Marvel fans everywhere thought Holland absolutely killed it as Peter Parker and they also agreed he looked ripped as everybody's favorite web-slinger. He might've even made some of his co-stars jealous for how well-liked he was in the flick. But how did he physically transform from a scrawny tot into one of the world's most famous superheroes? Here's everything you need to know about how Tom Holland turned himself into Spider-Man...
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00:00Once Upon a Time, Tom Holland was best known for starring in the stage version of Billy
00:04Elliot in the 2012 disaster flick The Impossible.
00:08Of course, that all changed when the British actor appeared in Captain America Civil War,
00:12donning the iconic Spider-Man suit, to fight against Steve Rogers.
00:15What's up, everybody?
00:17Marvel fans everywhere thought Holland absolutely killed it as Peter Parker, and they also agreed
00:22he looked ripped as everybody's favorite web-slinger.
00:25He might have even made some of his co-stars jealous for how well-liked he was in the flick.
00:30Tom's a little a**hole, alright?
00:33Tom has his own base camp, he has, like, an entourage.
00:36It's a lot, man.
00:37He's a lot to deal with."
00:38But how did he physically transform from a scrawny tot into one of the world's most famous
00:43superheroes?
00:44Here's everything you need to know about how Tom Holland turned himself into Spider-Man.
00:49Shaking it into shape
00:50Unlike a certain actor who's best known for playing Star-Lord, Tom Holland was in great
00:54shape long before landing the role of Spider-Man.
00:57He started out taking hip-hop dance lessons in England as a kid and went on to study ballet
01:01for two years in hopes of landing the title role in Billy Elliot.
01:05In addition to helping him get bigger, Holland's dance background has really aided him as an
01:09actor.
01:10He told Interview magazine,
01:11"...I'm very happy I had that training.
01:14It's been so valuable to my career, and I've used it on almost everything I've done since."
01:18That experience certainly came into good use when he cross-dressed for Lip Sync Battle
01:22with exactly zero fear of losing any dude cred.
01:26Hitting the mats
01:28Every Avenger has his or her particular skill set.
01:31Iron Man flies and blasts stuff, Black Widow does martial arts, Spider-Man climbs walls,
01:36does flips, and makes Olympic gold medalists look like old men.
01:39Of course, Peter Parker got his acrobatic skills courtesy of a radioactive spider bite.
01:44Tom Holland, on the other hand, gained his gymnastic abilities from years of hard work,
01:49dedication, and risking his neck.
01:51Like his dancing history, he credits his stage work on Billy Elliot with his earliest exposure
01:56to gymnastics.
01:57"...They trained me in gymnastics while I was doing that show, and it's just something
02:01I kept up while finishing the show, and for my auditions for Spider-Man."
02:07Holland is also into freerunning, a form of parkour that emphasizes creative expression.
02:12In other words, it involves a lot of acrobatics, not to mention some semi-dangerous stunts.
02:17Speaking with Metro, Holland once explained,
02:19"...me and my mates go freerunning all the time.
02:21I've probably jumped four meters onto grass and two meters between buildings."
02:25In addition to keeping him agile and limber, which is essential if you're going to play
02:29the wall-crawler himself, Holland's gymnastic abilities might have helped him land the role
02:33of Spider-Man in the first place.
02:35During the audition process, he transformed what would have been a run-of-the-mill screen
02:39test into an eye-catching exercise of his flipping skills.
02:42"...And I basically did like a somersault into frame, and then a somersault out of frame.
02:47I need them to know that I've got some gymnastics abilities and stuff."
02:51Considering Tom Holland is the guy currently wearing the Spidey suit, it looks like his
02:55acrobatic skills paid off.
02:57"...Finally, here we go."
02:59Changing things up
03:00Another training technique Tom Holland has adopted to swell up to Spider-Man size is
03:05circuit training.
03:06This controversial exercise involves wearing an elevation mask while performing multiple
03:10sets of reps, like burpees or bicep curling, one after another with almost no rest in between
03:16stations.
03:17And that's not the only experimental exercise he's tried.
03:20He's also given electronic muscle stimulation a whirl along the way, too.
03:24"...And they put pads on you, and you work out while the pads electrocute you, and it
03:29sucks.
03:30It really, really sucks."
03:32And while he had some trouble with it at first…
03:34"...I tell you, I did it once, and I didn't go to the toilet for two days."
03:38…he's since given it another go, hopefully with less troubling consequences.
03:43Punching it out
03:44If you want to be an Avenger, sooner or later, you're going to have to throw down with some
03:48bad guys.
03:49Luckily, Holland is big into combat sports.
03:51Not only is he an MMA fan, showing up at UFC events, he also spends quite a bit of time
03:56in the gym learning all he can about the sweet science.
03:59As a result, Holland totally knows what he's doing when he pulls on a pair of gloves.
04:03"...My mind's not one, his might be as one."
04:06When he's not punishing those punching bags, Holland also does every other gym activity
04:11imaginable, including chin-ups, side lateral raises, and even borrowing Thor's hammer to
04:16beat on some massive tires.
04:18So perhaps one of the most effective elements of his workout regime is how consistently
04:22he hits the gym while still mixing up his routines.
04:30"...Oh, that was awesome."