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I spoke to Chris Hemsworth about all things fitness for the new Disney+ show Limitless and have never felt more like a Marvel hero
We’re a while off from Avengers: Doomsday sadly, but the next installment of the Disney+ and National Geographic documentary series Limitless: Live Better Now is the perfect food to fill our Chris Hemsworth hunger.
The three-episode series explores ways in which we can learn to live a healthier life for longer by sending our A-List star on various challenges, from playing the drums at a sold-out stadium for Ed Sheeran to being put through his paces in a South Korean SAS training regime. Luckily for me, the show has also provided me with the opportunity to gloat to family, friends and dating app matches for the rest of my life over being able to speak to the Thor actor.
It’s an average Thursday lunchtime when I frantically do my makeup in the toilets before sitting down to chat to Chris Hemsworth, praying I’m not obviously sweating in London’s sudden 30 degree heatwave. I’m no Marvel movie know-it-all but I know I’ve got to find out more about the man behind the superhero, his dedication to his fitness training, and just how he physically copes with having the weight of the world (and other universes) on his shoulders.
Thankfully, Limitless is the perfect window into how Hemsworth ticks, who grapples just as much with his own mental and physical challenges on the show as he does trying to find big picture answers for the rest of us. It’s a shift in tone from the physical-driven first season, but we’re all the richer for the new sense of profoundness. So, what is his secret to being able to tackle it all?
Cold showers, 600ft rock climbs and meditation in solitude are all essential secret tips in Chris Hemsworth’s routines
“In [my] training, the cold showers, saunas and separating from devices and TV, I’m seeking solitude and stillness and meditation. Anytime we do something that doesn't feel like the easiest route or where there is some type of adversity – and that doesn't have to be climbing a wall or swimming in the Arctic, it can be personal to you – you’re thinking about where that threshold is, tapping into the discomfort,” Hemsworth tells me. “That elevated risk is building the functions around willpower, meaning you can overcome them.
“For me, I get it from the simpler things, from training. I go to the gym and it doesn't mean I’m 110% every time I’m in there, but a lot of the time you don't want to do it, but every time you do it, you feel great after it. There’s the understanding that this sort of movement creates the motivation, as opposed to sitting around waiting for some sort of light bulb motivation. The more familiar we are with the unfamiliar, the more comfortable we are with the uncomfortable. We prepare ourselves for whatever life's gonna throw at us.”
Frankly, I’ve never felt more inspired to hit the gym and crack out a round of weights and a run on the treadmill at 100 miles an hour. Hemsworth’s training in Limitless, though, is even more brutal. While episode 1 is geared towards mental health, we see Hemsworth diving off of 20ft boards with Thor stunt double Bobby Hanton, stamina training with Korean monks in order to push through his chronic back pain (bear this one in mind next time you’re watching an Avengers movie), and later getting maced in the face and army crawling through explosives and barbed wire. I think I’ll leave those with him, but there is one part of his documentary training Hemsworth never wants to touch again.
“The one that I wouldn't want to touch again, and was probably the hardest thing I've ever done, was climbing the dam wall in Switzerland, a 600 and something feet high wall,” he admits. “It was so grueling. I went through every single emotion, from pure fear to high octane, generalized motivation to anger to frustration. I had inner voices being positive to abusive, anything that was going to get me up that wall. There was whiplash occurring the entire climb, and my heart rate was up at sort of 220 beats a minute for some of it. It was a real slog and draining. I felt amazing afterward just having completed it, but it's not something I'd want to put myself through again.”
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