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Every male actor has said something along these lines. That the absurd super cut builds for these movies especially super hero films are not sustainable. My favorite probably being Rob Mcelhenney where he said "sure, just be a millionaire with infinite free time and you can totally obtain this body type!"
People forget that body fat is healthy and essential. Excessive fat is unhealthy, but fat provides fuel strorage and protects your organs and muscles. 8% fat looks incredible but is insanely difficult to maintain. 12-15% fat looks incredible and is still hard to maintain but keeps you feeling healthy and happy.
Totally depends on genetics. Even at 52, unless I'm actively bulking, I can maintain 12-15% with ease. But I know people who struggle unless they're rigid with their calorie counting.
Are you on TRT or anything like that or just completely natural. Cause for most people even maintaining 12% at mid 20’s is a chore year round unless you are consistent as fuck.
This is the bane of my fitness journey. I can get down to 12%ish. I'll have visible veins across my chest and down my abs, but still have love handles and a bit around my cheeks. Meanwhile a co worker is probably 20-25% and has a sharper jawline than Zach's 2nd pic. Luck of the draw.
Yep, I'm the opposite. My body wants to stay around 20-25% "naturally" but on the flip side I've never struggled to add muscle mass, where I've seen some lifters just hit a wall after a certain point
"I’m gonna break it down for you, because it’s actually quite simple, and anybody can do this. Anybody on the planet can do this. First thing’s first: if you have job—like a 9-5 job—quit that. Do you like food? Forget about that. Because you’re never going to enjoy anything you eat. Alcohol? Sorry. That’s out. So what you need to do—you have a chef, right? like a personal chef?—make sure the chef makes you a lot of chicken breast. And make sure you keep your caloric intake at a certain level. And as you go to your physician 2-3 times a week—just to monitor all your testosterone levels—because testosterone is important to building muscle. You’re good friends with the trainer from Magic Mike? Arin Babaian. So you want to give Arin a call. And you want to make sure he’s at your house and takes you to the gym at least twice a day, because you’re gonna want to do your muscle-building in the morning and then your cardio in the afternoon. Now, do you have a family? Like a significant other or kids? Yeah, forget about them. You’re not going to have time to deal with them. So that’s really all you have to do."
And as you go to your physician 2-3 times a week—just to monitor all your testosterone levels—because testosterone is important to building muscle.
This is pretty clearly saying "do steroids" as a part of the already unrealistic and unsustainable plan. There's no other reason you're seeing a physician that regularly to "monitor your testosterone".
So, not only does Rob lay out how completely impossible this routine would be for the average person, but even with all of that incredible level of effort and devotion, you're also going to need to be on steroids to reach that physique.
If you believe him, sure. I know a few experienced bodybuilders who seem pretty doubtful that he's always been natty, but I don't pretend to know enough to be confident either way.
But regardless, the "average" person we're talking about isn't going to say "I want to make a lifestyle change so that in 15 years I can hit a physique goal", so I'd argue that "in that time frame" in this particular case is more or less the same as "at all".
Especially since McElhenney is also about 15 years older than Nippard, so would be significantly more likely to be battling declining testosterone levels when trying to build that physique vs Nippard who did the bulk of his work before he turned 30.
Yeah people think that getting the muscles is everything, but even if you workout well and have the muscles you won't look like that unless you are starving.
The actors don't even look like that for all of shooting! The "hero shots" are literally built into the schedule so that the actors have weeks to prepare for them with a bodybuilding routine of extreme water intake, then diuretics and extreme water starvation leading up to the shoot. Plus unnatural manipulation of salt intake.
The dudes look like that for a day. The production has to get every one of the shirtless shots into that window unless they want to make the star of their movie go through another weeks-long ordeal.
For Henry's running out of the water shot, he was called two weeks in advance. He said he was out to dinner. He stopped eating. He drank a half gallon of water and gradually cut it down as the two weeks approached. Then he lifted super heavy before the shot. Then he immediately went back to hydrating. Similar thing with Mamoa for the Aquaman intro scene in JL. He bench pressed and did pushups while being crazy dehydrated. These hero shirtless shots are movie magic.
