Captain Marvel's Brie Larson Worked Out Nearly Every Day For 9 Months—And The Training Sounds So Intense

From Delish

• Brie Larson trained for nine months with trainer Jason Walsh for her role as Carol Danvers in Captain Marvel, which hits theaters Friday, March 8.

• Larson knew she would be doing her own stunts so she wanted to make sure she was strong enough mentally and physically to perform her best.

• Larson’s workouts focused on building total-body strength with resistance bands, medicine balls, and barbells.

Brie Larson has been training really hard for her highly anticipated role as Carol Danvers in Captain Marvel-the first female-led superhero film produced by Marvel-which hits theaters nationwide Friday, March 8.

To get suited up for her action-packed role, Larson teamed up with celebrity trainer Jason Walsh, CSCS, who put her through a rigorous nine-month training plan. In a December 2018 interview with E! News, Larson revealed she spent plenty of time at the gym before she even stepped foot on set.

“A lot of training first came from the fact that I knew I was doing an action movie and I was going to have to do stunts. I didn’t know what that was, but I knew in movies like this it was going to feel like a triathlon-and I wanted to be ready for it,” Larson told E! News. The latest photos of the 29-year-old Academy Award-winning actress at the Captain Marvel premiere red carpet (pictured above) prove her workouts have definitely paid off.

In an interview with Men’s Health, Walsh gave Larson credit where it was due. “Brie worked out five days a week with me pretty much the whole nine months," he said. "She worked her ass off to get into shape for this movie.” Here’s exactly what she did to get insanely fit for the role.

She focused on getting stronger

To help her build superhero strength, Walsh-who recently launched a two-week training app based on Larson’s Captain Marvel workouts-had Larson work with a variety of strength training equipment, including resistance bands, stability balls, and barbells.

Typical moves in her circuits included hip thrusts, medicine ball slams, farmer’s carries, TRX shoulder exercises, squats, deadlifts, pushups, dumbbell rows, and chin-ups. Before she began training, Walsh says Larson couldn’t do an unassisted pull-up. Fast forward nine months and Larson shared this viral video of her crushing the move.

Walsh told The Hollywood Reporter that his workouts with Larson would sometimes last for up to four and a half hours a day (during the most intense moments of her training). The sheer volume of these high-intensity workouts helped Larson build muscle, but it also challenged her mentally-an essential part of gearing up for her role. “I sobbed in the gym many times,” Larson said in a press junket.

We can see why: Throughout her training, Larson chronicled her grueling workouts on Instagram, including a video of her doing 275-pound barbell hip thrusts and pushing a 5,000-pound Jeep with a full tank of gas.

She built rock-solid abs

To build a strong core, Larson did leg lifts and medicine ball throws, both of which utilize balance and control to develop power and endurance-something that Captain Marvel is known for. Walsh made sure to incorporate ab circuits throughout her training, too.

She took up boxing

Larson balanced the strength work with boxing for a cardio boost. During the final month of her training, Walsh also started incorporating high-intensity interval training sessions into her routine to boost endurance, per an interview with SELF. On active recovery days, she also went rock climbing, hiking, and bicycling.

She worked hard...but remembered to reward herself

Walsh admits that he often pushed Larson past her limits, but also adjusted her plan to make sure she was training in a safe and effective way, according to SELF. The final three months of her training included fight training, two-a-day workouts four times a week, hour-long sessions twice a week, and one recovery day.

To balance her efforts, Larson satisfied her sweet tooth with treats like cookies and doughnuts, often right after completing a move (as seen in the videos above of her doing barbell hip thrusts and leg lifts).

And at the end of her grueling training period, Larson said she came out stronger than she’s ever felt. “I didn’t know what strength was. I was truly an introvert with asthma before this film, so I had a lot of work to do, and I just started to fall in love with it,” she told E! News. “I started to fall in love with the way my body was changing and transforming...It was the first time where I felt like I was making my body work for me.”

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