Alright so let’s cut to the chase:
Chris Evans is Captain America.
He has what a lot of men (and women) believe is the ideal male physique.
Not too skinny, not overly muscular, just right.
Chris Evans plays a fantastic Captain America and part of the reason he does such a great job is because of his physique.
Would you believe Chris Evan’s portrayal is he was a scrawny 150 pound weakling?
Don’t think so.
At 6 feet tall, Chris Evans probably weighs in around 180 at approx. 10% body fat.
This is just an estimate since he never officially stated his weight and all I have to go by are his pictures.
So how do you build superhero levels of muscle like Chris Evans?
Well before I show you how to tackle the Chris Evans workout routine, there are a few critical “laws” you need to understand:
Superhero Law #1: To be Captain America, you must be lean
Like I said before, he is likely around 10-12% body fat.
So it doesn’t matter if you have a lot of muscle…if you don’t lose the fat, it’s not very impressive.
If you’re a skinny guy, go on a bulk and focus on building muscle then lose the fat.
If you’re on the heavier side, lose the fat first then build focus on building muscle.
In this interview Evans stated that he trained almost every day for hours at a time.
But don’t worry, you don’t have to put yourself through this since most celebrities tend to go to extremes when it comes to training. I’m going to show you a way to workout below that doesn’t require more than 4 hours per week.
[thrive_text_block color=”note” headline=”Getting to 10% body fat is not as hard as you probably think it is”]Despite what most guys think, getting to 10-12% isn’t as lean as you probably think. Most fitness models sit in at the low single digit body fat, so 10-12% is something you can easily maintain year round if you want to.
Now I’m not saying it’s a walk in the park, otherwise every dude out there would look like Evans, but it’s not as impossible as guys think either.
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But with that being said…make sure you follow the next law as well.
Superhero Law #2: You must build your base (of muscle)
As important as being lean is, it’s not everything.
I can’t tell you how many emails I get from 14-20 year olds asking me how to get ripped when they haven’t even built a up a decent amount of muscle.
I get these 16 year olds who are still in puberty asking me how they can look like Chris Evans in 3 months.
Absolute craziness.
Here’s the real dirty truth:
You will not like Chris Evans or build a respectable physique until you build a solid base of muscle.
By “base” I mean a strong foundation of muscle.
If you just focus on losing fat and have no muscle, then you’ll have nothing underneath all that fat to show for it.
You’ll just end up looking like a smaller version of yourself.
In fact, it will likely take you a few years before you even look anything like Chris Evans.
As as beginner, you can typically gain up to 25 pounds of lean muscle in your first year of training.
Only after then should you decide to start cutting some fat.
Superhero Law #3: Proportions are king
Chris Evans’s workout focuses a lot on building the elusive V-taper where your back tapers down into your waist in a ‘V’ shape. This is the most physically impressive shape that a man can achieve.
Plus, women love men with wide shoulders and a lean waist.
The problem a lot of guys who lift have is that they fall for the hardcore bodybuilder/powerlifter scene where everything must be about squats and deadlifts.
While I have nothing against these movements, if you put all your energy into something like squats, all that’s going to lead to is a large lower body and giant ass.
I’m definitely not saying you should skip leg day, but if you want to exude the power of a true superhero physique you need to put a heavy focus on body parts that give the most visual impact (i.e. your shoulders).

The centuries old “golden ratio” has shown that men with shoulders that are 1.61x larger than their waist to be most attractive.
I cover more about it in this article here.
Chris Evans workout to build a “Captain America” physique
Note: This is primarily a workout to gain muscle (which should be your primary goal if you want a superhero body). If fat loss is your goal, then focus on losing fat first before doing this workout.
Monday – Back
- Weighted pull ups: 4 sets of 4-6 reps
- 1-arm dumbbell row: 2 sets of 4-6 reps
- Seated cable row (preferably with wide-grip): 3 sets of 6-8 reps
- Lat pull down – 3 sets of 8-10 reps
- Cable crunches – 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps
Tuesday – Chest
- Incline press: 4 sets of 4-6 reps
- Dumbbell bench press: 3 sets of 8 reps
- Cable crossover – 2 sets of 10-12 reps
- Face pulls- 3-4 sets of 8-10 reps
Wednesday – Rest
- Rest. Stretch. Do some soft tissue work. Optional cardio (see below).
