Wolverine or not, here’s how Taron Egerton built that impressive physique

Earlier this year, my colleague branded Taron Egerton a thirst trap, and he wasn’t wrong. Whether or not he’s preparing to play Wolverine remains to be seen (here's everything you need to know about those casting rumors), but there’s no doubt about it — Egerton is in fantastic shape right now. But how exactly has the Rocketman star built his impressive physique? 

As a fitness editor, I spend my days researching the best running shoes for my readers to buy, or the best ab workouts to get results, but following Egerton’s recent Instagram story, which featured the actor dancing in a towel to the Bee Gees hit "More Than a Woman", as a matter of urgency, I decided to stop what I was doing, and research his workout routine. I know, it’s a hard job, but someone has to do it. 

Egerton hasn’t said much about his time in the gym, but we do know that he started training with trainer Dalton Wong for his role in the Kingsman 2 movie, and that the two continued to train together for years afterward. As Egerton is still following Wong on Instagram, we can jump to the assumption that the two are still in touch, although Egerton has been tagging trainer, Russell Lee in some of his recent workout videos. In an interview with Men’s Journal, Wong revealed some of the moves he gave Egerton to help him get in shape. 

How did Taron Egerton build his body? 

Talking to Men’s Journal, Wong explained that Egerton’s fitness routine was a daily mix of multi-disciplinary strength, cardio, and flexibility workouts. “Flexibility is just as important as strength. During pre-production, it was all about lifting and strength training. But during production, it was all about maintenance and recovery. We needed to make sure his body was structurally sound” he said. 

Wong’s favorite exercise in training? Varied chin-ups. “We focused a lot on body weight training, doing different types of chin-ups to define his back, using grips of varying size. People at home can wrap a towel around their bar to imitate a fat grip. For chin-ups, most people’s limiting factor is not their back, it’s their grip strength.”

Wong also revealed that Egerton’s diet focused on balance, rather than cutting, “I don’t believe in omitting anything” Wong said. During training, Egerton would eat carbs, proteins, and fats to help him build his shape. When he was filming, Egerton’s carbs and proteins were reduced in order to reduce the inflammation in his body.

One reason why Egerton’s arms are in such great shape? He hates leg day, reveals Wong. “I had to add arms on our leg days. Everyone likes to do arms after all,” he said.

Want to work out like Egerton? Read on to find out how to master a chin-up. 

How to do a chin-up 

Similar to a pull-up, a chin-up is slightly different as you grip the bar with your palms facing towards your body; as a result, a chin-up targets the muscles along the front of your body, such as your biceps and chest. 

To do a chin-up, grab the bar with both hands, keeping your palms facing towards your body, and your hands shoulder-width apart (if you can’t reach the bar from the ground, you’ll want to step up on a box or block for your first go, rather than jumping up to the bar). Then, pull yourself upwards until your chin is above the bar. Pause for a few seconds at the top, with your elbows fully bent, before lowering yourself back down to your starting position, with your arms outstretched. Be sure to lower down with control, rather than falling. 

If you're a beginner, here's how to build up to your first chin-up:

If you're looking for other superhero-styled exercises, check out Chris Hemsworth's workout for arms like Thor and Ryan Renyolds’ Deadpool 2 ab workout. We also tried Tom Holland's Spider-Man workout — and failed. If you're a mere mortal, take a look at the best arm workouts with dumbbells.