A very slow training session with Zac Efron.

For Efron, movie-body preps were temporary: his waist went from 29 to 34 inches over about 4 months, and lowering calories after wrestling work stripped the added size quickly [02:52]. The recorded session ended as a slow, conversational workout in which Chris said he converted Ben from cardio into a bodybuilding-style set and then stopped to eat [45:15].

Key points

• The reported mass program was not just dieting: it used very short all-out cardio blocks between lifts, with moves such as deadlift-to-Nordic curl and pull-down-to-chest-press variations [02:14]. Efron split that volume across two days because it was too much, and he described the approach as functional and metcon-based [02:08]. The Austin workout kept heart rate below 100 bpm so they could talk, which is why the visible session looked lighter than the film-prep history [28:47].
• The main recurring professional cost was shift-work filming, not the gym conversation: as the lead, he worked 10 to 12 hour scheduled days with a 10-hour turnaround, but said shoots almost always passed 12 hours [17:17]. Rotating call times—4 a.m. Monday, noon Wednesday, and 4 a.m. Thursday—compressed sleep to roughly 4 hours per night [18:27]. His earlier CrossFit-era back issues included two bulging discs and a synovial node [11:35]. He cited deadlifts at Chris Hemsworth’s house as the cause [12:10].
• Greenfield’s recovery interventions were practical, not the cause of Efron’s body change: TRT was framed as improving recovery and motivation from hard training days [20:23]. Active movement on sore days was said to reduce DOMS, and BFR was recommended as a 30-20-10 travel protocol with a capillary-refill check [24:50]. Hyperbaric work was described as effective after 18 consecutive 2-hour dives, but Efron called it expensive, time-consuming, and hard to access [22:43].

Step by step how to

• Apply a BFR band so capillary refill returns within about 3 seconds when pressing a fingernail [25:49].
• Perform a 30-20-10 rep scheme on travel movements such as squats, lunges, push-ups, or TRX pull-ups [24:50].
• Avoid full simultaneous occlusion of both arms and legs, because the described risk was a cardiovascular incident if pressure was too high [25:33].
• Use active recovery on sore days instead of complete rest; Efron said a light assault-bike session removed DOMS that he had expected to require shutdown [10:07].