Henry Cavill Opens Up About How His Hamstring Injury Affected His Mental Health

Henry Cavill is getting candid about his mental health.

In an interview with People, the 38-year-old actor opened up about the relationship between his fitness journey and his mental wellbeing, as well as how his hamstring injury impacted him.

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Henry shared that while his love for sports at a young age instilled a certain amount of drive in him, it wasn’t until he was older that he realized how much he loved the gym.

That discipline led him to his role in 2011′s Immortals, which he prepared for by doing martial arts and bodyweight exercises. “The first time I really moved into lifting weights properly was for Man of Steel,” he explained.

He said of his workout routine, “It’s evolved and developed in its own way depending on the characters that I’ve played or what I’ve had access to — the facilities, where I’ve wanted to go with my body and what I’ve wanted to do.”

However, his fitness came to an abrupt halt in December when he injured his hamstring on the set of The Witcher. When asked how he managed the setback, Henry explained that he chose to keep a positive outlook about the injury.

“When I look back, I realize, yes, it was a hard time,” he said. “I think one of the skills I’ve picked up over the years is just forging ahead regardless of difficulty or hard work or trials and tribulations. So when the hamstring injury came, I tried to look at the silver lining. It was like, ‘Ok. I was working insane hours and it was exhausting and I now physically can’t work because I’m on crutches.’ So I was focusing more on taking the time off and going, how can I best heal myself?”

“When it comes to my mental health, [I] focus on what I can control and work on that,” he continued. “And that gives me something to work towards rather than something to deal with or work through or manage my life through.”

“I’ve been dabbling in stoicism. I like some of the core tenets: Don’t let that what you can’t control affect you, don’t let it affect your mental state. Only worry about the things that you can control.”

The actor is currently focusing on improving his sprinting, which was partially inspired by what he learned from the physical therapy he did for his hamstring.

“I want to build a better engine. One of the things my physical therapy for my hamstring showed me was that I have a lot of capacity in my engine but I have not accessed it. And it’s something which I really want to build upon,” he told the outlet.

He also added that while he keeps up a strict diet regimen, he makes sure to include one cheat meal a week.

“It all depends on location and what I’m feeling. One of the great things about cheat meals is that you’ll probably be thinking about it for a week and once you get there, it’ll be an excited order of a pizza or Indian food or it will be a Sunday roast which I’ll cook to make an event out of it,” he said.

Henry recently took on an exciting new role. Check it out!