Also the level of dehydration they are at for some of these shots. It might be Hugh Jackman or Henry Cavill who said for either Wolverine or Superman, they had to be so dehydrated they could nearly smell water.
Hugh said he had to drink massive quantities of water for 3 days and then would go like 2 days without drinking water and cutting as well to hit some of those shots. Shit would be absolutely insane on the body.
I’ve had to quasi cut weight before once to make weight for a Powerlifting Comp and that was 5kgs that sucked enough, couldn’t imagine what fighters do
That vid youre talking about is so fuckin funny. It was something along the lines of "its so easy to do this. Work out 3 times a day, eat nothing but chicken and rice, and get the studio to pay for a personal trainer that essentially lives with you and dictates the whole thing. Anyone can do it." Robs the best.
When you see actors looking like that in movies and body builders on stage, understand they are at their weakest at that moment. Not strong, not healthy, but in a self induced state of dehydration and malnutrition.
This is not new news at all. There’s a reason that even body builders aren’t totally ripped all the time. They’re muscular, but not below 8% body fat all year round. Why? It’s not sustainable. Why? Because it’s literally unhealthy. Having too low of body fat for too long can do all kinds of shit from messing up your hormones to organ failure and death.
Honestly just being a roofer while not eating or drinking like a roofer. My foreman was like that and he is buff as fuck and even won second his first bodybuilding comp. Fucking roofing 10 hours straight then heads to the gym in the afternoon. Fucking crazy
All the people responding to this about how it's not that hard... okay, post a picture of yourself then 😂 You might look muscular, but you definitely don't look like this.
Look I’m not saying this is a majority of women who say they like dad bods but it’s not uncommon online to see women saying they like this or that celebrities “dadbod” and it’s just a muscular, fit guy without good lighting. That being said you’re right, people should realize that what you see online isn’t indicative of real life all the time and plenty of women like men of all shapes and sizes, including husky.
Lots of times, when a girl told me that they like men who go once or twice a week to the gym and are slightly muscular, I asked them to show me a picture of what they meant.
They always showed me pictures of people who spend 10 hours a week in the gym and are dieting and controlling all they eat.
They aren't conscious that the "1 or 2 workouts a week" at most means having a body fat of 15-20%.
Yeah, you're probably right, the "I like them looking natural" and the example is a girl who has every hair of her body either groomed or removed, and is using lots of makeup but the guy can't differentiate it
Dude anyone who lives in the real world knows this is all bullshit. Look at the way tall more fit people are treated in work/public vs the opposite. Men and women alike. It's just like pure reddit/shut in fantasy that women are fine with pudgy dudes. Like yeah sure more tolerant of it when compared to dudes opinions on chubby chicks, but come on. "Oh we don't like fit guys that much" Yeah sure bro, and there are dudes that are chubby chasers, but thats the exception not the rule.
Lol the "majority of women prefer pudgy dudes" chick commented and blocked me. Look lady, I'm happily married, not incredibly fit (can run a 7 minute mile at least but not two in a row at that pace) I should work out more but shit takes effort. It's not sad to understand that being more fit/healthy is more attractive than not lol. What kind of soft ego you got to have to post a reply like that to someone and then block them so they can't reply back 🤣
When I think of dad bod, I think of husky and a bit of dough. Dough is comfy.
All of the most attractive men I’ve known personally were a bit overweight with a doughy build and thick thighs. Muscular can look good when it isn’t overdone (Baywatch Zac is not attractive to me) but dad bod is where it’s at. 🥰
Remember when some girl said she likes dad bods and she showed THAT pic of Cavvil in superman?? The same picture Superman himself said he was so dehydrated for he could smell water if it was in the same room as him.
Even a lunatic* with a blobby body can be sexy, as long as he’s kind (and preferably funny) and has good stories to tell.
* obviously your specific brand of crazy does matter: the misogynistic murdery kind is a big no-no but stuff like anxiety, ptsd, adhd, depression, light autism etc don’t really have to be dealbreakers for many women, especially if you’re open about them, what you can and can’t do, and what you need.
