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Protein for beginners: when the shake makes sense
by Dominik Bärlocher
Tomb Raider training: how Alicia Vikander became Lara Croft
22.3.2018
Translation: machine translated
Alicia Vikander does incredible things in the film "Tomb Raider". She jumps, fights and climbs everywhere. The actress wanted to do as many stunts as possible herself. I went behind the scenes and analysed the training that transformed the ballerina into an action heroine.
Lara Croft is a video game icon. A pile of pixels and polygons who always looks perfect. In the new film, actress Alicia Vikander plays our heroine. In order to be faithful to the character in the video game, she was keen to embody Lara Croft not only through the script, but also physically.
What should a heroine who has to accomplish the physical feats of Lara Croft look like?
This is what Lara Croft looks like in the game on which the film is based.
This is what Alicia Vikander looks like in the film.
Source: Warner Bros.
Not bad, right? The Lara Croft of the game just looks softer. Alicia Vikander has been working hard for the film. Her training began three months before filming. But she didn't just sculpt her dream bikini figure with trainer Magnus Lygdback. As she told Jimmy Fallon, host of The tonight show, the actress wanted to perform as many stunts as possible herself during filming.
Climbing, jumping, running and fighting all require one thing above all else: functional strength. Functional strength shapes bodies that are a little different from our beauty ideals. Seeing Alicia Vikander in a bikini is indeed impressive. She weighs 53kg for 1.65m.
This body is the result of months of hard training.
Let's move on to its training.
Training: meaning, purpose and time
When you work on your functional strength, it's not about losing a few kilos off your bum or getting rid of that little tummy. It's about gaining strength, mobility and improving your bodily functions. Of course, doing 4 hours of cardio a day on a training machine contributes to this, but won't help you in a fight. So you need to find a balance.
Note: deadlifts or squats won't give you that body. A look at Alicia Vikanders Training shows us that she took her time:
- The actress only gained 5.4kg of muscle in total.
- The training began three months before filming began.
- Alicia Vikander has a background as a ballerina, so she had already trained a lot.
- The schedule of her training shows that she gave herself time to regenerate.
Time is a decisive factor in any sporting objective. You shouldn't expect to see changes appear overnight. You won't turn into Mr Muscles or Miss Bikini overnight. When it comes to increasing muscle mass, it's not the training that counts, but rather the regeneration phase. The better the body regenerates, the more muscle mass will increase - to put it simply, medically, we see every muscle ache as an injury.
One last piece of advice before we delve a little deeper into Alicia Vikander's training: if you want to try Lara Croft-style training, talk to a professional trainer first. Because even if the workout looks fun and easy on the internet, every body is unique and reacts differently. The exercises Alicia Vikander performed with ease can hurt you if you do them wrong.
In order to stay constantly active and make the best use of the three months allotted before filming began, the training programme was divided into two parts. Days 1 and 2 focus on different parts of the body, so as not to put too much strain on one or the other.
Let's get down to business, what did Alicia Vikander do?
Day 1: legs
On the first day, one exercise in particular is crucial: the deadlift. This is a classic exercise in weightlifting, also known as the crucifixion. This exercise is prone to beginner's mistakes, so if these are your first deadlifts, be sure to ask your trainer for advice. At first, your posture will feel a little strange, but you'll soon get used to it.
The best video I know of on the subject was published by Alan Thrall,North American coach.
- Deadlifts: 4 sets of 12 reps → 4x12
- Front Squats: 4x12
- Leg Press: 5x12
- Squats (with weights): 3x20
- Skate Jumps: 4x30
Day 2: chest and shoulders
On the second day, the focus is on the chest and shoulders which significantly reduces the strain on the legs to engage the upper body. The main exercise and one that requires the most technique are the chest presses. Similar to bench presses, practised in athletic strength, chest presses are more demanding because they don't rest on poles. You don't have a single moment's respite; it's not enough just to lift the weights, but also to balance them.
Make sure you do your first chest presses in the presence of a trainer. I can assure you that you don't want the weights to fall back on your head.
- Chest press: 4x12
- Dumbbell push-ups: 4 sets, as many reps as possible → 4xMax
- Push-ups (bench): 3xMax
- Machine Flies: 4x15
Day 3: back and shoulders
The third day is the opposite of the second. In other words, while we worked the chest and shoulders on the second day, the third is devoted to the back and shoulders. However, as some of the exercises correspond to those of the previous day, on the third day we concentrate on machine exercises. In this way, we work the muscles one by one while sparing the others.
- Machine Pulldowns: 4x12
- or pull-ups: 5xMax
- Standing Row (with Olympic bar): 4x12
- Straight-Arm Pulldowns: 4x12
- Windmill (with dumbbell rotation): 4x20
- Lateral Raises: 5x15
Day 4: arms
The final day of Alicia Vikanders' weekly training programme focuses on the arms, i.e. the biceps and triceps. Among the exercises a body-building classic: curls. If you try to imagine a body-builder working out, then you're likely to see him doing curls.
Alicia Vikander does double ones. At first she does normal curls, then towards the end of the workout she does supersets. Supersets are sets strung together almost without a break. This favours hypertrophy, i.e. muscle development.
- Curls: 4x16
- Tricep French Press: 4x12
- Curls (with bar): 4x12
- Superset curls: 4x12
- Tricep Pushdown: 4x12
A three-day break? Definitely not.
Because neither Magnus Lygdback nor Alicia Vikander had seen the script when they started the training programme - it hadn't been finalised yet - they tried to come up with a programme that Lara Croft could have followed. It also meant for the actress that she had to show strength in various situations: in combat or hanging off a cliff. That's why she constantly pushed her limits.
She climbed, practised martial arts and trained as an archer. To do this, she had to follow a strict diet, according to what she said. Little has been disclosed to the public about this.
- Three meals a day.
- Two snacks a day.
- 40g protein and 40g carbohydrate at lunch and dinner, plus vegetables, fruit, nuts and potatoes.
- All snacks were protein-based: chicken kebabs, sashimi or grilled calamari.
My advice also applies to diet: talk to a professional. Your trainer may have some knowledge on the subject, but it's not compulsory. However, you need to be aware that a poor diet can cause damage to your body. Just because it worked for Alicia Vikander doesn't mean it will work as well for you, so don't expect the same results.
"Yes, but... these are exercises for men!"
Alicia Vikander has followed a programme that few women dare to follow. I named the development of her strength. In the videos above, you'll notice that only men present the exercises, the field of dumbbells is indeed predominantly male, but that's often pure chance.
Alicia Vikander is quite aware of this:
I think it's something that, you know, a lot of girls don't do as much. They mostly see those butch guys in the gym and maybe they don't dare go in there themselves and pick up the heavy weights. And I really felt it being very empowering.
The result speaks for itself.
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.
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