As Sam Wilson, AKA the Falcon, Anthony Mackie plays a lean, mean MCU fighting machine.
Even before his debut in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Mackie has pretty much
been in exceptional shape. So how did he get so ripped? We've got all the details.
"Gettin' my Rocky on. Whatchu gonna do, Rocky?"
Anthony Mackie threw his hat into the Marvel ring in the early 2010s,
but it would be a while before he got to suit up as the Falcon. In that time,
he made a movie with two of the most ripped actors in Hollywood: Mark Wahlberg and the Rock himself,
Dwayne Johnson. Mackie had to hit the weights hard for his role in Michael Bay's Pain and Gain,
which was very loosely based on a real-life kidnapping executed by some ham-fisted
bodybuilders in the 1990s. By Mackie's own admission, he was, quote, "lazy and fat"
when he landed the part of steroid-using meathead Adrian Doorbal, telling BuzzFeed:
"I was looking for a project to help me get back in the gym and start working out."
"And I'm sitting down curling Twinkies and watching Price Is Right every morning."
Mackie was given just five weeks to get in shape for the shoot. To make that happen,
he started a regimen of "heavy lifting and no cardio." He told Men's Health:
"I was max repping. [...] I was doing chest and thighs, back and tris and shoulders,
and then Friday would be legs, and I would start over again. It was just constantly
ripping the muscle, giving it four days to recover, and then going right back into it."
To help him get ripped for Pain and Gain, Mackie enlisted the help of an old workout
buddy back in his hometown of New Orleans. He told BuzzFeed:
"We would just push each other every day. Then once the movie started,
Mark and I would work out every morning together."
Mackie has spoken at length about what it was like having Mark Wahlberg as a workout partner
for the duration of the shoot. He revealed that the musician-turned-Hollywood star,
quote, "can be very difficult" at times, but he doesn't hold that against him, telling Vibe:
"The thing about Mark is that he is the ultimate competitor. I thought that I was competitive,
but he's a definite rival in my level of competitiveness."
"That's it?" "Work harder."
Keeping up with Wahlberg and his iron-pumping entourage proved to be quite the challenge,
but it did absolute wonders for the soon-to-be Marvel star's physique. They spent around six
weeks as gym buddies, and Mackie noticed some "extreme gains" in that time, saying:
"We would push each other to the limits and max out. [...] It was a great opportunity to
be in the gym and just become a gym head like I was in high school once again."
Mackie's dream of joining the MCU became a reality when he won the role of the Falcon
in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but he quickly realized that he was going to look
tiny next to the super-jacked Chris Evans. The hard work he did before and during the
making of Pain and Gain had him in impressive shape, but this was another level entirely.
"Don't say it, don't you say it."
"On your left." "Come on!"
After news of his casting broke, Mackie told Vulture:
"Chris Evans is in such good shape! I’m just a dude he dragged into the lab that
he injected with some s---, but I got to stand next to him. So we shall see!”."
At that point, everything Mackie knew about the Falcon came from the comics, and they made for
a pretty daunting read. Describing Sam Wilson, a Harlem-born orphan who becomes Captain America's
partner after the latter frees his mind from the control of the Red Skull, Mackie said:
"He's known for his physique. He's described as 6'3",
245 pounds, so starting Monday, for the next five months until we start shooting,
I'm going back to high-school workouts and start doing two-a-days, so I get up to 230 pounds."
He may not look quite as jacked as Evans does in Captain America:
The Winter Soldier, but by the time they reunited to shoot Avengers: Age of Ultron,
Mackie was apparently doing more push-ups than even Cap himself.
Every superhero actor wants to look their best when they pull on their costume,
and Anthony Mackie is no exception. A competitive person by nature, he
instinctively started comparing himself to Chris Evans after joining the cast of Captain America:
The Winter Soldier, though he knew that Sam Wilson isn't a super soldier like Cap.
This meant that he had to toe a fine line between looking super-jacked and superhuman. He told vibe:
"I wanted to put myself in a position where I don't look like Mr. T, but you can tell
that the guy works out and pays attention to his physique and is healthy. [...] I've
been in the gym and worked out long enough to know how to get results with my body."
He got those results with the aid of some good old
fashioned shut-eye and a carefully considered diet.
"Oh hi. Guess what I'm doing? I'm cooking."
To this day, the actor is very particular about what he eats while he's bulking up.
When he sat down with Men's Health in 2021, he revealed that his personally
designed meal plan helps him to, quote, "lean out" for the camera.
"I find that because I lift heavy I tend to bulk
easily, so I try to use my diet to cut as much fat as possible."
Coffee has long been America's favorite source of caffeine, but old Joe has had
a new rival in recent years. Energy drinks have become a popular alternative to more
expensive pre-workout beverages, with one study from the Journal of the International Society
of Sports Nutrition revealing that 42 percent of athletes chug one as part of their regimen.
Mackie has never been interested, though, telling Men's Health:
"I'm not really really big on pre-workout or energy drinks. I feel like I don't need
the boost. So I try to drink as much water as possible before and after going to the gym."
He does, however, partake in another favorite of bodybuilders everywhere — the protein shake. The
actor began consuming a shake after every workout during his Pain and Gain days, telling BuzzFeed:
"I would do a half banana, a scoop of peanut butter,
and a scoop of protein with skim milk and make a smoothie."
