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Zac Efron has spent much of his career proving that he is willing to suffer for the perfect look. The actor, who turns 39 on October 18, has transformed into a lifeguard, professional wrestler, soldier, and desperate desert drifter. Some of these roles required months of training, restrictive eating plans, and physically punishing filming situations. His “Baywatch” transformation became especially famous, but Efron later admitted that the ripped body came at a physical and emotional cost.
From 4 a.m. workouts and diuretics to wrestling matches and extreme desert heat, these are eight times Efron pushed his body to the limit for Hollywood.
1. Zac Efron continued to punish the ‘Baywatch’ Diet
Efron arrived on the “Baywatch” set looking almost unbelievable as Olympic swimmer Matt Brody. Getting there required him to follow a strictly controlled diet built largely around lean fish, meat, and sweet potatoes. There was almost no room to deviate from the plan without losing the true definition that the role required.
He was also waking up as early as 4am to train, even when filming had continued late the night before. “Really, it’s like, it was so hard,” Efron recalled of his 2020 appearance on “Hot Ones.” “You’re working with no wiggle room.”
The actor said that even normal water retention was a concern because it could change how his abs appear on camera.
2. He used Diuretics to look even slimmer
Diet and exercise weren’t the only parts of Efron’s “Baywatch” transformation. The actor later revealed that he used Lasix, a powerful prescription diuretic, to remove excess water from his body and make his muscles appear more defined. “That ‘Baywatch’ scene, I don’t know if that’s possible,” he told Men’s Health. “Like, it’s fake. It looks like CGI.”
Efron explained that there was “too little water in the skin” for the body to represent a healthy or sustainable everyday body. “And that required Lasix, powerful diuretics, to achieve,” he said. “So I don’t have to do that. I prefer 2 to 3 percent extra body fat, you know.”
3. The ‘Baywatch’ routine left him unable to sleep
While Efron looked camera-ready on the outside, his body struggled behind the scenes. The combination of early work, late filming hours, excessive training, limited eating, and lack of water began to interfere with his ability to sleep. “I started having insomnia,” he said.
Efron previously stated that he never wanted to return to that level of position unless a particular role was worth the sacrifice. “I never want to be in such good shape again,” he admitted on “Hot Ones.”
The actor was proud that he completed the transformation, but he stopped believing that the physique as the ideal fans should try to recreate.
4. Zac Efron Fell Into ‘Severe Depression’
The “Baywatch” effects didn’t disappear when filming ended. “I fell into a really bad depression, for a long time,” Efron told Men’s Health. “Something about that experience really pissed me off. I’ve been having a hard time lately.” It reportedly took about six months after production ended for the actor to start feeling like himself again.
Efron later pushed back against the praise surrounding his appearance in the film, warning that the finished product did not represent a healthy standard for most men. “That’s too big. For guys, that’s unrealistic,” he said during a 2019 appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show, every page six.” “I got really big and buff for that movie, but I don’t want people to think that’s the best way to be. I don’t want to glorify this.”
5. He added 15 pounds of muscle for ‘The Iron Claw’
Years after vowing not to recreate his “Baywatch” troupe, Efron underwent another major transformation to play professional wrestler Kevin Von Erich in “The Iron Claw.” The goal was different this time. Instead of sporting an ultra-dry, sharply defined beach body, Efron had to look powerful enough to be believable as a heavyweight wrestling star in the 1980s.
According to Variety, he spent about eight months preparing and began with high-volume training designed to add about 15 pounds of muscle. Efron worked out for hours every day as he built the thick shoulders, chest, and legs needed to look like Von Erich.
The resulting transformation was almost unrecognizable when early set photos emerged.
6. Zac Efron learned to wrestle as a professional
Looking like a keeper was only part of the challenge. Efron and his co-stars also had to learn how to play in the ring without making the wrestling scenes look like carefully rehearsed movie choreography.
Professional wrestler Chavo Guerrero Jr. trained the team and worked as the film’s wrestling consultant. Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson and Stanley Simons spent months learning how to move through matches, tumble and defend each other.
Efron’s choreography background was very helpful. Guerrero said the former “High School Musical” star enjoyed walking through the dance again until every move became familiar.
The crew did most of the wrestling action themselves with very little use of stunt doubles. Efron later described the preparation for wrestling as one of the most challenging things he has ever done.
7. ‘Gold’ being placed in the state of the brutal desert
Efron didn’t need a gym transformation to suffer while making the 2022 survival thriller “Gold.” The film placed his character alone in a hostile desert, slowly declining while protecting a large gold find. Much of the film was shot in the remote Flinders Ranges and around Leigh Creek in South Australia.
Costar Susie Porter said the temperature sometimes reached about 115 degrees Fahrenheit. According to legend the earth became so hot that production had to stop from time to time. “There were dust storms,” Porter recalled. “It was a really crowded place to film.”
Efron spent much of the production covered in dirt, prosthetic wounds, and makeup designed to portray his character burned and broken down by the desert. The punishing scene helped create the film’s desperate atmosphere, but it also meant that the actor was fighting the environment physically while carrying most of the film alone.
8. His big changes changed the way he trains
Ultimately, the toll of “Baywatch” made Efron rethink his relationship with fitness. He still trains hard, but his routine became more focused on longevity, mobility and recovery rather than achieving a minimum body fat.
His latest regimen has included yoga, stretching, foam rolling, self-massage, Theragun treatments and ice baths. He has also spoken about paying more attention to how different foods make his body feel.
Efron once compared preparing for a physically demanding role to training for an Olympic event. “It’s a limited time, but I wouldn’t consider it a healthy or normal way to live everyday life,” he said.
At 39, perhaps his most significant transformation has been learning that pushing his body further doesn’t always equate to taking better care of it.
