Many questions surround whether Chris Hemsworth’s transformation into Thor was natural or whether he used steroids during filming in 2009.
Chris Hemsworth claimed to have gained between 6 and 8 pounds of muscle in six months to prepare for his role as Thor [R].
It was not a natural transformation. I will outline what I believe he did and the dosages.
Natty Chris Hemsworth in “Home and Away” ( ).
You can see the natural physique of Chris Hemsworth if you look back at him in “Home and Away”.
For a young man with a decent metabolism, this is a typical looking body with around 15% body fat.
Chris isn’t anything special and doesn’t have much muscle.
This is his physique in 2007, at the end of his appearances on Home and Away.
Chris stated that he never weight trained in an effort to gain muscle.
Natty Chris Hemsworth in “A Perfect Getaway” (2009)
A Perfect Getaway was shot between March 31st 2008 and May 2008. We can see that Chris gained a lot of weight for this role.
Although he’s not as large as Thor in 2010, it is easy to see his genetic form as he gains more muscle.
Chris may still be natural here, but may have begun weight training by this time.
Natty Chris Hemsworth in “The Cabin in the Woods”, (2011)
The Cabin In the Woods is the best look we get at Chris before filming Thor. It was filmed between March 9th 2009 and May 29th 2009.
This movie shows exactly how Chris looked six months prior to filming for Thor in 2010.
Chris appears slightly slimmer in this movie than in A Perfect Getaway. However, he does not appear to have gained any muscle.
Chris had already secured the role of Thor by this time. He also knew how much muscle he needed to gain over the next year. It is therefore likely that he had started resistance training during this period.
Chris, I believe, was still natural in The Cabin in the Woods.
Gaining Pounds Of Muscle In 6 Months For His Role In Thor (2011)
Chris had approximately seven and a half month to gain as much muscle for Thor as possible after filming for The Cabin in the Woods was completed at the end May 2009.
Thor was shot from January 11th to May 6th 2010, and October 10th through October 31st 2010.
Chris claims that he did not lift weights before preparing to be Thor.
Chris did not show much of his body in Red Dawn. It was shot between September 8th and December 11th 2009. The Cabin in the Woods is our best example of a before-and-after transformation.
Chris gained pounds of fat-free muscle mass over 6 months after filming The Cabin in the Woods. This was a complete transformation.
It is almost impossible to gain muscle mass in six months even if you are a natural, untrained newbie with incredible genetics.
Despite this, I don’t believe Chris gained any pure muscle.
It was likely closer to 15 lbs, with 5-10 lbs of temporary nitrogen and water retention and a portion of the last 10 lbs being fat gain.
Thor is not significantly leaner than his previous role.
This may lead some to believe that natural transformations are possible.
Although it is debatable, I believe Chris’s nail in the coffin is when Chris refers to his physical appearance between his appearances as Thor.
Evidently, he is not capable of maintaining that level of mass all year.
Steroids don’t make it difficult to maintain muscle mass.
Even if you only train a few times per week and eat clean, you should still be able hold on to everything with TRT dosages.
Bodybuilders who have a tremendous amount of muscle need to take a low dose to stay sane all year. This is the only exception.
He eats moderately clean all year, or he wouldn’t be as lean.
To lose the muscle he uses between Thor appearances, he would have to quit working out all together if he continued to take TRT all year.
A key indicator of steroid cycling is the rate at which he loses most of his body between movies.
It is clear to see that Chris Hemsworth has a different physique than other actors when he portrays Thor.
Even roles in which he has become very lean like Rush in 2013
According to what I can see Chris Hemsworth reached his peak in size for Thor. His Thor prep in 2009 was likely when he used his highest-dosed steroid cycle for his entire career.
Keeps his muscles strong for his role in “The Avengers (2012)
The Avengers was film from April 25th to September 4th 2011, 2011.
Chris seems a little smaller than in the Thor 2 movie. However, he clearly worked hard to recreate that look for this movie.
He Loses Muscle To Play In “Rush”, (2013)
Rush was shot between early and mid-2012 [R].
This happened less than one year after The Avengers had been filmed.
This is the first role that we can clearly see Chris having to drop a lot of his Thor mass.
Chris seems to have a few more pounds of fat-free mass than in Rush, but he actually looks a lot leaner than in Thor.
