Usually, when speaking about their physical condition, people have the tendency either of saying that they should lose some unwanted extra pounds, or that they're just fine as they are. Considering that, one could feel but mere compassion for the Hollywood stars that had to put such a fight in actually gaining some pounds. Mickey Rourke is one of the latest examples, as, for his most recent role, he had to “upgrade” his weight  of 192 pounds to 235. Still, his “new” body is but pure stamina, nothing like Tom Hanks “readjusting“ for Cast Away.

As the character he has impersonated is allegedly a wrestling fighter, the pounds the actor needed were not that easy to get. It took him around six full months of serious training to get the desired muscular shape, and the right person to teach him how to do it properly. As great results come with great expenses, Rourke considered that the most suitable to make him sweat would be an Israeli cage fighter.

 

“Coming from the army, […] he was all about focus and discipline, mixing cardio with weightlifting. There were days where I wanted to do either cardio or weights because I was sore all the time, all day and all night,” says Rourke, who is well known for his former excesses.

 

The star also confesses that, in his case, for the huge amount of energy consumed in the gym, lifting weights and working out almost every day of the week, his diet also changed, to meet the nutritious needs of a body experiencing extreme physical pressure – he began eating around six or even seven meals a day, wisely accompanied by huge amounts of protein drinks.

 

Luckily for him, there were the happy Saturdays, when his trainer, a Jewish, gave him a day off to perform his religious duties.