Jamie Roy shot to fame as the sculpted Scottish heartthrob Brian Fraser in Outlander: Blood of my Blood Season 1, but the star wanted to pack on some serious muscle in order to play the maturing clan warrior in season two, especially since the amount of physicality that the actor would endure made it a necessary for his muscles to be functional too. M&F caught up with Roy’s coach, Giulio Palau, to find out how the actor stayed lean while building muscle, and why packing on some serious mass is about finding greater intensity without sacrificing form.
Jamie Roy first approached Ultimate Performance coach, Giulio Palau, while looking for some support to get in screen shape while prepping for Season 1 of Outlander: Blood of my Blood in 2025. For that project, Roy had focused on maintaining his muscle while cutting calories, so that he could reveal his abs. The actor, and fans, were so impressed with the results that Roy continued his partnership with Palau for season two, but this time the brief was to get more buff, especially since the new series would feature more close combat sequences, and some seriously heavy weapons to contend with.
Giulio Palau Guided Jamie Roy Through Phases For His Physical Transformation
To build muscle while maintaining his camera-friendly frame, Palau points out that before the heavyweight work got started, an initial plan was practiced in order to keep Roy lean. “We applied a calorie deficit for the initial fat loss phase, until he reached the target body fat percentage range of around 10-12%,” explains the coach. “Once he reached the target body fat percentage, we transitioned to maintenance before entering a brief surplus phase.”
Palau says that Jamie Roy is a great client because he is consistent and disciplined, leading to “fantastic progress” that would be illustrated onscreen. “His training plan focused on the fundamentals: every basic joint action trained every week,” shares the coach. “Training days were broken up into upper or lower, or whole-body days, depending on the phase.”
With Jamie Roy wanting to pack on some muscle mass this time around, Palau says that upping the intensity was key to crushing those goals.
Jamie Roy’s “Outlander: Blood of my Blood” Upper Body Workout
Each performed as a superset or tri-set:
- Flat Bench Press / Seated Machine Row: 4 sets, 6-8 reps
- Flat Bench Press / Lat Pulldown: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
- Incline Dumbbell Bicep Curl / Cable Triceps Pushdowns / Lateral Raise: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
“For hypertrophy training, the specific rep ranges are secondary to the overall intensity of working sets,” explains Palau. “We used reps in reserve (RIR) to gauge the intensity. The target in the first one to two weeks of a training phase was to find 2-3 RIR. Then, we progressively scaled up the intensity to zero to one RIR over the course of 4-8 weeks in each phase. Training to failure is not a requirement for building muscle, strictly speaking, but of course you must know where failure is.”
As the intensity increased, care was taken to make sure that proper form was maintained in the weight room. “Technique is the foundation of the whole progression through training,” says Palau. “The only way to accurately measure progress this way is to have a standardized technique and execution for each rep, on each exercise. I had Jamie send me videos of 2 working sets from each training session, so that I could share feedback and then we could fine-tune his technique over time. Jamie has a great work ethic and a good intuition for movement, so that process went very smoothly. He also had previous training experience which made it easy to communicate about the exercises.”
Roy’s commitment to transforming his physique for his art certainly paid off, as the star recently told M&F that his additional strength and muscle mass made those long shoots, including violent confrontations and sword wielding high jinks on the show, so much easier — thanks to his detailed preparation and successful partnership with his much-valued coach.
The highly anticipated Season 2 of Outlander: Blood of My Blood premieres on Friday, Sept 18, 2026, via Starz.
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