Luke Zocchi tells us what it’s like to train a superhero Luke Zocchi tells us what it’s like to train a superhero
Luke Zocchi
21 Jan 2019
Centr trainer Luke Zocchi is known for many things — like his hilarious Instagram cooking tutorials — but if there’s one name that’s forever linked to his, it’s Chris Hemsworth.
Luke is the trainer responsible for getting Chris’s “Thor body” in shape, and he’s also worked with actors like Cate Blanchett and Liam Hemsworth.
If you’ve tried any of Luke’s Centr workouts, you’ll know his 20-minute HIIT HIRT Strength sessions are seriously effective – and nobody knows that better than Thor himself. Luke has been working with Chris over the course of a dozen movies so far, and the team show no signs of slowing down.
I got the lucky job of training Chris obviously, and I haven't looked back.
Luke and Chris are old mates, and that means training The God of Thunder doesn’t always go according to plan. “We know each other pretty well, so there would be times that I’d come into the gym and say, ‘Alright, we are going to do this, we are going to do ten pull-ups and 20 push-ups'. And he'd be like, ‘Yeah, I don't really feel like doing that'. And I was like, ‘What do I do now?’” Luke laughs.
Quickly, Luke worked out that the best way to train Chris to superhero standard was to forget about shouting orders at him from across the gym and simply do the workout himself. “Because he is so competitive, I'll go do my pull-ups, my push-ups, and next minute he's behind me doing more than me,” Luke says. “He is very competitive and that is how I kind of trick him into doing things.”
When they’re not turning Chris into a Norse god, Luke adjusts their training program to suit the role. This might mean upping the cardio, shredding for his Furiosa transformation, or introducing boxing-style workouts (with Luke sometimes receiving an accidental kick in the face during a sparring session).
While Luke is always the first to admit that there’s only one God of Thunder – “If I could have arms like Chris Hemsworth, I would have arms like Chris Hemsworth!” – there’s plenty we can learn from his superhero training routines.
“I got the lucky job of training Chris obviously, and I haven't looked back. I have been on the road with him for years noe,” Luke says. “There is that old saying of 'you become the people you hang around with'. And I really believe that, with Chris and our crew, everyone is in such a positive mindset and it is just a great team to be a part of.”
