“This Was Harder”: Zac Efron Says Getting Jacked for Iron Claw Drove Him “Nuts,” Years After He Suffered Severe Depression While Maintaining His Baywatch Physique

Renowned Hollywood actor Zac Efron is known for his exceptional looks and fitness, he began his career with Disney’s High School Musical and soon became popular in showbiz with his versatility. Besides his acting skills, Efron surprised everyone with his super-jacked physique in ‘Baywatch,’ and has now become the talk again with his incredible shredded physique for his upcoming film ‘the Iron Claw.’

He recently opened up about the challenges he faced while preparing for his new role in ‘The Iron Claw’ as legendary wrestler Kevin Von Erich. His jaw-dropping shape and abs caught everyone’s attention, making a buzz in the fitness and bodybuilding industry.

Zac Efron says his jaw-dropping transformation was hard to pursue

Recently, during a press conference for his new film, Efron candidly talked about his fitness routine and his transformation. While comparing his body from Baywatch to Iron Claw, he gained a lot of weight for this film, and the workout sessions were incredibly intense. Chris Van Vliet a TV personality and YouTuber asked Efron, “Do you feel like you objectively got in better shape? For this or for Baywatch?”

In response to the Canadian YouTuber, Efron replied by saying, “This was harder, man. I could. I had to put on a little more weight for this one. I was training for six months pretty hard. It drove me nuts.”  Vliet complimented the actor “You were gigantic.” He simply responded with a smile, “Yeah, thanks. The camera adds ten pounds, so.” He transformed his body to portray a wrestling champion. For this, he had to gain a lot of muscles but needed to maintain leanness. To pursue his physical goals he followed a tough routine.

READ MORE:  Zac Efron, Who Suffered Depression Due to His Baywatch Physique, Leaves Bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno Stunned

Efron’s workout regimes aimed for a lean yet muscular look, he maintains the aesthetics but not like a bodybuilder’s physique looks. His routine is slightly different from the Baywatch regimes. The routine he followed was impressive and focused on resting, workouts that helped the overall body to gain muscle, reverse pyramid, and lifting heavy weights.

The diet he followed during Baywatch was depressing

He included core workouts, weighted pull-ups, seated shoulder presses, incline bench presses, Bulgarian split squats, and Romanian deadlifts. He trained for four days a week, emphasizing strength and muscles for rapid growth.

However, while talking about his role in Baywatch, in a throwback interview with Men’s Health, he shared how difficult it was to build muscles to justify his character in the movie. The actor had to undergo a strict diet plan to ensure that he built the physique that was necessary.

Efron mentioned the difficulties, “For most roles, you change something but I think probably the one role that I had to change the most for was probably Baywatch.” he further added to his statement, “That movie, I adopted a really, really specific eating regimen.” According to Efron, this was really hard and depressing as his eating habits were absolutely different from the diet he needed to adopt.

What do you think of his transformation from Baywatch to the Iron Claw? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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