I meet the 41-year-old in the basement of a house where he’s doing our photo shoot, halfway between Atlanta and his log cabin in Jasper, Georgia. A large, plasteredover beam drops down from the basement’s ceiling and everyone else moves under it easily. But whenever Ritchson approaches the beam, I feel the same bolt of stress as when a particularly large truck is about to pass under a particularly low overpass. His swoop of coppery hair barely clears the beam each time.
He seems taller than his 1.91m frame. (That’s more than two metres on Hinge.) Perhaps it’s because of the size of the rest of him: with even the slightest movement, at least a dozen muscles visibly activate. Or perhaps it’s because his identity has been so fused with that of former military police officer Jack Reacher, whom Ritchson plays on Amazon Studio’s hit series Reacher.
The character is famously enormous. His creator, author Lee Child, dryly explains that Reacher follows a long tradition of male writers making their heroes one inch taller than they are— Child is six-foot-four (1.93m). Size is so central to the character that when noted short king Tom Cruise played Reacher in a film adaptation, he was met with skepticism. Child says, “There was a huge amount of pushback from the book fans and so on, saying, No, we need a man mountain here.”
Ritchson makes everyone and everything around him seem dainty. When he’s done posing for photos, we adjourn to a den and squeeze onto a slightly-too-small love seat. On his left wrist, he wears a thick Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore watch. On his right wrist, two silver bracelets, one sparkling with gemstones, move fluidly over a tattoo of a lotus flower. Around his neck, he wears a silver chain with two rings. So bejewelled, he toes a dangerous sartorial line between rock-star pastor and off-duty celebrity, but his face—the cologne-ad glower, the total symmetry, the strong cleft chin— marks him as the latter.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May - June 2024 من Men's Health South Africa.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May - June 2024 من Men's Health South Africa.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
THE BIG WINTER BULK-UP PLAN
MAX OUT YOUR GYM EFFORTS NOW, REAP THE REWARDS IN SUMMER. FOLLOW THIS FOUR-WEEK BLUEPRINT TO STACK ON FULL-BODY MUSCLE, AND GROW STRONGER WHILE YOU'RE AT IT.
HOW TO GET BY WHEN THE WORLD KEEPS GHOSTING YOU
WITH GREATER DEMANDS ON OUR COLLECTIVE MENTAL BANDWIDTH THAN EVER BEFORE, IT CAN FEEL LIKE OUR FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES ARE PERPETUALLY UNREACHABLE. HERE'S HOW TO REGAIN CONTROL WHEN EVERYONE'S TOO DAMN BUSY FOR YOU.
WHY IS ENOUGH NEVER ENOUGH?
IN THIS ADAPTATION FROM MICHAEL EASTER'S NEW BOOK, SCARCITY BRAIN, THE AUTHOR EXPLAINS HOW OUR CAVEMAN WIRING CAN PUSH US TO WANT MORE THAN WE NEED AND TO MAKE AND REPEAT-BAD CHOICES.
YOUR NEED FOR SPEED
ATHLETES OF ALL SPORTS ARE NOW EMBRACING THE ART OF THE SPRINT. IF YOU WANT TO CRUSH CALORIES, BUILD STRENGTH AND SUPERCHARGE YOUR WORKOUTS, HERE'S HOW TO GET UP TO SPEED
TRACK STARS
IF YOUR SMARTWATCH ISN'T FIT FOR PURPOSE, DON'T SWEAT IT. THE GEEKS IN THE MH LAB STRAPPED UP TO FIND THE BEST FITNESS-FOCUSED WEARABLES FOR EVERY GOAL AND BUDGET.
OIL CHANGE
STILL WHIPPING UP DISHES WITH WHATEVER SWILL IS WITHIN ARM'S REACH? IT'S TIME TO CONSIDER A NEW TOP-UP FOR A FLAVOUR-MAKER THAT'LL TRULY SWITCH GEARS ON YOUR EFFORTS IN THE KITCHEN.
IT'S NOT ALL ABOUT DIET
MACRO COUNTING HAS ITS PLACE, BUT A GREAT TRAINING PLAN CAN BE TRANSFORMATIVE - NO MATTER WHAT, HOW OR WHEN YOU EAT.
IS SWEAT YOUR SECRET SUPERPOWER?
THE WORLD IS HEATING UP. THESE SCIENCE-BACKED STRATEGIES CAN HELP YOU USE SWEAT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE AND STAY COOL.
RISE TO THE CHALLENGE
LUCKY FADZI GAVE HIMSELF JUST 100 DAYS TO REBOOT HIS RIG. HERE'S HOW HIS TRIAL BY FIRE HELPED HIM UNEARTH MUSCLE, TORCH FAT AND BLAZE NEW TRAILS FOR HIS FITNESS
ALAN RITCHSON GOES BIG-FIT AT ANY AGE
Hollywood told him actors don't break past 30. But he kept working, and at 41, after decades of near misses and tiny roles, the Reacher star is busting out.