Henry Cavill Workout Routine And Diet For Superman

March 25, 2021 | 575 Comments


Man of steel workout routine

Well ladies and gentlemen, it looks like Henry Cavill has done it again.

After getting absolutely shredded for his role in Immortals, Henry Cavill has taken it upon himself to bulk up for the titular role as Superman in 2013’s Man of Steel.

And if you’ve seen any of the recent behind the scene photos, then you’ll definitely notice that Henry Cavill has succeeded in packing on a substantial amount of muscle.

I laid down a detailed overview of the Henry Cavill’s training and diet to help you look like Superman.

Train in all rep ranges to get ripped like Henry Cavill

henry cavill superman workout

In order to properly portray Superman, Henry Cavill needed to look both big and strong. And the best way to accomplish this is by lifting in both low, mid, and high rep ranges. When most guys train, they typically either train really really heavy or really really light.

They either lift exclusively in the 3-6 rep range or in the 10-12 rep range.

While lower rep ranges (3-6 reps) are good for increasing your strength levels, they aren’t the best for muscular hypertrophy.

On the other hand, higher rep ranges (10-12 reps) are good for increasing fluid in the muscle which will quickly increase the muscle’s size but it doesn’t necessarily translate to strength gains. To build the best overall physique, you need to incorporate all rep ranges.

As you can see in the pic above, Henry Cavill definitely got ripped for Man of Steel. He has excellent muscular density and body proportions. I can’t stress the importance of body proportions enough when it comes to building muscle.

Henry Cavill has a very “shoulder centric” look to his body meaning he has very broad shoulders and a very tight, lean waist. All guys should aim for this look if they want to look like Henry Cavil.

How to do the Henry Cavill workout

For the Henry Cavill Superman workout, your workout should be spread over 4 days. Ideally, you should be on a 2 day on-1 day off cycle. Or if you can’t swing that, you can do an every other day cycle

Monday (Upper body, strength)

  • Incline dumbbell press – 4 sets/5 reps
  • Flat dumbbell press – 4 sets/5 reps
  • Weighted pull ups – 4 sets/5 reps
  • Dumbbell or barbell row – 4 sets/5 reps

Tuesday (Lower body, strength)

  • Deadlift – 5 sets/ 5 reps
  • Front squat – 5 sets/6-8 reps
  • Front lunges – 4 sets/8 reps per leg
  • Calf raise – 5 sets/12 reps

Wed (Rest) 

Rest day.

Take it easy.

Thrus (Chest and Back, hypertrophy)

  • Incline dumbbell press – 4 sets/8-10 reps
  • Cable crossover – 4 sets/10-12 reps
  • Weighted chin ups – 4 sets/8-10 reps
  • Seated cable row – 4 sets/10-12 reps

Friday (Shoulders and arms, hypertrophy)

  • Seated dumbbell press – 5 sets/8-10 reps
  • Side lateral raise – 5 sets/10-12 reps
  • Front Lateral raises – 5 sets/10-12 reps
  • Any bicep curl variation – 6 sets/10-12 reps
  • Any tricep extension variation – 6 sets/10-12 reps

Saturday and Sunday (Rest)

Note: You can do some soft tissue work (with foam roller or lacrosse ball), some dynamic stretching, and even some walking but don’t do any high intensity activities.

Henry Cavill diet – don’t screw this up!

henry cavill diet

I’m on 5,000 calories a day. You’ve got to eat protein first, then a little bit of carbs … you’ve gotta keep your hunger levels going.

While the sample Henry Cavill workout above will help you gain muscle like a mother*ucker, it will only work if your diet is on point.

According to various interviews, Henry ate up to 5000 calories per day in order to bulk up for Superman.

I don’t know if this number is over exaggerated but the majority of people will never need 5000 calories per day, even if your goal is to gain weight.

For most people, the following formula tends to work pretty well: Your bodyweight in pounds x 16-18 kcals.

You can adjust up or down by 100-200 calories if you start to gain more fat than muscle.

As for what kinds of foods you should eat…I don’t particularly care.

  • Aim to get about 0.8-1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight.
  • Aim to get 20% of your calories from fat.
  • Fill in the rest of your calories with carbs.

You can still eat your favorite foods, but just remember – moderation! You should try to eat more whole foods 80% of the time, meaning foods like potatoes, beef, chicken, pork, whole milk, rice, pasta, fruits, and vegetables.

