17 Biggest Celebrity Fitness Body Transformations!
17. Zac Efron These days it’s hard to picture Zac Efron
as the teen star of High School Musical. For those who weren’t paying attention in the
intervening years though, Efron seemed to transform overnight from that beanpole into
a man’s man. Efron claims that right now he is at his physical peak, and most of it
is due to his idolization of Bruce Lee - a fascination with being “fast and light”.
Another major factor, Efron claims, is the fact that he has Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
as a gym partner. Nevertheless, Zac says it’s taken a ton of determination, hard work, and
overcoming old habits to get where he is now.
16. Ryan Reynolds Though he’s also portrayed more than one
superhero, Ryan Reynolds was known for being substantially in-shape long before he took
on the likes of Deadpool or even the Green Lantern. However, those who have followed
his career long enough know that Reynolds used to be a pretty lanky dude, and only started
getting in extreme shape when his Hollywood star grew bigger. But how did he do it? The
answer is disappointingly simple, actually. He says he just eschewed his old diet and
(lack of) exercise routine, and actually started caring about his body. Starting with his role
in Blade, the actor has out on more than 25lbs of muscle and shed virtually all of the extra
fat on his body.
15. Emily Blunt Edge of Tomorrow may have had many fans of
the edge of their seats, but a lot of men in the room certainly had to remain sitting
for a bit after seeing Emily Blunt on the big screen. The actress got in incredible
shape for her role in the Tom Cruise blockbuster, and she trained extremely hard to get there.
Her personal trainer, Jason Walsh, said that getting her to a point of real strength was
important because the actress would be carrying around a “50 - 60 pound exoskeleton for
a lot of the film.” It was also apparently important to the actress to be able to “show
up” Tom Cruise, who is known for maintaining a high level of fitness. The leading actor
was impressed by how in shape Blunt was, and claimed that no one he’s worked with has
ever prepared as well as Blunt did for a role.
14. Mickey Rourke It’s always impressive when an actor previously
thought “washed up” makes a comeback, and doubly so when they do so in such a way
that brings them to a new level of fitness at the same time. This was the case for Mickey
Rourke, who trained for at least an hour a day in a brutal resistance weight regimen
in order to get in shape for The Wrestler. Rourke previously entertained a professional
career as a boxer, but the years leading up to The Wrestler were not kind to him and he’d
lost his fighting figure. Nevertheless, when he took on the character of Randy “The Ram”
Robinson, Rourke committed his body to the job at hand and trained with professional
wrestlers to get back in shape.
13. Chris Hemsworth When you’re contracted to play a literal
god on the silver screen, you’d better be willing to look the part. Chris Hemsworth
didn’t shy away from the challenge, and he’s become the subject of soccer mom fantasies
the world over as a result. Hemsworth actually had to pack on quite a bit of weight in order
to gain the muscle mass needed to look like a Norse god, and sources say he did exactly
that - gaining more than 30lbs of lean muscle. He was consuming upwards of 3500 calories
a day - almost double the average daily intake - and even got to nearly 6000 per day when
he was in heavy bulk mode. These were split into between 5 and 6 meals, spread just a
few hours apart, throughout the entire day. Additionally, he picked up a heavy workout
routine with an emphasis on building muscle mass. His regimen was so successful, in fact,
that he actually had to trim down a bit - he couldn’t fit into his Thor costume.
12. Chris Evans Speaking of Marvel cinematic heroes, Chris
Hemsworth isn’t the only leading man who got in insane shape for his depiction of a
comic book character. Chris Evans - better known as Captain America - got pretty big
himself, and probably is the only other star who can rival Hemsworth’s sex appeal for
the average middle America housewife. Since Evans has been slim most of his life, it was
a challenge to get up to size. Evans claims that his workout hit every single muscle in
his body, and that he would work two groups together each day, basically “destroying”
those muscles with each session. Surprisingly, he stayed away from cardio for most of his
fitness routine - fearing putting a dent in the gains he needed for the muscle mass.
11. Jennifer Garner Another (albeit lesser known at this point)
body produced by a superhero movie is that of Jennifer Garner, specifically when she
was portraying Elektra in 2005. Although the movie got mixed reviews from critics, no one
doubted for a second that Garner was in amazing shape, as girls wanted to be her and boys
wanted to just be in the same room as her. Garner apparently employed a lot of cardio,
resistance training, and interval workouts to garner the muscle and fitness needed for
the role. She also trained in martial arts to learn the moves her character needed, and
worked out six days a week.
10. Mark Wahlberg As someone who has always been in pretty decent
shape, it might not come as much of a surprise to most people that Mark Wahlberg was able
to take his physique to a whole new level for the movie Pain & Gain. Ironically, though,
his push to be even better was full of both of those things, and it certainly wasn’t
easy. Drawing from his own line of fitness supplements, the actor bounced back from a
previous role which required him to slim down and got up to the fighting weight of 212 for
Pain & Gain, which was still smaller than his intended size. He then proceeded to train
5 days a week, and ate upwards of 10 meals a day to maintain his size as he turned it
into muscle.
9. Tom Hardy Having played a bunch of roles which all required
him to be in amazing shape in the past few years, Tom Hardy has gotten pretty cut up.
