Stars who’ve gone to the extreme for film roles

One of the most recent actress to take the plunge (literally) is Blake Lively for the summer blockbuster “The Shallows.” Lively cites the experience as similar to “training for a marathon. She credited her trainer, Don Saladino, for helping her get fit “in the most healthy way.” Also, the filming began eight months after Lively had her first child and her “body was already completely different than what it normally was…by the time I was done the movie…I had muscles that I had never had before.” Speaking to E!, Lively noted: “This was six weeks straight, six-day weeks, no lunch breaks, 13-hour days, four-foot waves at all times.” Her nutritionist also provided what her diet was like, which consisted of the “80/20″ eating mentality.

Jennifer Lawrence credits her friend and trainer Dalton Wong for helping her get into shape for the film, and also creating a lifestyle that was manageable for her.

Some of the key takeaways from their plan: Mix salt water in with your regular water, lemon water, and coconut water, throughout the day (sipping water throughout the day is key, too); portion control and eating in moderation, getting solid rest even if it means a power nap; making fitness fun so it “doesn’t feel like exercise,”; occasionally have 75 per cent dark chocolate; knowing what to drink alcohol wise (cut the fruity drinks, stick with vodka sodas or wine); strengthening your posture and maintaining stress such as “inhaling through the nose, filling your lower belly, lower rib cage, then up through your chest and throat, Wong writes. “Exhale through the nose for a count of three.” Wong also made sure to break up her fitness exercises throughout the day.

Talk about impressive. For “300,” Gerard Butler and his trainer Mark Twight trained for three months straight. According to Men’s Health this muscle-heavy circuit went like this: 25 pull-ups, 50 deadlifts (135 pound weights), 50 push-ups, 50 24-inch box jumps, 50 floor wipers, 50 single arm clean presses (using a 36-pound kettle ball) and 25 pull-ups – and this was all with no resting period between exercises. He also did other intense fitness activities like sword fighting under the training of Venezuelan bodybuilder, Franc Licastro. “300″ made $70 million in its first weekend, so suffice to say Gerard Butler is thankful for the cut and the coin.

If you follow Daisy Ridley on Instagram, you may be aware of her ongoing workout routines, particularly her #fitnessfriday videos. These videos date back to when she was training for the coveted role in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” a role that has her making some serious sprints in it, among other physical moves.

Have a look at this video to see what kind of training she underwent. What’s also empowering is that Ridley is very open about her battle with endometriosis and polycystic ovaries, and her exercising shows such battles aren’t going to get the best of her physically.

Filming has recently wrapped on “Star Wars: Episode VIII,” which has also seen Ridley’s routine stepped up. Her system: warm-ups, three rounds of activators, two circuits of three rounds and a finisher of 20 seconds on 10 seconds on five rounds. She combines exercises like air squats, kettlebell lifts, bench presses, lunges, and more, which vary up from week to week. Better than simply writing, how about watching one of her more recent videos below.

While it may not be as extreme as some of the above, Tom Hardy knows how to bulk up quick. According to Men’s Fitness, Hardy’s workouts were split up throughout the day (similar to Lawrence), and the muscle training would start in the morning, then lunchtime, then early evening, and finally before bed. Each session would last approximately 20 minutes, focusing on strength training. He allegedly put on 30 pounds in three months. Hardy also transformed his body for other films including “Bronson” and “Warrior.” About “Bronson,” he told Ask Men: “There was no official regime. I did very non-specific exercises such as press-ups, push-ups, ab work and resistance training with the help of my Pnut, who is a 16 stone of pure muscle and also an ex-U.S. Marine.”

For his role in Kathryn Bigelow’s big-time movie, Chris Pratt’s daily life went like this: 500 pushups, five miles of running and working out at the gym all while barely eating anything, according to his interview with People. Although it may have worked in the short term, he “felt terrible afterwards, had to get shoulder surgery, and wore [himself] down doing that because [he] didn’t have the proper coaching.” Luckily he learned from his mistake and for “Guardians of the Galaxy,” he actually ate more food (taking in approximately 4,000 calories a day), but made healthier food choices, drank lots of water, and didn’t get into the starvation mode he did in “ZDT.” He dropped 60 pounds for the role and did sessions of P90X, swimming, boxing, kickboxing, running and a triathlon, according to Men’s Fitness.

Christian Bale is one of the most dedicated actors (if not the most) when it comes to bulking up and slimming down for roles. When he played Trevor Reznik in “The Machinist” he turned his body into an emaciated form. For “Batman Begins” he got exceptionally sculpted using plyometrics, core and resistance training. Other films he’s had to lose/gain weight include: “Rescue Dawn” (lost weight), “The Prestige” (gained weight), “Terminator Salvation” (lost weight) and “The Fighter” (lost weight). You can only imagine what this must do to his body, but anything for the craft, right?

By no means is what these two ladies did for their roles healthy, but they had to make their characters believable. Similar to what Bale did for his role in “The Machinist,” Mila Kunis and Natalie Portman underwent a drastic transformation to extremely petite sizes for their roles as ballerinas in “Black Swan,” with both women dropping below 100 pounds. Portman’s diet apparently consisted of mainly almonds and carrots. She also trained heavily, over 7 hours a day and sometimes she even worked out over 12 hours a day. Kunis did things a bit differently: she stuck to a 1,200 calories a day, trained four hours a day, seven days a week, for seven months. Kunis has been famously quoted as saying “It took 5 months to lose 20 pounds for ‘Black Swan’ and five days to put it all back on.”

Zoe Saldana is not only a talented actress, but she knows how to stay fit and healthy (and she’s no stranger to peculiar beauty regimes, too). In a Shape Magazine feature, Saldana’s trainer Steve Moyer explained what Zoe did to get into the immaculate shape seen in the film. “I like to combine three or four exercises in a row to keep the workout moving and take advantage of the time….I do lots of cardio and core…I like to do a leg exercise like squats followed by a core exercise like plank pushups, followed by a cardio exercises,” he told the magazine. He also mentioned that the actress used MoyerMeals, his own meal delivery service, consisting of “gluten-free, no added sugar, nothing artificial–balances meals that taste great too. Every meal is a lean protein mixed with a complex carbohydrates and vegetables in a perfect balance.”

The remake of the classic sexy red suit is coming to theatres in 2017, and one of the film’s new additions is Zac Efron. Efron has grown into a serious workout machine, but for this role he took it up a couple notches. He posted much of his variable training sessions via Instagram, and explained how influential Dwayne Johnson (who’s also in the flick) has helped him step his fitness game up. On Twitter, Efron did note that he is on a strict diet, admitting that he had done a sugar and carb detox– “9 days of absolutely zero carbs & sugar. Only organic grass fed/free range protein and organic leafy greens,” he wrote. But, showing that he is human, he said for his cheat day he “devoured a steak, 4 side potatoes/veggies, mac ‘n’ cheese, 3 desserts, bread/butter, brick ‘o’ cheese & caviar.” Now that we know all he’s doing to achieve the ultimate beach-ready body, does it make you anticipate for 2017 just a little more?