In this week’s WednesdayWorkout instalment we look at how Michael Fassbender got fit for his role in the Assassins Creed film last year.
As parkour is such a huge part of Assassins Creed Fassbender’s trainer, David Kingsbury, incorporated gymnastic-style strength workouts to make sure he was able to play the role of Callum Lynch to the best of his ability.
Fassbender’s regime was targeted at building body strength whilst making sure his body would avoid injury during filming. The routine focused heavily on making sure he was agile enough to perform the stunts involved in Assassins Creed, whilst also building muscle mass and reducing body fat.
Barbell lunges: Lunges strengthen both your glutes and leg muscles and work almost every muscle in your lower body. The addition of a barbell weight makes the exercise even more efficient and adds strain on your arms.
Weighted pull ups: Weighted pull ups can be a great way of building muscle mass and increasing strength. They work your arms, chest, shoulders whilst also working your core. A normal pull up can be challenging enough, and the added weight makes for an even more effective movement.
Weighted press ups: The press up is an extremely basic movement which works a number of different muscle groups simultaneously. For example press ups work your chest, abs, shoulders and arms. They can also improve your overall functional strength and help avoid injury to your shoulders.
One arm dumbbell rows: One armed rows are great for working your entire back whilst also strengthening your chest muscles and triceps.
Dips: Dips are classed as a closed kinetic chain exercise and work by moving your body whilst your hands/feet are in a fixed position. Dips can be a challenging exercise by themselves, and adding weight can make it an even better exercise. They also work multiple muscle groups and are great for adding upper body muscle mass.
Ab wheel rollouts: Each repetition of an ab rollout works around 20 muscles including your abs and obliques. They are known for generating more muscle activity than the traditional crunch and are considered one of the best core exercises around!
Shadow boxing: 60 seconds of shadow boxing is a great way to end a workout as you can work almost every muscle in your body. Shadow boxing is also great at reducing fat whilst building muscle mass.
As you’ve seen the movements involved are reasonably simple and so even beginners can benefit from the regime.