The price of body transformation from Bale
Of course, Christian Bale is a role model for many. However, we would not recommend that you suddenly lose or gain weight, as the famous actor did. Such changes in the body can cause serious illnesses. And if Christian did this for the sake of his career and under the supervision of specialists, then you probably have time to wait a month, regardless of whether you dream of losing weight or are thinking about how to build muscle for a beginner.
Your task is to set a goal for yourself, to realize that you are ready to work for your own body. Then, using Bale's training, you can quickly get in shape, and then continue to work on yourself to improve your results. Remember, a pumped up muscular body, six-pack abs and hundreds of fans are not a dream, this is your goal!
Sports nutrition will help speed up the process of your transformation - protein, creatine, gainer, arginine, BCAA, amino acids. These supplements are specially designed for athletes and fitness-active people of different fitness levels. Such drugs are completely safe, and their effectiveness has already been proven.
"Batman" Christian Bale - get pumped up in 6 weeks
Shortly after The Machinist, Bale again felt the need to bulk up for Batman Begins. And he had only 6 weeks for this task, which, to his credit, was enough for him.
First of all, the actor began to eat, and eat a lot. If recently he ate a couple of blades of grass a day, now he could easily eat a couple of pizzas and buckets of popcorn at one time.
This feature of the body, it is worth noting, surprised Bale. He was sure that after a long fast, he simply would not be able to eat in usual quantities. However, the appetite turned out to be quite good.
Nutrition experts say this reaction is completely natural. When a person restricts himself in food, he stops producing certain hormones. Accordingly, control over the feeling of hunger is lost and a person may no longer be full within half an hour to an hour after a heavy meal.
During the process of gaining weight, Bale had health problems - he called an ambulance more than once and suffered from abdominal pain. The situation was aggravated by the fact that he spent his free time in the gym. The actor admits that in those days he lifted the barbell so countless times that he himself was scared to think about it.
However, as a result, Christian Bale's main goal - to pump up in 6 weeks - was fulfilled. We present a weight training program that the actor could follow.
Christian Bale transformations
Christian began acting at the age of 12, and by the age of 20 he weighed 83 kg with a height of 183 cm. He was an athlete with a mountain of defined muscles - but he was invited to star in the film "The Machinist", which required a thin, emaciated hero - skin and bones. In 4 months, Christian lost weight to 55 kg! How did he do it?
Christian's daily diet did not exceed 250 Kcal and consisted of:
- 3 cups of coffee (for breakfast, lunch, dinner);
- 1 apple (for breakfast);
- 200 g tuna (for lunch).
Of course, he took a complex of vitamins and minerals, and also drank a lot of pure water without carbon. With such a diet, there was a sharp loss of not only weight, but also muscle mass. But this is exactly what Christian was trying to achieve, trying to live up to his future role. In addition, Christian did not stop physical training.
It was not muscle building, but cardio, aerobics, stretching and isometric exercises. True, with a minimal calorie diet and a lot of physical activity (filming always requires active physical effort), the actor often felt bad. Sometimes it was necessary to stop filming and let him rest.
Diet Christian Bale
What was the diet: Christian Bale used the following menu to lose weight:
- For his morning meal, Bale relied on a cup of black coffee, to which the actor did not add sugar or its substitutes.
- For lunch it was supposed to be canned tuna in its own juice. You could eat 200 g of this fish. The drink was again black coffee, unadorned.
- For dinner, the actor only drank a cup of coffee.
- During the day, 1 small green apple was allowed.
- To reduce harm to the body, the actor took multivitamin complexes.
With such a diet, not only fat mass is instantly lost, but also muscle mass, since the starved body used up all the reserves of the available mass to maintain vital functions.
- In addition to the diet, the actor tried to run while he had the strength. His goal at that time was to burn as much muscle and fat as possible, and aerobic exercise without proper nutrition forces the body to use up the available reserves of substances to the maximum.
- In addition, Christian distracted himself from the desire to eat through favorite activities, such as reading books.
- He also tried to spend all his free time at home and did not attend star parties, so as not to be tempted to eat or drink too much.
Bale subsequently admitted that he managed to lose so much weight only thanks to discipline and dedication. While losing weight, he was guided only by his own feelings, practically without resorting to the recommendations of nutritionists. Friends, relatives and colleagues expressed their concern about the actor’s condition, but he himself claimed that his health was quite normal.
Continued games with weights
Christian's experiments did not stop there. For the film Rescue Dawn (2006), he lost weight again to 61 kg, only to gain 83 kg for the film The Dark Knight (2008). After 2 years, he weighed 66 kg in the film “The Fighter”, and for “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012) he recovered to 90 kg.
The actor is completely immersed in his roles and lives them together with his hero, so it was important for him not to portray someone, but to be him. With all my admiration and respect for Christian Bale, I would like to separately emphasize that such experiments on your body and health can only be carried out under the supervision of a doctor. ___ I would like to note: no matter what result you want to achieve - lose weight or gain weight - to achieve your goal, physical exercise must be mandatory and regular!
Christian Bale
Christian Bale
- Date of birth: January 30, 1974.
- Height: 183 cm.
- Weight: from 55 to 90 kg.
- Best films: “The Dark Knight Rises”, “The Prestige”, “Equilibrium”, “Terminator: May the Savior Come”, “American Psycho”.
Filming in the film "The Machinist"
For the filming of The Machinist, Christian Bale lost a third of his weight, losing up to 55 kg. The method is simple: a cup of coffee, an apple and a can of tuna per day (1) - 200-250 calories at a rate of 2500. Result: a sharp loss of both fat and most of the muscles.
The break between filming “The Machinist” and the first scenes of “Batman” was only six weeks, during which the actor tried to regain shape and gain muscle mass as quickly as possible. As a result, he increased his weight to 86 kilograms.
Christian Bale's diet for filming Batman
The actor needed to regain muscle very quickly, and the total calorie intake was almost 4000 kcal. Every day he ate 350 g of protein, 500 g of carbohydrates and 70-90 g of fat. The training was as active as possible to minimize fat gain.
Christian Bale is a vegetarian and does not eat meat or poultry(2). Protein sources included fish, dairy products, eggs, and protein shakes. Meals occurred every 2-3 hours - otherwise he simply would not have eaten so much in a day.
What program does Batman use to train?
The program was based on variations of basic exercises that involved several muscle groups at once - both main and auxiliary. The goal was to activate the white muscle fibers responsible for explosive power.
Christian performed barbell push-ups, deadlift variations, squat jumps, and explosive bench presses(3). The exercises were performed at a fast pace, and the workouts included a high volume of cardio.