It seems like one of the hardest jobs of being an actor is looking the part, not just acting. A lot of actors and actresses are required to lose or gain an extreme amount of weight in a short period of time so they can play a certain character. Zac Efron had to follow these demands as he prepared for his part in the summer blockbuster, “Baywatch”.
In order for Zac to get into his character of Matt Broody, he had to get shredded – and compete with The Rock’s already incredibly chiseled physique. According to Zac’s trainer, after just 12 weeks of training, Zac reached 5 percent body fat – pretty impressive for the former High School Musical star.
Because Zac was already in pretty good shape before he started filming Baywatch, the hardest part of his routine was going to be adding muscle mass. A combination of both exercise and diet was necessary to reach that goal, and let me tell you, it does not look that easy.
The Exercise
According to Zac, before the filming of Baywatch, he trained for 10 weeks, five to six days a week, and sometimes even twice a day.
Zac’s trainer, Patrick Murphy, even put the workouts online that he used with both Zac Efron and Alexandra Daddario for the film. And yes, you can buy the workout plan, but it ain’t cheap. The main feature of Murphy’s workout plan is the concept of supersetting – doing two exercises back-to-back with no rest in between. Excuse me, but I like my water breaks.
Apparently this worked for Zac, as demonstrated in his shirtless glory during the film. Though Zac had to look like a lifeguard, he also had to act and move like one too, so the fitness regimen even incorporated some Ninja Warrior routines into it – here’s hoping Zac decides to try out for the next season of American Ninja Warrior.
The Diet
We’ve all heard that a healthy and fit body is made 80 percent in the kitchen, and 20 percent in the gym. Zac and his trainers took that into consideration when prepping him for the role in this film, and started him on a strict diet to match his insane fitness regimen.
Zac stuck to a strict low-sugar, low-carb diet in order to help him get the shredded look (even going nine days with no sugar and no carbs at all), and not just bulk up with the deadly combo of fat and muscle. He said to Self Magazine in the fall that he even began to stop craving junk food, and looking forward to all his healthy meals – even kale!
Some of the go-to options of Zac’s diet included lean white meat such as chicken and tuna, low-sugar fruits like strawberries and blueberries, whole grains, lots of veggies, and eliminating processed and high-sugar foods as well as sugar-y drinks.
In addition, Murphy introduced the concept of intermittent fasting, in which you pick an eight-hour period of the day, and only eat during that period. This helps to curb desire to eat throughout the entire day and to concentrate meals during the most active parts of your day.
Do you have what it takes to get Zac’s Baewatch bod?
Zac Efron was clearly dedicated to the cause, and because of that, we get to watch our childhood crush become a total babe in Baywatch. It seems like a lot of work to get as shredded as he was on screen, but then again, with The Rock motivating him, I’m sure there were some incentives.
Although it sounds like an achievable goal, I’m sure that if I wanted to follow Zac Efron’s diet and exercise plan it would be more difficult than I think. I’d probably fall a little short in the ab department and I think the temptations of my internship’s drawer of M&M’s would be too hard for me to resist right now – but maybe in the fall I’ll see just how far I make it.