As any Blue Mountain State fan will tell you: at 6’2″ (1.91 m) with the believable frame of an NFL linebacker, Alan Ritchson has always been an absolute unit – but the man definitely kicked his workout and diet plan up several notches to portray Jack Reacher in Amazon Prime Video‘s hit adaptation.
Canonically, the US Army military police major turned vigilante originally conceived by author Lee Child – who was previously brought to life by the comparatively diminutive Tom Cruise – is 6’5″ (1.96 m), tips the scales at 250 pounds (113 kg), and sports an impressive 50-inch (130 cm) chest. In fact, the pages of Never Go Back describes him as having “a six-pack like a cobbled city street, a chest like a suit of NFL armour, biceps like basketballs, and subcutaneous fat like a Kleenex tissue.”
In other words, Mr Ritchson certainly had a lot to live up to. And despite the three-inch height disparity, it’s safe to say he pulled it off, delivering a formidable physical screen presence in spades – here’s how he reportedly did it.
Jump To:
- Alan Ritchson Workout Plan (Reacher)
- Testosterone Replacement Therapy
- Alan Ritchson Diet Plan (Reacher)
Alan Ritchson Workout Plan (Reacher)
“Up until then, my basic workout was pushups, pullups, dips, and situps,” Alan Ritchson explained of his post-Reacher fitness shift to Men’s Health. For the first season, he was required to pack on 13kg of muscle in eight months.
While these core exercises are still very much part of the regimen, these days, he “punishes” himself for his mostly freewheeling diet with five far more extensive workouts per week; favouring cable exercises whenever he’s training at home, given the machines are harder to find in hotel gyms.
Taking into account what the camera tends to emphasise – and Lee Child’s description of Jack Reacher – Ritchson mainly targets his upper body for that cinematic force-to-be-reckoned-with aesthetic. But you’d be mistaken if you thought size was the only prize. In his own words:
“Reacher is supposed to be this effortlessly strong, agile, and imposing figure. I couldn’t just bulk up like a bodybuilder – I had to train for strength and speed.”
Functional cardio is also paramount for all the fight choreography; you can substitute this with battle ropes, hill sprints, and burpees to complement a combat discipline of your own choosing, i.e. boxing/kickboxing, Muay Thai, wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, or full-blown MMA.
“Every time I think my cardio is on point, I go do a little fight training and I get gassed in three minutes and realise I’m not even close to what I should be,” he admitted.
Here’s an example five-day split, as per Men’s Fitness.
Monday – Legs
- Squat (four sets, 6-8 reps)
- Romanian deadlift (three sets, 8-10 reps)
- Bulgarian split squat (three sets, 10 reps each leg)
- Leg press (three sets, 12 reps)
- Seated calf raise (three sets, 15 reps)
- Standing calf raise (three sets, 15 reps)
Tuesday – Shoulders
- Overhead barbell press (three sets, 12 reps)
- Dumbbell lateral raise (three sets, 12 reps)
- Face pull (three sets, 12 reps)
- Arnold press (three sets, 12 reps)
- Rear delt fly (three sets, 12 reps)
- Dumbbell shrug (three sets, 15 reps)
Wednesday – Chest
Despite the fact that Reacher claims he doesn’t bench press because it’s “stupid” in the series.
- Incline bench press (three sets, 10 reps)
- Bench press (three sets, 10 reps)
- Decline bench press (three sets, 10 reps)
- Dip (three sets, 10 reps)
- Cable fly (three sets, 12 reps)
- Pushup (three sets, 15 reps)
Thursday – Rest
Friday – Biceps & Triceps
- Cable tricep pushdown (four sets, 15-25 reps)
- Cable overhead tricep extension (four sets, 15-25 reps)
- Cable hammer curl (four sets, 15-25 reps)
- Dumbbell hammer press (four sets, 15-25 reps)
- Dumbbell skull crusher (four sets, 15-25 reps)
- EZ-bar curls (four sets, 20 reps)
- EZ-bar overhead triceps extension (four sets, 15 reps)
Saturday – Full Body
- 15 minutes on the Stairmaster
- Cable fly (four sets, 25 reps)
- Shoulder press (four sets, 25 reps)
- Arnold press (four sets, 25 reps)
- Cable rows (four sets, 25 reps)
- Leg press (four sets, 25 reps)
- Calf raises (four sets, 25 reps)
Sunday – Rest
Longevity is key for Alan Ritchson, who doesn’t train until failure or chase personal records during his workouts. The real goal is apparently 22 seasons of Reacher.
