While keeping up with Hemsworth - or any of the other actors he works with (like Henry Cavill and Ryan Reynolds) - is no new concept to Hanton, he says that his prep to double Hemsworth for the most recent film, Thor: Love and Thunder, currently shooting in Australia, was even more extreme than ever before.
“Chris decided he wanted to be the biggest Thor yet as he has also been training hard - as he always does - this has been my biggest physical transformation to date! My natural weight is around 85kg I’m now sitting at 95kg I have put on 10kg of lean muscle mass in 8 weeks with body fat sitting around 5% I’m eating 8 to 10 meals a day every 2 hours consuming around 4,000 cals per day. I’m training 2 and sometimes 3 times per day,” Bobby explains.
Part of that extra challenge came about because Hanton had to transform his body more than usual, under more difficult circumstances than ever given the coronavirus pandemic and Australia's strict quarantine procedures. He shared photos of his transformation and some insight into the process with Men's Health.
“I landed in Australia on November 4th to quarantine in a hotel room for 2 weeks... I had limited space and gym equipment but that’s fine cause I had the Centr app to tide me over so I trained in quarantine most days but this was hard mentally. Once I got out I had 8 weeks to transform myself into Thor shape but this time it was a lot harder and I knew I had to get into the best shape of my life.”
The actor has put on a solid 10kg for the role, pushing his Body Fat percentage down to 5%.
“I am having to lift heavy, the heaviest I’ve ever had to lift, but also doing a lot of my own body weight circuit stuff almost like a cross fit/ plyo fusion to stay mobile and agile in my stunts, fights etc -similar to my plyo workouts on Centr - so I really had to plan and do this strategically to get the best results possible! And it’s still very hard to get anywhere near CH shape!!!!!Rest and good sleep has been key in this journey as well as diet.”
Hanton says that he wound up training two or three times daily during the prep period, and packed on weight with meals filled with protein from eggs, tuna, lean turkey, lamb, chicken, and steak using recipes from the Centr app.
A typical day on his plate:
I probably eat about 6/8 eggs per day
Lots of white fish, tuna
Lean lamb, turkey, chicken, steak
At home sticking to Centr food recipes has really helped.
“I used to get away with having a whole day of cheat food on a Sunday but on this one it’s not possible so I will maybe have a cheat meal in the evening and ice cream, Sunday go to is pizza and ice cream. Otherwise the rest of the week it’s strict good carbs, high protein, good fats as a rule with all the other good stuff too”
Thankfully, Hanton isn't going it alone. If you follow Hemsworth on Instagram, you can't miss the actor's training crew, which often includes Hanton and coach Luke Zocchi (another Men's Health favourite).
"I win the pull up contests all day long," he said. "Although Chris and Zocc are pretty damn strong."