Thursday – Lower body
- Deadlift – 3 sets of 4-6 reps
- Lunges – 2 sets of 6-8 reps per leg
- Leg press – 3 sets of 10-12 reps
- Calf raise (seated or standing) – 5 sets of 10-15 reps
- Hyperextension – 3 sets of 10-12 reps
- Cable woodchoppers – 3 sets of 10-15 reps per side
Friday – Upper body
- Seated dumbbell press – 3 sets of 6-8 reps
- Weighted pull-ups – 3 x 6-8 reps
- Cable crossover – 3 sets of 10-12 reps
- Side delt raises – 3 sets of 10-12 reps
- Rear delt raises – 2 sets of 10-12 reps
- Barbell curl – 3-4 sets of 8-10 reps
- Overhead tricep rope extensions – 3-4 sets of 8-10 reps
Saturday – rest
- Rest. Stretch. Do some soft tissue work. Optional cardio (see below).
Sunday – rest
- Rest. Stretch. Do some soft tissue work. Optional cardio (see below).
Chris Evans Diet: Eating for an Avengers physique
Since your main focus is to gain muscle, you need to consume more calories…500 over your maintenance amount (which comes out to 16-18x your bodyweight in pounds).
If your goal is fat loss, then I like to start at a daily calorie intake of 10-12x your bodyweight in pounds.
This is a good baseline but you may need to adjust up or down depending on how your body responds.
You also need more protein…aim for a 0.8 grams per pound of bodyweight, minimum.
Also be sure to cover your bases…meaning take a multivitamin to make sure you’re not deficient in nutrients and take some fish oil for overall health.
Nothing complicated.
Just make sure you get enough calories, protein, and don’t stuff your face with nothing but doughnuts and beer.
If you want a more detailed guide on how to setup your diet, be sure to check out this 7-step guide on creating your perfect lifestyle diet.
The EXACT Blueprint to help you get a body like Chris Evans
Like I said before, getting a body like Chris Evans (Captain America) isn’t just about being lean.
It’s also making sure you have a sufficient amount of muscle underneath and making sure your body proportions are in check.
Evans has a perfectly lean, muscular, and athletic body.
My full course, Superhero X12 was designed with exactly this in mind.
Not only will it help you lose fat and build muscle, but it will help you build near superhuman levels of strength.
I’ve personally used the program to work up to a 140 pound weighted chin up for 5 reps.
And not only did it help me transform my own body but it has helped countless others including Donald and Jacob below.


As always guys, I’m here to help so drop any comments or questions you have on Chris Evans’ workout and how you can build a body like him in the section below.
“Take fish oil for overall health” what?? I’m not sure what gyms you’ve been to but don’t see most guys doing squats and dead lifts and not enough upper body. In fact, it’s the complete opposite. Also adding pounds to the lower body helps build a larger upper body more naturally. Squats can also increase production of anabolic hormones, as well as dead lifts. Working out the larger muscles is what actually helps increase testosterone. Also all these young kids close to their 20s already have a huge advantage, bigger than your God Chris Evans. They have very high testosterone levels already and can actually put weight on and build more muscle mass faster than Chris Evans. Your comment about it taking “a few years to look like Chris Evans” is really off, unless you’re specifically talking about dudes overweight. Some of your info is good but honestly some of it just wrong. I’ve been training all my life and have a bachelor’s degree in physical education and I’m half way to another bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. I’m not here to be a dick but just honest. I’m not sure if you were just trying to simplify things because I guess most of your info is OK for beginners but at the same time it can point them in the wrong direction too. There’s better stuff than fish oil, these days, for overall health.
Well you seem a bit angry, buddy.
Let me clarify my points:
– “Take fish oil for overall health.” Yes a very generalized statement. Most people would benefit with supplementing with fish oil to help counteract the abnormally large amount of Omega6s most people get. Then again this isn’t what’s going to make or break anything for most guys.
– “Also adding pounds to the lower body helps build a larger upper body more naturally.” Not true. If you’re getting stronger at squats, that simply doesn’t help you build a bigger chest or bigger arms.
– Your comment about it taking “a few years to look like Chris Evans” is really off…show me a guy who has done it in 3 months from ground zero and I’ll shut up.
– “I’m half way to another bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering”…..what in the name of anything does this have to do with anything.
Christ…..somebody needs to lay off the roids
Ya tell your mom that.
This may sound dumb, but will these workouts also improve strength? I mean, I’m all down to be looking like chris but if it’s all just for show… also what workouts do you recommend for stronger forearms?
Any workout that has you progressing increases strength.
Hello keith, i really like this routine i just have two questions, can i replace lunges with back squats? I’ll still do two sets of 6-8 reps of course, i love squatting and Giving it up all togheter is hard lol also is it okay to rest 2 minutes When Working in the 6-8 Rep range?
I think i answered you via email.
Why that little bit of sets with some of the exercises just out of curiosity?
What do you mean?
