- I exercised like superhero actresses Gal Gadot and Brie Larson for two weeks.
- I preferred Gadot's routine, which focused on isolated muscle groups.
- Larson's regimen centered around building resilience and was also challenging.
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While watching the "Wonder Woman" and "Captain Marvel" movies, I was fixated on how strong both Gal Gadot and Brie Larson looked as superheroes, both actresses gracefully moving through their stunts with confidence and power.
After being intrigued enough to look up their pre-filming gym routines, I learned that Gadot focused on strength training different muscle groups every day to get lean and strong, and Larson's workouts centered around resilience.
Curious what it would be like to get into superhero shape, I tried both of the actresses' routines for a week each.
Keep scrolling to see how it felt working out like Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel and which regimen I preferred.
Day 1: I started my experiment with Gadot's workout routine
I mentally prepared myself ahead of trying Gadot's workout routine, because I knew I was in for an intense week.
Gadot's trainer, Magnus Lygdbäck, told Women's Health in 2020 that he had the actress mainly focus on resistance training and HIIT-style workouts five days a week to get into Wonder Woman shape.
To get the most out of each session, she'd train a different muscle group each day, so I took that same approach and focused on legs for my first one.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gadot's leg workout would start with a five-minute treadmill warm-up, but I used my elliptical instead and aimed for three rounds of 30-second intervals.
After I was warmed up, I did three rounds of 12 front squats with a lighter set of dumbbells since I knew I had a long week ahead of me and didn't want to overexert myself on day one.
Next came the walking lunges, which I wasn't prepared for. Lygdbäck said Gadot would do three rounds of 10 reps on each side, but by the second set, I had to drop my dumbbells and take a breather.
After a quick stretch, I continued this never-ending leg day with 20 curtsy steps and 15 lateral walks, both with a resistance band.
I finished the workout with goblet squats using a medium dumbbell and managed to get through two rounds before my legs felt like jelly, so I threw in the towel after a quick stretch.
Based on how strong and powerful Gadot looks in the "Wonder Woman" movies, I'm not surprised that her workouts were this tough.
Day 2: I could barely walk after yesterday's leg workout
I woke up this morning barely able to get out of bed because my legs were so sore from yesterday's routine — I had to wobble around my room to change into my athletic wear.
Today, I followed Gadot's chest, back, and core workouts. I personally favor training my upper body, so I was excited to learn the actress' go-to exercises.
I started the workout with another five-minute cardio warm-up on my elliptical before moving on to the strength-training portion.
After completing three rounds of 12 wide-grip pulldowns to work my back, I challenged myself with push-ups to max out my chest muscles. I began the latter in a full plank but had to eventually drop down to my knees.
From there, I picked up my 20-pound dumbbell and did three rounds of 20 alternating standing rows.
At this point in the workout, I surprisingly was feeling really good and motivated to keep going, so I moved on to three rounds of 12 dumbbell chest flies on a flat bench, lowering the weight to 15 pounds since my muscles were already feeling it.
I finished today's session with a core circuit that consisted of mountain climbers and rotational leg kicks — I knew by tomorrow it was going to hurt to laugh.
Day 3: I questioned how Gadot worked her upper body this often
After looking at today's arms, outside-shoulders, and core workouts, I was tempted to switch things around because my upper body was so sore from yesterday but decided to stay on course.
I don't always properly warm up my muscles before lifting weights, but considering it was only the third day and my arms already felt like spaghetti, I decided to take my time stretching and pass on the cardio intro.
Still, Gadot's second upper-body workout was just as intense as her first.
After the short warm-up, I was feeling looser but still decided to use my lightest set of 8-pound dumbbells. I started with three rounds of 16 alternating bicep curls, eight reps on each side, then laid on my back to do three sets of 12 tricep skull crushers.
My muscles were already burning, but I took a sip of water and continued on with three rounds of 12 cable bicep curls and tricep pushdowns, during which I had to keep resting to shake out my arms.
Of course, Gadot always finishes her workouts with a core exercise, so I laid down once more on my mat and did three hollow-body holds for 45 seconds each. Once my final timer went off, I collapsed back down and felt wobbly.
Day 4: At this point in the week, I was sore all over
Despite waking up sore every day this week, I was feeling good and more toned all over.
Tired of following a written workout and in the mood to turn my brain off, I signed up for an online Barry's Bootcamp lower-body session, which included moves like wall sits, dumbbell swings, reverse lunges, and surrender squats.