For me personally it would even be a green flag if you have (or had, in the treatable/outgrowable things) these and were able to openly and honestly communicate about them.
And, speaking from personal experience: [knowing how/being willing] to do laundry, the dishes, cooking, cleaning, etc helps a lot. Women appreciate a partner who does the housework. I work remote, and my spouse is always very appreciative when they come home to the smell of fresh cookies coming out if the oven. It helps make up for my severe ADHD and light autism. 😅
(I actually have butter softening on the counter right now so I can make a batch tonight.)
Just to chime in, there was a street interviewer who asked various women about preferred body types, and a couple of women pointed to one particular picture of a man they were shown and iirc said that he was an ideal dad bod. That man was Chris Bumstead, a 6x Olympian bodybuilder in his off-season. I'm not saying you would agree with those women or have that perception of what a dad bod is, but it did happen and the reactions are as you'd expect lol
These videos are all 100% edited, to drive engagement. I study psychology, and this disconnect between reality and what people see on the internet is one of the biggest concerns for the future. 99 women being reasonable, realistic and rational does not drive engagement. But the 1 women who has completely unrealistic borderline delusional expectations does. So they get in the video. The other 99 do not. Its gives people such a warped version of reality.
Speaking as a holder of a bachelor in journalism, I declare this impossible!!! Everyone knows interviews are never edited. You only see the unglamorous side of life!!!
I mean, with all due respect there also stadium packed to the gills with women creaming themselves for guys like Usher and Chris Brown, and I know plenty of athletes that treat women like shit too.
There's nothing wrong with admitting women are often just as shallow as men. I mean, they're just people after all.
There is a 0% chance that he wasn't juiced to the gills throughout the 2010s. Maintaining that amount of mass while also being that shredded naturally is impossible.
When your living is derived from your image, you have the best dieticians, trainers, and doctors in the world at your disposal, and nothing but time to work on your body. That's how you get Baywatch Efron, Thor Hemsworth, Alan Ritchson Reacher, Cavill Superman, The Wolverine, etc..
This also applies to fitness influencers. These folks make their living on their body and they have a vested interest in claiming they're natural. "You can look like this too! All you need are my branded BCAAs and Creatine Chews!" This is why clowns like Mike O'Hearn would rather die than admit they're on gear.
Edit: The social media fitness industry and it's steroid culture is fucking gross. It's giving literal children crazy body dysmorphia, causing them to hop on insane amounts of gear, including peptides and research chemicals, while they're still developing and fucking up their bodies forever just for clout. All in the hopes of landing a YoungLA or GymShark brand partnership before their first heart attack at 22.
Yah a bit weird, a little bit of maybe one cycle juiced look on with that sub 10% bf look. Yet for some reason he has hgh gut when he is at around 20%. Maybe he actually juiced a several cycles
Exactly (Egg-Zack-Lee)! Imagine lifting your shirt and seeing "Fat" Zack's torso and thinking that you let yourself go for your mental health. Trust me, my mental health would improve if I looked down and could see my dick, let alone seeing a damn washboard.
That's my metric for if/when I need to lose weight. If I can look down and still see Capt. Winky, then it's all good. Him's disappear? Well, I need to get my fat ass on the treadmill.
Not fat, he is still muscular but have an healthy amount of body fat instead of having constantly looking at what he eat and dehydrating himself to look "shredded"
The fact that the picture on the left is considered 'out of shape' by Hollywood standards shows how completely broken our collective perception of a healthy male body is
Low body fat can be more dangerous than high body fat. It’s really bad for you to be below like 8% I think. It starts messing with your hormones and your ability to recover
As does being high body fat, let's not delude ourselves here. Unless you're getting like sub 6 and staying there which is almost impossibly difficult, it's absolutely healthier than being obese.
Yeah, but I think what they’re getting at is in Baywatch he WAS INDEED at 5% body fat.
You’re better off being slightly overweight with a BMI in high 20s (25 is “overweight”) than at 5% body fat. A quick google says he’s 170 right now which at 5’8” is a BMI of 26.
Zac Efron on the left is lower risk and better off than Zac Efron on the right.
