glen powell top gun shirtless© Photo: Instagram

Top Gun star Glen Powell's unbelievable body transformation revealed by his personal trainer

It took just seven weeks!

US Deputy Editor
May 25, 2022

Glen Powell is about to hit the big screen in Top Gun: Maverick in which he'll not just take to the skies but to the beach as well.

The 33-year-old actor - who plays Hangman in the movie - had to get in tip-top condition to recreate the iconic shirtless, volleyball scene in the highly-anticipated movie, and the man behind his incredible physique, Nick Mitchell, revealed exactly how he did it to HELLO!.

MORE: Top Gun's Glen Powell turns up the heat with very muscly photo 

In just seven weeks, the Ultimate Performance  founder guided Glen through the phenomenal transformation to create his most chiseled look yet. 

WATCH: Top Gun: Maverick official trailer 

Nick said: "The brief was to get Glen to look as good, and as lean, as possible in a very short space of time.

"We analyzed what the 'money shot' would be. What would make Glen pop on camera. So, we concentrated on his 'mirror muscles' – chest, shoulders, traps, abs.

READ: Tom Cruise's son reveals large tattoo 

MORE: Tom Cruise praises 'very special' Top Gun scene with Val Kilmer 

"We couldn't build massive muscles in just seven weeks. But, what we could do is make Glen look leaner, sharper, crisper, and give him a look of strength and power."

Glen was consuming 2800 calories, and eating three-four times per day, with an emphasis on protein.

Nick Mitchell put Glen through his paces with a body building regime 

With such a hectic filming schedule, Glen didn't have time to train five or six days a week, so his program was largely based on bringing out the mirror muscles - those on the front of his body. 

READ: Prince William reveals George, Charlotte and Louis's reaction to their parents' glitzy Top Gun outing

DISCOVER: Why Tom Cruise is eager to take after Prince Philip

"You can't create massive muscles in that amount of time, but you can create detail," said Nick, who created a bodybuilding program for his Top Gun client, who he said worked very hard to get in shape. 

Glen was incredibly dedicated to his workouts with Nick 

"It was down to Glen to get up at 5am and lift weights," said Nick. "He didn’t have a personal chef, so it was down to Glen to prepare and eat the right foods.

"It was down to Glen to fit his training around a manic schedule of filming late into the night, reshoots, looking at scripts, learning how to fly and soon."

Glen stars as Hangman in the new Top Gun movie 

Nick ensured they made the most of the time they had together and Glen's work ethic certainly helped.

"We were always rushed," he admitted. "We only had three or four hours a week to train. But Glen is a very dopamine-driven guy that loves high energy, hard, all-out exercise. And that speaks to my soul. He went all-in, and he achieved tremendous results.

Nick Mitchell is an Amazon best-selling author, writer, fitness expert, founder and Global CEO of the world's leading personal training business, Ultimate Performance (U.P.).

Read more HELLO! US stories here 

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