Robert Downey Jr:The Making of Iron Man 2
COULSON BB PUT THAT DOWN
SON OF COUL, KINDLY CONTROL YOUR INNER FANGIRL
How the 150-pound star of Sherlock Holmes trained up (and down) to become Hollywood’s top action hero.
Robert Downey Jr. hadn’t played an action hero before 2008’s Iron Man, and while he wasn’t out of shape, he didn’t have the heroic build needed to portray Tony Stark. “He was skinny,” says Brad Bose, Ph.D., Downey’s personal trainer. “He weighed about 150 pounds, but he was big into Wing Chun, which kept him in shape.”
To prepare Downey for his role, Bose prescribed a periodization program, alternating periods of heavy weight/low reps with lighter weight/high reps. Downey trained at least four days every week, with sessions lasting anywhere from 40 to 90 minutes. Bose varied the length of every training session to keep the actor on his toes. “He couldn’t say, ‘OK, I know I can conserve a little energy because we’re two exercises from the end,’” Bose says. “He never knew what was coming, so he had to work hard all the time.”
Bose also placed the prospective Iron Man on a strict, clean, calorie-dense diet. “He ate every three hours,” he says. “We kept him on a 30/30/40 split: 30% protein, 30% fat, and 40% carbohydrates. He was taking in more than 5,000 calories a day for nine months. If you don’t eat that much, your body won’t accept the weight.”
Stylistically, Bose wanted to build Downey into a character who looked capable of going toe-to-toe with fighter jets and terrorists. “Our goal was to get him as big as we could, but we also wanted to make sure he had some kind of six-pack,” Bose says. “We really focused on the old-school heavy lifting. Military presses, dips, and bench presses. Keep him ripped but maintain the muscle mass.” The muscle Downey built wasn’t just for show either. By the end of his training and 25 pounds of lean muscle later, he’d doubled his bench press, and nearly tripled his shoulder press.
So what did he do after reaching this peak? He promptly dropped the mass and went back to 153 pounds to film Sherlock Holmes.
(Source: ‘Men’s Fitness, Sam Dehority)
I shouldn’t be alive unless it was for a reason. I’m not crazy, Pepper. I just finally know what I have to do. And I know in my heart that it’s right.
Was he married?
#it just really gets to me how tony will go out of his way to hide his kindness #he offers the most extravagant things like it’s nbd #”i’ll fly you to portland pfft whatevs” #he jokes that phil’s first name is ”agent” and yet #he knows about the cellist #and wants phil to have a love life #and offers to fly him wherever so he can have it #and then pretends he’s not sure when steve asks him #because god forbid anyone finds out that tony stark gives a shit
((I think my soul just died.))
It is gross feels day, I have declared it.
