Natalie Portman’s Intense Workout And Nutrition Regiment For ‘Thor: Love And Thunder’

As Thor: Love And Thunder hit theaters around the world a lot has been made of the dramatic transformation of lead actor Natalie Portman. Known for usually displaying more slender characteristics, her portrayal of Jane Foster has seen her look more muscular than ever.

The appearance in the film marks her first in the MCU since Thor 2 in 2013. Taika Waititi’s new film sees the character as a superhero in her own right.

Portman spent several months before filming on conditioning alone, just to get her body – and specifically her joints – used to the strain of building muscle groups she may not have been heavily using in the past.

Talking to Variety, Portman’s head trainer Naomi Pendergast said on the prep work, “The goal and initial brief for working with Natalie was to develop arm and abdominal definition,” Pendergast said. “However, to safely get Natalie to this goal without injury we worked to condition her body first for about four months. This meant we could safely up the load to bulk her up without negatively affecting her joints.”

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Talking to Kirk Anderson, a certified personal trainer and nutritionist with an acute understanding of individuals over the age of 40 getting into shape.

“I think after 40 the mind starts to play tricks on you,” Anderson said. “That you can’t do it anymore, or you’re going to get injured, or it’s not worth it. I’ve spent my career proving these mindsets wrong and it’s amazing to see Natalie on-screen showing people what the results of hard work can be.”

“I was an obese man who had high blood pressure and was pre-diabetic. I understand the struggle people who are trying to lose weight go through but I also know people can accomplish much more than they realize.”

On the plan, Pendergast chose to get Portman into the shape needed for the movie he said, “I think that was a great idea. People oftentimes don’t think about the injury element in working out and how much pressure you’re putting on your joints. Starting with conditioning and losing weight is great, it sets your body up to be sculpted and toned nicely. Specifically for over 40’s.”

Anderson continued, “I’ve been obese before, twice actually, once I lost 65 lbs when I was 37 years old and two years later put all the weight back on. I’m now 49 years old and started my second transformation when I was 43 years old, losing 40 lbs of fat and gaining 30 lbs of muscle and finished that journey when I was 45 years old”

“If there’s anything I hope people pick up from my journey and Natalie’s incredible transformation, it’s that at any age it is possible. I asked a female IFBB competitor at the gym to train me back in the day, as I knew I needed that assistance at the start. Watch your ego and don’t psych yourself out before you start the race. You can look great and feel even better regardless of age.”

Pendergast stated that as Natalie is vegan her diet didn’t need to massively change, more so that more vegan-based protein powders needed to be added per day.

Over the ten months of pre-filming, Portman deducted herself to start training at 4:30 am every day through a varied workout.

“We worked on building her upper body three times a week, which included arm, back, chest exercises, boxing, skipping and running,” she said. “The other two days were dedicated to injury prevention work, which included Pilates-based exercises, stretching, release work and balance exercises.”