October 7, 2026, 3:51 pm | Read time: 6 minutes
Four seasons of “Reacher” have aired, with two more already confirmed. This also means Alan Ritchson must stay in top form as Jack for a long time. The action star stands nearly 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs about 242 pounds. But how does one achieve such a physique and maintain it?
With the start of the first season of “Reacher” in February 2022, the actor gained significant muscle mass and a broad back through various workouts to really clean up in the series. Of course, it’s not just about training alone; he leaves nothing to chance with his diet either. After all, such an impressive upper body with a six-pack requires proper fuel, and for Ritchson, this included cookies for years. In an interview with “Thomas DeLauer,” he explains that he relies less on classic maximum strength training than one might expect with this physique: Instead, Ritchson works with many repetitions, bodyweight exercises, and constantly changing stimuli.
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Ritchson’s Strategy
“I’ve always eaten what I wanted and worked it off the next day. That’s how I’ve somehow kept my life in balance[…],” Ritchson reports. However, the actor also emphasizes that this approach doesn’t work for everyone. The fact that he could allow himself almost a whole box of cookies a day for years is mainly due to his own genetics and DNA. Everyone is individual and reacts differently to food and stimuli. Ritchson also seems to have an extreme metabolism. He jokingly refers to it as a kind of “mitochondrial superpower”: As soon as he eats something–even a cookie–he feels his body heat up and start to sweat. However, when Ritchson needs to be slimmer and more defined for a role, he can no longer indulge as he pleases and must consistently cut out the beloved cookies.
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Alan Ritchson’s Success Formula
In many aspects of training, Ritchson relies on his instincts. He tries, among other things, to constantly challenge his body anew. The idea is to switch up exercises and stimuli, always setting them new or altered. He implements this especially with full-body training, high repetitions, and bodyweight exercises.
“Maximum strength is not the goal for me; it’s more about aesthetics,” Ritchson says. Therefore, he trains–contrary to low repetitions with heavy weights, as is common with powerlifters–with a high number of repetitions. He reports: “My target number is 25… I do four sets of 25 repetitions to reach 100 […] I almost never do less than 15 repetitions. For me, muscle building starts at 15 and ends at about 25. Most of my exercises are usually somewhere between 15 and 20.” By the way, he doesn’t do six exercises per muscle group during upper body training with weights. Just two exercises for the chest and two for the back are enough.
“Just to maintain a certain balance in the system and confuse it,” Ritchson also incorporates a leg exercise into the actual upper body workout. Ritchson further reports: “And the next day, I might focus on the legs and do three or four leg exercises, and then I’m back to the upper body… I feel good, look good, and no longer have the kind of overload I had when I targeted individual areas for long periods.”
High Volume
For many years, Ritchson didn’t have a gym membership and never trained with weights. He primarily prioritizes bodyweight training, which looks like this for him: 100 pull-ups, 100 dips, and 250 push-ups and sit-ups each.
He now often trains according to this formula: Core training with leg raises, crunches, or medicine ball exercises. He already completes up to 250 repetitions here. Then it’s on to cardio training with very intense sprints or Stairmaster for 20 to 30 minutes. This is followed by weight training.
An Example Workout from Ritchson’s Preparation
Just this fall, the fourth season of “Reacher” was released, and the continuation was already announced. There will not only be a fifth but even a sixth season. Alan Ritchson thus has little time to rest, and he is already in the next preparation phase. Ritchson showed us what a workout in this phase can look like on Instagram.
Ritchson wrote on the Instagram post: “Low(ish) weight + higher volume = hypertrophy and longevity. […]”. Translated into English, the 43-year-old focuses on “less weight” but “higher volume.” In his opinion, this leads to “hypertrophy” and “longevity.”
Alan Ritchson Swears by Upper Body Superset
And to be prepared for the upcoming filming of “Reacher 4,” Alan Ritchson has devised an apparently effective program. As seen in his Instagram video, he completes a total of four rounds of an intense upper body superset with maximum intensity, consisting of three exercises each. This results in up to 240 repetitions!
Incidentally, he doesn’t need much equipment for this; an EZ bar is enough. Toward the end, he even trains his legs and core.
Bicep Curls (4 Sets of 12 to 20 Repetitions)
Alan Ritchson starts with bicep curls. He stands upright, feet hip-width apart. His gaze is forward while holding the EZ bar in an underhand grip. He then raises his forearms upward, keeping his upper arms and elbows close to his body. During the upward movement, he exhales, then inhales as he lowers his forearms again. It’s also important that the muscles remain tense and the arms are not fully extended!1
Overhead Tricep Press (4 Sets of 12 to 20 Repetitions)
Seamlessly continuing with overhead tricep presses. For this, Alan Ritchson grips the EZ bar in the middle with an overhand grip, his torso upright and tense, gaze forward! He now lifts the weight with almost straight arms over his head and lowers it slowly and controlled as far as possible toward the back of his head, with his upper arms directly next to his ears. The elbows point forward, and it’s crucial to focus on breathing!
After a very brief pause, just before the bar touches the neck, he explosively stretches upward again, and it starts over.2
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Upright Row (4 Sets of 12 to 20 Repetitions)
Alan Ritchson’s superset ends with the upright row, which further trains his neck and shoulder muscles. He stands upright, tensing his legs and slightly bending his knees. His back is slightly arched, and he holds the EZ bar with an overhand grip slightly narrower than shoulder-width. He now pulls the bar up to chin height while inhaling. The actor then exhales and moves the weight back to the starting position. Again, it’s important to ensure the arms are never fully extended.3