Aaron Taylor-Johnson: Shirtless for 'Men's Health UK'!

Aaron Taylor-Johnson shows off his abs and muscles while going shirtless for his Men’s Health UK magazine feature for the September 2013 issue, on newsstands now.

Here is what the 23-year-old Kick-Ass 2 actor had to share with the mag:

On being a gym virgin: “Only recently have I been introduced to the gym and heavy weightlifting and things like that. Before that, when I grew up I just did a lot of gymnastics and dance. I had more of an athletic background but nothing where I was in the gym or using any kind of weights.”

On training like a superhero for Kick-Ass 2: “Throughout the movie he’s still got to be a weedy kid from high school so I couldn’t have anything too dramatic. It had to be a reveal at the end. We got around that by wearing a lot baggier clothes. I don’t think there was a particular shape; it was more like he ends up getting trained by Hit Girl and by the end of it he’s like, ‘F**k it, if I’m going to be a superhero then I’d better start training like one.”

On his brutal Kick-Ass training: “The main thing we’d do is I’d wake up in the morning and go for a 20-30 minute run before I’d eaten anything, maybe do a bit of kettlebells for conditioning. Then I’d have a big f**king breakfast. Then we’d go and train later in the afternoon: a lot of big compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, bench press. Eating some of the protein shakes, just trying to eat a hell of a lot more.”

The full Aaron Taylor-Johnson interview appears in the Men’s Health September issue, which is also available as a digital edition – on sale now.

For more from Aaron, visit MensHealthMag.co.uk!