To make sure that he was looking as shredded as humanly possible for his many shirtless
scenes in The Witcher, Cavill allowed himself to systematically dehydrate.
Over the course of four days, he would gradually reduce his fluid intake so that when the time
came to shoot, he had zero water weight.
As he explained during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show,
"Yeah it gets your, makes your skin really thin, so it sits on the muscles."
He goes on to explain the grueling, borderline masochistic process:
"On the first day you'll have a liter and a half, and the second day half a liter, and
then the third day no water, and then you'll shoot the fourth."
Cavill has plenty of experience when it comes to pushing his body to the limits for a role,
but this was definitely a tough ask, even for him.
The actor even admitted,
"You're the most miserable person on the planet."
In fact, he says that,
"You get to the point on the last day where you can smell water nearby."
Well, the results speak for themselves.
The internet went wild when shots of Geralt in the bathtub were included in the Witcher trailer.
Believe it or not, Henry Cavill was once told that he was too fat to play James Bond.
The actor was up for the role of 007 in the period between Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig,
and he received some rather harsh feedback.
As he explained to Men's Health UK,
"I remember the director [of Casino Royale], Martin Campbell, saying, 'Looking a little
chubby there, Henry.
I didn't know how to train or diet.
And I'm glad Martin said something, because I respond well to truth.
It helps me get better."
Cavill learned all about the importance of training and dieting in the years that followed,
but it wasn't until he started preparing for The Witcher that he began to truly appreciate
what goes into being a bodybuilder.
In an Instagram post, Cavill revealed that he'd been reading into the big players of
the bodybuilding game, and he found himself in awe of them.
The caption reads:
"It's absolutely fascinating to see what they put themselves through, the drive and mental
strength required to get to such a place physically.
Phil Heath in particular has caught my eye not only for his achievements but also for
his genuinely humble and informative approach to his messaging."
Clearly all of his hard work paid off…but perhaps that goes without saying.
"There I go again, just…delivering exposition."
To get more ripped than ever for The Witcher, Cavill joined forces with Dave Rienzi, the
strength and conditioning coach that helps sculpt some of the biggest bodies in Hollywood.
In fact, none other than Dwayne Johnson calls him the "mastermind" behind his fitness regimen.
Rienzi suggested that Cavill try something called fasted cardio to get into next-level
shape for his big Netflix series.
This essentially means working out when your body isn't processing or digesting food, which
is thought to help burn fat at a faster rate.
So did this turn Henry Cavill into Hangry Cavill?
Evidently not.
Explaining that he starts his day with an empty-stomach workout, Cavill told Men's Health UK,
"It's some of the best, or most enjoyable cardio I've done.
It's only 20 minutes, so it's not massively exhausting.
It's not like doing [high intensity interval training] which, psychologically, can be quite
grueling.
My heart rate's at 125-135bpm, so it has a really good effect on fat-loss."
Cavill went on to tell the men's mag that Rienzi's suggestion helped him reach peak
fitness for his debut as Geralt.
The buff Brit revealed,
"Out of all the things I've done in the past, I think the fasted cardio stuff is actually
working best for me.
I'm in the best shape of my life."
When Cavill convinced Netflix to let him be Geralt in The Witcher, he knew exactly what
he was signing up for.
In fact, he's reportedly a huge fan of the source material and relentlessly pursued the
role when he heard the show was being made.
The actor was well aware of what the character called for, and the fact that he was going
to be doing his own action sequences meant that his body had to be able to withstand
the strain.
To get Cavill where he needed to be, coach Dave Rienzi introduced some grueling new exercises
to his workouts.
In a Men's Health tutorial video, Cavill and Rienzi explain and demonstrate the killer
moves they employed.
Cavill revealed that,
"For The Witcher in particular, we had to focus on things that would support the level
of stunt work that I was doing."
Rienzi called the Romanian deadlift the quote "key foundation movement" of their sessions.
It strengthens the glutes, hamstrings, and the whole posterior chain.
The trainer says that,
"The whole key here is just maximizing time under tension so he's able to fatigue the
muscles more but not over-stress his nervous system and his adrenals."
In June 2017, Cavill shared a throwback photo with his Instagram followers, giving them
a look inside his training for The Witcher.
The actor became a regular at Budapest's Flex Gym while he was on location in Hungary, and
the staff looked after him for the duration.
The gym had everything that Cavill needed to stay Geralt-ready, but he didn't always
opt for the fanciest machine or the heaviest weights.
When he came across this old snap of himself lifting some pretty small dumbbells at Flex,
Cavill decided to share a little pearl of workout wisdom with the world.
"It doesn't take huge weights everyday to achieve results.
I was doing everything I could in a busy busy schedule to try and get something in, whenever
I could.
During this period I learned that it's not the weight that matters, it's the workout."
Cavill went on to encourage people who aren't necessarily blessed with a frame like his,
telling his fans not to be discouraged by all the gym rats who lift massive weights.
He says,
"You do your weights, just make every workout count.
You might end up looking better than the fella or lady next to you that's using those heavy weights."
While training for The Witcher, Cavill did regular hyperextensions to reinforce his posterior
chain and strengthen his lower back, using a glute ham machine to make the exercise extra
challenging for him.
