There's a new shredded stud in Hollywood. The 35 year-old Texan Glen Powell first gained our attention while rubbing shoulders with Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick. Next month, he'll be getting his rom-com on in Anyone But You with Euphoria's Sydney Sweeney.
But right now we’re less interested in his career than in his physique. Specifically, those eye-popping abs, traps and delts he fashioned for that Top Gun beach football scene, an homage to the famous volleyball match from the original.
In LA, if you need to get in shape fast, you call Nick Mitchell, founder of global fitness brand Ultimate Performance. “I’m not a celebrity trainer,” Mitchell says. “I hate that [title], it’s vomit-inducing, but this was an interesting opportunity and Glen Powell is genuinely the most positive, upbeat guy, so why not?"
The mission statement
With most celebrity film roles, trainers work towards a ‘money shot’ scene, in which their client’s physique will be most on show—like the beach football scene.
“Different roles have different looks,” says Mitchell. “Top Gun is more cartoonish, more over the top. For the beach scene, we worked on specific poses. Every few days we’d literally get him to do the arms down, holding the ball thing that became a meme to see how that would look. It was all about mirror-muscles.”
“We were focused on muscle building for his upper body, and more functional training for the lower,” Mitchell continues. “It’s everything from traps to deltoids, back, abs and obviously arms. We did train his back for balance, but we weren’t doing heavy squats and leg curls and those kinds of things.”
In other words, Powell trained to look good in certain poses, in one scene—which isn’t at all how you should structure your own training unless you’re starring in Top Gun. Still, there’s a lot to be learned in analyzing how they did it.
Maximize gym time
Taking off for the touchdown scene involved an initial six to eight weeks of training, before reshoots. Powell was in the gym three to four days a week, on his own dime, and with a one hour drive from the film set. In other words: dude has serious dedication.
“We're squeezing things in between filming,” Mitchell says. “The studio didn’t pay for it. We didn’t have an extra nutritionist or massage therapist. It was just me and him. But he’s a grafter. He’s a dopamine-driven guy, which makes him a delight to train. You can't train him hard enough, he goes all out, and he loves it.”
Was there anything Powell didn’t like doing? “No,” says Mitchell. “Getting the best performance from a client wasn’t difficult with Glen. You turn the dial up to 11 and he just goes. Lots of shouting and screaming. I hate to say this because it’s cliche but he’s a natural athlete and training isn’t a chore for him.”
In fact, the experience was so pleasurable, that while he doesn’t have time to work with Powell as a PT, Mitchell and Powell continue to train alongside one another today.
Nutrition impossible
Powell doesn't have a specified nutritionist helping him so Mitchell was able to guide this aspect of training too. The key, he says, is not to make it too complicated.
“It’s about calorie control based on level of leanness, and calorie control, based on energy, based on gym performance, among other things,” says Mitchell. “It’s about regularly asking, Are we getting stronger? [This kind of thing] is all about how you look in the mirror. What are the poses we want? How are you going to hold that football?”
The broad rule was lots of protein and carb cycling consisting of a few days off carbs, followed by an aesthetics check in. If he looked and felt good, they’d keep carbs low. If a boost was needed, they’d add in a few days of carbs. Rinse and repeat.
The workout
When it comes to actually shifting tin, Mitchell is a big fan of supersets—doing two alternate exercises back-to-back—as a way of maximizing the workout and elevating the heart rate when time is limited.
With Powell, this ended up meaning a lot of gymnastic ring work, which has the added bonus of engaging the entire body in an effort to stay stable while you work.
The below is inspired by Powell’s workouts, without being an exact replica. Give it a try, aiming for four sets of ten reps per exercise, once a week.
For the push-ups, adjust the rings so they’re around knee height. Start in a plank position with your hands grasping the rings, your feet elevated on blocks or a bench. Perform a push-up as you usually would, paying extra attention to keeping that core tight for control. Go as low as you’re able to without losing control.
After completing the required reps, go into the elevated rows. For this, you’ll want the rings slightly higher. Again, you’ll elevate the feet on a bench, and start with arms extended, your body suspended beneath the rings. Engage your upper back and arms to pull your chin and chest up to the rings, before slowly lowering. The key is control, and not letting your elbows flare out to the side.
For the dips, you’ll want the rings slightly above waist-height, so you can grip them, raising your body off the ground with your arms extended. Keeping your elbows tight to your body, bend your arms to lower yourself down. You don’t want your chest coming forward here, or your legs getting involved, so keep the core tight for control as you power back up to the start for one.
Face pulls give the upper back an extra workout. It’s the same principle as the rows, but you’ll want the rings higher, and you’re going to start from standing, leaning back with the rings at head height. Literally pull your face towards the rings, allowing the elbows to flare out this time. Slowly lower back to complete the first rep.
You can do curls lying down, with feet elevated, or standing—whichever works best for you. This time, you’re going to bring your chest up and into the ring by contracting your biceps alone. Be warned: it’s a lot more difficult than bashing out dumbbell curls while sitting on a bench.
To finish, lean in towards the rings, so your weight is forward with your arms level with your head, palms out. You’re going to push the rings away with your palms in order to extend your arms, lifting your torso up in the process. Apologies in advance for this one.
This story originally appeared on British GQ with the title “The secrets behind Glen Powell getting into next-level shape”
