Jaimie Alexander Talks Hardcore Workouts and How She Lost 20 Pounds 

Jaimie Alexander Talks Hardcore Workouts and How She Lost 20 Pounds

actress and our March cover girl talks about her wrestling days, eating like a dude, and working out with a Navy SEAL (oh, and did we mention she learned to box with Chris Hemsworth?)

Girly is a foreign concept to Jaimie. "I grew up with four brothers. I used to play sports with them. And I liked wearing their clothes. I’d run around in T-shirts, jeans, and baseball caps. Even my nickname, James, is a guy’s name. I didn’t understand how to be comfortable being feminine, painting my nails pink, and wearing girly dresses. No wonder I didn’t have a lot of female friends until I in was in my late twenties—I just didn’t know how to be around them."

She eats like a dude. "I learned a lot from being around boys all the time. I’m not easily offended, and I have a certain toughness. I also eat really fast. If I didn’t, my brothers would take my food. When we were young, they would go, ‘Oh, there’s some chocolate left? Mine!’ It made me durable. I can take a lot."

Skinny is so not her goal in life. "I pretty much eat all day to keep my strength up. I’m primarily a vegetarian who has an occasional side of fish. When I trained for the movie

[Jaimie played the warrior goddess Sif], there were days when I was burning 4,000 calories and I had to slam lots of protein shakes. Now my day starts with a green shake called Garden of Plenty, which is packed with superfoods and grains. When I’m working, craft services makes me these amazing gluten-free wraps with lots of vegetables and ‘vegannaisse’ or hummus. I generally keep my diet pretty healthy, but if there’s pizza, I’ll eat it. And I will knock back a beer or some bourbon, too. I don’t deprive myself. And I hate being skinny. It’s not a good look for me. When I eat well and work out, I’m truly at my best."

Her high school sport: wrestling. Yes, wrestling. "In competition, I only went up against females, but I trained with the guys because there weren’t enough girls on my school team. All the discipline and perseverance I have now comes from that sport. I get through all the intense physical training for

Her workouts are hardcore. "I do what’s called a prison workout—a lot of sprint-interval work and burpees—which I have a love-hate relationship with. My latest obsession is Valslides by Valerie Waters. You can use them anywhere, on hardwood floors or carpet. I do lunges, push-ups, pikes, and ab work with them. I also have a TRX band and a jump rope in my trailer. And I love swimming. It’s a great low-impact high-cardio workout. I never did it as a kid, but for

She learned to box with Chris Hemsworth... "I wasn’t very healthy in my twenties—I sat around and ate a lot of crap, and my weight peaked at 150 pounds. Then I got the part in Thor. I felt as if I had a whole new purpose in life. I was like, I can do this, but I was so out of shape. Chris and I started boxing to train for our roles, and I became the athlete I was in high school. I lost 20 pounds and packed on a ton of muscle."