But if you have a craving for doughnuts or pizza then don’t deprive yourself either, just don’t binge on that shit.

Do you need to take supplements?

I typically don’t recommend supplements because all you need t build a badass body like Henry Cavill in Superman is a solid workout program and good nutrition. But that’s not to say supplements are useless.

If you’re having trouble getting enough protein, then a protein powder may help.

Other than that, a multivitamin is useful to cover potential mineral deficiencies.

And some fish oil is useful to combat inflammation and balance out the Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio that is so common in Western diets.

Recommended supplement brands:

  1. ON Whey (protein powder)
  2. Garden Of Life Multivitamin for men (multivitamin) 
  3. Nutrigold fish oil (fish oil)

Update (6/14): What if I’m not trying to gain muscle?

I understand everyone has different goals and not everyone is trying to gain muscle. A lot of guys are complete beginners and want to lose weight.

Here’s how to modify the workout and diet above if you’re trying to lose weight and not gain muscle:

  • Do the same workout but the each workout but on Monday do 1 less set for each exercise.
  • On Tuesday, do 1 less set for each exercise except calf raises (still do 5 sets). On Thursday, do 1 less set for each exercise.
  • On Friday, do 1 less set for each exercise, except for the bicep and triceps exercises (only do 4 sets each instead of 6)
  • For you diet, the only thing that changes are your calorie requirements.
  • Use the following formula:Your bodyweight in pounds x 16-18.
  • If you’re a complete beginner, chances are you’ll gain muscle and lose fat (the newbie effect) which is awesome even if you’re in a calorie deficit.

Henry Cavil Workout: Want the exact blueprint to build a “Superman” worthy body?

Look I know a lot of guys who aspire to look like Cavill struggle with losing weight and building muscle.

You’re probably one of them.

So I took everything I know and created a program called Superhero X12 designed specifically for guys who want to get ripped and build a Hollywood “superhero” body.

If you ever wanted the lean, aesthetic physique of a Hollywood actor, be sure to check it out. If you have any questions on the Henry Cavill Man of Steel workout, be sure to leave them below.

575 Comments - Leave Your Thoughts

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  1. I’ve spent about 8-10 months on the stronglifts routine in order to build up strength, good form and body mass as I was mildly skinny-fat. From virtually zero strength I can now lift 110 kg on squat, 100 kg on deadlift, 80 kg on bent over rows, 57.5 kg on overhhead press and 80 kg bench. Once I can squat 120-130 kg and deadlift 120 kg, I want to revert to this Cavill routine to build a better looking physique. Any advice on how to transition effectively?

  2. I’m sort of stuck in an awkward stage with my body. Im about 175 lbs, 15 to 17% body fat, 5’11. I have a farely muscular upper body. My pecs are pretty developed and I have big traps, giving me the illusion that I’m bigger then I am. But I have this layer of fat around my midsection that makes me wonder if I’m considered somewhat skinny fat. And I’m not quite sure weather I should try and do a slow bulk or cut . My ultimate goal is to build a physique much like Henry Cavil.

    1. if you want to build up your abs a bit or lack development in that area, feel free to add in some hanging leg raises or dragonflyes.

    1. Nevermind. Looked through comments and someone already asked you this.

      He said about 2 minutes if anyone else were wondering.

      Cheers 🙂

  3. I was wondering how many times a day you should eat and when?

    I am currently following a diet which basically consists of eating 20-30grams of protein every other hour. That means eating 6-7 times a day provided that you are awake for about 14 hours.

    The whole point of the diet is to stimulate the Proteinsynthesis during the whole day rather than trying to get all protein needed for the entire day in one or two meals. Because your body can only work with so much at a time.

    Following this diet, you would eat (provided you are thinking of hiting the gym later at day):
    – Breakfast (bread, eggwhite, ham, musli)
    – Meal in between (the 20-30grams of protein)
    – Lunch (about 4 hours before workout with more carbs than usual, meaning more pasta, rice etc.)
    – Meal before workout (about 30-60minutes before working out. Like breakfastfood but less)
    – Meal directly after workout (20-30grams protein and 20-40grams carbs until you get home for dinner. Like a gainomax and a banana or whey protein shake)
    – Dinner (Like lunch I guess, not sure about this one)
    – Another 20-30grams protein before bed

    The reason I post my diet is because I want an experts opinion on it and you seem to know what youre talking about :D. Ive only been following this diet for about a week now so I cant really tell if it is working.