And he's been fine-tuning his recipe ever since. Nowadays,
he's less about the peanut and more about the almond, telling Men's Health:
"I do a scoop of vegan-based protein, a tablespoon of powdered almond butter
so it cuts all the sugar out of it, I do almond milk and almond water."
He also uses collagen and turmeric, which he claims helps with "elasticity" and "joint repair."
"My big thing now is 'calagen.'"
Mackie got used to getting up early to eat back when he was working out
with Mark Wahlberg, telling the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he
would have six egg whites and an egg yolk for breakfast at 6 am.
Speaking to Honey and Lime about the strict diet
he followed for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Mackie said:
"You know fitness is a lifestyle, you have to eat
a certain way. You have to do a certain thing, you have to live a certain way."
The Falcon still has eggs in the morning, but he cooks them up nowadays.
Mackie told Men's Health that his, quote, "real simple" breakfast is
usually made up of six scrambled eggs with sauteed onions or sweet peppers.
He also has a portion of steel-cut oats, a breakfast favorite among bodybuilders, adding:
"The steel-cut oats is very important because my body uses those carbs to burn
off when I work out in the morning, because I like to work out early."
"That's the breakfast I have everyday."
From the moment he gets up in the morning to the end of the day,
Mackie is, quote, "constantly grazing" in the kitchen, telling Men's Health:
"I'll nibble and bite and eat throughout the course of the day,
so I never feel full, but I never feel empty."
That doesn't mean he skimps on the portions at meal time, however.
He follows up his egg and oat breakfast with a, quote, "pretty big" lunch that's full of
everything he needs to keep his superhero bod. According to Mackie, that includes
"two or three grilled chicken cutlets, some cut vegetables with hummus, and a salad."
"I try to have my big meals in the middle of the day instead of later."
The extra food he puts away at lunch time gives him the energy he needs to
carry on until the evening, when he does a three mile, 30 minute run to get the blood
pumping. It's more functional than it is tasty, but that's all part of the gig.
"Who cooked these?"
Mackie got used to saying goodbye to the naughty things in his life when
he was preparing for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, joking to Honey and Lime:
"Me and my homeboy Jack Daniels stopped talking.
Me and my girlfriend Haagen Dazs broke up. She French, it was crazy."
So it goes for those who want to portray superheroes.
Mackie's fellow Marvel star Chris Hemsworth has proven that it's perfectly possible to
achieve a god-like body while on a plant-based diet. The Thor actor shocked everyone — his own
personal trainer included — when he managed to maintain his incredible physique after
going vegan. There's a lot to be said for vegan superheroes, but that's not how Mackie rolls.
The actor revealed to Men's Health that he's a big meat lover, saying:
"Dinner is usually a big piece of fish or piece of chicken. I
try to stay with lean protein. I'm really into bison and buffalo now,
if I have to have red meat. Or lamb, [which] is my favorite meat on earth."
He went on to reveal that every now and then he'll visit his favorite butcher in search of, quote,
"something wild" to spice things up: "like rabbit, or something like that."
Mackie pairs his meat with either brown rice or quinoa, saying:
"Quinoa is really big for me now, so I'll do that and make a quinoa veggie sauté."
After debuting as the Falcon in Captain America: The Winter Soldier,
Anthony Mackie went on to reprise the role in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man,
Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
By the time it came to film Endgame, he had his fitness regimen down to an art.
When the actor sat down for a video interview with Vanity Fair right after the release of the
multi-billion dollar grossing sequel in 2019, he walked viewers through his typical day.
"I wake up to Beyoncé. I do. I love Beyoncé. She makes me strong. She's my spirit animal."
After that, he eats his protein-packed breakfast,
and that's when the hard work begins. According to the actor:
"The first thing I do in the morning is a hundred push-ups."
Around 7:30 AM, he hits the gym.
Mackie also shared a big workout hack: Instead of driving himself to the gym and warming up
there, he runs the four miles instead, leaving him with more time for weights.
"Get in, I'm already warm from the jog."
Mackie says he always begins with:
"30 minutes of legs, then we move onto other places. [...] Monday is chest and tri.
Tuesday will be back and biceps. Every day you hit abs for 20 minutes. And then
Wednesday would be legs and shoulders. Burn them out, start the routine over."
At this point, Atlanta is a second home to Marvel stars like Anthony Mackie.
At least a dozen MCU movies have made use of Pinewood Atlanta Studios, and the Atlanta
metro area has doubled for everywhere from New York City to Lagos. Disney+ series The
Falcon and the Winter Soldier was also filmed in Atlanta, and when Mackie wasn't on the job,
he liked to slip into his favorite pair of cycling shorts and find some exercise bikes. He told GQ:
"You have a lot of different cycling places. You have the cycling places in Buckhead,
where you have a lot of young women with ponytails that'll scream and
[are] very angry on their bikes, or you can go to the cycling place in Decatur,
where there are a lot of young, angry people who yell and twerk on bikes."
"Yes. It's true. I like to listen to rhythmic music and lift weights while I ride my bikes for
long distances against young women. Yes."
Mackie particularly likes getting his bike fix in Midtown,
where it's apparently a lot more easy-going. He said:
"It's just a bunch of nice people that ride bikes. No one's yelling.
No one's throwing stuff. Everyone's sweating."
The cycling, along with all of Mackie's tried and tested routines,
reportedly had him in the best shape of his life as he shot The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
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