Playing a hero in movies and TV shows is not easy. Just look at how The Rock and Chris Hemsworth have trained for their respective superhero roles. If you do not have that mountain of a chest and chiseled abs, people will not believe you, no matter how good your acting is. So when playing a warrior in Vikings: Valhalla, you need to look like one.

How to become Harald Sigurdsson from Vikings: Valhalla

Before becoming one of the greatest kings of Vikings, Harald Sigurdsson was a robust and fierce tactician and military commander of the army. He fought many battles and conquered the invincible Britain.

So when the English actor Leo Suter was given the role of the great warrior. He knew he had to put in hours at the gym and build his physique. In an interview with Tudum, Leo shared his experience of training and working out.

He said, “I knew that training was going to be important, and we were very lucky to have a trainer called Pat Henry to help us through that first four months of pandemic when we were all in lockdown and weren’t able to film. We did Zoom sessions three times a week with the weights that I had lying around in my garage that had gathered a lot of dust.”

The actor says that it took him four months to build the desired body and he seems to have enjoyed every second of it. The actor says that “I find it meditative and calming to go to the gym.” He credits his athletic background for helping him build muscle in much less time.

How was the training?

Vikings: Valhalla has some great action sequences. In fact, the climax of the last episode has one of the best-choreographed battle sequences ever seen in a show before. So if you are going to battle looking like a Viking, it is important you fight like one too.

Leo trained extensively for his role. He even took classes for Thai kickboxing, Muay Thai. He even says that he went to “Fight Clubs” at weekends and took his castmate James Ballanger with him.

What did you think about Leo’s performance as the Viking king Harald Sigurdsson? Let us know in the comments below.