Hollywood has been pushing the macho muscular man image for quite a while. I suppose it probably started before Hollywood. Media often pushes the lean muscle look. In women it's more lean than muscle, because too much muscle might make them look too masculine or some shit.
Of course, the reason we view muscular women as masculine is because we have pushed this idea that men should be muscular...or they have rather.
(source)
Of course, who Hollywood and the media tell us are the attractive people aren't really the most attractive people. They're just the people in the media pushed by the media. All sorts of different people are into all sorts of different things.
But the whole topic of what Hollywood pushes has been done to death. Who they push being the height of perfection is just as fake as everything else in Hollywood. What people like is completely dependent on the person. Some like them short and plumpy. Some like them bald. Some like long hair. The height of perfection depends on the person.
But I started to wonder...just how strong are all those Hollywood actors?
Seriously, pretty much all the major star actors are pretty jacked. Even lesser known actors are often ripped as all hell.
Well, looking up how much Chris Hemsworth can bench press was kinda a dead end. Not that I would want to just list what various jacked actors can lift. That would be one of the most boring articles ever. I do hope the guy's estimate of 315 pounds for a rep or two is seriously underestimating him though. I've never been as jacked as Chris Hemsworth, at least I don't think so, yet I could lift a hell of a lot more than that. (Not anymore, sadly.) But then again, I never went for low reps at high weight.
If you didn't know, low reps at high weight is a little trick to bulk up fast. Problem is that you don't really get much endurance from doing it. Your muscles end up like big balloons. Just full of hot air. Well...not completely. But they're still more show than substance.
Chris Hemsworth might not be the perfect example of bulk with no substance though, because even when he was bulking back up for his role as Thor, he still did a ton of training for actual strength to pull off all the fight scenes. You can see for yourself in the article that the question referenced. He would do 45 pull-ups, 60 sit-ups, 45 pushups, 30 "box jumps", and 45 squats. That's actually very similar to the workout that I used to do when I was in a lot better shape. Though my workout was actually more than double that in some regards. But I didn't do box jumps. I didn't even know that was a thing. And I didn't do squats. I don't want to shit my intestines out of my ass...though I supposed that might be more likely if you do it with weights. I'd also alternate leg and arm exercises, and workout for over an hour almost every day, usually closer to two. I'd kinda like to get back into doing that actually. That's only his body exercises though, he also did weight lifting, including 15 barbell squats, 15 bench presses, 24 military presses, 15 deadlifts, and 24 hammer curls. Now I did a hell of a lot more than that every day, alternating between arms and legs. That's actually very low reps, likely at high weight. But he also did Muy Thai and Boxing. So he's done a sort of mix between an actual workout and just bulking up.
Now, don't get me wrong, Chris Hemsworth is actually in great shape. He's probably in a lot better shape than most actors, even ones that look as cut as he does. His workout routine is made to both make him look good, and allow him to complete the majority of his stunts.
But, for how ripped he looks, Thor should actually be able to do some crazy shit, like lifting up co-stars one-handed, or being able to throw Black Widow like a sack of potatoes. I know what I was capable of when I worked out. I could lift someone up one handed...or move a full file cabinet, lifting it off the ground and walking with it, or lifting a piano up to my chest level to load up into a truck...with a bit of help. But I was never even close to looking like Thor. But I did do a serious workout. If Chris Hemsworth's workout was more focused on reps and exercise than bulking up, he could do some seriously insane shit, even with normal human strength.
When you're seriously buff, you can do things that pretty much any normal person would be seriously impressed with.
But just how strong are the Hollywood strong men?
Well, if you make the mistake of looking up how much Ryan Reynolds works out the answer would be scarily. Seriously, his workouts are fucking insane. He trains with a former Olympian...and probably scares him too. Plus he has people to cook for him to make sure he doesn't put on any fat when getting buff like a fucking gladiator.
Speaking of gladiators, Russell Crowe did a more traditional routine for his roll in Gladiator, mainly doing long distance biking, boxing, and weight training while eating a fiber rich fruit and veggie diet with protein supplements. So...he was probably actually pretty tough during that movie... Though it fully depends on exactly how weight heavy that weight lifting was.
That's what I keep getting back to. You can't really tell what people are capable just by their looks. Actors like Ryan Reynolds can probably do some seriously astounding feats. Hell, with a bit of parkour training, Ryan Reynolds might be able to do some seriously Deadpool actions. On the other hand, some actors that might look beefier than him might not be able to lift even half of what he likely can. Seriously, after reading about his workouts, he kinda scares me. He was definitely the right choice for Deadpool, in more ways than one.
Similarly, Hugh Jackman isn't just jacked, he's also pretty capable thanks to his routine.
So maybe some of Hollywood's leading men are actually pretty damn capable. Kind of makes me wonder why they don't show off their capabilities more in movies. Of course, even if you could throw a fridge across a room, you don't wanna do it 60 times for one shot.
I'll probably never know how capable that overly jacked actors are...some of them are probably just jacked for show, while others are maybe a bit insane with their workouts so they can safely do all their own stunts...or at least most of them. The ones that are jacked just for show will probably never admit it...while the ones that have insane workouts will totally brag about it...and when we read about it we'll just go wide eyed in wonder.