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  • Once upon a time, Tom Holland was best known for starring in the stage version of Billy

  • Elliot and the 2012 disaster flick The Impossible.

  • Of course, that all changed when the British actor appeared in Captain America: Civil War,

  • donning the iconic Spider-Man suit to fight against Steve Rogers.

  • "What's up everybody?!"

  • Marvel fans everywhere thought Holland absolutely killed it as Peter Parker and they also agreed

  • he looked ripped as everybody's favorite web-slinger.

  • He might've even made some of his co-stars jealous for how well-liked he was in the flick.

  • "Listen, Tom's a little a------,alright?

  • Tom has his own base camp, he has like an entourage, he's a lot.

  • He's a lot to deal with."

  • But how did he physically transform from a scrawny tot into one of the world's most famous

  • superheroes?

  • Here's everything you need to know about how Tom Holland turned himself into Spider-Man.

  • Shaking it into shape

  • Unlike a certain actor who's best known for playing Star-Lord, Tom Holland was in great

  • shape long before landing the role of Spider-Man.

  • He started out taking hip-hop dance lessons in England as a kid and went on to study ballet

  • for two years in hopes of landing the title role in Billy Elliot.

  • In addition to helping him get bigger, Holland's dance background has really aided him as an

  • actor.

  • He told Interview Magazine, "I'm very happy I had that training.

  • It's been so valuable to my career, and I've used it on almost everything I've done since."

  • That experience certainly came into good use when he cross-dressed for Lip Sync Battle

  • with exactly zero fear of losing any dude cred.

  • Hitting the mats

  • Every Avenger has his or her particular skillset.

  • Iron Man flies and blasts stuff.

  • Black Widow does martial arts.

  • Spider-Man climbs walls, does flips, and makes Olympic gold medalists look like old men.

  • Of course, Peter Parker got his acrobatic skills courtesy of a radioactive spider bite.

  • Tom Holland, on the other hand, gained his gymnastic abilities after years of hard work,

  • dedication, and risking his neck.

  • Like his dancing history, he credits his stage work on Billy Elliot with his earliest exposure

  • to gymnastics.

  • "They trained me in gymnastics while I was during that show and it's just something I

  • kept up while finishing the show and for my auditions for Spider-Man."

  • Holland is also into free running, a form of parkour that emphasizes "creative expression."

  • In other words, it involves a lot of acrobatics, not to mention some semi-dangerous stunts.

  • Speaking with Metro, Holland once explained, "Me and my mates go free running all the time….I've

  • probably jumped four meters on to grass and two meters between buildings."

  • In addition to keeping him agile and limberwhich is essential if you're going to play the wall-crawler

  • himselfHolland's gymnastic abilities might've helped him land the role of Spider-Man in

  • the first place.

  • During the audition process, he transformed what would've been a run-of-the-mill screen

  • test into an eye-catching exercise of his flipping skills.

  • "And I basically did a somersault into frame and a somersault out of frame; I need them

  • to know that I've got some gymnastics abilities and stuff."

  • Considering Tom Holland is the guy currently wearing the Spidey suit, it looks like his

  • acrobatic skills paid off.

  • "Finally, here we go."

  • Changing things up

  • Another training technique Tom Holland has adopted to swell up to Spider-Man size is

  • circuit training.

  • This controversial exercise involves wearing an elevation mask while performing multiple

  • sets of reps, like burpees or bicep curling, one after another, with almost no rest in

  • between stations.

  • And that's not the only experimental exercise he's tried; he's also given electronic muscle

  • stimulation a whirl along the way, too.

  • "And they put pads on you and you workout while the pade electrocute you.

  • And it sucks.

  • It really really sucks."

  • And while he had some trouble with it at first

  • "I tell you, I did it once and I didn't go to the toilet for two days."

  • ...He's since given it another go, hopefully with less troubling consequences.

  • Punching it out

  • If you want to be an Avenger, sooner or later you're going to throw down with some bad guys.

  • Luckily, Holland is big into combat sports.

  • Not only is he an MMA fan, showing up at UFC events, he also spends quite a bit of time

  • in the gym, learning all he can about the sweet science.

  • As a result, Holland totally knows what he's doing when he pulls on a pair of gloves.

  • "My mind just got blown.

  • His might be as well."

  • When he's not punishing those punching bags, Holland also does every other gym activity

  • imaginable, including chin-ups, side lateral raises, and even borrowing Thor's hammer to

  • beat on some massive tires.

  • So, perhaps one of the most effective elements of his workout regime is how consistently

  • he hits the gym, while still mixing up his routines.

  • "Ah, that was awesome."

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Once upon a time, Tom Holland was best known for starring in the stage version of Billy

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