How Magnus Lygdback transformed Alexander Skarsgard for The Northman

While helping Alexander Skarsgård changes his physique forThe Legend of Tarzan Celebrity trainer Magnus Lygdback and the actor built a friendship and bond that remains strong to this day. During the nearly year-long commitment to the film, Skarsgård informed Lygdback about an idea he had for a project revolving around Vikings. The fellow Swede could see the passion in his friend's eyes as he discussed the details, and he announced that he would surely receive a call if the project ever came to fruition.

With two very different and busy schedules, the couple caught up whenever Skarsgård was in Los Angeles. The call finally came sometime in mid-2019. The project wasThe Northman.Directed by Robert Eggers, the film revolves around a young Viking prince on his quest for revenge for his father's death.

After I had already had the experienceTarzanLygdback already knew how great Skarsgård's work ethic was and how he would respond to the nutritional and physical training. They already had ideas about what they wanted the character to look like when they started working on it in December.

We spoke to Lygdback about the conversion process from Skarsgård to Amlet forThe Northmanas well as how he helps push clients like Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Alicia Vikander and more to look their physical best. You can also follow the same programs as his star clientele MagnusMethodApp.com – powered by Playbook.

Magnus Lygdback monitors and measures

I'm not a big fan of too much bulk, even though I call it the bulking or bulking cycle. We had a big bulking cycle where I made sure he was in a calorie surplus every day so he didn't lose body fat because he's usually lean. You can always pretend you know how many calories someone should eat, but we all know that is very individual and depending on what you do in a day it changes. I like watching my actors, and I monitored him by measuring his fat every week - just to make sure he wasn't too lean in the bulking phase and also that he wasn't gaining too much body fat. We built up all the way until we put him on a diet and he was on that diet for three weeks. Normally I want six weeks with someone, but I knew his body so well from Tarzan. I had old notes and I knew how to train him. That's the beauty of working with someone more than once.

Build up mass and get fat

Honestly, the guy is getting older and we knew he was doing a lot of his own stunts and moves. The key part of his body was his shoulders. We had to make sure we prepared his shoulders for all the fighting, wielding a sword and an axe. We made sure to do some additional accessory work on the shoulders. Otherwise it was about building mass and getting fat.

We did a lot of strength training and different types of training. The strength training was split into four days, and I always planned seven days a week with my actors. We never do seven and take a break when necessary. We did strength training five to six days a week. Legs on day 1, chest and front shoulders on day 2. Back, back shoulders and outer shoulders on day 3. Arms on day 4. On any given day, I always do high intensity cardio or regular cardio and core. The way I approach core training is that I do it every day, but I make sure to train different parts of the core as part of the splits.

I'm a big fan of protein-rich breakfasts - usually eggs in any form. For him it would be four to five eggs. He did not consume any carbohydrates for breakfast during the three-week period. We made a protein based snack after breakfast. Lunch would consist of a protein, slow carbohydrates, good fats and vegetables. Followed by another protein-rich snack. Dinner would consist of protein, carbohydrates, good fats, vegetables and fiber.

Preparation during the pandemic

I have to say I was very lucky. I wasn't lucky then, but we were lucky because the pandemic hit. I started with him in December and traveled to Vancouver where he was filmingThe stand,and I started setting it up and then we traveled to Northern Ireland. I got him in really good shape and then the pandemic happened. We were two days away from filming and had to close the shop. He flew back to Sweden and I flew back to LA. All gyms were closed and he was isolated on an island with his family.

He did some bodyweight workouts, but he lost a lot of his gains. We started again in June and it became like a natural training cycle. We started filming in September. It turned out really great because he was in even better shape than he was in March. It's hard to say how much time we had to prepare because it was two training cycles. InTarzan, he was slimmer and more agile and this time he gained about 20 pounds because we wanted a thicker and more imposing look. In hindsight, I'm glad we got that time because you saw the trailer.

Pushing customers to new limits

It's obviously a lot of psychology. I always say you have to figure out what kind of brain you have in front of you, what makes them tick, and how to push them in the right direction rather than the wrong direction - how to communicate with them. It's about building character. Even if you have the basics, it stays the same. I have to get to programming. Depending on where you start, what you want it to look like, and what we want to incorporate into the character, it's sport-specific things or skill-based things. If you look at my programming, I'm pretty open about it. In terms of strength, it's a lot of the same stuff. I'm not one to try to reinvent the wheel and come up with new fancy exercises. I believe in sticking to a routine, the basics, and getting really good at it.

Have a plan

As long as you have a plan, you can be patient. You can't rush anything. You have to build a strong foundation with everyone you work with because if we don't go over the basics, you're not going to move properly and you're going to get injured in the process because that's how extreme it is to push the body so hard for the short amount of time that we have. You have to be patient, take the right steps, start with the basics and build from that foundation. Before I say yes to a project, I try to research who I'm working with and I always talk to them before I say yes. I want to know who I'm working with and see if it's someone who wants me because I've done good work in the past. If that's the case, I'm not going to say yes to that because with every single job I need to know that they understand and are willing to put in the work. This also appears on my CV. If I don't do a good job, I won't get my next gig. It's also not worth spending a year on - six months preparing someone and six months filming and they really don't put in the work.

Follow Magnus Lygdback on Instagram @magnuslygdback