What Alexander Skarsgård Ate to Get That Tarzan 6-Pack

The 64 Swede isnt a stranger to steamy marketing. He bat-flew onto American screens in Alan Balls very rated-R, Twilight-for-adults HBO series True Blood. Skarsgrd was often tank-topped or shirtless. Still, he was never Tarzan jacked.

So how did Skarsgrd sell a six-packed, swinging jungle man? He went out and actually built himself a six pack.

Skarsgrd had help from trainer, nutritionist, and fellow Swede, Magnus Lygdback. Lygdback met us at a studio in Santa Monica to walk us through Skarsgrds extreme diet.

Its not for everyone, he warned, almost immediately. With short preparation windows, actors often times must cover a lot of ground quickly. That means eating a lot and fast. When building a superhero, theres really three cycles, says Lygdback. The first is the build up, or bulking phase. Then theres the cutting cycle, where actors get shredded. And finally the maintenance period, where the actor must keep his muscle mass throughout filming. Skarsgrd was already large, and so Lygdback focussed on cutting.

He based Skarsgrd's second and third phase diet around seafood with slow carbs twice a day. Thats brown rice, quinoa, barley, faro, and cold potato. Alongside seafood, Skarsgrd was consuming good fats like avocados and unsalted nuts. The reason for eating less salt when cutting is that salt binds water, and youre trying to get rid of that water retention.

When cutting, Lygdback said he had Skarsgrd avoid any kind of sugar or fast carbsbreads, pastas, mashed potatoes, fruit, and juices. He also had Skarsgrd stay dairy and gluten free. If Im getting you in tip-top shape, and I only have a certain number of weeks, Im not risking anything, says Lygdback. So its dairy and gluten free for everyone.

Its really important that you can enjoy your food. Whats the point of eating broccoli and chicken breast and white rice seven days a week?

Since Skarsgrd was 200 pounds during the cutting, Lygdback had him consuming 135g of protein, 70g of fat, and 200g of carbsevery day. Skarsgrd would wake up and take a shot of ginger, cayenne, and lemon. After a 30-minute HIIT cardio session, he would sit down to a breakfast of 4 eggs, spinach, and vegetables. Three hours later, Skarsgrd ate his first snackshrimp or a similar seafood. Three hours later was lunch: lots of veggies, sweet potato, and salmon. Three hours after that, snack number two: sashimi or lobster. (Remember, the diets not for everyone ... or everyones wallet.) Second snack was then followed by a 45-60 minutes of heavy weight lifting. Then dinner: more slow carbs and protein.

For me and my clients, its really important that you can enjoy your food, said Lygdback. Whats the point of eating broccoli and chicken breast and white rice seven days a week?

Well, if eating lobster helps us look like Tarzan, how can we disagree?