The work has paid off though - he’s now known for looking great in box office hits
such as Mad Max: Fury Road, The Dark Knight Rises, Legend, and more. Most iconic of the
lot is probably his portrayal of Bane, and the actor had put on more than 40lbs since
his slim figure in Band of Brothers in order to achieve the physique needed for that role
as well as Bronson, where he played a famed boxer. Though other roles required him to
trim down, he put on the 30lbs required for Bane in just 3 months.
8. Demi Moore She’s been out of the direct spotlight for
a while now, but Demi Moore’s transformation from just another sexy starlet to a serious
hard body for her 1997 role in G.I. Jane is nothing to shake a stick at. The actress spent
hours each day working her body into physical perfection, and did so under the tutelage
of a real-life Navy SEAL. The stunts she performed in the movie - including her famous single-arm
push ups - were all real, and all her.
7. Bradley Cooper Though the actor has gained mainstream popularity
through movies like Limitless and The Hangover, it was his portrayal of sniper legend Chris
Kyle in American Sniper which pushed him to his extreme physical limits. In order to get
in Navy SEAL shape, Cooper was consuming 8000 calories per day - eating just about every
55 minutes - and worked out as much as four hours each and every day for months on end.
He refused to use hormones or steroids - a common practice for actors who need to get
in shape - and instead insisted on achieving the level of fitness he wanted completely
naturally.
6. Jake Gyllenhaal Though he’s played a lot of physically-active
roles over the years - each of which demanded high levels of fitness - there’s probably
no role to date which has seen Jake Gyllenhaal in better shape than 2015’s Southpaw. Playing
a world-champion boxer demands physical perfection, and Gyllenhaal didn’t shy away from the
challenge. He describes the role as “one hell of a commitment”, and says it took
effort to “get his head in the game”. Naturally much of his workout regimen for
the role was focused around boxing, though Gyllenhaal says he hadn’t done much boxing
in his life before taking on the part. He says he “went full training camp mode”,
and got in shape for actual fighting. His training lasted for about half a year, and
took him from his normal size to that of a cut, lean fighting machine.
5. Christian Bale Most of the items on this list detail stars
who got in amazingly fit shape for movie roles, and there are entries about stars who lost
a bunch of weight to be more healthy. This one, however, is quite a bit different. If
you’ve seen the 2004 movie masterpiece The Machinist, you’ll know what we’re referring
to. Christian Bale, the muscular hulk of a man who squeezed into a skin-tight suit for
his most famous role as Batman, dropped more than 60 pounds - going down to just 120lbs
- for his role in the movie. He looks quite reminiscent of a concentration camp survivor
in the film, and apparently he achieved this look by ingesting just an apple and a can
of tuna each day. Apparently he was shooting for a loss of 5 more pounds but was advised
to stop by his doctors, who stated that he could die if he continued.
4. Gerard Butler Few roles are more iconic for their sheer
ferocity than Gerard Butler’s depiction of King Leonidas in the epic 2006 movie 300.
Since the main focus of the movie was the somewhat savage and always amazingly fit Spartans
from ancient Greece, Butler had no choice but to attain a level of physical fitness
that most can only dream of. In addition to changing his eating habits in order to gain
weight which could be forged into lean muscle, Butler adhered to a workout regimen so insane
that he claims he doesn’t plan on doing it “any time soon or, really, ever again.”
The workout consisted of 50 pull ups, 50 deadlift reps of 135lbs, 50 push ups, 50 box jumps,
50 floor wipers, and 50 single arm clean and press reps with 36lb kettlebells.
3. Kirstie Alley Most people nowadays may not actually know
Kirstie Alley for anything but her Jenny Craig commercials, but she should still be recognized
for her achievements nevertheless. The actress and comedian battled weight for more than
twenty years, after going into early menopause beginning in 1992. Between 2004 and 2007,
the starlet lost more than 75 pounds. After parting ways with Jenny Craig Alley regained
83 pounds, bringing her weight up to 228. Subsequently she lost more than 100 pounds,
announcing the loss in 2011. She’s kept the weight off since, and has gone back to
her roots by once again becoming a spokesperson for Jenny Craig in 2014.
2. Chris Pratt As someone who pushed their way into stardom
as a lovable goof, it’s kind of weird to think of Chris Pratt as a Hollywood hunk.
However that’s exactly what he’s become since his tenure on Parks and Recreation came
to a close - and his most recent roles have caused the previously flabby star to get into
the best shape of his life. From Jurassic Park to joining the ranks of Marvel elite
as a Guardian of the Galaxy, Pratt is now taking on parts which set him closer to Chris
Evans than Chris Farley. But how exactly did he actually get into that ridiculous shape?
Well for one thing, Pratt claims he completely laid off beer for six months. Instead he drank
endless amounts of water, and took on the help of both a personal trainer and a nutritionist.
1. Hugh Jackman Anyone who has followed the rocket-like success
of the X-Men movie franchise knows that its star, Hugh Jackman, has gotten into absurdly
good shape for his role as the Wolverine. Many people have sought answers as to what
his secret is for maintaining such a crazy level of fitness for the movies, but Jackman
often has to disappoint fans and friends alike when he reveals that there’s no real “secret”.
Regarding his routine, Jackman says “...I do about an hour of training a day and ride
my bike everywhere. But I do about 2 ½ hours of training a day when getting ready for the
role,” and specifically cites that he watches his diet closely. Contrary to what most believe
about fitness, though, for Wolverine it’s just as important to maintain and even gain
weight than to lose it.