Last updated 20:27, Thursday, 30 October 2008

AN ACHIEVABLE physique is a description that you sometimes wouldn’t apply to a leading Hollywood actor.

In a world where body consciousness is everything, it’s difficult for the normal man on the street to look at magazines and say ‘yes I can get that body’.

Over the past 20 years fitness has moved on; we all seem to have better awareness of nutrition and follow the latest trends closely.

Celebrities are among us all and with every six-pack and toned body we strive to become just like them.

Over the past few years we have had films like 300, Batman, Superman and the Bourne Ultimatum series where actors have gone that extra distance to change their body for that role.

And that body became a talking point, like the crazy workouts that stemmed from 300.

Actors were no longer looked at on screen for their acting skills but for their bodies – and the standard that men wanted to become.

Gerard Butler, from 300, described his body as ‘loose’ before the challenges of the film started.

Mark Twight, an ex-marine and rock climber, perfected a workout that wasn’t conventional and allowed each actor to develop a vein-popping look for the film.

The infamous 300 workouts was developed as a test of character at the end of this gruelling training regime.

Not all the actors completed it but the ones that did spoke of the agony that it gave them.

The workout hit every internet site like a whirlwind. It was one of the biggest hits ever and everyone wanted a physique like King Leonidas. It’s only now after a year or so that everyone says the 300 workout should be followed with caution.

In many respects, the 300 look is achievable but maybe wasn’t the safest. Another reason it wasn’t the safest was due to the fact the actors of 300 had make-up on their abdomen to make them stand out – and, for any man, that isn’t a good look.

Now I’m sure all the ladies reading this will remember this moment – Daniel Craig in Casino Royale walking out of the sea. This was the same guy who was skinny in Layer Cake but packed on the muscle for the James Bond role. My initial thoughts were that this guy had been on another six-week muscle blast that the average man would shake his head at.

But no, at last some normality was brought to proceedings. I was even more surprised to see that the workout he did was similar to the one I did a few years earlier – I knew I should have put a copyright on it!

The regime was a split programme that meant a combination of circuit training with the general isolation movements. The idea was to have little rest between sets and this increased muscle size as well as tone. This is exactly the workout that is achievable for every man out there. No training twice a day, eating very little and taking all sorts of supplements that would make your head spin.

The physique he has can be maintained and you too can achieve it. Daniel Craig started off with a very basic routine split into a body part a day. After a few weeks he threw a circuit session in and after a while each workout lasted 45 minutes. The James Bond role was physical and many doubted Craig’s ability to play the role. It wasn’t necessarily his acting abilities that won people over it was the fact he performed most of his own stunts and brought a look to the role.

Christian Bale’s look in Batman was exactly the same. The training was specific to make the guy look good. He again adopted isolation movements rather than the full-out workouts in 300.

A very important lesson is being taught here and that’s basic training programmes can work just as well as the new power regimes.

In order to understand, you then understand the basics. The basic split is Monday: chest, Tuesday: back, Wednesday: arms, Thursday: legs, Friday: shoulders and Saturday: cardio and core.

Each workout lasts 45 minutes at maximum. No hour-and-a-half session – everything is specific to your aims. That’s what Bale and Craig did, they ensured that each muscle was worked in the conventional way rather than Crossfit-style workouts that gave an all-round tone.

So the moral of the story is simple – Hollywood bodies are achievable but you must understand the training that went into getting them.