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Gal Gadot’s Workout Regime for “Wonder Woman” (Plus Diet, Etc.)
Discover Gal Gadot's workout routine and diet for “Wonder Woman,” designed for strength, agility, and muscle. Here’s what fueled her superhero transformation.
It takes a lot of effort to be a superhero! Especially if it is Wonder Woman, whom the world adores for her impressive strength, superhuman endurance, speed, resistance, and ability to fly. It was no wonder that after securing Gal Gadot’s workout routine in the lasso of truth, what we derived, in essence, was — discipline, hard work, resilience, determination to work through failure, and a stern, never-give-up attitude!
After all, just like Superman’s workout routine, going through Wonder Woman’s fitness regime is no joke. Gadot, however, didn’t just work hard enough to play the part — she indeed became Wonder Woman! And, we wouldn’t expect anyone to do it better, considering the Israeli actress has had a long and strong relationship with fitness.
In addition to a strategic mix of cardio and strength exercises, Gadot’s trainer somehow succeeded in preventing her from getting any injuries, thereby saving millions of dollars! Further, the actress also adopted a hearty, high-protein meal plan to bolster her physique, which was again monitored by her personal trainer Magnus Lygdback. Keep reading to learn the specifics of these, but first, let’s recap a bit on Gadot’s amazing career trajectory.
Who Is Gal Gadot?
Having started her career with the Miss Israel beauty pageant, Gal Gadot achieved several career milestones and took big strides before making her name in Hollywood. The first time she represented Israel on an international level was as a contestant in the Miss Universe pageant in 2004, held in Ecuador. Being the daughter of a physical education teacher and a professional model herself, physical fitness and exercise have been a very important part of Gadot’s life, which worked as a catalyst for her career ahead.
She made her big break in Hollywood with the role of Gisele Yashar in Fast & Furious (2009), as well as the following sequels of the franchise. Before box office hits such as Red Notice (2021) and Death on the Nile (2022), her massive international stardom can be traced back to her breakthrough role in and as Wonder Woman, where she played an Amazon-Olympian demi-goddess with extraordinary physical strength and superpowers.
Gadot played the titular role in the film’s sequel Wonder Woman (1984) as well as other films of the DC Universe, such as Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017). When playing this superhero, Gadot didn’t just have to look the part — she had to be the part. For this, other than her impressive acting talent, it was her strenuous exercise regime and action work that brought Wonder Woman to fruition!
The following are details about her workout routine and overall approach to fitness, which gave the world the impressive female superhero and influential figure it needed!
Gal Gadot’s “Wonder Woman” Fitness Routine
Playing the role of Wonder Woman required a whole team of stunt doubles, stunt teams, physiotherapists, and even chefs to ensure that not only the production of the film remains uncompromised but also that Gadot’s health and fitness levels stay at 100. Celebrity trainer, Magnus Lygdback, would coordinate with the whole team while also laying out and overseeing her workout routine.
As Lygdback mentioned in his blog, “We couldn't afford for Gal to get injured. That would have been a disaster, not to mention the millions of dollars it would have cost in production delays.”
Hence, while her workout regime had to be strenuous enough to strengthen her body and tone her muscles, it couldn’t cause her any lasting pain or injury. Lygdback made sure of this by studying Gadot’s physique and natural movement, mindfully choreographing her exercises, and strictly maintaining two days of the weekend for recovery.
Preventing injuries and soreness was also the reason why Lygdback didn’t assign any full-body workout to the actress and all her resistance training and high-intensity interval training exercises focused on specific muscle groups.
Warm-ups were fairly simple too — treadmill sprints and assault bike workouts. Her recovery and rest days were given much emphasis after five days of intense workouts in her six-week routine. Lygdback would also suggest Gadot to keep a water bottle handy through her sweat session, in order to prevent dehydration or severe health issues in the future.
Furthermore, Gadot’s exercise routine was not just about building muscle mass, lifting weights, and pulsing the body. It aimed at creating a strong foundation that would naturally enhance her physical capabilities — like what’s expected from Wonder Woman.
Lygdback strategically crafted an exercise that aimed at failure — with every workout, Gadot had to get tired enough to give up or modify a bit in the last few reps. The exercises were organized into reps, sets, and supersets — a combination of one set each of two different exercises, without any break in between.
Considering that the actress and the trainer had a mere five months to get in shape before the role, they expedited the fitness process by first studying Gadot’s body, how it moved and functioned, and if there were any potential areas of concern. Only after this, the actress could kickstart her fitness regime for the role.
Moreover, every exercise session was preceded by a specially curated warm-up followed by a suitable cool-down routine to ensure the best muscle recovery and physical rejuvenation. Here’s what her workouts looked like over a whole week.
