SEAL Team star Max Thieriot says incredible body transformation has been a decade in the making
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Fitness
Gregory Robinson
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@maxthierot
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Fitness
Max Thieriot revealed his body transformation had been in the making for a decade.
The former SEAL Team actor, who now stars in Fire Country, shared an inspiring before and after photo of his physical transformation while working on the former.
The 34-year-old actor was inspired to make a change after he spotted a 2010 Men’s Health cover with actor, Ryan Phillippe, 48.
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He opened up about the moment he saw Phillippe's cover alongside his own body update at the time. Thieriot captioned the post: "Pre SEAL Team vs. headed into season 5… the work doesn’t stop when you leave set. I have pushed myself mentally and physically for this TV show. I’ve literally bled for it, more than once. Many things in life are beyond your control… physically being in shape is not! Took me five years to get where I am… @ryanphillippe on the cover of @menshealthmag was the tipping point for me strangely enough. At the time I thought he looked great and decided I too could look like that and be on that cover. I believe I’ve accomplished 1/2 of my goal. 5 years and tons of @redcon1 shakes later, here I am…. now it’s time to put my head down and get back to work!"
Thieriot, who is 5’11”, told Men’s Health that he weighed 145 pounds in 2010 when Phillippe’s article came out. When he started working out he admits he didn’t know what he was doing but began lifting and followed a workout Brad Pitt did for one of his roles.
The workout involved lots of cardio, but after realising he was ‘a naturally thin dude with high metabolism’ he realised he didn’t need much cardio and soon found he put on 20 pounds.
The Bates Motel actor started getting advice from Los Angeles-based trainers, including Eric the Trainer and Danny Hester. Once he secured the role of Navy SEAL Clay Spenser in 2017, he started to take working out more seriously.
"Honestly, that's how it all started for me. Ten years ago that magazine came out, and I said if this guy can do this, so can I," he told Men’s Health in 2021.
"It was the perfect opportunity for me to have the excuse to really focus on my training and my diet, working out and putting on size," he said. "I focused all my energy on it.
"I had to put in the work and put in the time," he said on not being provided a trainer by the show.
During his time on SEAL Team – which came to an end in 2022 when he shifted focus to Fire Country, the show he co-created and stars in – he trained with his co-star AJ Buckley.
On his body transformation for SEAL Team, he said: "The past year, I focused on increasing my shoulder and back width. The SEAL build is big shoulders, arms, and traps. For my character, I wanted to show the evolution of going from regular SEAL Team to SEAL Team 6."
Thieriot portrays fire fighter Bode Donovan in Fire Country, and he continues to keep his fans up-to-date with his workout regime on social media.