“I want to be 100 years old and still playing Reacher.”
That’s also why he limits his gym time to just 20 or 30 minutes. But you best believe those 20-30 minutes are nothing short of a living hell. In fact, after obliterating his lower body, Men’s Health notes he’ll follow it up by attempting 100 heavy reps on the bench press, beginning at an incline and moving down to finish on a decline.
As for recovery time, Alan Ritchson favours 15-minute sessions in the sauna where he’ll also work on his mental wellness with some meditative “zen time.” Don’t forget to stretch up and down!
RELATED: Jake Gyllenhaal’s Workout & Diet Plan To Get ‘Road House’ Ripped
Testosterone Replacement Therapy
Alan Ritchson has been fully transparent about turning to Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT). Because at 42, maintaining muscle mass can be an uphill battle. Especially after shoulder surgery that leaves you feeling “utterly fatigued and broken.”
“There was a huge imbalance in hormones in my body. I was falling apart. So while I made it happen, it’s probably true that it shouldn’t happen that fast, that way… People can think what they want, but I work out very hard,” he said.
“Getting on testosterone was huge for me. I had none by the time I was done with season one, due to the stress and the fatigue and what I had done to my body.”
“For me, it’s a long game. I want to do Reacher for 15 years… I don’t want to have to have surgery after every season, and testosterone helps.”
Ritchson added: “I’m a big advocate of it, especially for people in their 40s or above. [Men aren’t] aware that it’s out there, but it could be really life-changing. It could be a mood stabiliser for people… it can do a lot more than just help you be buff, but it certainly helped in my journey.”
In short: TRT alone certainly won’t gift you with a Jack Reacher physique (you still need to put the work in), but it has been an undeniable factor for Alan Ritchson.
Alan Ritchson Diet Plan (Reacher)
In the same way that abs are made in the kitchen, you don’t get Jack Reacher’s body without consuming roughly 4,000 calories a day. And not all of those cals will be “clean,” either – pizza, key lime pie, cookies, along with corned beef, hash, and eggs are Alan Ritchson’s preferred building blocks.
“To Reacher, a calorie is a calorie, it doesn’t matter if it comes from fat or sugar,” explained Ritchson, who revealed he and his onscreen counterpart share the same philosophy surrounding diet.
“Reacher will eat anything that works for him… I eat whatever the hell I want, and I’m not kidding. I eat the healthiest when I’m on set, because I have somebody cooking for me.”
Though the big fella himself does realise this isn’t the most optimal way to maintain his enviable rig.
“This is the thing: people will be like ‘Oh, he eats whatever he wants.’ When I go into that gym, I’m like, ‘I deserve to die for how I’ve eaten,’ so I’m going to try to work myself to death,” he said.
“What I would love to find in my life is a balance, where I kind of eat healthy and then don’t have to work quite as hard. But I’m not doing it yet. I like cookie dough too much.”
There’s also the practical consideration of cultivating all this mass. Unless you need to weigh 240-245 pounds (108-111kg) for screen purposes, you might want to think twice about bulking like Ritchson has for Reacher.
“You’ve got to make adjustments when you’re wearing this kind of size.”
“The lung capacity feels like I just can’t keep up,” said Alan Ritchson, elaborating on his cardio shortfalls touched upon earlier.
“I’m trying to get a lot of oxygen to a lot of muscles… If I’m climbing up a hill, it’s a little bit like doing lunges for 20 minutes straight. For most people, throw 280 on your shoulders and do 20 minutes of lunges, your muscles are going to explode.”
For a completely clean bulking template, check out what Chris Hemsworth eats here.
Now that you’ve read all about the Alan Ritchson workout and diet plan for Amazon Prime Video’s Reacher, check out the following related articles:
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