The actor did three sets of ten reps and would hold each repetition for two seconds, all
while keeping his hands behind his head.
In a tutorial video for Men's Health, Cavill's coach Dave Rienzi explained,
"The focus here is again on isolating the posterior chain.
Really activating the glutes and the lower back."
It might seem odd that Cavill spent so much time working on muscles that remain covered
for the most part, but getting in shape for The Witcher wasn't just about looking good
with his clothes off, it was about making sure he was up for major physical challenges
on a daily basis.
As the Brit said,
"When it comes to the posterior chain and the kind of stunts I have to do, especially
when it's pirouettes with swords, anything which is based upon one-leg movement where
a knee can have a bad injury...this stuff is what saves me."
Finding time to exercise when a project is still in pre-production is usually pretty
straightforward for actors, but maintaining an impressive physique throughout a shoot
is way more challenging.
That's especially true when it comes to a long project like The Witcher.
Henry Cavill told Men's Health UK that at one particularly intense point during the
production,
"[We were doing] 16 and 15-hour shoot days."
That meant that in order to stay in top shape, he had to become a master of time management.
The actor revealed that he was getting up at 3 a.m. every morning so he had enough time
to shower and get his extensive hair and makeup applied before the cameras started rolling.
In December 2019, he told Entertainment Tonight,
"The most taxing thing is always going to be time."
He goes on to say,
"It's just about getting that training in each day and forcing yourself to do it.
You've finished a very long shift and you were there two-and-a-half hours early for
your hair and your makeup, and then you have to go to the gym."
In an Instagram post, Cavill's workout coach Dave Rienzi praised the actor's dedication:
"His choice to take things to the next level is no small task as he's currently working
a grueling shoot schedule...His 110 percent commitment is no joke."
Henry Cavill's shoulders have always been pretty heroic, but the stacked actor knew
he'd need them to be stronger than ever for The Witcher.
Dave Rienzi advised the A-lister to use a combination of side laterals and front raises
to make sure he was hitting all the right spots in one exercise.
During their "Train Like a Celebrity" tutorial for Men's Health, Rienzi revealed that,
"Each repetition is actually three repetitions."
Rienzi goes on to say,
"He's starting out in a traditional side lateral for the first rep, then he's coming a little
further forward for the next one, and then doing a traditional front raise."
Combining these exercises into one meant that Cavill could work the medial deltoid and the
anterior deltoid at the same time, giving him the size and strength he needed to stay
safe during The Witcher's intense action sequences.
Cavill said of his tailored shoulder workout,
"This really helps with the sword fighting aspect."
Cavill also revealed that
"When you're film fighting, you're not going through for kill strikes, you're pulling the
blow at the last second, but you have to keep that speed up between the striking moment
and the stopping moment to make it look realistic."
Just like the rest of his workout, Henry Cavill's dumbbell curls were tailored to his specific needs.
The actor had to have forearms that were capable of taming big, strong horses for extended
periods of time.
In the source material, Geralt is an experienced rider and goes through numerous horses, all
of whom he named Roach.
Dave Rienzi had his client do dumbbell curls alternating from a static hold, which helped
sculpt those huge forearms you see in the show.
During his "Train Like a Celebrity" video for Men's Health, he said that,
"With horse riding also this can make a difference."
He goes on to say,
"If you have a particularly powerful horse, whether it be a stallion or anything else,
which is really, really going for it, to have that necessary heave back on the bit, it does
help."
Having muscular endurance in the forearms was also essential for the show's complicated
swordplay.
According to Cavill, just hanging onto his sword is enough of a challenge come the end
of a long day of shooting.
He says,
"When you're holding a sword, the first few takes are fine."
But he makes a point to mention,
"When you're into take 16 of the day and you're doing very complex movements with your wrist,
your forearm does start to die, and you end up throwing swords across the room rather
than making a swing."
Luckily, Cavill put the work in, and no one in the cast was ever impaled by a flying sword,
at least as far as we know.
The Witcher has more than its fair share of fight scenes, and many of them had to be filmed
several times over.
When you're working on a set piece for a show as large as this one, there are so many variables
involved.
Choreography has to be nailed down, the pulled-blows have to look convincing, and there's often
a load of extras to organize.
That means a fight sequence will rarely be pulled off in one take, something Cavill was
aware of well before going into The Witcher.
To make sure he was ready to go at it all day long, Cavill and Dave Rienzi dedicated
a lot of time to his core strength.
Cavill's coach had him doing a tweaked version of the oblique static hold, extending his
arms outwards and holding for 30 seconds before going into extensions.
According to Rienzi,
"Basically what this is allowing us to do is activate the transverse abdominals and
the obliques at the same time."
That helps bolster endurance, something Cavill needed to in order to swing around a sword
for hours on end.
In his Men's Health tutorial, Cavill said,
"If I'm using a real weighted sword it's very heavy and requires lots of endurance to do
the moves safely and perfectly each time and it also allows for nice explosive movement,
which is very typical for The Witcher."
In short, Cavill's efforts to get into shape for The Witcher have been nothing short of
legendary.
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