Over the years, I’ve heard many Hollywood celebrities say that, in preparation for a movie role: “I had to get ripped/in great shape/really buff really fast.”
I’ve heard Hollywood trainers say the same thing: that their jobs were to get stars looking really buff in just 2-3 months. A few such claims I might write off as the machinations of a publicity agent, but I’ve heard lots of male stars make this claim and they seem credible.
So, what’s the secret? I always thought that whether you spend 1 hour in the gym or five hours three times a week, the results are basically that you can’t rush muscle development and toning.
I think your assumption that more time in the gym doesn’t equal faster muscle development is flawed. I notice that I get fit and buff much more quickly when I excersize 2 or 3 hours a day than I do when I only get in 5 hours a week. I bet that a professionally managed routine would be even more effective.
In an interview, Charlie Sheen (I think that’s his name) said he had to get suddenly buff for Hot Shots, Part (French word for 2.) He worked with a personal trainer for several weeks. He said he packed a lifetime of pain into those few weeks. He also said the pumped look went away just as fast when he stopped working out.
I suspect that a lot of these people keep themselves in better shape to start with than most of us. As actors, their bodies are their livelihood, and as successful actors, they have more time and money than most people to take care of themselves (also to indulge themselves, but that’s a different issue). You think Tom Cruise/Sean Penn/John Travolta/Denzel Washington etc. are ever as out of condition as the average office worker? Maybe they get in shape faster because they have a shorter road to travel.
I’d imagine an actor’s chore is no different than a boxer’s (top echelon) in between bouts.
For those few months they’re probably on a complete exercise/nutritional plan.That means NO big macs or other junk food plus regular hours.
The average Joe can’t do it because he doesn’t have the time or possibly resources to watch every single habit for months.Steady employment tends to get in the way.
I can tell you there is no way Charlie Sheen got that buff that quickly without help of steriods. It doesn’t happen.
Look at people like Governor Arnold and even the Hulk denied using them. But they later admitted it.
Steroids is the answer you are looking for. I tell you what. Usually on ESPN2 they have the MR Natural Bodybuilding Contest. Look at these guys. Buff, yes but they are not even as well built as some of your Hollywood stars.
I can go into my gym right now on any given day and pick out 10 guys with better bodies than these Natural Bodybuilders. Why? The guys in the gym use steriods.
These Natural Bodybuilders do this as a living for years and yet people try to convince me that the guys in my gym that go three times a week for two month and have better bodies than these Natural Bodybuilders don’t use steroids.
Charlie Sheen was always a scrawny runt. Even now in his new TV show he is scrawny. You don’t go that quickly without help.
But Charlie Sheen wasn’t as buff as Arnold or Lou Ferrigno, so that’s not a valid comparison. He was buff, but not that massive. And frankly, he’s not a scrawny runt at all; he’s a fairly big guy. If he didn’t work out I suspect he’d be portly, like his Dad, not scrawny. I’m basically the same size as Charlie Sheen and I went from about 150 pounds to 175 during ten weeks of Army basic, virtually all of it muscle, no steroids. you can do it if you are properly motivated and have the time to do nothing else.
Hollywood actors can get all toned, but you don’t see them getting monstrously mesomorphic, like Lou Ferrigno. Look at Brad Pitt in “Fight Club.” He’s ripped, but he’s not BIG - he just looks, frankly, like he dieted like crazy and worked out for a couple of months. If you’re putting in 5 hours a day and eating a supervised diet I see no reason why you can’t look pretty damned good in a couple of months.
