‘Reacher’ star Alan Ritchson explains how testosterone therapy helped him get in shape for season 2 of the Prime Video series.
In Lee Child’s early Jack Reacher novels, the character is described as “extremely tall” and “extremely broad”. It’s easy to write, but not so easy to embody.
The man charged with this task on the show, Alan Ritchson, spoke to Men’s Health UK about getting in shape to play the titanic hero and why he decided to take a different approach, using testosterone, ahead of season 2.
Before filming the first season of Reacher – which was an immediate hit on Prime Video – the 41-year-old actor was given the unenviable task of gaining 30 kilos of muscle in just eight months.
He has explained in previous interviews how he built a gym in his house to achieve this, but, as he tells Men’s Health UK, it wasn’t without consequences.
“I ravaged my body“, says Ritchson. “I had a broken acromioclavicular joint in my shoulder, which I had to have repaired. There was a huge hormonal imbalance in my body. I was falling apart. So even though I succeeded, it’s probably true that it shouldn’t happen this quickly, in this way.“
Still, looking at the shirtless selfies Ritchson posts on his Instagram account, it’s hard to tell there’s anything wrong with his body. To put it simply, it looks like a Greek statue.
But rumors began to circulate that his massive muscles and rock-solid abs had been obtained through unsavory means.
In his interview with Men’s Health, the actor emphasizes that – despite what has been said about him online – his physique for the launch of season 1 of Reacher was entirely shaped by hard work.
But the stress and fatigue that followed – a direct result of “building” this physique – meant that his body could no longer endure such training and that he would need help if he wanted to continue playing. Reacher for years.
This was the challenge he faced before filming the second season, and it’s one of the reasons why Alan Ritchson has become an advocate for men exploring testosterone therapy as they enter middle age. wall.
“Taking testosterone was decisive for me“, he said. “I didn’t have any left at all at the end of the first season, because of the stress, the fatigue and what I had put my body through.“
For me, it’s a long-term race. I want to play Reacher for 15 years…I don’t want to have to have surgery after every season, and the testosterone helps.
“I am a strong advocate of testosterone, especially for those in their 40s and older. Men aren’t aware it exists, but it could really change their lives. It could stabilize people’s moods… It can do a lot more than help you get muscular, but it certainly helped me on my journey.“
That being said, that didn’t stop Alan Ritchson from always working hard in the gym to develop his muscles and have the physique corresponding to Jack Reacher. “With a very low clinical dose, you won’t notice much other than these systems working properly“, he says.
“If you increase it a little, which I did, you can start to gain muscle mass. I have never taken 600 milligrams per week. I don’t know if I can handle this.
But studies have shown that it is possible to increase muscle mass without exercise and by taking just 600 milligrams of testosterone per week.“
“Testosterone undoubtedly contributes to muscle growth. If you take a little and then work out like you normally would at the gym, you will see huge results.”
However, these comments should be taken with a pinch of salt. This practice is very popular, particularly in the bodybuilding community in the United States, where the health policy is completely different from that practiced in France.