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WHAT A FLEX

Tom Holland Tries Extreme Bodybuilding Trick for Shirtless Scene

It’s an ill-advised technique, even for superheroes.

Pia BelloBeauty & Wellness Intern

PublishedAug 6, 2026, 8:34 PM EDT

UpdatedAug 6, 2026, 8:42 PM EDT

Updated Aug 6, 2026, 8:42 PM EDTPublished Aug 6, 2026, 8:34 PM EDT

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Spider-Man star Tom Holland discovered the hard way that not every Hollywood body-transformation trick is worth trying.

While filming the latest installment in the franchise, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the 30-year-old actor revealed he experimented with a controversial bodybuilding technique to make his muscles appear more defined for a shirtless scene. The results, however, were more snippy than shredded.

“I had tried to do that stupid dehydration thing for that scene, where I didn’t drink any water the day before, and then I drank loads of water the day before that,” the actor told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published August 3.

Holland admitted that he attempted to dehydrate himself before filming a Russian bathhouse scene with actress Florence Pugh, 30, who reprises her role as Yelena Belova in the film.

In the sequence, Yelena orders Peter Parker to strip down and get into the water to prove he isn’t hiding any weapons, leaving the superhero in nothing but his Spider-Man mask and underwear.

The method, which bodybuilders and competitors sometimes use before stepping onstage, is intended to temporarily reduce water retained under the skin, making muscles appear more defined.

Despite his dedication, the Odyssey star said the experiment wasn’t exactly a success.

“I tried to see if it would make a difference, and the only thing it did is it just made me really grumpy. I don’t think it really made that much of a difference,” Holland said.

Fortunately, the actor said he had a better time working alongside Pugh than following the strict prep routine.

Holland praised the Oscar nominee as “the funniest person in the room,” before joking that it was probably for the best that his wife, Zendaya—who plays Peter Parker’s witty love interest MJ Jones-Watson—and longtime Spider-Man co-star Jacob Batalon weren’t on set for the shirtless scene.

“It would’ve been a little weird,” Holland said. “We were in our underwear.”

Batalon chimed in: “It would have been funny.”

Other actors have employed the same technique as Holland.

In 2019, actor Henry Cavill revealed that he dehydrated himself for extended periods before filming shirtless scenes in The Witcher.

“Diet is difficult, and you’re hungry, but when you are dehydrating for three days, you get to the point on the last day where you can smell water nearby,” Cavill said on The Graham Norton Show.

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Pia BelloBeauty & Wellness Intern

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