Transformative Results of Alan Ritchson’s Reacher Workout Regime

Just one glance at Reacher star Alan Ritchson will reveal his dedication to fitness. To effectively portray ex-military cop Jack Reacher, this action hero packed on a striking 30 pounds of muscle.

As a certified personal trainer, understanding the effort required for such a transformation — either gaining 30 pounds or losing it — is part of the job. Curious to learn about Ritchson’s gym routine for his breakout role, an exploration led to his workout that he demonstrated for Men’s Health. Opting to skip the typical heavy barbell sets, cables, dumbbells, and EZ bars were the tools of choice to try Reacher’s regimen.

Insights from Alan Ritchson’s Workout

Filming a segment for Men’s Health, Ritchson explained his approach to exercise and the Reacher workout journey. He emphasized the importance of working out regularly and with intensity for short, healthy periods. The goal is not to punish or destroy the body in the gym, but to achieve growth and longevity.

Ritchson’s workout included:

4 sets of the following superset:

Cable tricep pulldown, 15 – 25 reps
Cable overhead tricep extension, 15 – 25 reps
Cable hammer curls, 15 – 25 reps

4 sets of the following superset:

Dumbbell hammer chest press: 25 reps
Dumbbell skull crushers: 15 – 25 reps

4 sets of the following superset:

EZ bar “21”s (7 bicep curls from the bottom end of your range to the middle of your range, 7 bicep curls from the middle of your range to the top of your range, and 7 bicep curls full range)
EZ bar overhead extensions, 15 – 25 reps

10-minute run

Extra credit:
Bodyweight tricep dips, as many reps as possible

Experience of Alan Ritchson’s Workout

The resistance training sets commonly max out at 15 reps, so the prospect of working on muscular endurance via Ritchson’s plan was intriguing. Here are some of the results:

Feeling of Imbalance

Despite having commendable triceps, Ritchson’s plan seemed to overemphasize this area. Four out of the seven exercises focused on the triceps. By the end of the last superset, the triceps felt utterly exhausted, while the rest of the upper body barely felt fatigued. This kind of training imbalance could potentially lead to injury.

Also, exercises for the back, shoulders, and legs were conspicuously missing from this workout. It’s probably safe to say that achieving Ritchson’s build requires more than these 3 supersets. Hence, it may be misleading to term this as the “workout to build 30 pounds of action-hero muscle.”

After-Effects

As expected, the triceps were significantly sore the day after the Reacher workout. The soreness, known as Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, was even worse 48 hours later.

Excessive soreness is not necessarily a sign of a good workout; rather, it indicates that the muscles have been overworked or subjected to too much weight too quickly.

Workout Duration

Completing Ritchson’s workout took less time than watching an episode of his series. The high-rep ranges involved didn’t require too much rest time in between sets, so the whole routine was done in less than 30 minutes.

Querying the Rep Ranges

The fitness world generally accepts 8 – 12 reps as an effective rep range for achieving hypertrophy (or muscle growth), and that sets of 15 reps or more will improve muscular endurance. With this in mind, the range of 15 – 25 reps in Ritchson’s workout was surprising.

Though this workout was challenging and somewhat imbalanced, it could form part of a comprehensive upper-body program if some of the tricep work were replaced with shoulder or back exercises. However, gaining 30 pounds of muscle would likely require heavier weights and fewer reps, at least for some workouts.