Day 1: Cardio And Legs
Warm-up: Gadot kickstarted this regime with 5-minute sprints on her treadmill or on an outdoor track, prepping her legs and lower body for high-impact movements that are lined up next. Doing this would also set her heart rate at the right pace.
Workout:
1. Front Squats with Dumbbells (3 x 12): To tone her glutes and build overall lower body strength.
2. Walking Lunges (3 x 20): To build strength and boost muscle in her thighs and calves.
3. Mini Band Circuit (3 Sets): This comprised 20 repetitions of curtsy steps followed by lateral walks using heavy resistance bands (15 repetitions on each side). The circuit helped boost overall strength, balance, and agility in her lower body, while also toning it.
4. Skaters (3 x 20): Enhancing agility as well as hand and leg coordination.
5. Windmills/Dragon Kicks (3 x 20): Improving balance and core strength, while also providing side body stretch.
Day 2: Back, Chest, And Core
Warm-up: The Fast & Furious actress would get her heart rate up for this routine by spending a good five minutes on an assault bike or rowing machine.
Workout:
1. Wide-grip Lateral Pull Downs (3 x 12): To strengthen, sculpt, and torch her upper back muscles.
2. Push-ups to Failure (3 Sets): This comprised a gradual transition from incline to flat push-up sets, with increasing intensity of the exercise — pushing the actress’s strength to its max level. Lygdback recalls how the actress had to get on her knees for the last few push-ups, as deliberated.
3. Alternating Standing Dumbbell Rows (3 x 20): This aimed at strengthening her back muscles and upper arms, while improving her posture and alignment.
4. Superset - Incline Reverse Flys And Flat Dumbbell Flys (3 x 12): To strengthen and tone her back and chest, while also improving coordination and functionality
5. Superset - Crossover Mountain Climbers And Rotational Twists with Leg Kicks (3 x 12): To strengthen her core, torch excess fat at the abdomen region, improve flexibility, stretch out the obliques, and enhance balance.
Day 3: HIIT And Arms
Warm-up: Gadot would kickstart this powerful, explosive workout with 5 minutes of light cardio on the assault bike.
Workout:
1. Alternating Bicep Curls (3 x 15): To strengthen and tone her biceps to boost forearm strength and grip strength.
2. Triceps Skull Crushers (3 x 12): Hits the golden upper body triad — triceps, shoulders, and back muscles.
3. Cable Biceps Curls (3 x 12): Strengthening the biceps without causing injury, soreness, or spasms in the back or other muscle groups.
4. Triceps Push-downs (3 x 12): Strengthening the triceps without causing injury, soreness, or spasms in the back or other muscle groups.
5. Superset - Double Bicep Curls with a Flat Back (3 x 10) And Lateral Raises (3 x 12): Sculpting and toning the arms while maintaining a steady posture.
6. Hollow Hold (3 x 45 seconds): Getting the heart rate high, torching calories, and boosting blood circulation in the body with minimum movement, thereby preventing injury, soreness, or spasms. This would also boost balance, core strength, and stability.
Day 4: HIIT, Legs, And Core
Unlike Gadot’s Day 1 of cardio and legs, she would skip those resistance bands on Day 4. Instead, she would include more weights, stability balls, and supports (chairs, bench, wall, etc.) for her lower body exercises, targeting the quads and hamstrings.
Warm-up: For this workout, Gadot would run on the treadmills for 5 minutes, followed by 4 deadmill sprints of 30 seconds each (with 30 seconds of rest in between).
Workout:
1. Leg Press (2 x 5): These would help her tone and strengthen her quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves.
2. Bulgarian Split Squats (3 x 20): To foster balance, foot grip, and a good posture while strenuously toning the inner thigh muscles.
3. Superset - Stability Ball Knee Tucks (3 x 12) And Side-to-side Hops (3 x 12): While the knee tucks look deceptively easy, this is quite a challenging exercise as the Swiss ball gets very unstable. This tested Gadot’s core strength, coordination, grip, and balance. Side-to-side hops would boost agility and functionality.
4. Superset - Stability Ball Hamstring Curls (2 x 12) And Hip Thrusts on a Bench (3 x 12): Similar to the knee tucks, these hamstring curls would test and foster her strength, grip, and balance as the Swiss ball gets quite unstable. The hip thrusts further toned her glutes and hamstrings.
5. Hands-to-feet Stability Ball Pass (3 x 20): A challenging exercise that would target multiple muscle groups — arms, legs, glutes, back, and core — while enhancing posture, stability, and balance.
Day 5: Upper Body And Core
Warm-up: Gadot would commence the last day's exercise with a 5-minute warm-up routine on the assault bike.
Workout:
1. Superset: Close Grip Pull-downs (3 x 12) And Side Shoulder Raises (3 x 12): Increases the range of motion of her forearms and tones the shoulder muscles.
