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If you’ve seen Scarlett Johansson play Black Widow in any of the Marvel movies, you know she’s in fighting shape. But it turns out the actor had "never been to a gym" before she signed on for “Iron Man 2.” “I was 24.
It changed my life in a lot of ways, but it changed my whole outlook on exercise,” the 39-year-old said during an episode of the podcast in 2023. While reflecting on her Marvel journey with , the star called "the gift of fitness" "one of the best parts" of her experience working on the films. “I am stronger and more capable now than I was 10 years ago, which is so awesome to be able to say,” she noted.
Johansson's personal trainer, Eric Johnson, previously told that his client's competitive spirit also helps her crush her workouts. “If I show her something I can do easily, she wants to do it,” he said. “We finish a lot of sessions with sprints, me versus her, and if I offer a 5-yard head start, she gets p----- off that I would even dare.
” How did Johansson train to get in superhero shape and how does she maintain her physique? We're outlining some of her fitness tips and tricks below. When she's training for certain roles, Johansson certainly steps up her workout game. But Johnson previously told his client is "very consistent" with her fitness routine on a regular basis.
“We go anywhere from two to three days a week when we’re maintaining and up to five, six days a week,” he said in 2019. The fitness maven went so far as to say that he's never worked with a client as dedicated as Johansson. “Her work ethic is unmatched.
She really shows up all the time. She’s not afraid to get strong," he said. Per Johnson, Johansson "hates traditional cardio.
" To work around this, the trainer told he has his client do sprints and a mix of battle ropes and kettlebells. The latter piece of equipment, he said, "teaches her to be powerful and strong while making (the exercise) look elegant and pretty.” When it comes to her workout routine, Johansson is down to try anything, but she prefers to get her whole body moving.
"I like to work up a sweat. I’ve tried Pilates and yoga and all that, and I like to dabble in different things, but I always come back to a good old-fashioned athletic, full-body workout," she told in 2014. The star described herself as someone who enjoys working out.
But like all of us, she has days when she's not feeling motivated. “Those are the days when you should go because then you stick to it. Once I get into a routine of going to the gym every day when I’m working, it’s easy for me to just keep going.
It makes me feel good. But once I start to slack, it’s so hard to go back. Especially when you lose your muscle tone," she said.
Black Widow is known for kicking butt, so it should come as no surprise that Johnson prioritized strength training while preparing to play the Marvel character. “We treated the process like an athlete preparing for competition,” Johnson previously told “By placing more emphasis on her performance, her physique just followed.” To help Johansson achieve her goals, Johnson led her through an "integrated foundational strength training” routine that featured a mix of “movements from plyometrics, yoga, Olympic weight lifting, kettlebells and gymnastics.
" After kicking things off with mobility work, Johansson performed a "primer" circuit that included integrative core work, medicine ball throws, dynamic mobility moves like bear crawls and lower body plyometrics moves like jumping. According to Johnson, some of the actor's go-to exercises included pistol squats, military presses, pull-ups and deadlifts. “We are making sure that she’s strong enough that everything else is easy when it comes to her skill acquisition and stunt training or if she wants to go and learn a new sport, like tennis,” Johnson previously told .
“What’s amazing with Scarlett is that she really loves the process. She’s extremely strong.” To prep Johansson for her role in “Avengers: Endgame,” Johnson had her practice time-restricted eating, meaning she would fast for at least 12 hours a day.
For instance, if she ate dinner at 8 p.m. at night, she wouldn’t eat breakfast until 8 a.
m. the following morning. “That was a general guideline,” Johnson told “At moments we pushed beyond that to 14-to-15 hours depending on the filming schedule.
” was another diet technique Johnson used with Johansson during this time. “She cycled through days of high carbohydrates and low fat consumption, versus low carbohydrates and higher fat while maintaining protein intake,” he said. Whether you’re naturally competitive or not, setting goals is one way to motivate yourself to reach fitness milestones.
For Johansson, it’s par for the course. “Our training approach is dynamic and truly in tune with her state of being,’ Johnson previously told “Whether that’s for an upcoming stunt that she’ll need to perform or a gym specific quest such as a pistol squat, we’ve found more success chasing attainable goals that are performance-based over a number on a scale.” While training Johansson for “Avengers: Endgame,” Johnson set target goals for his client every 12 weeks.
As he told , these included a 245-pound deadlift, single-leg pistol squats and push-up reps with a 45-pound plate on the actor’s back. “We’re trying to create this crazy comic book hero in real life with somebody who’s normal,” he said. Once upon a time, weight lifting was a huge part of Johansson’s workout regimen.
“I did weight lifting for a long time. That was my thing. I liked lifting heavy and low reps,” she said during an episode of podcast in 2023.
When she was training for her role as Black Widow, the star decided to switch up her routine. “I think it’s hard to lift heavy weights at a certain point. You just, your body reacts in a different way than it (did) — the recovery is tough.
And so I started doing Pilates to try to give myself a break from some of the heavy weightlifting and I just fell in love with it. And now I do that mostly,” she said. Exercise has an undeniable way of helping you destress, and that's one of the many reasons Johansson makes it a priority to work out on a regular basis.
"Doing physical exercise as many times a week as I can do keeps me mentally sane," she said during an episode of . The actor went on to explain that working out also helps her feel more balanced when other areas of her wellness routine are off-kilter. "That goes a long way.
Cuz I’m not getting as much sleep as I should be, I eat too late, (I) love to have a glass of wine at the end of the day. I don’t have time to be able to have to stick to some crazy diet unless somebody is making food for me. And that drives me crazy too.
I love to cook. I’m a very casual person in that way," she said. "And so I think my go-to thing is that I try to do physical exercise whenever I can in the week because it helps my whole mental well-being.
" Johansson's former trainer, Bobby Strom, trained the star for and "The Avengers" and told he prioritized circuit training on both occasions. The 90-minute workouts took place multiple times a week and included medicine balls, resistance bands, dumbbells and TRX equipment. Per Strom, the sessions typically featured sets of 20 with 25-30 reps for each move.
While preparing for intense stunts in "The Avengers," Johansson worked with her stunt double, and trained in mixed martial arts (MMA). The actor spoke with about the experience, saying, "You get beat up a lot. It's painful.
Like many action stars, Johansson mixes up her workouts when she's training for a role. “When we’re filming, we’re basically in the gym every morning to start the day but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going 100% during each of those workouts. You could say we follow a daily undulating periodisation program, where the intensity fluctuates,” Johnson previously told .
Chrissy Callahan covers a range of topics for TODAY.com, including fashion, beauty, pop culture and food. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, watching bad reality TV and consuming copious amounts of cookie dough.
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