I think anyone with an Amazon Prime Video subscription probably understands that Alan Ritchson is jacked, whether or not they watched Reacher Season 4. The man is splashed all over the home screen on the streamer between his various movies and his very popular TV show. He’s a big, fit guy, and as a gym girlie myself, I know this takes dedication and diligence. I just didn’t realize the “high high volume” of reps he was putting in.
Ritchson recently sat down with Thomas DeLauer Podcast, and explain his strategy for staying swole. Some of this involves eating right and throwing in a lot of HIIT cardio with sprints and the Stairmaster, the latter of which does not always go over so well. Some of this is because he literally likes to do four sets at 25 reps of a given exercise.
Gym newbies are often taught to do three sets of eight for each exercise, and maybe push to nine or 10 before going up a plate or free weight. People who are more intermediate or advanced often throw in extra sets or increase reps at a lower weight to keep things interesting, so it’s not like a giant surprise Alan Ritchson might do longer rep sets. BUT 100 reps for one exercise is a lot.
He said for years he didn’t “have a gym membership” so he’d go to parks where he’d do pushups, pull-ups, dips and sit-ups at high volume, and that ethic has stuck with him as he’s gotten more successful in life and at the gym.
Yes, Alan Ritchson probably isn’t going the heaviest he can go when he’s doing these 100 reps. This video shows him curling what looks to be two 25 lb plates (don’t quote me) on a small bar. So, it’s more weight than I can probably curl, but for a big guy, going longer is probably important here.
It gets wilder. When he’s doing his core warmup, he’s apparently aiming for 250 reps of things like leg lifts, crunches and more in sets of 25, which he calls a “warm up.” Of course these are all body-weighted exercises, and not with barbells or free weights, but it’s still an incredible amount of reps. No wonder the man is eating around 5,000 calories a day, a number similar to what David Corenswet was also eating for Superman.
He then works into the cardio (sprints) and, finally, the weights.
So, How Much Does Alan Ritchson Bench?
The actor says he is absolutely not trying to go as heavy as possible with lifting. He’s known too many people who go too hard and end up with joint replacements, which is for him where this “volume” strategy comes in. Still, umm, I’d say he benches quite a lot more than the average person, as he noted after mentioning people ask him all the time how much he benches.
The power lifters have all had knee and joint replacements everywhere. That’s not my goal. So, it’s about volume to me, but you know, still, I’ll pump out 25 at 225. You know, so that’s a lot of weight.
It’s no wonder Amazon is fine shamelessly promoting Reacher with a slew of shirtless pics. The work paid off.
There Is A Caveat To All This.
Alan Ritchson did state he aims for four sets of 25. That doesn’t mean he always completes four sets of 25. I think it’s an important distinction, because not every lift is the same, and your body isn’t always up to the same thing it was a week or two before.
If I can get 100 of some version of strain that I’ve introduced, there’s virtually no human alive that wouldn’t get some kind of pump or growth out of that. That’s enough strain to really start to make force adaptations. And I know that if I can get myself to that point, I’ve really given it my all. And I just want to feel like I’ve given it my all. And sometimes my all is like wanting 25, but I get 15. I almost never do less than 15 reps.
Still, forget that measly three sets of eight routine. If he can go lighter but harder, he’s getting the pump that allowed him to put on a whopping 30 pounds to play Jack Reacher. If volume is also what you are going for, it’s not a bad strategy at all. Now, excuse me, a mere mortal, while I try to get to 10 reps.
