Fitness experts warn against getting ‘swole like Zac Efron’

There are plenty Hollywood transformations that have left the world shocked. Rather than fatsuits or CGI, actors like Renee Zellweger and Christian Bale opted for extreme diets and workout routines. Some like Oprah end up caught up in drastic yoyo diets, with a new weight goal every so often.

We’ve seen this recently from the critically acclaimed movie Iron Claw, where High School Musical alumni Zac Efron rose to the occasion.

While Efron’s transformation dropped jaws, the majority of the cast underwent intense training to play their respective roles to take on the world of professional wrestling.

While Efron’s transformation has left many feeling inspired to do the same, it does come with the caveat of being a potentially dangerous step towards unhealthy aesthetic change. Fitness experts at SET FOR SET are aware of the benefits, which are primarily aesthetic, and the challenges of such a journey. While it is always advised to keep in shape and take care of your body, going to such extreme lengths is not advisable.

Speaking on the muscle mass seen on the actors in the movie, SET FOR SET’s experts warn that many might make the assumption that it can be attained through excessive weightlifting and bulking. The latter refers to the process of increasing your caloric intake, combined with intensive weight training to increase strength and muscle mass.

To start bulking, it is essential to consume more calories than your body needs to properly function during the day, about 20% more. This will increase your weight gain by about 0.5% each week. Here are the three top reasons why you should not try Zac Efron’s Iron Claw transformation at home:

BULKING IS HARD WITHOUT PROFESSIONALS

Unless you’re an actor or a professional bodybuilder, there is no practical reason to put your body under that much pressure and stress, as it can lead to catastrophic results that cannot always be easily reversed.

While it's important to underline that if done correctly and followed by experts, then not only is it possible, but there’s a high chance you’ll reach your goals, it can be tempting to pursue this journey by trying to keep it cheap and make it quick.

Some of the significant side effects of bulking done wrong are unwanted fat gain, high cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, and even cancer.

THE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TOLL

As bulking can be a challenging and long journey, embracing its toughness with determination and a positive mindset is essential, while acknowledging and respecting your limits. Pushing both your body and mind to the extreme to achieve unattainable results can be damaging in the long run, and to “become bigger” can become an unhealthy obsession.

Efron himself has in the past commented on how bulking while preparing for a role can be daunting. He revealed that while training for his character in Baywatch, his mental health was adversely affected, making the whole process even more painful. For The Iron Claw, however, he changed his mindset completely, focusing on embarking on a healthier journey.

MAINTAINING THE SWOLE LIFESTYLE

Bulking is just the first of three stages of bodybuilding; the second is cutting, meaning to decrease the body’s fat levels, while the last is maintenance, to retain your muscle growth and provide adequate time for your body to adapt to your muscle growth and physical transformation.

Maintaining the physique achieved through extreme bulking, like Efron did to portray Kevin von Erich, can be challenging in the long term.

While in this case the transformation was done for one movie and it can be slowly and efficiently reversed, if your goal is to preserve this lifestyle, individuals might find it challenging to sustain the required level of calorie intake, leading to a yo-yo effect, where they cycle between the extreme bulking and cutting phases.