You may have happened across these jaw-dropping photos of J.K. Simmons floating around on the internet this week, preparing for his role in Zack Snyder’s Justice League as Commissioner Jim Gordon, because apparently even Commissioner Gordon needs to be ripped like a superhero these days. As we previously mentioned, Simmons has been training with with former U.S. Marine Aaron Williamson, a fitness guru who has previously worked with the likes of Zac Efron and The Rock, to achieve his new look.
The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Williamson after the photos surfaced this week, and he shared some tips on how he transformed the 61-year-old actor into basically Rick from that episode of Rick and Morty when he gets all jacked with Summer. Williamson first met Simmons on the set of Terminator: Genisys, but says it was when the actor was preparing for Whiplash that he wanted to “take things to the next level.” He says that his client’s initial motivating factor was just being able to play a character who wears a tank top. We think he’s good on that front!
How does Simmons’ physique relate to Justice League? Sadly, we don’t get any answers on that front.
As far as the whole Justice League stuff goes, if he is trying to get ready for something in that arena, I’m not aware of it and he never shared it with me. I’m only training with him as a friend and client and helping him achieve what he’s trying to achieve with his new physique.
Williamson also revealed that while he only trains with Simmons about 2-3 times a week, the actor also sees another trainer who helps him focus more on cardio strength-training, and initially helped him drop the extra weight he was carrying. But as to how he got those “sick arms…”
We really typically are doing a lot of unilateral movements with dumbbells, because J.K. has aches and pains and stuff, so we try to keep things mobile and loose. We use dumbbells that feel a bit better on your joints rather than being stuck under a bar. His goal was to have “sick arms.” When we did Terminator, I was training a guy named Jai Courtney. He kept mentioning, “I want to have arms bigger than Jai’s.” We would joke about it, but then we actually started training and he made improvements on his arms until what we’re doing right now.
Simmons also claims that his “secret weapon” is dark chocolate, of which he eats one square per day. And yes, you are perfectly welcome to interpret that as: “eat more chocolate to achieve J.K. Simmons’ ripped new look.”
(Via Hollywood Reporter)