- To play Spider-Man, Tom Holland needed to gain 15 pounds of muscle
- According to George Ashwell his trainer Holland, Holland did this by following a 5-step program.
- Except for a pair dumbbells, the workout did not require any equipment.
Tom Holland used a five-step workout plan that involved no equipment except a pair of dumbbells to get in shape to play Spider-Man.
George Ashwell was Holland’s trainer. He also helped Holland get in shape to play the role of a marine-turned drug addict. “Cherry.”For the early scenes, he had to appear thin and gaunt, and then transform into a muscular and lean look for the remainder of the shooting.
Holland was able to start training to be Peter Parker/Spider-Man after the film had been completed. “Spider-Man: No Way Home,”According toEsquire.
Ashwell spokeEsquirethat Holland’s training came down to a simple five-step workout, which involved mostly bodyweight workouts, and some weight training that only required a pair of dumbbells.
Holland used high-intensity interval Training (HIIT), to gradually build lean muscle.
Holland’s workout was designed by Ashwell to be slow and steady. He didn’t want Holland to gain too much weight. To do this, he instructed Holland to do high-intensity interval training (HIIT) techniques — which involves giving full effort to a workout for short bursts of 30 to 60 seconds — that targeted multiple muscle groups each session.
“Because we weren’t aiming to bulk up too much we could do more muscle groups in one go,”Ashwell spokeEsquire. “It’d be a whole-body circuit split into perhaps a posterior chain legs exercise with a horizontal push and pull, (so chest and back) then anterior legs (like a squat) with a vertical push and pull.”
HIIT combines cardio and strength training and can help burn more calories and build multiple muscle groups compared to conventional weightlifting.
Holland’s routine involves bear crawls and renegade rowing, with almost no rest.
Ashwell explained to Esquire, that Holland did these five exercises to get in shape for Spider-Man.
- 60 seconds of bear crawls (crawling on all fours like a bear from one point to another)
- 20 shoulder taps for each arm (getting into a push-up position, but just lifting one hand to touch the opposite shoulder and vice versa)
- 20 dumbbell thrusters (holding a pair of dumbbells above your shoulders while doing a squat and pushing the dumbbells above your head at the top of the squat rep)
- 20 renegade rows for each arm (holding a pair of dumbells on the floor while in a push-up position, then lifting one dumbbell at a time to chest level)
- 20-30 push-ups
Holland did all of these workouts in one go, with no rest between. After doing push-ups, Holland took 60 seconds to rest before starting the circuit over again. He did the entire circuit as many times as possible for each session.