Whether you have been watching from the start of Parks and Recreation, or are only seeing him for the first time in Guardians of the Galaxy, everyone’s still thinking the same thing:
Chris Pratt has worked damn hard for the body he’s got.
For those of you that did watch him in Parks and Rec, you’ll know how chubby our boy was. Don’t worry if you didn’t, we’re going to show you the full transformation.
In this celebrity workout plan, we’re going to reveal as much as we can about how Chris Pratt got in such great shape to play ‘Star-Lord’ in Marvel’s instant-classic ‘The Guardians of the Galaxy’.
The information we’ve gathered for this plan has come from what Chris has revealed himself and what fitness professionals have speculated online.
Chris Pratt: Before and After the Workout Plan
Before we get into the details of what Chris was doing and what he was eating to get into such great shape, we really need to look into how far he has come.
Amazing, isn’t it? The total weight loss is believed to be somewhere between 60 – 80lbs over 6 months. Even for serious dieters, that’s a lot of work.
You can really see how big he was by how he fills out that suit. There was serious bloat and double-chin in play – and he was able to turn it around in half a year.
So, how exactly did he do it?
Brief Overview
Before we get into the full details, we want to give credit where it is due. Pratt had a team behind him to make sure he met his targets and both in the gym and in the kitchen.
Chris Pratt’s workout plan was designed by personal trainer Duffy Gaver, whereas his meals and calorie intake was tailored by Phil Goglia. Without these two behind him, he may not have seen such effective results.
The Workout
The workout that Gaver designed for Pratt was tough. It was a 5 month program that involved 4 – 6 training sessions a week. What’s really interesting is that Pratt wasn’t in great shape at all (sorry Chris!) and that the workouts were cleverly devised to roll out in phases.
The first two months were strictly bodybuilding. This was to help Chris build some muscle so he could build up a hell of a physique once he slimmed down.
The next two months were a combination of bodybuilding and conditioning work. This would keep Chris on the path to muscle growth, but more was being done to get his body fat down to really emphasize how impressive his physique was getting.
Finally the last month was all conditioning and cardio. The idea here is to burn off all the remaining fat and give Chris that athletic, solid-looking physique. This would be how he got that rippling six pack and vascular shoulders that we see in the ‘after’ pics.
In this article, we’re going to cover the bodybuilding workouts that Pratt used to bulk up.
Chris Pratt’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Bodybuilding Workout Split
Through a combination of information revealed by both his trainer, and Chris himself, we’ve managed to piece together what we believe to be his bodybuilding workout program.
This is the routine that Chris performed 5 days a week, Monday to Friday. Here’s the rundown:
The Warmup
Before every session, Chris performed a warmup routine. This can help get your body ready for the upcoming exercise intensity and help reduce your chance of injury.
Here’s what is believed that Chris did before each workout.
- Light Running: 10 minutes
- Pull Ups: 3 sets of 5 reps
- Push Ups: 3 sets of 10 reps
- Light Squats: 3 sets of 15 reps
Each set should have a resting time of around 60 – 90 seconds. Running is good for getting your heart rate up, while the pull ups warm up the back and arms, whereas push ups work your chest and arms and finally the squats are good for your legs.
After one of these warmups your body should be good to go.
Monday: Back
Chris Pratt’s back workout starts off with body weight exercises, namely a superset between pull ups and push ups.
A superset is doing one set of an exercise and then doing another immediately after with no rest. Chris would do these over 5 sets, the only rep range that changes during these 5 sets are the pull ups:
- Pull Ups: 20 / 15 / 12 / 10 / 10
- Push Ups: 20 x 5
It’s wise as pull ups are reduced as the sets continue. It’s the start of the workout, it would be too tiring to start your back routine with 100 pull ups already in the bag.
The following 3 exercises are not supersetted together. These are to be done individually. They are all 4 sets of 12:
- Wide Grip Lat Pull Down: 4 x 12
- Hammer Strength Seated Row: 4 x 12
- One Arm Rows: 4 x 12 (Each Arm)
This works both the outside and inside of the back, along with one arm rows to help cancel out any imbalances in the training.
Finally the routine ends with 4 sets of back hyperextensions with gradually decreasing reps:
- Back Hyperextensions: 25 / 20 / 15 / 15
These can be weighted, it depends entirely on your ability.
Finishing Monday with an Abs Session
After working on his back, Chris would then swap over to core. This would ensure that when he slimmed down he would have that defined six-pack waiting underneath.
Here’s what the ab workout looked like:
- Plank: 3 x 60 Seconds
- Hanging Leg Raises: 3 x 12
- Side Plank: 3 x 60 Seconds
- Toes to Bar: 3 x 12
If you’re not familiar with Toes to Bar, here’s a quick video on how to perform it:
Tuesday: Chest
Sticking with upper body, after a tough day of training back Pratt comes into the gym the next day to hit chest.
