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How actor built up a brawler's physique
Louise Jury6 Mar 2009
Tom Hardy had five weeks to transform himself into a Bronson look-alike.
He worked with Patrick Monroe, a personal trainer in Kentish Town with whom he had become friends when working on the film Waz two years ago. Mr Monroe said: "We didn't have a lot of time. The one thing we had going for us is that he had to look like a brawler, so the kind of size we had to put on had to symbolise the kind of exercise that you do in prison in a solitary environment."
Hardy, 31, ate a diet of about 4,000 calories a day and did a lot of resistance work using the floor and his own body weight. He spent three to four hours a day doing dips on chairs and push-ups with his feet elevated to different positions to vary the resistance. Mr Monroe, 39, said: "If you do normal push-ups, you are working the pectoral - the chest - muscles at an even level. The higher you lift your legs, the higher the area in the pecs you work."
He added a small amount of work with the kettlebell, a metal ball with a handle, to develop the shoulders. "Eastern Europeans and Russians use it a lot and it's become much more fashionable in the West," he said. There was no particular diet apart from creatine, a supplement that feeds muscles.
"He needed to look like a brawler so we didn't worry too much about how much fat there was. We just loaded up the calories - he barely had time to breathe, we were feeding his face full of food." Hardy put on two and a half stone to reach around 14 stone for the part.
Mr Monroe said the actor was naturally athletic, but added that anyone could train.
"It doesn't take long to build muscle, it's just most people do it incorrectly," he said. In addition to stimulus and nutrition, the body needs rest. "You do your growing in your rest period."
Reader views (4)
hi can u tell me were to get the fitness dvd as i have looked everywere but cant seem to find it
- allana mcgowan, scotland, 23/09/2011 19:39
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when is mr monroe's fitness dvd available because the exercises seems so simple and yet the results are amazing as per tom hardy
- Tom Hayes, new york, usa, 22/03/2010 20:45
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This is Mrs.Gomez known as a one of the first female trainee's that the "MMONROE'famly had blessed with the gift that they are well known for and that is natural athletic abilities and im proud to hear of Patric Monroe
achieving this gift and more i know who ever is under his wing will fly as sharp as an eagle because that's what he is known for PERFECTION!
- Frances Gomez, rockland newyork, 03/02/2010 22:21
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This Mr Monroe is my younger brother I helped to train Him ever since he was 5 yrs old His family has live long achievements in the Martial Arts and He himself is a Black Belt in Sho ryn gi kempo chines Goju and Five animal five formed fist shaolin Gung fu. He was the best in the class and I am proud of him several times over . you will be seeing him in the future so stay tuned
- Jefferson Monroe, Westfield MA, 01/02/2010 16:22
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