Training Hilary Swank to be a boxer

FiddleFit

FiddleFit

Cathlete
Wow! Canada's national newspaper, "The Globe and Mail", printed a story today about what it took to transform Hilary Swank into a credible boxer, in only 9 weeks. I've posted a link to the story below. Apparently she gained 20 lbs of muscle in that amount of time. Is that physically possible???

Do you think if we asked Cathe nicely enough, she would put "pushing an SUV" into her next lower body workout?? Oh, please?????? Pleeeaaasse????

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...20050122/ROBERTS22/TPEntertainment/TopStories

Sandra
 
How funny that she "wanted her old body back" and has "since lost 13 pounds". How sad it is to live in Hollywood where you have to "lose the weight" even if you did gain 20 lbs of pure muscle!! You mean, she couldn't get rid of all that nasty muscle she put on??? LOL.


20lbs of PURE muscle? I don't know if I can choke that one down though.....??
 
I don't buy it either. I think it is grossly exaggerated. I have read several trainers quotes that said there is no way you can build that much muscle in that short of time; especially us higher fat women. :(
 
I wish I could do this and see how I turn out!!! Fun!! If I could just find a way to star in a movie.....hmmmm.....
 
I also read about this in Time, which reported that Swank worked out 5-6 hours a day for three months to pack her 19 lbs. of muscle. (Different sources, slightly different details.)

Wish life were so easy. At this rate, and based on Time's story, Swank would've gained 1.58 lbs. of muscle per week that she was training. Extremely hard to believe.

And doesn't the body need rest to grow muscle? That's why bodybuilders, as a rule, reduce their cardio when they're strength training, after which they go through a leaning out season where they burn off the extra fat that came with the muscle gain. This takes time. More than 3 months, I'm sure. I don't think Swank could've gained more than a pound of muscle a week by training for 5-6 hours a day. That's overkill.

Also, if I gained that much muscle in so short a time, I would KEEP it. All 19 or 20 lovely pounds of it.

Pinky
 
I saw an interview she did on some show.

She said that she put on 20lbs of muscle. I found it hard to believe, too. I tried to do a search about her training(and her trainer), but couldn't find info.

She said that she had lots and lots of protein. She also had to wake up during the night(I think every 1 1/2 hrs) to drink protein shakes and go back to bed. She worked out for hours.

She didn't like all that muscle because she could no longer fit into her clothing.
 
And here's a link to Marty Gallagher's take on her gain.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20126-2004Dec22.html

Marty Gallagher: I think this an embellishment - this would be a sensational gain rate for a 240-pound professional athlete - in she were to gain 20-pounds of muscle, I assume she weighed 120 or thereabouts prior, this would be a 15% gain - in nine weeks!Proportionate to that, a 240-pound athlete would need to gain 36-pounds of muscle in nine weeks...this is highly dubious.
================================

My (not Marty's) uneducated guess: she was already a champion swimmer and gymnnast and therefore had an athelete's focus and determination... and even more important: muscle memory, which is why she got into such fabulous shape so quickly.

She gained 20 lbs, sure, but not all of it was muscle. Like her coach said, she looks better a little heavier.
 
Highly unlikely. Even with steroid use that would be out of the bell curve for rate of muscle growth in women. Gotta jazz those "news" articles up a little I guess.
 
I saw her on Leno. I think she worked out 5 1/2 hours a day. 3 hours of cardio in the morning (mostly boxing) and 2 1/2 hours of weight training in the evenings. I think she was eating about 2-2.5 g of protein per pound of bodyweight. Extremely low fat and low carb. Her breakfast was pretty much tons of boiled egg whites and that was it. She was drinking lots of protein shakes. Of course nobody can't expect someone to train like that and eat like that forever. That was just for the role. It's like olympic athlete training. They train for hours and eat ridiculously clean for months until the competition starts and then they go back to less harsh training and eating more "normally". I have to say that I also was in a state of disbelief when she said she put on 20lbs of muscle. I don't even know if that is possible for a woman to do naturally in such a short time. Who knows? Maybe she discovered the secret.
 
The secret is a good PR agent!

I believe that like I believe Jessica Simpson did squats and lunges for 2 1/2 hours everyday to get in shape for some movie she was in.

I believe that like I believe Lara Flynn Boyle eats like a horse, she just has a naturally high metabolism.

The BS Hollywood throws at us is just unbelieveable!
 
Gasp! Shock! Horror!

You mean its not TRUE!

Will knock me down with Cathes Bar Bell

I was nearrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrly converted

Marion






You have to stay in shape. My grandmother started walking when she was 60. Today she is 97 and we don't know where the hell she is! - Ellen DeGeneres
 
Well, all I know, is low carb is NOT a good mix when you are training 5 and a half hours per day! Ugghh. Imagine how horrible you would feel. She couldn't have gained that much muscle, simply because they were at the same time trying to keep her lean for the movie. That would limit pure muscle growth......
 
Why are we Hillary bashing?

I didn't see anyone bashing Brad Pitt when he worked out and gained weight and muscle for TROY.

I swear...we women are so critical of our own gender. I just don't get it x( . Petty, petty!
 
We are not bashing Hillary. We are just discussing the biological impossibility of putting on 20lbs of muscle in 9 weeks. She looks great but 20lbs of muscle gain in two months. I don't think so. Look at the stats on muscle gain and total muscle mass for professional female weight lifters even the ones who had used steroids. You can't gain muscle at that rate (over 2lbs a week for 9 weeks straight).
 
I agree. I was not bashing Hilary Swank and I don't think anybody here was bashing her. I think that the women of this forum are extremely smart when it comes to ridiculous claims like having a woman gain 20lbs of muscle in 9 weeks. LOL @ the comment about Jessica Simpson and Lara Flynn Boyle though. We can laugh it up without being mean or catty. I think so anyway. I have to add that Lara Flynn Boyle smokes a lot of cigarrettes too that might be the reason she is so skinny, but it might be true that she is just naturally skinny. My best friend eats like a horse, doesn't exercise, doesn't smoke and she is a size 00 so there are still people that are genetically gifted like that.
 
I'm not Hilary bashing. I think she's a very talented actress--one of the best in the business--and her performance in this movie is deserving of an Oscar. I just get annoyed with all the hype and BS. Grant it, she looks amazing in this movie, and I have no doubt she worked hard to transform herself, but what they did to change themselves and how much weight they gained is not going to make me decide whether I want to see the movie or not.

BTW, I don't think Lara Flynn Boyle is naturally skinny. She was never that thin in her older movies and dramas, remember Twin Peaks? You wouldn't know it was the same person!
 
Nope!! Not bashing Hilary one bit! My hat is off to her for all that super-hard work. She pushed an SUV across a parking lot, for heaven's sake! You go girl!

I just think it questionable that she gained 20lbs of muscle. The article stated that at 5 foot 7, she weighed 110 lbs. So I'm thinking she was on the underweight side to begin with, and all those calories gave her some healthy padding alongside that muscle.

I could work that hard if I knew it was for such a short time, it was my only priority, and it was going to prepare me for a role of a lifetime.

Sandra
 
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