2. Superset: Dumbbell Rows with Oblique Twists (4 x 12) And Incline Push-ups (4 x 12): Sculpts, tones, and strengthens the core, back, shoulders, and arms
3. Superset: Straight Arm Pulldowns (3 x 12) And Dumbbell Straight Arm Raises (3 x 12): Toning the arms without causing any injury, soreness, or changes in posture.
4. Dragon Kicks (3 x 15): Boosting lower body strength, agility, and functionality.
Other than her Wonder Woman fitness regime and the exercises inspired by it that Gadot still practices, her routine also comprises a lot of yoga, stretches, boxing
Gal Gadot’s Diet
It would’ve been impossible for Gadot to follow such a strenuous exercise regime without being appropriately fuelled for it. Hence, Lygdback worked with Wonder Woman’s team of on-set chefs (who would literally make every meal Gadot ate) and strategized a diet Paleo-inspired diet plan (with a healthy addition of carbs) to meet the requirements of her fitness routine.
As Gadot is Middle Eastern, her diet plan was Mediterranean-inspired as well, comprising plenty of fruits and vegetables, nuts and olive oil for healthy fats, wild rice for carbohydrates, and lean meats. Every meal she consumed looked very colorful and varied, with a significant portion of plant-based foods. This would ensure that Gadot enjoyed eating her meals and kept her satisfied and happy instead of simply meeting her macros requirements.
Moreover, her trainer had carefully strategized Gadot’s meal timings and made sure that she consumed the right foods at the right time, as according to him, this can be a game-changer in one’s health and fitness. He would also ensure that she stays hydrated throughout the day.
To help Gadot build muscle and bolster her strength training exercises, Lygdback highly emphasized adding high-quality proteins to her daily diet, such as chicken, fish, and eggs. For a few meals, he would also encourage her to tuck up red meat — his focus was less on the fat component of the meat and more on its quality, such as being grass-fed, organic, wild-caught, etc.
Out of the five meals the Fast & Furious star consumed, she was very focused on having her three major meals be nutritionally balanced, whereas her two snacks acted as energy boosters during the day. The following are the specific details of her diet.
Breakfast: Gadot would start her day with a hearty meal of poached eggs, quinoa (for gluten-free complex carbohydrates), cherry tomatoes, and avocado (for healthy fats). This meal pack would provide her with immense energy and leave her feeling full and satisfied.
However, considering Gal’s rigorous workout regime, followed by her busy shoots, simply waiting till lunchtime for her next meal wasn’t an option. Lygdback realized that the actress needed to tuck in something healthy before moving on to her next proper meal.
Mid-morning Snack: Instead of just a handful of pretzels, Gadot gorged on a mini meal. This was a charcuterie board salad comprising fresh vegetables such as tomatoes, seeds, and cured meats.
Lunch: Her Wonder Woman lunch would comprise seared tuna (or another healthy fish), grilled bok choy, baby broccoli, pickled radishes, and peppers — seasoned, vinegared, and served with healthy condiments. Lygdback strongly believes that to eat healthily and get in the required macros, one doesn’t need to limit their meals to something as basic as white rice, broccoli, and chicken. Hence, he made sure that Gadot’s meals were fun and delicious.
For carbs, she often consumed sweet potatoes and wild rice. Plus, she would load up on fresh, green veggies with every meal.
Mid-afternoon Snack: For this meal, Gadot would consume a simple salad with grilled mackerel, seeds, and a hefty scoop of guacamole. This meal would be richer in healthy fats, ensuring that she stays full and nourished towards the end of the day, and does not crave many carbohydrates. On free days, Gadot would consume a more energizing snack such as yogurt with dates or green apples.
Dinner: For dinners, Gadot’s diet comprised more fun plant foods such as kale, kimchi, and wild rice. Instead of fish, she got her protein from steaks, such as a grilled rib-eye. As this type of meat is a bit fatty, Lygdback preferred it to be consumed at night, while Gadot would be consuming fewer carbohydrates than her day-time meals. The high-fat content would ensure that Gadot doesn’t feel hungry before her bedtime.
Sources suggest that Gadot's favorite cheat meals comprise hamburgers with mayonnaise and ketchup, ice cream, pasta, and chocolate.
Gal Gadot’s workout routine required her to consistently push beyond her limits, which gave us the superhero that we all love! Be it her exercise, diet, or something as basic as what time she wakes and when she goes to bed, everything in her lifestyle was strategized and carried out as planned. Moreover, the training process prevented the actress from getting any injuries. This explains how delicately measured and executed her Wonder Woman routine was, which makes us salute the actress, her trainer, and the whole dedicated team of health professionals for their massive contributions!
How does Gal Gadot stay slim?
