A Royale Body

We are all too familiar with celebrities going to great lengths to physically cast themselves into their roles. Christian Bale, who dropped a whopping 28.6 kg to play Trevor Reznik in The Machinist, not forgetting Matt Damon who packed on 13.6 Kg to fit the profile of Mark Whitacre in Steven Soderbergh's The Informant!, August Man takes you on a 3 week journey from flab to fit using the examples of movie hot bods, Daniel Craig, Robert Downey Junior, and Ryan Reynolds. This week, we focus on James Bond.

Introducing Simon Waterson
When Daniel Craig was cast in the 21^st Bond film, Craig had to “step up to the plate and deal with it”. The first order of business was to get in shape to play the newly rebooted icon as a grim and gritty MI6 assassin. Bond's choice was Simon Waterson. Waterson’s workout routine for Craig focused on heavy-lifting with exhaustive compound exercises. The goal was to make him look “intimidating” and to prep him for the rigorous globe-trotting shoot.

Mr. Bond's Workout
Dips Lower your body until your elbows reach 90 degrees, this is one repetition. When you can do 5 sets of ten add some weights to your waist

Pull Ups One of the hardest exercise routines but one of the most beneficial. If you struggle initially just start with half repetitions

Lateral Raises Don’t keep the arms directly straight and by your side as it causes too much pressure on the rotator cuff. Bend arms and have them face forward slightly.

Push Ups A classic exercise to build muscle in the upper body. These can be done anytime, just don’t lock out the elbows to minimise joint injury.

Squats Feet shoulder width apart, chest high, with barbell resting on the back of your shoulders and arms supporting the bar . Go down to 90 degrees. Push always through the heels and as always, avoid locking your knee joints.

An average of 4 to 5 sets were performed for each exercise, with10 - 20 reps each set. The exercises are to follow one after the other with as little rest as possible in between sets. This is to maintain a high heart rate and to burn massive amount of calories during and after the workout. Depending on your level of conditioning, the workout takes 6 weeks or more and an average of 3-4 times per week to get you into butt kicking shape. Craig spent approximately 45 minutes' in the gym, 5 times a week, and added a lot of circuit training and high intensity cardio in his personal regime.