I did the Chris Hemsworth Thor workout for 6 weeks. I ate and trained using his Love and Thunder workout and diet plan. See what happened!
I decided it was time to get back into shape, and inspired by the Thor transformation in the upcoming Love & Thunder movie, I thought it would be fun to try eating and training like Chris Hemsworth for six weeks. I’ve tried similar challenges before, such as eating and training like The Rock for a day. While these are a fun challenge, obviously there isn’t going to be any changes to your physique from one day. So I decided it would be better to do this for at least a few weeks – the common duration is 30 days, but as I had a few events such as weddings, work trips etc where missing training and breaking the diet would be unavoidable, I decided to extend this to 6 weeks.
Before pictures
I took some photos and measurements at the start of the process, and weighed in at a fairly shocking 207 lbs, with a waist measurement of 95 cm. One thing I’ve noticed doing processes like this, is that you quite often don’t realise how out of shape you are until you see the dreaded before photos. When you look at yourself in the mirror, you hold yourself a particular way that you subconsciously know is more flattering. Pictures on the other hand can be brutally honest!
Thor Cosplay
I wanted to have some fun with this video, so I thought it would be fun to include some Thor skits in my video. The concept was that I would start the video in the style affectionately referred to by fans as “Fat Thor”, and then all going well, end the video wearing the vest worn by Thor in the latest Thor Love and Thunder trailer.
When I first put the costume together, I posted a few teaser photos on Instagram.
Centr Power Training Program
For the training plan, I used the Centr App Advanced Power program, which uses the same protocols used by Chris Hemsworth and his stuntman Bobby Holland Hanton in preparation for the Thor movies. Essentially it’s a 5-day split training plan. There is a sixth training day involving a functionality and mobility workout, but if I’m honest, I never did it.
I thought the training program was good! It’s a little different to how I normally train, but it was structured, and best of all it required no planning – I literally just followed along using the app on my phone.
With the paired exercises, short rest periods, and lots of volume, some of the workouts were pretty brutal! But overall I had a lot of fun doing it!
The photo above is an exported frame from some of the filming I did during the training (complete with the blonde wig of course!). Although I’m deliberately making a meal of the training for another funny Thor skit, at times, the training will have you genuinely pulling faces as you push through the deep burn from the training.
Centr Food
The food section on the Centr App is probably its best feature, and there are literally hundreds of recipes to choose from, all with great macros, and relatively easy to make. These are apparently all based on recipes Chris Hemsworth uses to achieve his physique goals, and I tried a lot of them, but I had maybe 4 or 5 favourites that I made every week. My favourite recipes were:
- Centr Chicken Burritos
- Centr Sweet Potato Chilli
- Centr Protein Granola Bars
- Centr Beef & Cashew Stir Fry
- Centr Beef & Vegetable Enchiladas
During the six weeks, I tried maybe 30 recipes or more. I picked recipes based on their macros, how tasty they looked, and how I thought my family would respond to them. Because I make most of the meals, whatever I’m eating, they would be eating too. The kids (aged 9 and 11 at the time) loved the meals, with my daughter only taking exception to the vegetable enchiladas when she saw that it had courgette (zucchini) in it. She had liked it until that point! They also had some really good desserts and breakfasts that we had as treats on a Saturday night/Sunday morning. My favourite was pancakes.
Because I was overweight, I actually ate at just below maintenance calories for the duration of the six weeks, and I made sure that I walked at least 10,000 steps per day. I didn’t actually do any meal prep for this challenge, I just made a meal-plan for the week, and made as I needed them meals each day, so it didn’t feel hard or a lot of effort to follow. I printed out the meal plan and stuck it on the fridge so everyone could see what we were eating that week. On a Sunday, I would go to the supermarket and buy all the food. Compared to plans where I’ve eaten 6 times a day and had to prepare tuppaware of lots of repetitive meals, this seemed too good to be true. When I first started the diet plan, my wife lost a couple of pounds just from the change of eating alone.
The final pictures
At the end of the six weeks, I felt in much better shape. I actually lost 9.5 lbs in total, which is just over 1.5 lbs a week as an average, and I also lost 8 cm from around my waist.
For such a short timeframe, I was pretty happy with the results, but I’m going to continue on and do the full 10 week plan because I definitely still have a way to go to get back to where I want to be.
Centr Power Advanced – Program Update
As of writing this, I’ve just noticed that the Centr Power plan has been updated. Originally it was a 10 week plan – which looked to be 3 x 3 week cycles, with a bit of de-load week at the end. This has now been updated to a 13 week plan. As such, I’ll likely continue on to the end of the 13 weeks.
