If this summer's blockbusters have taught us anything, it's that Hollywood’s leading men are in good nick. Tom Holland swung into Spider-Man: Brand New Day with that six pack, while Matt Damon’s core was rock solid under all that Grecian armour in The Odyssey. Naturally, the internet has lost its mind over their training regimes. But what does it actually take to get a solid torso? And, more to the point, is an actor's approach to getting shredded something we can realistically replicate?
A superficial goal for its own sake, the six pack has long been a cultural symbol of health and fitness even though it can represent the complete opposite: dieting and dehydrating to look abnormally ripped on camera is not exactly healthy. A strong core, however, is a profoundly beneficial and more noble aim that can enhance your movements in the gym and out, improve your stability and balance, correct your posture, protect your (shield-like) back from pain, and even help you breathe.
If we're being honest with ourselves, it's unlikely we're going to look like regular Matt Damon, let alone Odyssey-trained Matt Damon. Even our movie star fitness idols only look at their best for a few months before they escape the chicken and broccoli hell decreed by the film studio. A solid six pack and heroic core are, however, within reach – if you follow these experts' lead.
Manage your expectations
If you’re an average-framed guy starting with no visible abs — likely putting you somewhere around 18–20% body fat — celebrity PT Michael Baah says that “12–20 weeks is a realistic and sustainable timeframe”. That means losing “roughly 0.5–1% of your body weight per week, or around 0.5–1kg” — a pace that’s far more manageable to maintain. Try to shred much faster and Baah warns that you risk “muscle loss, metabolic slowdown and rebound weight gain”.
If your goal is simply to build core strength, Baah says you can make great progress in around 4-6 weeks with consistent training (we'll get to that later). This will lay some solid groundwork, and if wish to shred some body fat later, you'll actually have something underneath worth revealing.
Build an ab habit
Varying in their precise composition, Simon Waterson, trainer to the film stars (and ex-marine commando) has three go-to abs “routines” that are more like core organising principles. The first is “everything face down”. So classic plank. Then plank to pike: push your hips into the air, like a downward dog. Shoulder taps: alternately take one hand off the ground and touch the opposite shoulder. And hands to elbows: go one at a time from your hands to, you know, your elbows (and forearms).
Waterson’s second abs fest is “everything face up”. So leg raises: lying face up, abs engaged and lower back pressed into the ground, lift your legs to vertical then lower to six inches off the floor. Weighted crunches with a dumbbell, kettlebell, medicine ball or plate. And Russian twists: holding your resistance item of choice, sit with your legs bent at 45 degrees, ankles crossed, then lift your feet six inches off the floor and rotate your upper body to touch the weight to each side – keeping those feet up.
The third of Waterson’s abs ‘buckets’ contains external aids such as machines and the ab roller, a “big favourite” that he used on longtime client Daniel Craig for No Time to Die: on your knees, ankles crossed for stability, roll it (or a loaded barbell) out as far as you can, then contract your core to return. That’s followed by some kind of weighted crunches. Then Swiss-ball cable rotations: holding a handle attached to a chest-high pulley in your right hand and actively hugging the ball (stick with it), stand side on to the cable station with your upper body twisted left to face it, then rotate all the way to the right.
And into that third bucket also goes anything hanging – such as hanging knee raises into windscreen wipers, another move that contributed to Craig’s No Time to Die MI6-pack: dangling from a pull-up bar, bring your knees to your chest and lower; when you’ve had enough of those, rotate your raised knees to either side. Think you’re double-0-hard? Keep your legs straight. Still too easy? Hold a dumbbell in between. Time to die.
Embrace variety
Core is much more than the celebrated six pack (or even eight pack), says Waterson. It’s important not to be overly “linear” by only performing straight-up-and-down exercises like crunches, but also to recruit the obliques through moves that incorporate rotation, such as the aforementioned Russian twist or Swiss-ball cable, er, rotations.
Or low-cable wood chops, as performed by John Boyega for Star Wars: The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker: standing side on to a low pulley, both hands on the handle, take two steps away, bend the leg nearest and straighten the other, then drive up and bring the handle across your body at a 45 degree angle with your arms straight, eyes following your hands and making a Lightsaber noise (not optional).
Or side bends, as performed by Craig for No Time to Die and Jake Gyllenhaal for Prince of Persia: kneeling or standing with a resistance item in one hand, the other behind your head, lean to the side with the weight until it touches the ground or just passes your knees.
Whatever exercises you do, says Waterson, you need an “eclectic mix” that covers your upper, lower and side abs, and combines both isotonic (moving) and isometric (holding).
And don’t neglect your lower back, for which Waterson will throw in some hyperextension. Core isn’t just what you see, he says, but also a lot of what you don’t.
Eat properly
Contrary to the fitspo cliché that abs are made in the kitchen, they’re also partly made in the gym. But nutrition can determine the extent to which they’re visible (as do sleep and stress).
“Visible abs are the result of a strong core and a low enough body fat percentage,” says Rowan Clift, training and nutrition specialist at Freeletics. “That means eating whole, unprocessed foods, prioritising protein, and maintaining a calorie balance that supports fat loss without being extreme… Consistency is everything when it comes to building a six pack – there are no shortcuts, but sustainable results come from stacking good habits over time.”