    Sorry for the long post and Id really appreciate an answer! 🙂 thanks for the article btw was a good read.

    1. meal frequency is irrelevant. You can eat 6 meals per day or 1 meal per day, it doesn’t matter as long as you hit your calorie/macronutritent goals.

  4. Was wondering how many calories i should be taking in if my weekly routine is as follows..
    keep in mind that this is week one as the weeks progress throughout the month i increase the rep range and drop the weights. i end up at 4×15 by week 3 and then week 4 i drop down to 4×4-6. Then its rinse and repeat.
    Day 1
    Bench Press 4×8 + 1rtf
    Incline Barbell Press 4×8
    Leg Press 4×8
    Barbell Shoulder Shrugs 4×8
    Triceps Push-down 3×10
    Cardio 20 Min (HIIT)

    Day 2
    Lat Pulldowns Wide grip 4×8
    Lat Pulldowns close grip 4×8
    Low Rows 4×8
    Deadlifts 1×8
    Dumbell curls 4×8
    Barbell Curls 4×8
    Cardio 20 Min (HIIT)

    Day 3
    Sleep 1x8hours

    Day 4
    Military Press 4×8
    Dumbbell shoulder-press 4×8
    Upright Rows 4×8
    Barbell Shoulder Shrugs 4×8 w/g
    Barbell Shoulder Shrugs 4×8 c/g
    Dumbbell Shrugs 4×8

    Day 5
    Leg Press 4×8
    1 Leg Press 4×8
    Dead Lift 1×8
    Leg Curls 4×8
    Leg Extension 4×8
    Abs Crunch Machine 4×15

    Saturday and Sunday OFFDAYS

  5. When people ask me who my trainer is I’m just going to say “some writer named Keith on FitMole!” haha I just started this workout and it’s definitely working my body a differently and I’m loving it so Far! Keep it up man!

  6. I am 18, 5’10”, and 130lbs. As you might guess I am pretty lean and of course I am pretty small. I have calculated my should-be calorie intake to be roughly 2050 ( though that seems low being that I eat four full blown meals a day (one of those being about 1lb. of Mean Pig BBQ pork covered in 8oz. of beans and hot sauce( that stuff is so good!)) but I was wondering how many calories I should consume in order to hit (eventually) 150lbs, also I would like to know what kinds of food I should eat and (even if occasionally acceptable) which ones I should avoid. For example I’ve heard potatoes digest quickly leading to fat gains. I don’t know much about gaining weight, so I suppose that presents my real problem. I was also wondering about adding a Sunday hypertrophy workout for legs. I appreciate your knowledge and thank you for the effort you put into answering all of your followers questions. I am looking forward to an answer.

  7. I was just curious, for the exercises that require heavy weight for 5 reps. Is that 3 or 4 sets at 5 reps going up in weight each set?

  8. What is the difference between this workout and the Daniel Craig Skyfall workout? Is one more focused on mass while the other is better for cutting? What would you recommend for someone who is trying to build mass but maintain a six pack? As well as improve athletic performance? Thank you in advance, and I am a big fan of these workouts!

  9. I’m a sheet metal worker and most of my day is heavy lifting. I’m on a strict budget so I don’t really have the money or time to hit the gym. Are there any home workout regimens you could suggest or email me about? I’m 22, 6’0″ and about 150 lbs. I’m looking to put on around 30 lbs and I’d also like to rip it up a little. I have a goal just no idea how to go about it.

    1. I know you lift heavy stuff in your job but that isn’t really the same as lifting weights since there’s no sense of progression or structure. I would suggest investing in at least a pair of heavy dumbbells, an adjustable bench and a pull up bar.

  10. I’m just wondering what my weight should start off looking like. I have recently turned 20 pounds of fat. How do I determine how much weight to use for these workouts. ThAnks for your time.

  11. Can this routine be used to drop some body fat and build a decent physique? I’m about 20-25 pounds overweight and I’m looking to slim down and get stronger.

  12. Hi Keith,

    I’m just upgrading from your awesome Ryan Reynolds beginner workout, to this one – but I have a question. Is it better just have the same calorific intake on all 7 days of the week – or should I eat even more than the 18 x Body in pounds on workout days – say 200/300 more?

    Many Thanks
    Russell (167 pounds. 13% bodyfat. 75% Awesome)

    (Ps you have fans in England!)

    1. diet remains the same. But if you’re transition from the blade routine, I’d recommend bumping volume up a bit on the cavill routine.

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