How Robert Downey Jr. Became an “Iron Man”

By now you’ve all probably seen the photos of Robert Downey Jr.’s amazing new physique in “Iron Man“.  And, based on how well the movie has done at the box office, many of you have probably seen his great body on the big screen!  By the way, if you have, I’m completely jealous because I haven’t made it out to see this one yet! argh!!  Anyway…. moving on….

So, how did Downey put on 20 pounds of muscle in 5 months??  Two words… Brad Bose.  Bose is no stranger to getting actors in shape, having worked with some of the biggest names in the business.  He also uses some pretty interesting methods to get you strong but not beefy.  In Downey’s case, Bose says, “The challenge here was to keep him from looking too much like a superhero.  His character is an alcoholic and a womanizer, and he’s an arms dealer. They didn’t want a six-pack or bulging muscles, but they wanted to see that he had the power to forge iron.” So, Bose used some of his high tech equipment including something called Jacob’s Ladder, The Vortex, and The Pineapple.

Jacob’s Ladder is pretty much just a revolving ladder on an incline while The Vortex is a complicated piece of machinery that will basically hit your body from any angle using cables, gravity, and your own body weight.  The Pineapple is a vibration machine that you can stand on, lean on, or sit on and it’s movement is designed to throughly exhaust the muscles thus working your body to failure.  Sound intense?  Well, it is!  Keep in mind that Downey was already a jogger and practiced kung-fu before training with Bose so he wasn’t exactly starting from scratch.

To see these amazing pieces of equipment in action, check out the video here.  And, if you want to work out with Brad Bose yourself, be prepared because he doesn’t come cheap.  His current rate is $175 per session!!  Is he worth it?  According to Downey, “He’s a doctor in this stuff.  A lot of people out here are good and gifted and they’ve got books out. But when you go back and find out, what they really know about physiology is kind of limited. But he’s the guy.” We’ll take that as a yes!