Glen Powell's Top Gun Maverick Body Transformation

How Glen built his Top Gun physique with Ultimate Performance

Hollywood star Glen Powell completely transformed his physique ready for his starring role in the highly anticipated Top Gun Maverick film.

The long-awaited sequel to the 1986 drama hits the big screen this May, with fans expecting an instant classic. Ahead of the film, Glen wanted to build an instantly recognisable ‘action hero’ body.

He enlisted the help of Ultimate Performance (U.P.), who have helped over 25,000 clients achieve remarkable body transformations under a ‘maximum results, minimum time’ methodology.

Glen’s body transformation goal

Glen wanted to build a lean, muscular physique for his role as ‘Hangman’ in Top Gun: Maverick. He only had seven weeks to get in the best shape of his life to star alongside Tom Cruise.

Glen needed to build the ultimate body for a shirtless beach American football scene in the new Top Gun film, so he turned to the experts to build the ultimate body.

With a proven track record for results with goal-focused programs delivered to deadlines, Glen entrusted his transformation to Nick Mitchell and his team at Ultimate Performance.

His goal was simple: build broad shoulders, a muscular chest, and blockbuster abs in seven weeks.

Under the guidance of U.P. CEO Nick, who is widely recognised as the world’s leading personal trainer, Glen saw astonishing results from his tailored training and nutrition program.

Glen Powell’s Top Gun training plan

Glen’s focus was simply to cut body fat and build the most muscular body he could for the first seven weeks of his training program.

Everything he did in the gym was designed to maximise his physique for the ‘money shot’ and achieve a head-turning ‘athletic look’ for the film’s beach football scene. His training after that was targeted to build on this muscular upper body while staying healthy and injury-free for filming.

Glen only had time to train three to four times per week like many of our time-poor executive clients. Our scientific approach and ‘maximum results, minimum time’ training methods ensured he achieved the exact results he needed.

Building a Top Gun body

Glen’s tailored training plan zeroed in on the ‘mirror muscles’ – with exercises targeting his shoulders, chest, traps, arms and abs.

We wanted to maximise the impact and efficiency of his three to four weekly gym sessions – so Glen followed a supersets-style bodybuilding training program.

Simple but powerful exercises like bench press, pull-ups, low rows and dips worked his chest and back. French press, lateral raises, biceps curl and triceps extensions helped Glen build his shoulders and arms.

Modified strongman exercises, like sled pulls and farmer’s walks, gave some functional training to his legs and helped support overall energy expenditure for fat loss. Targeted abs work, like cable crunches and Swiss ball plank, to get his six-pack to pop on camera.

With only seven weeks to get in shape, Nick pushed Glen to the limit with every rep, and incorporated drop sets and intensity techniques to maximise his results.

Nick reveals the ‘secrets’ behind Glen’s body transformation training – including full workouts he performed that anyone can follow.

Glen's training plan

Ready to get results like this too?

If you’re inspired by Glen’s remarkable Top Gun Maverick transformation, you can work with the world’s leading personal trainers to achieve your own fitness goals.

Our private gyms in LA, Washington DC and 18 other elite locations across the globe set the standard for world-class, results-focused personal training.

Our trainers take your transformation results personally. We track over 150 data points and give you the accountability and expertise you need to get ‘maximum results in minimum time’.

See how you can become the strongest, sharpest and best version of yourself with a personal training plan tailored to you.

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Glen Powell Bicep Curl with Nick Mitchell Image 4 Ultimate Performance

A diet designed for results

Glen was determined to look lean and muscular ahead of Top Gun: Maverick, but needed a personalised diet plan to help him reach his goals.

The nature of Glen’s on-set filming schedule meant he couldn’t track every calorie. Instead, he focused on simple but powerful nutrition principles to get in shape.

“Eat from the land” was the guiding philosophy – basically any food that you could kill, pick or pluck. His diet was built on nutrient-dense whole foods, with every meal high in protein, low-GI vegetables and healthy sources of carbs and fat.

Glen’s protein-packed diet ensured his muscle growth was optimised, while eating nutritious meals three to four times a day helped his immune function for training and recovery.

Glen’s plate would regularly include high-quality protein options like wild salmon, chicken and egg whites, plus vegetables such as green beans, cauliflower, asparagus and spinach.

We kept him accountable to his goal with daily check-ins and progress metric tracking. Nick explains how we created Glen’s body transformation nutrition plan – including an example of his daily diet, calories and macros.

Glen's diet plan

Glen Powell Shirtless Photoshoot Top Gun Image 5 Ultimate Performance

The end result

Glen’s results-focused training gave him the blockbuster body he needed within seven weeks.

His commitment to training hard under the watchful eye of Nick and his Ultimate Performance team ensured he looked and performed felt his best on the big screen.

Mastering fundamental exercises, pushing past his limits in the gym, adhering to a high-protein diet, and taking advantage of science-proven supplements all helped maximise his results.

You can see the incredible outcome for yourself in Top Gun: Maverick.

Glenn-powell-module6-1200x900 Ultimate Performance

How supplementation helped Glen Powell

When looking to build muscle or lose fat, your priority should always be progressive weight training and a nutritious diet.

Yet, supplements can play an important role in supporting your goal and enhancing your results.

Glen wanted this extra ‘edge’. He had just seven weeks to get in peak physical shape for Top Gun, so he trusted our research-backed supplement range to deliver the maximum results possible.

Through consistent supplementation, including U.P.’s Amplify, Estro Support and Vegan Protein, he was able to train harder and recover faster to get ‘Top Gun ready’.

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