Like your gym routine, you have to enjoy what you eat to have any chance of a sustainable six pack. “Sustainability is built from enjoyment,” says Abbie Watkins, PT at OriGym. “You need to have a diet that you enjoy. This means maybe including some high-volume, dense foods that are low-calorie, because if you feel like you’re starving yourself, it’s going to be more difficult to sustain.”
Besides, too low a body fat percentage can be counterproductive, impairing muscle gain, strength, recovery, energy, immunity and testosterone – not to mention social life. We once dieted down to 6 per cent body fat for a photo shoot and were zero fun at parties.
In fact, if you're eating too little for too long, your progress is eventually going to stall. Clues you might want to load up on more fuel are: if you’re around 10–12% body fat and still lacking definition; your strength has plateaued; or your energy and sleep are suffering. If you find yourself here, Baah advises a smarter approach: “Spend 12–16 weeks building ab muscle at maintenance or a slight surplus, then a short 4–6 week cut to reveal the growth. Repeat.”
Increase resistance
Guys can be resistant to training abs using any weight beyond their own, says Waterson, who builds abs like he does any other muscle group: by progressively increasing the resistance. And like with muscle groups, he says, you’ve got to hit your abs with different weights from different angles for different rep ranges at different tempos – not all on the same day, necessarily, but over time to sustain the challenge.
Then, says Waterson, you’ve got to let your abs – which rank with chest as the “most overtrained muscles on the planet” – rest, feed and adapt.
It's also important to keep your core in check. And what we mean by this is that adding too much weight to an ab exercise can actually become counterproductive when other muscles take over. “Once the load exceeds what your core can control through the full range of motion, momentum and synergist muscles including hip flexors, lower back, and quads take over, reducing ab activation and increasing injury risk,” says Baah.
He points to research that highlights how “weighted ab exercises plateau in core activation at roughly 70–80% of your 10RM. Beyond that, form degrades and force transfers away from the abs. For most people, 5–10kg is the practical upper limit but form is the only true measure.” If you can’t control the weight from start to finish, then it's too heavy. A better approach is to lower the weight, increase reps or slow the tempo. You have time lad, so take it.
Don’t take rest periods (but do take days off)
Muhammad Ali famously only counted sit-ups when they started hurting (because they’re the only ones that count). Waterson’s suggested protocol is two to three sets of typically 25 reps, but as low as eight if the resistance is high.
Personally, and depending on time, Waterson likes to slot abs in between his other lifts in order to “maintain intensity” – so alternating sets of core with, say, chest. Or tack abs onto the end of a chest or back session. He wouldn’t however dedicate a day to abs – well, maybe a half hour of a Sunday, if he hadn’t carved out time during the week. And he doesn’t train abs on leg days with squats, because they’re already getting a workout.
A core for all seasons
“The six-pack isn’t seasonal,” says PT Michael Baah. “It’s a byproduct of structure, not suffering. Most people try to cut for summer and end up yo-yoing between extremes. I coach my clients, from TV actors and pro creatives to high-performing parents, to live in photoshoot range all year. That way, you never have to start over.”
That structure has some wiggle room when the colder months arrive. “Winter can be a great excuse to increase your calorie intake,” says Watkins. “However, if you want to maintain your abs, it’s important to still be near your maintenance calories. A slight calorie surplus can allow you to train more frequently and heavier, building your core muscles for the next summer.”
When summer comes around, there's a need to tweak your approach to training and eating. “It’s important to consider that your appetite might be affected by the heat,” advises Watkins, “and so eating smaller meals more frequently can be more beneficial, or trying to get your calories from lighter meals like fruits and vegetables.”
Find abs-olution
Waterson manages the not-always-realistic expectations of movie directors and producers by saying he’ll give them 100 per cent of their leading man’s genetic potential – because we’re all made differently. Baah concurs: “40–60% of your ab shape and structure is genetic. The pattern, spacing, and whether you have a 4-, 6-, or 8-pack is set before you start training. You cannot change the architecture.”
While Thor might not be attainable, developing a strong core should be about much more than that. “What is possible for everyone is a strong, functional, athletic-looking core that improves how you move, feel and carry yourself,” says Baah. “That’s the real win. And the bonus? You’ll probably like what you see in the mirror, too.”
That eye-popping six pack will come and go, but retaining its strength should be a lifelong priority that's possible without sacrificing everything else. “Good sleep, stress management, daily movement, and a diet rich in whole foods are all part of the equation,” says coach Sam Laurence. “At the end of the day chasing abs shouldn’t mean sacrificing your health and your social life… Find a way to enjoy the journey rather than the destination, and you’ll find that staying lean and feeling good is far more realistic and rewarding in the long run.”
Your core is called that for a reason. Look after it, and it'll look after you, with the neat side-effect of giving you the good-looking midriff of at least a B-lister. “Not everybody can have a six-pack,” concludes Waterson. “But you can have a strong core, and that’s the main thing. So concentrate on that, and let the aesthetics take care of themselves.”