Try Chris Hemsworth's Thor 4 workout to build bigger arms in five moves

Thor: Love and Thunder just dropped its first trailer, and star Chris Hemsworth shared his tough workout to build bigger arms

Chris Hemsworth, star of Thor 4, doing a workout
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Thor: Love and Thunder, otherwise just known as Thor 4, has just dropped its first trailer, and Chris Hemsworth is in typical superhero shape. Obviously, looking like Thor for the big screen involves a lot of time and resources inaccessible to most of us. Hemsworth's team will include experts such as nutritionists, personal chefs, and personal trainers, among other things. Doing the same workouts as Hemsworth won't necessarily yield the same results.

However, although we're unlikely to get superhero muscle overnight, we can take inspiration from some of Hemsworth's fitness programs he shares on Centr, the workout and training app he developed alongside personal trainer Luke Zocchi, in order to enhance our own training. Using some of the best workouts for abs like sit-throughs, and kit like the best adjustable dumbbells, we can give this tough core and upper-body workout a go. 

This particular workout comes from Hemsworth's Instagram, where he regularly shares videos of himself performing Centr workouts. This predominantly upper-body workout involves 10 rounds of five moves focused on the arms, although legs, chest and back muscles also get a look in. 

You'll likely need the equipment at your local gym for this, as Hemsworth uses battling ropes and medicine balls in addition to dumbbells. If you don't have a gym membership, you could replace any of these exercises with 10-20 reps of one of our best exercises for weight loss, such as burpees or kettlebell swings. 

Watch Hemsworth's workout below:

The structure of the workout is as follows: 

  • Battle ropes, 40 reps
  • Med ball slam, 10 reps
  • Close-grip tricep push-up on ball, 10 reps
  • Reverse lunge & bicep curl, 10 reps
  • Sit-through, 10 reps either side

Hemsworth then repeats these exercises for 10 rounds in total.

This exercise starts with battle ropes, which is a classic CrossFit-style exercise. Research from several universities in Taiwan found battling rope training improves multiple physical dimensions, including "aerobic capacity, upper-body and lower-body power, agility, and core muscle endurance".  

Your forearms and biceps will burn with the effort of slamming these heavy ropes over and over, while your core and legs must remain tense, which activates those muscle groups too. 

Battle ropes feature prominently in Hemsworth's and Zocchi's programs. In fact, Hemsworth seems to love them so much it's made its way into the new Thor: Love and Thunder movie. In the film, Hemsworth's titular thunder god can be seen losing a lot of weight by performing his favorite battling rope exercise—using hilariously large chains, of course. 

He's joined in the film by Chris Pratt, Tessa Thompson, and Natalie Portman, who herself has gained serious muscle to play scientist Jane Foster's superhero alter-ego. If you're looking for a helping hand to build a little more lean muscle, you can check out our guides to the best protein powder for weight loss and the benefits of creatine.

Matt Evans

Matt Evans is an experienced health and fitness journalist and is currently Fitness and Wellbeing Editor at TechRadar, covering all things exercise and nutrition on Fit&Well's tech-focused sister site. Matt originally discovered exercise through martial arts: he holds a black belt in Karate and remains a keen runner, gym-goer, and infrequent yogi. His top fitness tip? Stretch.