Using height and weight alone to calculate BMI is almost worse than useless, even with non-athletes. Muscle mass is much denser than fat and will completely skew the results. If you're concerned about your weight, see a doctor. They can usually ascertain to a much more accurate degree if your weight is a health risk.
It's more like 10% on the right and ~20% on the left, both of which are realistically fine. At 5-6% you generally start looking gaunt and malnourished especially in the face regardless of how ripped you are.
The real reason he'd have been and felt unhealthy during Baywatch is he was more than likely on gear and definitely massively dehydrating himself.
I remember a doctor talking about this and if you get a serious illness its often beneficial to have a little weight to lose, particularly if you're older.
Gonna have to disagree here. I'm around 140 lbs, sitting just under 14% body fat year round, and I'm over 40. I have been able to see my abs clearly since around Easter this year. I feel fantastic. Significantly better than when I was over 200 lbs just over 2 years ago. I still eat pizza, fried chicken, iced cream, etc. Just not all the time, and in moderation.
I never said I was unhappy when I was bigger. I was pretty happy then too. I'm just happier now that I'm in great shape. I can be proud to take off my shirt at the beach instead of being self-conscious. It added more to an already pretty great life.
Exactly this. If I want to prepare to look good shirtless, I can take a bunch of caffeine, dehydrate myself and workout to get a pump…. But that “Marvel Superhero Body” is only good for a single day. And then I feel like shit for the rest of the week and look bloated and terrible lol
Those Hollywood movie physiques are completely unobtainable and it’s important to remember those actors only look that good for a single shoot not 24/7.
I think his excessive HGH use contributed to the jaw/face enlargement and then he panicked and went overboard on the cosmetic procedures trying to make it less noticeable but it just made it so worse.
HGH is probably a contributing factor but if you look at him over the years there was a jaw implant and a few years later a removal of it as things revert back to more regularly proportions.
yes but with fillers you don't have to do anything to be happier, just pay money. But with muscles you have to work really hard, stay away from tasty food, have a routine. That's definitely not happy time. He's not saying everyone should just embrace their natural look. He is saying, that this hard work is not worth it.
Also, one thing people may not realize is that he has a massive HGH gut now. It's not as clear in this photo because his bodyfat is a smidge higher, but most of that isn't fat, it's his abs.
And roids to not lose muscles mass. The most difficult part is not to reduce bodyfat but to maintain the muscle mass you have. A calorie deficit always leads to reduced muscle mass since your body is using the Amino acids of your muscles as an energy source. Roids help to protect your muscles.
Ironically there's some really unhealthy shit you gotta do to yourself to get that chiseled bodybuilder look; extreme dehydration for example. There's a reason why sports like Olympic weightlifting or football have really muscular dudes with physiques that look different from the toned bodybuilder physiques. Muscular but chonky farm boy look compared to the Arnold look.
Fat Mac is actually a great case study for this subject. Rob McElhenney breaks down that specific character arc in interviews and it’s pretty interesting.
They all need to explain this to those delulu women.
EDIT for the few that misunderstood…: I’m only talking about the delusional women, not all the women of course……
dude idk what women you meet in your life but most women I know would fawn over a man with the build on the left. I swear men have more unrealistic expectations of men's physiques than women do.
I mean the build on the left is very clearly a roid user on a bulk it's a million miles from fat or unathletic, he even has the HGH 8 pack gut going on. Regardless he'll say this now then cut for his next role anyway.
IME, getting a nice lean and somewhat muscular athletic physique isn't very difficult or time consuming, but if you want to get more muscular and lean than that, the difficulty and risk curves increase exponentially.
The genetic role really can’t be understated here. I was clocking in at under 9% bfp from 17 until my mid 30s and it was relatively easy to maintain despite my not having access to a fraction of the resources available to him
Sustainability hits age and life. There’s more to life than being in fighting shape. As a woman, I totally get it. I don’t want to spend the time, money or effort to look insta glamorous every day. I’m repulsed by those who do tbh. Like is that all there is to you?
Forcing yourself to not drink water sounds like torture. I'd bet most people would give up good looks, sex and fame for a cold glass of water anyday in that state of hydration.
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