Alan Ritchson, at present probably best known for playing Hawk on DC's Titans, is about to step into one of the most iconic action roles of the last 20 years: he will play ex-military nomad Jack Reacher in the Amazon Prime Video series Reacher, beginning on February 4.
The hero of bestselling author Lee Child's phenomenally popular book series, Jack Reacher has been a highly sought-after role in Hollyood for a while now, having been played in the 2012 movie and its 2016 sequel by Tom Cruise (The Rock was also reportedly up for the role). Once Ritchson landed the gig, the 39-year-old actor committed himself to looking the part—and that meant being jacked enough to play Jack.
Ritchon showed off his absolutely stacked physique in a recent Instagram post, where he also spoke about his own experiences of building muscle. His methods won't work for everyone, but they speak to the challenges of building muscle.
"Move something that fatigues your body and heart most days of the week," he wrote, adding that strength training and hypertrophy are not the same thing: "Usually they compliment each other. High weight low reps (think - 4-6) will increase strength. Some growth in size (hypertrophy) will occur. But not as fast as if you did lower weight and higher reps (think - you can’t do more reps than 15-25 each set for 4 sets). Body weight exercise like push-ups, pull-ups and dips can add plenty of size if you don’t have access to a gym. All you really need is you and the discipline to push."
He went on to acknowledge that it can be a lengthy process, but that putting the work in now will be worth it eventually. "Just be patient and do the things today the you ten years from now needed you to do," he said. "Don’t expect the you two months from now to be the you you want to be in ten years."