I’m with RickJay; I think it comes down more to resources and motivation. Looking a particular way is basically an actor’s job…well, that and acting. If you have the time and money to put into it you can speed the process of toning up or down up a good deal over us average joes who have pesky 9 to 5 jobs interfering with our workout schedules, would rather not shell out for a trainer, and won’t get canned for not having a six pack.
hire a personal trainer who will come to your house whenever
you are available (not you going to the gym when they are
available)
Buy a room full of the best eqiuipment money can buy (much
easier to stick to a program if you don’t even have to leave your
house)
Hire a nutritionist to plan every meal for you according to your
health goals
Hire a personal chef to prepare those meals for you
quit your job so you can have 3-4 hours a day to work out
get cosmetic surgery for any needed touchups
In other words celebs can do it because they have lots of extra money and lots of extra time. Also, as others have noted, they are likely not starting from as out of shape as others may be. Someone morbidly obese could not get into movie star shape in 2-3 months, but if all you need to is lose 10-20 pounds and tone a few areas, that’s not difficult at all.
Well, for one thing most of these Hollywood Actors/Actresses are in great shape to begin with, it’s there job. And when they have to get super buff for a role, they get a trainer, nutritionist, personal chef that alters there eating and up there workouts significantly.
They have money, it’s not like they are working at a 9 to 5 job, all day then have errands to run after work and household stuff to do. They can concentrate on the transformation that they have to do, plus if I was getting paid 10-20 mil, to get in super-buff great shape, that might motivate me to do the work-outs.
More time in the gym does not equal more muscle mass gains. Most non-genetic freaks gain best on an abbreviated, high intensity weights program of less than 2 hours a week. If your mum and dad gave you the genetics of Schwarzenegger then you may gain muscle training 6 hours a day whilst eating nothing but ice cream… otherwise you are wasting your time.
I believe that most of the stars ‘buffness’ is actually just water and fat loss, which can be done in weeks, just like the boxer analogy (or college wrestler). As Reader99 pointed out most stars are in pretty good shape all year round.
Of course a supervised course of steroids will increase hypertrophy for the term of the course, just dont expect to keep the gains once the course has finished.
/rant on/
If one more person uses the meaningless term ‘toning up’ I will scream.
/rant off/
I tend to believe that steroids are a big part of this…look at Arnold Schwarznegger in his nude posing days-versus after he dropped the steroid use. The difference is like night and day. And,like Arnold, steroid use can damage your heart-stay away from these drugs!
:listening:
IIRC, when Demi Moore was on Letterman, promoting that POS ‘Striptease’ she claimed to have worked out 1200 hours to get in shape. That’s 150 full workdays.
jk1245 is right on target. When Tom Cruise gets $20 million to do a movie, and a year to prep, the money and motivation is big enough, so it won’t be a problem. Many actors are also in the Hollywood biz b/c of their inflated egos and really want to look great.
If you want to see someone naturally buff, check out som old flicks with Burt Lancaster. The guy was 6’2" and worked as an acrobat in a circus before becomming an actor. Those muscles are real, not inflated by steroids and Nautilus™ machinery.
And… muscle definition can be enhanced by application of cosmetics, anywhere from darkening muscle shadows to application of latex muscles.
And if the movie really needed to establish fitness (such as in Spiderman, though, I’m not saying whether Toby’s definition was au natural or not), then body doubles (as mentioned) and even digital enhancement can be used.
Gov Arnold is a lot smaller now not because of stopping steroids (though he did use them) but because he doesn’t need to be big. He stopped working out nearly as much and ate less. It’s hard to maintain that much muscle mass, but if you change your diet there’s no reason why he wouldn’t get smaller yet stay fit.
And he won a libel lawsuit against someone who said he had heart surgery due to steroid abuse. Link to libel story It was a congenital heart defect.
However much the steriods contributed to his physique in his bodybuilder days, he needed a different body shape for his roles as an action film actor. Changes in diet and exercise account for the majority of that, not changes in steroid use.
Basic Training. While the aim isn’t to improve a body’s appearance but rather to break and remold a person, the physique of soldiers several months after induction is close to perfect. You can’t help but gain muscle when properly fed and burning 6000 or more calories a day. The physical appearance must improve even more with proper sleep, which recruits don’t get but an actor would.
Then, of course, there’s the stage presence thing - a professional performer, paying attention, will always look better than an ordinary-job twin.