Chris Pratt Workout & Diet: Get Shredded Like Star Lord!

I’ve had a lot of guys ask me about the “Chris Pratt Workout,” lately…and it isn’t hard to see why. It’s one of the best workouts for men out there.

In just a short time span, he went from being at least 18% bodyfat and 25 pounds overweight, to being around 10% bodyfat with his abs showing. This is a pretty impressive transformation.

And while technically nobody knows what Chris Pratt did to prepare for his Guardians of the Galaxy role, aside from his personal trainer, it still isn’t that hard to guess if you’ve been involved in the fitness industry for a while.

Chris Pratt’s physique is toned and lean—a nice, muscular swimmer’s build, but not overly bulky. A lot of guys want a physique like this, and today, I’m going to break down how I think Mr. Pratt attained his.

Chris Pratt’s Workout & Training

Before I get into Chris Pratt’s training and workout routine, I want to discuss the principles behind it. As with anything, following principles is a lot more important than following “techniques.” The former are guidelines and frameworks, whereas the latter are simple “tricks” and “hacks.”

Chris Pratt’s workout is likely built around a few key compound lifts, with an emphasis on auxiliary lifts and hypertrophy exercises for his arms and back, in addition to a lot of ab work.

It’s fairly similar to Starting Strength, but with more of an emphasis on hypertrophy training. Not as much as the PHAT workout, though.

Routine Exercises

To get that nice wide superhero back and abs that Chris Pratt has in Guardians of the galaxy, your sets and reps must be on point.

Exercise is critical to get Chris Pratt’s physique, but doing the right exercises is even more important than just blindly doing some new fad routine.

Chris Pratt’s Workout Exercises

• Barbell Squat
• Deadlifts
• Flat dumbbell bench press
• Dumbbell Shoulder Press
• EZ-Bar Curl
• Lateral raise
• Push ups
• Dumbbell Row

I’d say that most of these exercises are probably in the 10-12 reps range, with the auxiliary exercises being in the 15-20 reps range.

Chris Pratt’s physique is indicative of a hypertrophy workout, which is known for creating muscle size as opposed to muscle density.

These exercises, in addition to a high-repetition focused ab routine, will get you the Chris Pratt physique. As for his diet, I’d say that during this transformation he was at least 10% below maintenance, maybe even 15%.

The Chris Pratt Workout

In my opinion, Chris Pratt probably works out 3 days a week, in addition to some cardio and ab work to get that Adonis belt that every guy wants.

Any more than this, and he would be far bulkier than he is in these pictures. We’re not aiming for bulk here, we want a lean physique.

For the Chris Pratt’s workout program, we’re going to have two days: Day A and Day B, similar to Starting Strength. You rest one day in between each of these, and alternate them each week. I will discuss the ab work and cardio work later.

Day A

• Barbell Squat (3 Sets x 8 Reps)
• Flat Dumbbell Bench Press (3 Sets x 12 Reps)
• EZ-Bar Curl (3 Sets x 12 Reps)
• Lateral Raise (3 Sets x 15 Reps)

Day B

• Deadlift (3 Sets x 8 Reps)
• Dumbbell Shoulder Press (3 Sets x 12 Reps)
• Dumbbell Row (3 Sets x 12 Reps)
• Push Ups (2 Sets x 30 Reps)

The barbell squats are a great, total body exercise, but there’s not so many of them so as to make your legs bulky. The flat dumbbell bench press focuses on your pecs, and is one of the best chest exercises out there.

The EZ-Bar curl works your biceps, and the lateral raise works your middle deltoids. For Day B, the deadlift is great total body exercise, with an emphasis on your hamstrings and lower back.

The dumbbell shoulder press will work all 3 heads of your deltoid muscle, and it will work both arms evenly. The dumbbell rows work your lats, and the push ups work your pecs with an emphasis on your triceps.

Notice how the workout’s exercises are mainly higher repetitions—nothing below 8, and most are 12. This is crucial.

Less than 8 is almost entirely strength, whereas 12 repetitions is focused on a good bit of strength, with a large focus on hypertrophy.

This is why Chris Pratt’s workout routine has you doing 12 reps for almost everything, except the barbell squat, lateral raises, deadlifts, and push ups.

