How Devyn Dalton Built the Strongest Arms in Hollywood to Be Matt Damon's Stunt Double in The Odyssey

5 min readEverything a man can do, a woman can do better. If you happened to catch Christopher Nolan’s latest film, The Odyssey, you know that sentiment is especially true. Aside from the all-star cast and fabulous acting, Matt Damon’s wicked sword skills (and arms) were the real main character—and, in many of the scenes, they actually belonged to a 4’6” powerhouse stuntwoman with biceps of steel.For Devyn Dalton, 35, stunt doubling for Odysseus wasn’t the first time she’d portrayed a man on screen. She’s been thrown into roles requiring stunts since she was a teen, and actually first doubled for a man when shooting the 2023 TV series Twisted Metal. Still, depicting Odysseus on the silver screen in 2026’s biggest movie yet was different.“Stunt doubling for one of Hollywood's leading men is very exciting and the character itself is very exciting. I knew I had big shoes to fill, so I really tried to prepare as much as I could,” Dalton tells Women’s Health. “It's so much fun to lean into being a strong female, and it's been so exciting how well-received it's been from all around the world.”The question on everyone’s mind: How on earth did Dalton build the most impressive arms in Hollywood? WH sat down with the actress and stuntwoman to talk about how she trained for the movie, what it’s like to stunt double for men, and how she hopes to inspire women.Dalton already had the muscles to fit the part—but she still upped her training before filming.“Fitness is a huge part of my life. I love movement. For me, it's my mental therapy and also it goes hand in hand with my work,” she says.When it comes to her workout routine, Dalton does a little bit of everything. “I like to train like an athlete,” she says. Hybrid training, or strength training with conditioning (Muay Thai, kickboxing, boxing, running, and dancing are all in the mix), is her usual go-to. “It's really important as stunt performers be able to carry your own body weight around and also be very explosive,” she adds. “It's almost a sprint, but also a marathon because you'll be doing a project for so long.”While Dalton’s always had muscular arms, she leveled up her training a bit more to make them even stronger for The Odyssey. “I wanted my arms to be impressive,” she says. “I went into bodybuilding mode, so a bit of a bulk phase and then a bit of a cut phase for things to be more defined—and then just lifting heavier.”The stuntwoman loves using kettlebells to strength train, especially because they add simplicity into her routine. “You only need one or two kettlebells and you can do so many different things,” she says. They make it easy to train functional movements that are helpful for everyday life, like the clean and press. “You're going into squat and then you're using your arms and you're doing a bit of a push and a pull, so I feel like that's a really well-rounded exercise,” she adds. But Dalton also loves core workouts, including around-the-worlds and woodchops. To grow her biceps, she also did cable and dumbbell work.However, “body weight stuff is underestimated,” Dalton says. Two arm moves she relied on for this role were clapping pushups and pull-ups (she can crank out 12 in one set!). “It's so empowering when you can finally do your pull-ups,” she adds. “And they really do make such a difference in not only the way your body looks, but your actual strength.”Get your first pull-up with our ultimate pull-up planAnd that training takes proper fuel. When Dalton was working long hours on location (with little sleep!) during The Odyssey’s shoot, she leaned on protein-packed snacks like hard-boiled eggs and jerky, as well as bananas and dates. Having those snacks on hand that “you can just keep with you for a quick something before you perform is really important,” she says. Other than that, she always made sure to have her electrolytes and creatine.Shop Our Favorite Electrolytes and CreatineCure Hydration Peach Mango Electrolyte Drink PowderThorne CreatineFor Dalton, stunt doubling for men isn’t all that different than it is for women.“I'm so used to being made up into other characters,” anyway, she says. “Once you have the costume on and the hair and the makeup, it definitely helps you embody the character more.”It’s not super typical for a woman to be doubling a man in Hollywood—if anything, it’s usually the other way around—and typically, casting directors always try to match the actor’s gender and ethnicity first. “But ultimately, it comes down to what skill level is needed and the stunt. And that is the most important because obviously sometimes you're performing really dangerous stunts and you need someone who has [specific] skill sets,” she explains.When Dalton prepares to play a man, she moves differently, carrying her body weight and swinging a prop differently than a woman might. With The Odyssey, her preparation was all about “making sure I had really sharp, clean, strong movements that were powerful versus being more, let's say, graceful or dancy,” she says. “I really wanted to keep it very ‘warrior,’ and that was so fun to embody.” It’s all about transforming and walking in this new character’s—and Damon’s—shoes. “It was such an honor to be his double, and he's so lovely and down to earth, and it was such a special experience.”As a woman under five feet tall, Dalton never felt intimidated to double Damon. For one thing, there was almost no time to doubt herself because things move fast on set—and she just had to give it her all in each take. Plus, her training was paying off, and she felt physically ready for the job, she says—and the stronger she feels, the more confident she is to play big characters.She hopes to inspire people, and especially women, to be strong.She hasn’t always felt that same level of confidence, though. “Sometimes, I would judge myself or feel pressures like, ‘oh, I'm too muscular,’ or, ‘I have too much of an athletic build. I need to be tinier and slimmer,” Dalton says. But with this role, she got to throw all of that out of the window and just be her strong self. “It was so freeing.”She encourages other women to embrace that attitude and lift heavy, too. “Knowing just how strong you can really get, it gives you a kind of confidence inside that I can't describe,” she says. “I've never felt more feminine and beautiful than I do with my muscles.”Overall, Dalton wants everyone to know that you can be yourself—you don’t have to fit someone else’s mold. Embrace yourself, your body, and all of its abilities. Take it from The Odyssey’s tiny but mighty body double: “Sometimes the things that you're trying to fight are really your greatest strengths.”Find the Perfect Women’s Health Training Program for YouJustin SteeleRona Ahdout//Hearst Owned Addison Aloian is the associate health & fitness editor at Women’s Health, where she writes and edits across the health, weight loss, and fitness verticals. She’s also a certified personal trainer through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). In her free time, you can find her lifting weights at the gym, running on the West Side Highway in New York City—she recently completed her first marathon, the 2025 New York City Marathon—and watching (and critiquing!) the latest movies that have garnered Oscars buzz. In addition to Women's Health, she’s made an appearance on the Oprah Podcast and her work has also appeared in Allure, StyleCaster, L'Officiel USA, V Magazine, VMAN, and more.