Fitness Brief: Hollywood abs

      Blame it on Hollywood.  In case you haven’t noticed, The Depot has been busy over the past three weeks; it’s not because of Spring Break.  Since March, GCSU’s men seem motivated to try just a bit harder breaking a sweat – inspired by the hulking figures currently dominating the silver screen in the testosterone fest known as “300.”
    Images of ripped dudes with swords wasn’t the only catalyst.  An article released by the popular magazine, Men’s Health, revealed the secret ingredient that created the man monsters seen in “300.”  My response is this: Fellow Spartans, do not be easily deceived.
    If you already read that article, or just dropped this issue of The Colonnade to find a copy, the authors interviewed the actor playing the film’s lead, King Leonidas, and inquired about the process taken to transform the actors’ physiques.  From that interview has come this misunderstanding.  Ready for the truth? Like the historical stand at Thermopylae the film exaggerates and reality gets mixed with mythology.
    This misconception surrounds the idea of the Spartan workout, “the ‘300’ workout,” the interview glorified.  GCSU sophomore Kevin Ekmark isn’t falling for it.
    “Guys took that workout from Men’s Health,” Ekmark said. “And they’re probably going to end up hurting themselves.”
    There is no such thing as a “‘300’ workout.”  Mark Twight, the trainer responsible for transforming the actors into Hollywood Spartans, used many different approaches to create the bodies displayed in the film.  No training day was ever the same; the goal was improving fitness and functionality across a variety of movements for the range-of-motion required for the film’s intense stunt work.
    The combination of 300 different repetitions performed by the actors was actually a one-time test undertaken by those who wanted the challenge, not an actual workout as Men’s Health may have intimated.   The secret of these Spartans is and always will be simple: Hard work and a disciplined diet.
     Daniel Moore, a junior business marketing major, sees the motivation being more mental in nature than purely physical.
    “It’s more about the mind-set of the Spartans,” Moore said. “They [Spartans] were so extreme in everything they did—it’s inspirational.”
    Attempting the 300-repetition test is risky, even if you consider yourself in decent shape.  Despite reality, a lot of guys may find out the hard way that doing this alone won’t produce the results seen in the film. The truth is wilder than the myth – consider yourself inspired. 
    “Guys feel trapped a lot,” Moore said.  “We want to be wild.” 
    Any personal fitness goal, no matter how large or small, does not always require an individual with a Spartan attitude.  The truth is, hard work, discipline, and desire can unleash the Spartan in all of us.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 20 2007. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry