{"id":562135,"date":"2026-07-27T16:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T16:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/562135\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T16:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T16:49:08","slug":"matt-damons-odyssey-workout-is-very-doable-according-to-his-trainer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/562135\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Damon\u2019s \u2018Odyssey\u2019 Workout Is \u2018Very Doable,\u2019 According to His Trainer"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the upper-body days, they\u2019d hit a mix of push and pull exercises, covering chest<\/a>, back<\/a>, shoulders<\/a>, biceps<\/a>, and triceps<\/a> in each session. They also alternated between horizontal and vertical movements from one workout to the next, allowing them to work the muscles along different planes of motion. \u201cWe\u2019d do a flat dumbbell bench press, and then the next upper-body day we’d do it at an incline,\u201d Stump recalls. \u201cOr if we did a chest-supported row one day, we\u2019d do pull-ups the next time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sessions would begin with a main lift, like a bench press<\/a> or row, followed by accessory work, such as cable flies or landmine presses, to isolate the smaller (albeit highly photogenic) muscles that would end up getting the most screen time in the film. Stump had Damon doing three or four sets per exercise across the board, with 8 to 10 reps for the main lifts and 12 to 15 for the subsequent accessory work. \u201cThe general idea was to do higher volume,\u201d Stump says. \u201cLots of sets, versus really intense strength work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lower-body days<\/a> followed the same formula. \u201cWe had a trap bar, so our big leg lift was the trap bar deadlift,\u201d Stump says. \u201cThat’s where we would go the heaviest.\u201d But in the absence of basic leg-day equipment, like, say, a squat rack, the duo had to get creative. \u201cWe had a regular barbell, but no rack,\u201d Stump says, \u201cso we did landmine [squat] variations, and different kinds of hip thrusts<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cardiometabolic day was less structured, concedes Stump, who notes that Damon isn\u2019t particularly fond of cardio<\/a>. (\u201cHe hates doing cardio. But who doesn’t, right?\u201d) Instead, these sessions served as a miscellaneous catch-all for any kind of beneficial non-strength work. Some weeks that meant intervals on the Versaclimber or a HIIT circuit<\/a> consisting of medicine ball slams, kettlebell swings, and jump rope, while other weeks the pair would simply focus on mobility or steady-state cardio. \u201cLet\u2019s say we\u2019d had a couple of hard workouts during the week and we needed something that was lower intensity,\u201d Stump says. \u201cSo I\u2019d just say, \u2018Alright, throw on the weight vest<\/a>, put your headphones in, and walk uphill for 45 minutes. It doesn\u2019t have to be super fast; just get a good sweat going and then come home.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe power of a sacrifice is in the cost to the person making it\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, regardless of how hard or how often he worked out, Damon\u2019s ability to drop 15 pounds of fat would come down to his diet. \u201cI told him at the outset that this is a diet and nutrition goal,\u201d Stump says. \u201cAnytime you\u2019re talking about losing body fat, that\u2019s a calories-in thing. You’re not going to control that by exercising more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately, this came as no surprise to Damon, who knows his way around a Hollywood transformation. \u201cMy big thing was just making sure he\u2019s getting enough protein<\/a> to support the muscle mass that he has, but the truth is that he didn’t really need that much help with his diet, and I think that\u2019s because he\u2019s done this so many times before,\u201d says Stump, who notes that staying away from alcohol, gluten, and processed sugar<\/a> went a long way in helping Damon cut his caloric intake while training for the role.<\/p>\n

According to Stump, it was ultimately Damon\u2019s commitment to the process\u2014both in the gym and in his diet\u2014that allowed the actor to achieve blockbuster results in such a short time. \u201cIn terms of his training, I would say the most impressive thing about him is his consistency,\u201d Stump says. \u201cHe’s really a guy that will show up, day in and day out, and put in the work. And I think that’s probably what comes through the most in terms of how he looks in the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

A version of this story originally appeared in British GQ<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the upper-body days, they\u2019d hit a mix of push and pull exercises, covering chest, back, shoulders, biceps,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[458,146,589,163,85,46,56752],"class_list":["post-562135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-life-advice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}