It is difficult to say if he was naturally suited for this role, since he is much stronger than he was in Home and Away.
Chris Hemsworth talked in interviews about how hard it was to lose enough muscle mass in order to play the role of James Hunt in Rush [R, R].
Is it possible to attribute this to eating less and training less?
Perhaps, yes.
Chris’s admission that it was difficult to lose muscle mass in order to play the role is a red flag. This suggests that he was not natural when he made this movie.
You can go from being a natural enhancement to a naturally shaped muscle, and the body will lose its strength with ease when you restrict calories.
Also, you wouldn’t stay as slim as you were before you were boosted.
Chris Hemsworth appeared to have lost some muscle and some fat. His difficulty in losing that muscle suggests that he was still taking steroid during his preparation for the role.
The dosage could have been lower, or there could still be residual androgens in his system from his role as Thor in The Avengers.
Even with calorie restriction, it’s difficult to lose muscle mass on steroids.
When you’re natural and eat less, it is easy to lose muscle.
Gaining Muscle for his role in “Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Thor: The Dark World was shot between September 10th 2012 and December 14th 2012.
Chris gained a lot of weight in just a few months after Rush.
He Loses Muscle To Play In “Blackhat” (2015)
Blackhat was shot in May 2013.
Chris lost the weight he gained in the Thor 2 movie within just a few months. I think he did that by simply going off cycle.
He Loses Muscle for His Role in “In The Heart Of The Sea”, (2015)
In The Heart Of The Sea was film in September 2013.
This transformation was shocking to the public as Chris circulated a viral photo of him looking emaciated in preparation for his role.
The hype surrounding this transformation is a bit exaggerated. He clearly has some muscle in the after photo.
Although he is still leaner and more muscular than in Home and Away, the way he poses and the lighting are unflattering was done to make the transformation seem as dramatic as possible.
He did lose some weight for Blackhat. However, he was able to film In The Heart Of The Sea for a brief time in September 2012.
Gaining Muscle for His Role in “Avengers: Age of Ultron” (2015)
Between February 11th and August 6th 2014, filming took place for Avengers: Age Of Ultron.
In just 4-5 months, Chris transformed from being an obese version of himself into a muscle-bound Thor.
Is he still as large as he was when he shot the first Thor movie in 2009?
Although I doubt it, he is definitely not far from me.
This clip is darkened by poor lighting, making it difficult to know if he gained any weight.
The muscle memory Chris gained from his bulking phase and the state of calorie restriction he was in made it easy for him to recover to a muscle-bound Thor after those 4-5 months.
He likely used the same preparations he did for Thor 2 to prepare again for the role. Filming began in 2014, and he was back on set at the tail end 2013 to prepare.
No matter how much you believe it is possible to transform your body naturally, 99.9% can’t. This means that you can gain 20 lbs, lose 20 lbs, gain 20 lb, and then lose 20 lb.
Exogenous hormone use is evident in the way Chris switches roles and his appearances as Thor, I believe.
He Loses Muscle To Play In Ghostbusters (2016)
Chris was reduced again after the 2015 Avengers movie. This can be seen in his roles in 2016 that were filmed in 2015 as well as his interviews in 2016.
Gaining Muscle for His Role in “Thor: Ragnarok”, (2017)
Filming of Thor: Ragnarok took place July 4th through October 28th 2016, and July 2017.
This is Chris at his leanest appearance as Thor. However, I think he was still quite a big character in the first Thor movie.
He appears to have lost 5-10 pounds overall, and is leaner and dryer then he was in Thor the First Movie.
This is another example of Chris changing his body quickly to become Thor.
Chris enters his 30’s and requires more exogenous anabolic help to support his rapid transformations. This is a red flag that Chris’ preparations for his appearance as Thor have likely been completed with hormonal support.
Which Steroids Do I Believe He Use?
Based on the fact Chris had the largest physique in the Thor movies, and the fact that Chris was first to gain that muscle due to muscle memory, I will elaborate on what I believe Chris did to prepare for that movie.
Chris Hemsworth trainer stated that he had gained 20-25 pounds of muscle over six months.
This number could be exaggerated, but I believe it more likely Chris gained 20-25 pounds of fat-free muscle and not dry tissue.
