Image Credit: Health and me
When it comes to embodying a superhero, few actors have captured the essence of strength, charm, and discipline quite like Henry Cavill. From Superman's cape in Man of Steel to rugged charisma in The Witcher, Cavill's transformative fitness routines have become a benchmark for anyone aspiring to achieve peak physical performance. His dedication to fitness, guided by tailored workouts and a disciplined diet, has set him apart as a fitness icon. This feature explores an inspired workout and dietary regimen that channels Cavill's approach to health and strength.
Henry Cavill's workout strategy is not one-size-fits-all. It changes with his roles, balancing functionality with aesthetics. For Superman, it's about strength and a commanding physique. For The Witcher, agility and endurance take precedence. Cavill often alternates between powerlifting and CrossFit, two training styles that maximize both strength and lean muscle.
Powerlifting forms an essential part of Cavill’s strength-building phases. This training focuses on foundational lifts—bench press, squats, deadlifts, and military presses. These compound movements target multiple muscle groups, enhancing both power and size. A typical powerlifting session includes:
As a supplement to his powerlifting, Cavill follows a high-intensity CrossFit training program. Such workouts focus on practical movements executed with intensity and pace, which develops cardiovascular endurance. A typical CrossFit workout would be a series of kettlebell swings, box jumps, and sprinting.
Here is an example of a weekly routine based on Henry Cavill's approach:
Day 3: Shoulders and Arms
This workout program uses gradual weight and intensity increases in order to avoid stagnation while building muscles.
No workout routine is complete without a complementary diet. Henry Cavill's nutrition mirrors that of a performance athlete, with calorie intake varying based on his goals—bulking or cutting.
When bulking, Cavill takes in up to 5,000 calories daily, focusing on whole foods like:
For achieving a more ripped look Cavill limits the daily calorie count to 3,000 to 3,500 calories by keeping the amount of protein more prominent and carborhydrates marginally down.
Disclaimer: Consult a fitness professional before starting any new exercise or diet plan to ensure it aligns with your individual needs and health conditions.
Credit: AI
Eli Lilly’s highly anticipated GLP-1 weight-loss drug retatrutide has delivered nearly 21% average weight loss in people with type 2 diabetes and obesity, according to results from a large Phase 3 trial published in The Lancet. In an ever-expanding weight loss medication market, retatrutide is already showing significant promise in obesity and diabetes management.
The drug, retatrutide, is being developed by Eli Lilly and is not approved by the FDA yet. In the TRIUMPH-2 trial, people receiving the highest 12 mg dose lost an average of 20.8% of their body weight over 80 weeks, equivalent to about 49.6 pounds or 22.5 kg.
The findings about retatrutide's trial were presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) annual meeting in Milan and published simultaneously in The Lancet.
Retatrutide is a triple agonist because it activates three hormone receptors:
GLP-1-based medicines are already widely used for diabetes and obesity. Retatrutide activates GIP and glucagon pathways as well, creating a three-way approach to manage appetite, blood sugar and metabolism. The drug is given once weekly by injection and remains experimental and investigational.
Also read: World Heart Day: You Feel Healthy. But Plaque May Already Be Building In Your Arteries In Your 20s
TRIUMPH-2 included adults with obesity or overweight and type 2 diabetes. Participants receiving retatrutide were assigned to 4 mg, 9 mg or 12 mg doses and followed for 80 weeks. The average weight loss was:
The response was even greater among participants who started the study with a BMI of at least 35. Those receiving 12 mg lost an average of 23.4% of their body weight, or about 60.8 pounds.
By week 80, 59.5% of people taking 12 mg no longer met the BMI criteria for obesity.
Retatrutide not only led to one of the biggest weight losses ever seen, it also improved HbA1c, a measure of average blood glucose over the previous two to three months. At 80 weeks, HbA1c fell by:
Up to 40% of participants receiving retatrutide achieved an HbA1c below 5.7%, which is within the normal range.
The results are certainly seem promising, particularly as people with type 2 diabetes can sometimes lose less weight with obesity medicines than people without diabetes.
Retatrutide's combination of substantial weight loss and improved blood sugar control makes it an important drug to watch in a competitive GLP-1 market.
Since it's not approved yet, more evidence will be needed on its long-term safety, cardiovascular effects and how its benefits compare with existing treatments. It is also worth remembering that the 20.8% figure represents an average, not the amount every participant lost.
Retatrutide's development is a sign that obesity and diabetes treatment is extending beyond just managing blood sugar. The next generation of drugs is all about targeting weight, glucose and metabolism together.
Sudden bursts of intense exercise after a sedentary routine can put extra stress on the heart, doctors say. (Image Credits: Istock)
Exercise is good for the heart. That part is not in question. But on the occasion of World Heart Day, doctors say the way you exercise, and how suddenly you start, can matter just as much as whether you exercise at all.
A lot of us live sedentary weekdays and then try to make up for it with one hard gym, swimming or sports session over the weekend. Dr Dhirendra Singhania, Director of Interventional Cardiology at Yashoda Medicity, says this pattern puts real strain on the body. "In an untrained person, a sudden switch to a much increased load in terms of time or intensity of training is a huge physiological stress on the heart," he told Health and Me.
