Chris Hemsworth Tests Himself in Nat Geo's "Limitless" on Disney+

The disarming honesty and admission that one of the world39s top movie stars is rattled awake by worries make Hemsworth relatable A lack of relatability could be an issue After all Hemsworth 39 convincingly plays Thor because he looks like a sculpted god A lifelong athlete running hurdles playing Australian rules football and surfing Hemsworth also devotes hours to punishing workouts He39s hyperaware of what he eats when preparing for a film but happily acknowledges loving pizza cake and steakDuring an interview with MediaVillage Hemsworth who also served as an executive producer of the series comes off as what he is a downtoEarth middle brother who wants to extend his life for as long and in the best way possible Limitless examines the burgeoning field of longevity and how changing diet attitude and exercise could lengthen lifespanquotInitially the opportunity came up and I39d never done a docuseriesquot Hemsworth says from his Byron Bay Australia home quotIt was a chance to work with National Geographic and Darren Aronofsky And then the pitch was on longevity about how to live a longer healthier life and I thought okay cool great And they laid out each episode and what that entailedquotquotWe39re going to ask a lot of you physicallyquot he was warned Those challenges included climbing a 100foot rope while dangling from a tram 1000 feet over an Australian canyon As jacked as his arms are Hemsworth struggled with rope climbing He also wasn39t thrilled when in an episode about exposing your body to extremes he plunged into 36degree waters in a Norwegian fjord Hemsworth also spent time in saunasEmerging science looks at how shocking the body with heat and cold taking us out of our climatecontrolled existences could help the body repair itself Hemsworth trained for his swim in the frigid waters with Ross Edgley a sports scientist and extreme athlete Edgley is the only person to swim around the UK some 1780 miles in 157 days Edgley cheered on the actor in the Arctic plunge that left Hemsworth chapped bright red and rather miserableHemsworth seemed unhappiest though when fasting for four days The family dog started to look tempting He persevered as he did with each challenge That stroll on a 2foot wide construction beam 900 feet above Sydney Harbor when a small gust of wind could have been disastrous naturally unnerved himHe does that walk in the sky in the first episode to learn how to manage stress by being thrust into fraught situations He also trained with firefighters in a simulated fire It can39t be discounted how stressful the last few years have been for everyone movie superheroes includedquotWhat was supposed to be a threeweek shoot ended up being three yearsquot Hemsworth explains COVID shutdowns and making movies interrupted shooting the seriesStill it39s not just about watching Hemsworth do stunts no one outside of fraternities might consider Limitless offers practical takeaways such as box breathing It has four steps and with each part allow four seconds Breathe deep hold it exhale hold it The result is immediately feeling calmerAnother easily instituted suggestion is to make the last 30 seconds of your shower cold One study found that people who do this call in sick to work less than those who stick with the hot water Incidentally 30 seconds in a freezing shower can feel like an eternity so build up to thisThe science such as why fasting boosts ketones is explained by animating medical school textbook illustrations Darren Aronofsky who devised that idea and longtime producing partner Ari Handel have been discussing longevity for 20 years The two also did Welcome to Earth and One Strange Rock for Nat GeoquotIt was an interesting thing when Chris39 name came upquot Aronofsky says quotI don39t know how it first emerged but you39re talking about on the surface one of the healthiest people in the world a guy who really cares about his health and his physique and living a good life and being happy and a family man Why would a guy like that at 36 as Hemsworth was when the project launched be interested in longevity And it turns out when you talk to the leading experts that39s a perfect time to start thinking about how you39re going to live for the rest of your lifequotAmong the lessons Hemsworth gleaned is the importance of accepting reality the series stresses that mental and emotional health are intrinsic to physical health Hemsworth is clear on why he wants to live longer to spend more time with his wife of 12 years actress Elsa Pataky their three children and his brothers who show up briefly in the seriesIn an episode about facing death and how vital it is to accept that some situations cannot be changed Hemsworth dons a custommade suit that was MIT designed to mimic the effects of aging Hearing muffled vision blurred and range of motion limited he experiences a glimmer of what old age could be likequotWhat I39m really proud of is the fact that I believe each episode offers up something unique and fresh and we continue to expand upon the overarching theme of longevity but exploring very different spaces within that so it doesn39t feel like it39s going to be repetitivequot Hemsworth says quotI hope people take away the same thing I have which was a much broader understanding of health and wellness and how to tap into our potential as human beings and be the best versions of ourselves I was a guinea pig and constantly humbled by itquotLimitless with Chris Hemsworth streams on Disney beginning Wednesday November 16Click the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Chris Hemsworth Tests Himself in Nat Geo's "Limitless" on Disney+

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Jacqueline Cutler

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Chris Hemsworth Tests Himself in Nat Geo's "Limitless" on Disney+

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