Beefing up for a role definitely gets Hollywood talking — just ask Jake Gyllenhaal, who had to turn into a hulk-like warrior for his role in ‘Prince of Persia.’ In an interview with Moviefone, he admitted that putting on all that muscle wasn’t that big of a deal. “There was nothing hard about it, man, I was paid to get in shape,” he said. Easier said than done, Mr. Gyllenhaal.
But were rigorous training and a strict diet the only factors contributing to his new washboard abs? Gyllenhaal’s trainer, Simon Waterson, spoke with PopEater to reveal how the doe-eyed actor transformed his body in less than four months.
Gyllenhaal’s ‘Prince of Persia‘ trainer is a former Royal Marine who has helped other A-list actors — including Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig for the ‘James Bond‘ films — bulk up for movie roles. But turning Gyllenhaal into a hulking warrior took a lot of mental and physical stamina; Waterson admits the average person would have to be “extremely dedicated” to achieve similar results.
In the early morning, Gyllenhaal would put on a 20-pound flak jacket and run around a park and in the sand — simulating scenes he would be filming in Morocco for ‘Persia.’ He’d then head off to script readings and sword fight training before returning in the evening to start his second round of exercise, resistance training. The actor would eat six times a day — three meals and three snacks, each of which contained a lot of protein, electrolytes and carbohydrates.