The barbell squats are an exception, because you don’t want your legs to get too bulky. Lateral raises work best with lower weights, deadlifts work best with higher weights, and the push ups aren’t weighted, so more repetitions is required.

Chris Pratt Diet Guidelines

This is a pretty radical transformation, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Chris Pratt went on some form of the paleo diet, or ketosis. He was definitely not on a dirty bulk, and at the very least, he ate at around 10-15% below maintenance.

Most of his diet likely consisted of a ton of vegetables. Leafy greens, broccoli, kale, cauliflower, spinach, carrots, tomatoes, and more. These are voluminous and fill you up quickly, so you won’t experience too many hunger pangs.

If you want to get a body like Chris Pratt, you should also avoid some of the worst testosterone killing foods out there. You want your testosterone levels to be high, so you can build more muscle.

Chris Pratt’s Macros & Diet

He likely aimed to have 150 grams of protein per day—most of which probably came from lean meats, like chicken breast, pork loin, and 90% lean beef. This is important, because building muscle isn’t possible with anything less (at his height and weight).

He probably threw in a small amount of carbohydrates, maybe 100 grams post workout, but not much more.

He probably got most of his carbohydrates from complex sources, such as sweet potatoes, whole grains, quinoa, or butternut squash, which are some of the best bodybuilding foods on the market.

Worst Foods to Avoid

• Candy
• Donuts
• Cake
• Sodas (even diet)
• Potato chips
• Anything “junk,” that’s in a can, bag, or box

Oh, and one more thing—I’m pretty sure that he did intermittent fasting, too. He got down to a pretty lean bodyfat percentage, and although intermittent fasting isn’t necessary to do so, it certainly helps a whole lot.

Does Chris Pratt Do Cardio?

If you’re doing Chris Pratt’s training and workout routine, I recommend that you pair it with high intensity interval training twice a week.

The reason for this is that it’ll drastically help you shred fat faster, in addition to encouraging muscle gain and a healthy hormonal profile.

I recommend you do high intensity interval training (HIIT) on your off days, but time it so that you don’t work out 5 days in a row.

The goal of doing this HIIT is to give your legs more of a workout—since the Chris Pratt routine doesn’t call for bulky legs, it only has one day of squats and deadlifts, with zero other leg exercises.

This is where the HIIT will come in.

I recommend you start off by walking 2 minutes, then sprint for 30 seconds. Rest for 1:30, and then sprint again for 30 seconds.

Repeat this for 6-8 cycles. If you can’t do that many cycles at first, don’t sweat it. Just do as many as you can.

How Chris Pratt Gets His Abs

As you can see from this slightly gay picture, Chris Pratt is probably around 10% bodyfat. This means that the majority of getting his abs to show will be from diet, but it’s also important to do some ab exercises.

If you want to get six pack abs like like Star Lord here, I recommend that you follow a high-repetition based abdominal workout routine, and do it twice a week.

Chris Pratt’s Ab Workout

Something like this would work just fine:

• Sit Ups (3 Sets x 20 Reps)
• Bent Leg Raises (3 Sets x 15 Reps)
• Bicycle Crunches (2 Sets x 30 Reps)
• Exercise Ball Crunches (2 Sets x 20 Reps)

I recommend that you do this ab routine after your Day A or B workouts, so putting it altogether, it might look something like this:

• Monday: Day A, Abs
• Tuesday: HIIT
• Wednesday: Day B
• Thursday: Rest
• Friday: Day A, Abs
• Saturday: HIIT
• Sunday: Rest

Do you see how Chris Pratt’s training and workout routine is spaced out, so that you don’t workout too many days in a row?

This is crucial, because working out 5 days in a row is FAR too much. The absolute MOST that you want to workout is three days in a row.

Your body needs to rest. Don’t get me wrong—you should still train like an absolute animal and push yourself in the gym. But, as the old saying goes, gains are made when you’re recovering, not when you’re lifting.

Want A Full Bodybuilding Blueprint?

In summary, you’ll probably have to get below 12% bodyfat, and put on a few pounds of muscle before you look like Chris Pratt from Guardians of the Galaxy.

But, if you put in the work, spend the time to sculpt your physique, and follow my advice… it shouldn’t take too long at all.

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