Chris Evans Turns 45: Inside His Epic Transformation for Captain America Role

Marvel superstar Chris Evans, famed for his role as Captain America in the Avengers movies, turns 45 today, proving that age is nothing but a number.

In 2022, People gave Evans its most coveted honor: Sexiest Man Alive. "It feels like a weird form of humble bragging," he told the magazine at the time. But the physical transformation he underwent to play Captain America was tough to ignore.

Evans began training for the role in 2010 when he was only 28 - and had a much more average body. "He was quite athletic, but as he said to me, he typically did 'the college workout,' so he was a bit imbalanced," Evans' trainer, Simon Waterson, told Business Insider. "He just trained his biceps, and his chest, and his abs, and that was it."

Waterson continued, "He could do a lot of pushing exercises but not a lot of pulling exercises. So he didn't deadlift, he didn't do many pull-ups, he didn't have very overdeveloped legs." In other words, Evans had what's known as a "bartender body": an undeveloped lower body, because no one can see a bartender's lower body behind the bar.

So, Waterson added lower body days to complement the upper body in attempt to even out Evans' physique. "I had to get him into squatting and deadlifting, pull-ups, to be able to jump on boxes," Waterson told Men's Health. "It wasn't about changing things completely, it was about complementing what he's already done to get the required results."

Waterson also incorporated full-body movements into Evans' routine, like the clean and jerk and dumbbell thrusters.

"He had to look as if he was carrying the shield on his back even when he wasn't," Waterson said. "His back had to look very muscular. We concentrated on getting that tiny waist and big shoulders and big back. You didn't want him to disappear when he put the shield on his back."

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 13, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published June 13, 2026 at 3:17 PM.