What It Takes To Play Doctor Manhattan From “Watchmen”

The transformation starts in the gym

The new hit HBO show “Watchmen” features some larger than life characters with action-packed scenes, especially when it comes to the all-powerful character Doctor Manhattan. Actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays the infamous series character but it takes a lot of training and hard work to play the character and he gives us a sneak peek of what it takes to play Doctor Manhattan.

He works out at the New York Dog Pound Gym to prepare and train for the action-packed stunt work, but this isn’t new for Mateen II. He says that there is a lot of training required to prepare for a role which is standard for every role he takes on.

You may know Mateen II from his role as Cadillac The Disco King on the “The Get Down” and though his role was limited on action scenes he said there is a lot of movement playing a dancer, requiring him to train for the goal of maintaining the body of a dancer. Mateen II also played a role in the hit DC Comics film “Aquaman” as the character of The Black Manta and he says he gained 20 pounds of muscle mass for the role.

The role of Doctor Manhattan isn’t an easy role to slip in since the character is a God-like powerful being so Mateen II knew he was going to be in heavy training for the role. He shows us some of his workouts to get into physical shape to play Doctor Manhattan.

The first workout is 4 sets of 8 reps of clean and press. This is a full-body movement that works out the upper and lower body strength, Mateen II recommends to stay safe with some trainers to spot you during reps.

Chest flyes are a combination of a cable fly and an incline fly sequence with 4 sets of 10 reps. The key to this workout is to grab the cables, starting in the middle with your hands together and then start the reps. If you don’t have a cable machine, another option is to use resistance bands.

The next workout is the hanging leg raise withhold for 3 sets of a 30-second hold followed by 20 reps. This works on strengthening your core and defining abs, you want to actively try to squeeze your abs tights not just holding.

For more workout and fitness tips, check out the video above.

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