It was hard for me to believe that I was once again training my legs. By the end, I was panting and sweating on my mat, unable to stand, and wondering how Gadot worked out this hard five days a week.
Day 5: I couldn't lift another weight today
Thankfully, I woke up less sore than I did the past few days, but I still couldn't imagine lifting another weight, so I decided to do cardio and give my muscles a break.
After drinking some iced coffee for energy, I put on my favorite workout playlist and hopped onto the elliptical. I went at an easy pace for the first 10 minutes, then cranked up the intensity.
After 30 minutes, my muscles definitely felt tired even though I was only doing cardio, so I happily laid out my yoga mat and stretched for a bit.
Day 6: I was sore but determined to get Wonder Woman arms
Knowing I was nearing the end of my Gadot-inspired week, I wanted to give my next two workouts my all.
I got up extra early today and channeled my inner Wonder Woman — the thought of doing a superhero's workout routine empowered me to feel stronger and more confident.
Although I was still tired of lifting weights, I figured if Gadot could get through these workouts, so could I.
Today's session consisted of moves that worked my back and deltoids, the muscle group that surrounds the outside of the shoulders.
After three rounds of 15 close-grip pulldowns, I moved on to some lateral raises and dumbbell rotations, using 10-pound weights.
Lastly, I dropped my dumbbells and completed 12 push-ups from my toes.
This workout wasn't the toughest one I had done this week, but it definitely gave me a good burn. I came close to toweling off my sweat and finishing early, but I gave myself a pep talk and finished strong.
Day 7: I attempted another lower-body workout
I woke up today feeling better than I expected I would. I had finally reached the last day of my Gadot-inspired workout routine and was honestly pretty thrilled about it coming to a close.
As a fan of weight training, I came into this experiment optimistic about Gadot's regimen, but without the usual breaks I take between lifting days, the process became quite grueling.
Today's workout consisted of another HIIT lower-body and core day, so before I could talk myself out of working my legs again, I changed into my gym clothes and got my morning going.
I started my session with a five-minute warm-up on the elliptical.
Feeling strong, I then picked up my 25-pound dumbbells and did three sets of 20 Bulgarian split squats, 10 reps on each side. After the final round, I was regretting using such a heavy weight since my legs were on fire.
Switching to my 15-pound dumbbell, I moved on to three sets of 12 dead lifts and hip thrusts.
This workout went by much quicker than I anticipated, and before I knew it, I was already moving on to the core portion.
I still don't know how Gadot trained her core at the end of every workout — my abs were continuously sore every day.
I made it through three rounds of 12 side-to-side knee tucks, but after the first set of stability-ball passes, I had to call it a day.
Week 2, day 1: I started my Larson-inspired routine with a full-body workout
I did my research on how Larson trained for her "Captain Marvel'' role, and her process was no easy feat.
Celebrity trainer Jason Walsh told Self magazine in 2019 that he centered Larson's routine around building strength and resilience to help her safely nail all of the superhero's stunts.
In addition to establishing fundamental movements and correcting any muscle weaknesses Larson had, Walsh had the actress spend time learning fight choreography.
It seemed like Larson's workouts weren't as muscle-group focused as Gadot's, so I made today's session include a bit of everything.
I warmed up my muscles with exercises that Walsh said he used with the actress, like hip extensions, shoulder presses, and farmer's carries, a move that includes walking from one end of the room to the other while holding heavy weights.
Walsh also said Larson would lift heavy, so I used my 20-pound weights to do a series of dead lifts, hip thrusts, and squats. After completing three rounds of each, I moved on to dumbbell swings and donkey kickbacks with a band.
Larson reportedly would finish this sort of workout with an upper-body focused circuit, so I dropped to my 15-pound dumbbells and knocked out three rounds of 12 bicep curls, shoulder presses, and tricep kickbacks.
When I wasn't sure whether my upper or lower body hurt more, I knew it was time to call it a day.
Day 2: This was my first time doing both push and pull moves in a single workout
I was really impressed with how each of Larson's "Captain Marvel" workouts was categorized. Today's session was a "secondary-type lift" day, which consisted of plyometrics and rotational, push, and pull movements.
My push exercises included three rounds of 10 push-ups, shoulder presses, chest flies, and lateral shoulder raises with a medium-sized dumbbell so my muscles wouldn't fatigue too quickly.
