THE JOURNAL
From left: Jeremy Allen White, Los Angeles, 27 July 2023. Photograph by Backgrid. Kit Connor, Paris, 29 September 2023. Photograph by Swan Gallet/WWD via Getty Images. Ncuti Gatwa, Beverly Hills, 10 March 2024. Photograph by Karwai Tang/WireImage/Getty Images. Paul Mescal, London, 31 October 2023. Photograph by MJ Pictures
In recent years, the primacy of the Marvel and DC super-hunk era has meant that the templates of “celebrity fitness” routines for men have tended to push herculean bodybuilding programmes and restrictive dieting to get a chest the size of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine or lats that spread like Chris Hemsworth’s Thor.
But some of the most desirable and admired celebrity physiques have been more attainable and more specific. Perhaps the best way then isn’t to follow the superhuman formula. Rather, take your favourite limb or body part from each in turn and fashion yourself into a kind of Hollywood Frankenstein’s monster.
It is, of course, impossible to exactly replicate another person’s physique, least of all those whose job it is to look the way they do, but you can still take inspiration, try out some specific training and look great as a result. And so, with that, here are some of the most stand out famous physical attributes and how to get them for yourself – without going the full Frankenstein, that is.
01. Kit Connor’s shoulders
One of the burliest men in the public eye right now is a 20-year-old from a Netflix teen series. So, while you might feel understandably shy about fitness tips based on someone who is no that long out of sixth form, if you see the spread of Kit Connor’s shoulders, you’ll suck it up and listen.
Luckily, getting built, broad shoulders is relatively straight forward. The thing to remember about shoulders are that they are made up of three heads: the front, side and rear delt. You’ll have to ensure that you’re hitting all three heads, but for broadness, don’t neglect the side delts – which can be targeted with lateral raises, seated or standing, using dumbbells, cables or a machine. For extra intensity, try a pyramid set while using dumbbells, where you hold the weights at the top from one second up to 10 seconds.
Personal trainer and MMA fighter Tom Usher advises the gold standard for muscle building: compound exercises. “To get more size in your shoulders, as always the bigger compound exercises are always best, things like overhead barbell press, single-arm dumbbell presses, but also things like incline bench press, bodyweight dips and even handstand (or just incline) press ups to get the upper chest area looking bigger, too.”
For definition, Usher also advises boxing, “say three rounds of three minutes hitting a heavy bag, or even just a Tabata boxing workout (20 seconds straight punching, 10 seconds rest, repeated for four minutes) with light dumbbells at the end of your session.”
02. Jeremy Allen White’s arms
Like award-sweeping, cult hit The Bear, Jeremy Allen White’s arms have become their own phenomenon – likely encouraged by vigorous chopping in the kitchen and the need to buff up for his role in biographical wrestling drama The Iron Claw in 2023. White clearly takes pride in them, too – a love heart is tattooed on his left.
Big arms have the honour of being both difficult and simple to accomplish – building them simply relies on elbow flexion focused on the biceps and triceps, and adding size is a matter of eating in a caloric surplus. But the muscles are a relatively small group and it’s important to avoid training them to excess and exhausting them, which is counter to muscle growth.
Biceps and triceps often receive indirect work during heavy compound exercises such as barbell bench press, deadlifts, overhead presses and bent over rows. But you should certainly target your arms – it’s a matter of picking curls that target the muscles at different angles and intensities.
For biceps, try a combination of hammer curls with a dumbbell or rope, bicep curls with dumbbells or an EZ bar, and preacher curls for a more supported movement. For triceps, some of my favourites are skull crushers with dumbbells, push downs with a rope, and an overhead dumbbell extension.
You can choose exercises based on preference, but stick to a limited selection and just two or three sets to avoid exhausting the muscle and diminishing gains.
03. Ncuti Gatwa’s waist
Ncuti Gatwa’s Ken doll physique is often highlighted in his slick sartorial choices – think back to that cropped silver breast plate at last year’s Vanity Fair Oscars afterparty. And who could blame him? He’s incredibly toned, with an impeccably tight waist.
Getting a waist like Gatwa is largely a matter of diet. As applicable to all matters of muscle tone, it’s impossible to spot-reduce fat loss. But you can reliably achieve a calorie deficit and tighter waist by eating a high-protein diet of fish, meat and poultry with plenty of fruits and vegetables and good fats from nuts and avocados. Carbs aren’t the enemy, but it’s better to focus on fibrous carbs that come from vegetables like broccoli, cucumber and kale, plus, complex carbs, such as brown rice and oats. Cutting down sugar consumption is also important.
A toned waist can also be accentuated through exercise – try toning up with crunches, oblique raises and planks. But waists are also a matter of illusion – if you have more spread lats, then your waist will look smaller by comparison – so lateral-focused pull downs, dumbbell rows and pull ups are also key.
04. Paul Mescal’s thighs
“The first thing to note about Paul Mescal is that he used to play Gaelic football to quite a high level in his youth, so his legs and backside are going to have an inbuilt rugby player vibe to them – ie, massive – that comes from years of heavy lifting and running,” Usher says.
You can’t turn back time and make yourself start toddler rugby, but you can catch up with Mescal by prioritising big compound exercises. “Barbell squats and deadlifts are classics for a reason because they target nearly every muscle in your lower back and legs. But also try mixing this with more dynamic exercises, like weighted squat jumps, box step ups and forward and backward lunges.”
To target my quads, I’m also a personal fan of goblet squats with a dumbbell, which I make tougher by elevating my heels on a weight plate. And for hamstrings, Romanian deadlifts never leave my leg day rotation.
Another thing to note about Mescal is he’s often spotted on a run. As Usher says, “although I don’t think you’ll get big thighs from going on three mile runs every morning, something to think about including into your routine is sprints. If you ever look at Olympic sprinters (or rugby players), you’ll notice their thighs are absolutely huge, and that’s because the explosiveness of constantly sprinting all the time is incredible for building muscle.
“You don’t have to do hill sprints (although they are the best for this), you can even just get on a treadmill and do it. Try finishing a session by alternating between a medium paced jog for 20 seconds and a fast-paced sprint for 40 seconds for four minutes to six minutes.”