I m 17 YEARS old and have good PHYSIQUÈ and weighting 90kgs WITH 5.9feet height I need training for building PHYSIQUÈ from your good self PLS. Advise
So what’s your Q?
Keith is it really going to take TWO YEARS to look like Chris Evans? Is there any way to speed that up. Two years seems unrealistic to me.
To build up to his level of muscularity? Yes, years.
But my best advice is to not focus on wanting to look like him. Focus on improving yourself and be grateful for any small improvements you get over time.
I follow reverse pyramid weight lifting. So in chris evans workout for barbel curls and other workouts I do less rep with heavy weights and the final sets with more rep and smaller weights. Is my approach right and useful for hypertrophy as intended??
RPT is just one method. I even wrote an article on it here – http://www.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding/reverse-pyramid-training-for-more-gains.html
But the way i outline here on this post with straight sets works as well.
Hi, My names Cameron Parry and I’ve just got a question to ask you about my current workout.
Monday and Thursday – Chest and back
Tuesday and Friday – Shoulders and arms
Wednesday – legs
Saturday – play rugby
Sunday – total rest
Week 1 – 5 reps on the first day and 6 reps on the second day
Week 2 – 7 reps on the first day and 8 reps on the second day
Week 3 – 9 reps on the first day and 10 reps on the second day
Week 4 – 11 reps on the first day and 12 reps on the second day
After reaching 12 reps, I would go back to doing 5 reps again but 5kg would be added to the bar/machine and then the cycle would begin again leading up to me lifting 5kg more each month. I was just wondering if you believe this workout will work get me stronger each month of not.
Cheers
Sorry this is too vague for me to answer. Not sure what you mean by “5 reps on the first day and 6 reps on the second day.”
If you’re a beginner and training a muscle 2 days in a row, I don’t recommend that.
Basically, on a Monday for chest I would do 5 reps and then Thursday I would do 6 reps, then Monday I would go up to 7, then Thursday to 8 etc until I get to 12 then I would increase the weight and start again. Would this improve my srength
Hi, there. I have a home power rack, but I don’t have cables. What can I exchange for the cable exercises?
For ex, if you can’t do barbell rows, do cable rows.
Hi…. my name is Sumesh & Iam 31 years now. My weight is now 86 n I’m very sad to be like this. I was very athletic before n it’s been more than 2 years since I quit my gym. Mainly due to my busy office schedule, I had to quit going to gym. My height is 164 cm n my weight was 70 KGS earlier. Now whenever I try to do some workouts, I become tired so easily. I become so tired that I actually fell on the ground n it’s like my heart going to pump so fastly or Iam going to die. It happened twice with me. Kindly help to move further n shed some weights n attain good physique.
It’s hard for me to tell u why you collapsed. Could be many reasons, maybe you pushed to hard but to be safe i would see a doctor.
Hi there I am 27 yrs old have been following the late Greg plitts workout routine which is working for and have already seen the result however i cant follow his diet plan for obvious reasons being the hectic office schedule although i am taking BCAA but my plan is not get get bulked at all and so my physique is pretty decent. However losing fat in the lower abdominal area is proving difficult and from what ive heard is that if i hit the cardio it will result in muscle loss too. Is there any way where i can initiate fat loss in the lower ab area.
You can’t target that area, or target any part of the body to lose fat. Focus on your diet if you want to lose fat, and over time it will come off all over your body. FOr guys, the last place to go is the lower abs.
So this workout is full proof. People havr gotten results? Because am going to the gym. Using the machines. Clueless. I need somethint to stick to.
Nothing is ever “full proof.”
It’s fool proof if you stay consistent, get your nutrition in order, eat enough protein, minimize stress, get enough rest, and consistently get stronger.
*fool proof.
Hi Keith, I’m very interested in your program, but when I try to go to the website to look at it, it won’t open. Is the website down or something?
should work now.
Very good article. This Anthony guy is obviously one of those people who know just enough to think they know everything. Electrical engineering and physical education? He trying to be an actual superhero or what? I get his point about working out the lower legs though. It is true that working out your larger muscles (legs) causes you to build muscle everywhere. Obviously, it’s not any where near equal. Mostly just your legs will get bigger, but it does cause hypertrophy in other muscles as well. Plus, I would say if your focus is just to get a great physique, you can’t skip the legs. But you are right, mainly you want to work on your shoulders, back, chest, and lats. Abs and obliques you get through diet, mostly. I know these things, I have a degree in exercise physiology and I have 3/4 of a degree in theater.
Hey… your research is amazing. But don’t you think the intensity of the workout is to less. We are talking about chris Evans here
He’s human, just like you.