Matt Damon’s trainer has offered a blunt assessment of the home gym the actor used, while also explaining the level of commitment needed for his role in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.
The Odyssey is now playing in cinemas across the US and has made a strong early impression with critics, holding a 95 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The cast features a number of major names, including Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson and Lupita Nyong’o.
Adapted from Homer’s classic Greek epic, the film follows Odysseus, a veteran of the Trojan War, as he tries to make his way back to Ithaca after spending 10 years away from home.
Damon takes on the central role, and his trainer has now shared how the actor prepared physically for the demanding production.
Speaking to Vogue, Dr Gabe Stump said the transformation was never simply about building a bigger physique.
“[Odysseus] is not this buff super soldier—he’s more of a tactician,” he explained.
“He’s got this grizzly beard, and he looks really lean. You can see he’s still strong. He’s got good definition everywhere, but he’s not packed on.”
To match that vision, Damon was tasked with losing 10 pounds of fat without sacrificing muscle ahead of the film’s demanding 91-day shoot. He ended up dropping from about 180 pounds to roughly 165 pounds.
Stump said the pair trained four to five times a week using what he described as a ‘crappy gym’.
According to the trainer, people would be ‘shocked’ by how limited the set-up was, with only dumbbells, a cable pull-down machine and a barbell available.
Even so, Damon stuck to a structured plan. Mondays and Thursdays focused on upper-body work, while Tuesdays and Fridays were dedicated to legs.
Wednesdays were generally set aside for cardio, Stump told Vogue.
Damon also spoke earlier this year about getting ready for the role during an appearance on Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast.
“[Nolan] said he wanted me lean but strong, and so its a weird thing, I don’t want to bore the s*** out of you but I literally, just because of this other thing I did with my doctor, stopped eating gluten,” the actor said.
“I used to walk around at between 185 [pounds] and 200 and I did that whole movie at 167. I haven’t been that light since high school.
“So it was a lot of training and a really strict diet.”