The main theme of this workout is bench press, and a lot of it. Let’s talk through the first part of this workout:
- Bench Press: 12 / 10 / 8 / 6 (Increasing Weight)
- Bench Press: 4 x 4
In the first part of this bench press routine you need to be increasing the weight with each set. This low rep range is good for building power. Finally after those 4 sets, you want to do another 4 sets of just heavy weight for 4 reps a piece.
The next part of this routine is relatively light:
- Incline Bench Press: 4 x 12
- Hammer Strength Bench Press: 4 x 15
Finally, you’re finishing off Chris’s workout with a superset. Again, there is no rest between exercises here, unlike the rest of the movements on this day:
- Weighted Dips: 4 x 10
- Standing Cable Flys: 4 x 12
You’ll want to prepare the area ahead of time. It may be difficult to have both pieces of equipment available at once for this.
Wednesday: Legs
Without a doubt one of the heaviest days of the week for most splits, and Chris Pratt’s for Guardians of the Galaxy was no different. It’s a lot of heavy lifting, and a similar style to the Chest day with an increase in weight, while decreasing in reps.
That’s how this workout starts, increasing weight with each set with heavy squats and deadlifts. Here’s what that looks like:
- Squats: 10 / 8 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 3 (7 sets)
- Deadlifts: 12 / 10 / 8 / 6 (4 sets)
As you can see, especially when it comes to the squats, there’s huge room for going heavy on the squats.
Next, there’s a strip set on leg press.
- Leg Press: Strip Set
What’s a strip set? That’s when you put on the heaviest weight that you can do for a few reps, and then lower the weight and get as many reps out as you can. You lower the weight again and repeat the process again and again until there’s no weight stacked up.
It’s a great way to kill your legs. After that, the session lightens up a lot.
- Walking Lunge: 4 x 20
Finally, Chris finishes off legs, like most days, with an intense superset. This time it’s made up of 3 different exercises:
- Leg Extensions: 3 x 20
- Leg Curls: 3 x 20
- Standing Calf Raises: 3 x 20
Luckily it’s only 3 sets of each, but still that’s a lot of work.
Finishing off Legs with an Abs Session
Again, like Back day, this is another time where Chris would finish off the workout by training his abs. Nothing new here, it’s the same set up as last time:
- Plank: 3 x 60 Seconds
- Hanging Leg Raises: 3 x 12
- Side Plank: 3 x 60 Seconds
- Toes to Bar: 3 x 12
Thursday: Shoulders
The second to last day of this split is shoulders. It’s a pretty straight forward set up, starting off with heavy lifts, then moving into some more traditional exercises and finally another superset.
Here’s how it starts:
- Military Press (Standing Press): 10 / 8 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 3 (7 sets)
Again you want to be starting on a decent weight and moving gradually heavier with each set.
Next we move onto some of the more traditional exercises in this workout day for Chris Pratt:
- Arnold Press: 4 x 12
- Barbell Shrugs: 4 x 12
And finally, we’re wrapping up this day with a superset:
- Lateral Raise: 3 x 12
- Front Raise: 3 x 12
- Rear Delt Flys: 3 x 12
Again, this is a superset, there is no break in-between exercises, you are pushing hard all the way through each set.
Friday: Arms
This is the last day on the bodybuilding workout that Chris Pratt followed for Guardians of the Galaxy. Arms.
Unlike many of the other days on this program, the majority of the lifts in this set up are isolated exercises, not compound lifts. That is good for building individual muscle groups, and really carving out your arms.
It starts off with two normal sets and then 3 different supersets (that’s right, three!).
Here’s how it starts:
- Barbell Curls: 3 x 10
- Skull Crushers: 3 x 10
And this is the first superset:
- Preacher Curls: 3 x 10
- French Curls: 3 x 10
And then you move into:
- Hammer Curls: 3 x 10
- Triceps Rope Pushdown: 3 x 10
Then finally there’s some forearm work with a lot more reps per set:
- Wrist Curls: 3 x 20
- Reverse Wrist Curls: 3 x 20
Finishing off Arms with an Abs Session
Again, like with the back day and the legs day, you’re finishing off arms with an abs session too. It’s exactly the same as the other ones in this split:
- Plank: 3 x 60 Seconds
- Hanging Leg Raises: 3 x 12
- Side Plank: 3 x 60 Seconds
- Toes to Bar: 3 x 12
Overview – Chris Pratt’s Guardian of the Galaxy Workout
As you can see, there’s a lot of work that goes into getting a body like Chris Pratt has for Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy.
To make things even more difficult, Chris’s intensity didn’t stop there. While running that program, Pratt would try to add more to his workouts usually by performing additional bouts of cardio for an extra 3 – 4 hours a day. This was typically something in the form of running, swimming, boxing, biking and numerous other things.
It’s tough stuff, but if you think you’ve got what it takes, you should definitely give it a try.