This would include temporary water retention, blood volume, and nitrogen.
However, the muscle gain he achieved in that time period was still quite unnatural.
My best guess would be that Hemsworth took Testosterone in preparation for his first appearance as Thor.
It is the safest and most clinically effective steroid that has been approved by humans. This makes it a great choice for your first steroid cycle.
He also has a full, watery look in Thor.
Both Rush and Thor: Ragnarok showed him looking drier than he did the first Thor movie.
He doesn’t appear to have an excessive androgenic dryness.
This full-body look helps Thor appear as large as possible, even though he has a little more intracellular water than is ideal for bodybuilding.
It is likely that Testosterone was chosen for this transformation, as the goal is to achieve as much size and fullness as possible with a reasonable amount of body fat.
He set out to look as exaggerated as possible, and I think he succeeded.
It is unlikely that he added anything to this because it would not have been necessary for these results.
Testosterone in supraphysiological amounts was sufficient.
We can use data from clinical studies on healthy young men to determine the dose of Testosterone Hemsworth took to transform his body.
Testosterone Dose-Response In Healthy Young Men
The Study Parameters
The results of Testosterone administrations at doses of 25, 50, 125, 300, 600, and 250 mg per week were evaluated in this study [R].
Remember to include water in your fat-free mass calculations. It is not only muscle tissue.
As you might expect, the greater the Testosterone dosage, the greater the aromatization.
The body will retain more water if there is more aromatization. This is also going to play a part in Chris Hemsworth’s transformation.
Methodology
* The intake of nutrition was monitored
* The exercise program was monitored.
* The dosage was controlled
* Pharmaceutical-grade testosterone
Standardized energy and protein intakes were set at 16.33 calories per kilogram per day and 0.544 grams each kilogram per day.
Participants were told not to engage in any strength training or endurance exercises during the study.
Only one thing was different between participants: the amount of Testosterone they were given.
Results
We can see in the body composition analysis that muscle accumulation was affected by dose across all study groups.
25mg Testosterone per Week caused a decrease in muscle mass. This was due to the fact endogenous androgen production in young men was suppressed by the presence of exogenous estrogens. The exogenous androgen dosage is lower than what would be naturally produced.
They’re just about making ends meet with 50mg Testosterone every week.
The dosage of 125 mg Testosterone can be very excessive in terms dose-response. This is when the androgen load in your body will significantly exceed that of a healthy young man.
A healthy young man will produce between 3 and 10 mg of Testosterone daily.
The fat-free mass was 5.2 kilograms higher in the 300 mg Testosterone group.
The fat-free mass of the 600 mg Testosterone-treated group increased by 7.9 kg.
7.9 kg is less than 17.5 pounds
This means that healthy young men could gain 17.5 pounds of fat-free mass over a period of 5 months using 600mg of Testosterone and a low protein intake. They also did not have to do any weight training.
These 2 factors can significantly reduce muscle gain. A person who eats an optimal diet for bodybuilding and trains hard with progressive overload could see fat-free mass gains in the 20-25 pound range.
Here we can extrapolate data and return exactly what Chris used and for how long.
What dosages did Chris Hemsworth use to prepare for Thor?
The dose-response analysis I just mentioned shows that healthy young men gained up to 17.5 pounds of fat-free muscle mass in a 5-month period without having to follow a strict resistance training program or eat enough protein for hypertrophy.
This is a direct correlation to Chris Hemsworth’s body transformation. We already know that he gained pounds fat-free mass in 6 months.
His diet was strict and aimed at hypertrophy. He also followed a very intense bodybuilding program (or so we can suppose).
When you consider Chris’s strict diet and training regimen, it is likely that he consumed between 400-600 mg of Testosterone each week during the six months leading up to Thor filming.
Chris Hemsworth was at his best in Thor 1, so this was probably the most high-dosed steroid cycle that he had ever used to prepare for a role.
He also gained that much weight for the first time in his life. This further confirms that he used the most steroids he’d ever taken throughout his career to prepare for the role of Thor.
It’s much easier to gain muscle back via muscle memory and previously acquired myonuclei than to gain new muscle for the first.
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About Derek
After spending over 8 years working towards extreme self-improvement, “More Plates More Dates”, is a resource that will help you get on the right track to being the best version of yourself.