I moved on to my set of pull moves with dumbbell and renegade rows to work my back, then followed that up with hammer and preacher curls to train my biceps.
I'm used to planning my workouts based on muscle groups, so I found Larson's approach to be really interesting.
Day 3: My superhero abs quickly got tired
I woke up with a bit of a sore back but nothing too painful.
Surprisingly, Larson's fitness plan wasn't as confusing as I originally thought it was going to be. Today's workout consisted of several ab circuits, which meant I could give the rest of my muscles a break.
After stretching on my yoga mat, I opened Larson's Instagram page and scrolled back to some of the ab workouts she posted in 2018 when preparing for her superhero role.
I wanted to target the different parts of my core, so I did a combination of leg lifts, Russian twists, regular crunches, and toe touches for 45 seconds and plank holds for a minute.
Motivated to keep this workout going, I laid on my back and held my stability ball in my hands, passing it through to my legs when I crunched. I repeated this move for 45 seconds before calling it a day.
Day 4: I took a much-needed recovery day
I was feeling really good and proud of myself for all of my hard work at the gym thus far. So halfway through my Larson-inspired week, I decided to take a recovery day.
If she didn't completely take the session off, Larson would apparently use her rest days to go for a hike or bike ride.
I wanted to get my blood flowing somehow, so I bundled up and went for a walk around my neighborhood, keeping a brisk pace to elevate my heart rate.
Once I was back home, I put on a relaxing playlist, laid out my yoga mat, and took my time stretching to let my sore muscles loosen up. About 30 minutes later, I felt great and was glad I listened to my body.
Day 5: I was confused by some of Larson's exercises
After yesterday's break, I was feeling motivated and ready to take on the day, even if it entailed another full-body workout with moves I'd never done before.
Julia Guerra previously reported for Insider that some Larson-inspired exercises are bear crawls, full-body rolls, rear-foot elevated split squats, eccentric push-ups, and split-stance dumbbell rows.
All of these moves sounded like a mouthful to me, and I had to look up how to do several of them, but I followed through and broke each exercise into three sets of 30 seconds with a short rest in between.
I started with the bear crawls and noticed the burn in my arms and shoulders after just 15 seconds. And as I performed the other moves, I felt a bit clumsy and even lost my balance a few times.
By the time I finished the last round of split-stance dumbbell rows, all of my muscles were on fire.
But despite feeling drained after this workout, I thoroughly enjoyed today's routine since the new moves kept things challenging.
Day 6: I needed another recovery day
I wasn't sore today like I was earlier in the week, but I didn't want to take the chance of pushing myself with more training since my knee was bothering me.
After deciding on a cardio day, I went onto the elliptical for 40 minutes to spare myself from the freezing weather outside.
I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and felt proud of the toned muscles I noticed.
Since today was nearing the end of this challenge, I used this sweaty session on the elliptical to reflect on all I had accomplished in the past two weeks. It's amazing what the body is capable of when you step out of your comfort zone.
Before I knew it, the 40 minutes were over, and I spent a few moments stretching before hitting the shower.
Day 7: I ended the week on a strong note
My body was definitely relieved that this was my last day of following this Larson-inspired routine, but I was honestly feeling really empowered and strong from all of these superhero workouts.
Referencing the other moves I did throughout the week, I decided on a lower-body session because those muscles were the least sore.
After warming up my legs and glutes with a resistance band, I did a circuit that included three 45-second rounds of hip thrusts and extensions, farmer's carries, regular and split-stance squats, and dead lifts.
Surprisingly, these moves did not feel as challenging as they did earlier in the week, which was progress.
All in all, I was really proud of myself for finishing this experiment on a strong note.
After some reflection, I decided that I prefer Gadot's routine over Larson's
The past two weeks of intense workouts definitely took a toll on my body — I was sore almost every day, and some mornings, the last thing I wanted to do was lift a weight.
I oftentimes had to give myself a pep talk and channel my inner superhero to get through the vigorous workouts.
Both women's regimens focused on strength training, but I preferred Gadot's straightforward plan and way of working different muscle groups each day since that allowed my sore spots to rest.
Plus Gadot's routine is similar to what I already do with the exception of some new moves.
Although I probably gave myself more rest days than Gadot and Larson took when they trained for their roles, I realized the importance of listening to your body and taking the time to recover when needed, as overworking your muscles can easily lead to injury.
Despite my preferences, following superhero workouts for two weeks left me feeling empowered, strong, and more confident in my body.
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