Prepping for a Super Hero Moment

True confession time – I am not a fan of comic books. I have not seen any of the movies in the Marvel franchise. I didn’t know who Stan Lee was until a student did a speech on him in my public speaking class at Winthrop University. I’m sorry. Don’t hate me.

But I am a Brie Larson fan. She lit up the screen in 21 Jump Street. She earned the Best Actress Oscar for her extraordinary work in Room. Plus, she is an introvert who plays with puppies.

When I heard that she had been tapped to play Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, in Marvel’s first female-led superhero film, I was intrigued. Fast forward to the massive publicity blitz for the film.

(Note – does anyone think that the film’s premiere on International Women’s Day is a coincidence? #GirlPower)

Getting Ready for Action, Spring Training!

One of the things that fascinated me is Larson’s training approach as she readied herself for the physical role. It is a perfect fit for our series on “spring training” as Larson systematically transformed her body to play Marvel’s strongest superhero.

Larson’s trainer, Jason Welsh told Self Magazine that building strength is an important part of character development: “If you are going to play a superhero, the character-building starts with what we were doing,” he said. “You’ve got to believe that you have superhuman strength.”

9 Months of Coaching

Larson didn’t just believe it. She lived it. At the end of nine months of training she could deadlift 225 pounds, do 400-pound hip thrusts, execute box jumps higher than her waist and do push-ups with a weighted chain around her core.

Larson covered her transformation on her Instagram page; her journey culminates in pushing a Jeep up and incline for 60 seconds. She talked about that experience, which started as a joke on Good Morning America, saying that she told her trainer, “Well, she can move planets, the least I could do is move a car.”

That’s What Coaches Do

They push you a little bit farther than you think you can go and help you find the wonder that is you.

And it paid off. Captain Marvel’s opening weekend broke numerous records with a $153 million domestic and $455 worldwide box office. That is the sixth-largest open in history and has people already talking sequel.

You realize the importance of good teachers in those moments. A good coach is kinda everything because I would have never thought I could do that. And then that experience of feeling it and then realizing that I could do more than I previously had limited myself to.