March 17, 2010 in Articles, Celebrity Workouts by James Dawson Martin

Celebrity Workouts – Part one: Brad Pitt, fight Club

Celebrity Workouts:

The Fight Club Physique:

Fight Club is arguably one of the best movies of Brad Pitt’s career. However, the majority of buzz surrounding the movie was Brad Pitt’s ripped and toned physique, not his acting.

Below I list a workout split that would have been like the one Brad used to get lean and mean for the role of Tyler Durden.

The Routine:

Brad’s goal was to get ripped, functional and toned muscle. He didn’t want a bulky look for the movie.
With that said, Brad used an intense weight training circuit program a long with a cardio program to achieve the physique of fight club.

Weight Circuit:

This routine is an intense weight training circuit. 2 days a week will be multi joint compound movements and inbetween those days will be a mixture of multi-joint exercises and isolation exercises – more reps.

This routine would be perfect for Brad – The constant circuit training kept his heart rate elevated and the weight training helped tone and chisel his physique without adding bulk. Exactly what he wanted for the Fight Club Role!

Guidelines:

Do one set of each exercise of the circuit without stopping.

Once you complete the circuit once, rest a few minutes and begin again. End after doing 3 sets – finishing with the ab workout after completing the weight training circuit.

Monday:

3 sets of each, 12 reps
Do one set of each exercise until you reach the end of the circuit – then repeat another 2 times – this will equal 3 sets per exercise.

Squats x 3 sets -
Dumbbell Bench Press x 3 sets
Barbell Rows x 3 sets
Stiff leg deadlifts x 3 sets
Arnold Dumbbell Press x 3 sets
Dumbbell shrugs x 2 sets
Tricep Pushdowns x 2 sets
Barbell curls x 2 sets

Abs:
After completing the circuit, do 3 sets of each ab exercise
Planks x 3 sets
Roman Chair side raises x 3 sets

Wednesday:

Leg Press x 3 sets
Cable Crossovers x 3 sets
Lat pulldowns or pushups x 3 sets
Leg curls x 3 sets
Lateral raises x 3 sets
Dumbbell Shrugs x 2 sets
French Press x 2 sets
Hammer curls x 2 sets

Abs:
Decline crunches
Roman Chair scissors

Friday:
See Monday’s workout.

Cardio Program:

2-4 days a week. Following a HIIT (high intensity interval training) system.

2 minutes – warm up, slow jog pace
1 minute – all out sprint
2 minutes – jog
1 minute – all out sprint

*Continue this for 20-25 minutes