Dr Ajeet Singh, Senior Consultant and Head of Cardiology at ShardaCare Healthcity, describes the same risk from the other direction. "Stepping into a sedentary lifestyle with a sudden burst of extreme activity, and vice versa, can strain the heart," he told Health and Me. Weekend sport, after a week of sitting, is one of the most common triggers.
Dr Udgeath Dhir, Principal Director, Cardio Thoracic and Vascular Surgery at Fortis Gurugram, points to a related trend: people jumping straight into long-distance running or marathon training without building up to it. "Suddenly pushing an untrained body into long-distance running, marathon training or extreme high-intensity workouts can place unnecessary acute stress on the cardiovascular system," he says.
Medical literature backs this up. New England Journal of Medicine study found that people who exercised regularly were far better protected against a heart attack being triggered by sudden exertion than those who rarely worked out. Research published in Circulation notes that the least fit individuals face the greatest risk during sudden physical effort. Doctors describe this as a fitness "buffer". A trained heart handles a sharp rise in oxygen demand and blood pressure far better than an untrained one.
This doesn't mean irregular exercise is pointless. A large 2023 study in JAMA, using activity-tracker data from close to 90,000 people, found that "weekend warriors" who packed their exercise into one or two days had a similarly lower cardiovascular risk to people who spread activity evenly through the week. The catch, researchers noted, is that this benefit shows up in people who are already getting regular activity in some form. Suddenly forcing an untrained body into a high-intensity session is a different scenario altogether.
All three doctors agree that people with undiagnosed heart problems, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes or a family history of heart disease need to be more cautious. Dr Singh says this doesn't mean exercise should be avoided. It simply has to match "age, fitness level, and overall health and medical history." Dr Singhania advises anyone with existing heart disease or risk factors to consult their doctor before starting intense activity.
All three point to the same red flags. Chest pain or pressure, unusual breathlessness, dizziness, a racing heart, or simply feeling off during exercise. Dr Singhania lists "angina, unusual breathlessness, pre-syncope, syncope and palpitations" as symptoms that should never be ignored.
The advice from all three doctors is simple. Warm up. Build intensity gradually. Cool down. Stay hydrated. And if something feels wrong mid-workout, stop and consult a doctor rather than trying to push through the discomfort. As Dr Dhir puts it, "Fitness is not about pushing the body to its maximum every day; it is about building a level of fitness that your individual heart can safely sustain."
Credit: AI
Weight-loss drugs like Zepbound and Mounjaro work by suppressing appetite and making the user feel less hungry, reducing how much they eat. But a new study suggests tirzepatide, the active ingredient in both drugs, it could help the body use more energy by activating brown fat.
The finding primarily comes from mice, not humans, so it is too early to say that tirzepatide can directly increase the number of calories burned in users.
The study, led by researchers at the University of Barcelona and published in Biomedicine, looked at how tirzepatide affects different types of fat tissue.
Tirzepatide works by mimicking two hormones, GIP and GLP-1, which are involved in appetite, food intake and blood sugar regulation.
One of its major effects is reducing appetite, which can help people consume fewer calories. Research has already shown that tirzepatide can substantially reduce energy intake compared to placebo.
But researchers wanted to know whether there was something else happening inside the body that could not simply be explained by eating less, which led them to brown fat.
Also read: Stopping Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro Linked To 22% Higher Heart Attack, Stroke Risk: Study
Most of us are familiar with white fat, which stores excess energy. Brown fat is brown adipose tissue. It is known for using energy and producing heat. It contains mitochondria that allow it to burn fuel.
The researchers gave obese mice tirzepatide and compared them to mice that were not given the drug but consumed the same amount of food. This development allowed the scientists to separate the effects of the drug from the effects of simply eating fewer calories. They identified that tirzepatide activated brown adipose tissue.
According to the researchers, this was linked with a greater capacity to use metabolic energy and with the production of signalling molecules called batokines, which may have beneficial effects on metabolism.
Also read: CagriSema Beats Lilly’s Mounjaro & Zepbound In New Trial: All About Novo’s Next-Gen Obesity Drug
It’s a possibility but it has not yet been proven in humans. The study suggests that tirzepatide can activate a biological pathway involved in energy burning. That is different from proving that Mounjaro or Zepbound can burn calories as well.
This distinction is important because headlines about “boosting metabolism” can make the effect sound much larger or more established than the evidence currently allows.
For years, scientists have been exploring whether activating brown fat could help find another way of tackling obesity. Most weight-loss strategies focus heavily on reducing how much energy enters the body. Activating brown fat offers another way of increasing how much energy the body uses.
Previous attempts to stimulate brown fat pharmacologically have run into problems, particularly due to unforeseen cardiovascular effects.
The University of Barcelona researchers say tirzepatide’s known cardiovascular benefits make its brown-fat activation particularly interesting, although this finding itself still needs to be confirmed in huma Tirzepatide ns.
Tirzepatide already has several effects on the body through its GIP and GLP-1 activity. Reduced appetite and food intake remain important mechanisms behind its weight-loss effects. The new study suggests that changes in fat tissue and energy metabolism could add scope layer to the drug’s effects.
But it would be premature to conclude that brown-fat activation is responsible for a the weight loss seen with tirzepatide in people.
© $2026 Times Horizon Private Limited