This award-winning actor doesn’t need much introduction, Christian Bale, the guy who played the lead role in that fantastic World War II movie, Empire Of The Sun, and many more!
Christian was already a professional actor when he was 10.
Since then, he has gone on to perform in many, many other movies, one notable one being American Psycho, and another The Machinist.
He made a fantastic Batman, too, in Batman Begins. Of course, everyone wanted to know the man and face behind the mask, as well as find out how he got so ripped!
It stands to reason why he has proven to be such a brilliant actor – he was born into a family of entertainers. His grandfather, uncles, mother, and his siblings were all in the entertainment business!
His father was a commercial pilot so the family moved around quite a lot.
Christian says, “I not only inherited an aversion to the nine-to-five routine, but the sense from my parents that being bored and boring is the worst thing that you can be.”
That’s how he got into acting.
By 1998, Christian was a celebrity with one of the most downloaded personalities on social media!
Even though he is a guy that doesn’t seem to chase fame, he is still going strong in the movies industry. He is going to play a villainous role, Gorr the God Butcher, in the movie Thor: Love and Thunder.
Look out for its release in 2022.
He is a devoted animal lover – you go Christian! – He devotes time and energy to Greenpeace, the Redwings Horse Sanctuary, and the World Wildlife Foundation.
His wife, Sibi Blasic, and he own three rescue cats and two rescue dogs, all strays.
That makes Christian a spectacular, compassionate human being.
Even though he hails from Wales, he has USA citizenship and lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.
Christian Bale’s Workout & Diet – How to Train Like Batman
Current Stats
- Weight: 83 kg. /185 lbs.
- Birthday: 30 January 1974
- Birthplace: Pembrokeshire, Wales
Accolades/accomplishments
Check out his fantastic movie career here. He’s had over 82 winning awards so we are listing only the ones in the last five years here!
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards
- 2019 – Best Actor in Vice
- 2019 – Best Actor in a Comedy in Vice
- 2016 – Best Actor in a comedy in The Big Short
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards
- 2018 – Best Actor in Vice
Golden Globes, USA
- 2019 – Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy in Vice
Hawaii Film Critics Society
- 2019 – Best Actor in Vice (Tied)
Houston Film Critics Society Awards
- 2019 – Best Actor in Vice
Music City Film Critics’ Association Awards
- 2019 – Best Actor in Vice
Nevada Film Critics Society
- 2018 – Best Actor in Vice
Palm Springs International Film Festival
- 2016 – Ensemble Cast Award in The Big Short (shared)
Philadelphia Film Critics Circle Awards
- 2018 – Best Actor in Vice
Satellite Awards
- 2019 – Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama in Ford v Ferrari
- 2016 – Best Actor in a Supporting Role in The Big Short
Telluride Film Festival, US
- 2017 – Silver Medallion Award
Workout Principles of Christian Bale
What elevates Batman to the superhero status are his drive, grit, wit, and strength. That’s not forgetting his ripped physique.
The guy who gets the part of Batman has to be ripped, right? So a real workout routine for this fictional character really exists.
It is about a strict training schedule, a very tough schedule, and dare we say, sometimes an impossible workout routine.
That’s why there are such strict workout principles.
Christian Bale fulfilled all the principles, running 20 miles on his off-days, followed by over 3 hours in the gym. That’s not to mention the weight work he did.
What was so impressive about Christian in Batman was his incredible transformation – you should see how he looked a year before filming started, so you will understand!
He weighed in at 121 lbs. before Batman, setting out to gain over 100 pounds of mass.
And he achieved it – from portraying an underweight man to the hulking mass of Batman in just over 6 months.
That’s actually very difficult and dangerous too, certainly without proper medical supervision and a personal trainer who is a pro.
Christian’s transformation drives home just how hard he worked to really make the character real, to become The Bat.
The principles behind achieving it
He trained a whole lot, going to the gym 6 times a week for 3 hours – plus cardio every day. Christopher Nolan, the director of the movie, wanted a Batman that was muscular but lean, and Bale delivered just that.
Christian Bale’s Training Methods
Christian Bale trained a lot for Batman. He would go to the gym 6 times a week for 3 hours apiece. He also did cardio every single day.
The training methods that he followed would ensure he built muscle but at the same time remain as lean as he could. His exercises and training methods were made up of compound movements that have plenty of benefits.
Compound exercises are any movements that involve more than just one muscle group or joint to accomplish.
These are the benefits:
- Coordination improvement between muscles
- They help to elevate the heart rate and to burn more calories
- They improve flexibility
- They turbo-charge muscle gains
- They built strength
The only other thing that guided Christian Bale as Batmen was the super intense workouts as well as his diet.
Christian Bale’s Workout Routine
Christian Bale’s workout routine places a lot of emphasis on compound movements. Cardio work is vital too if you are going to be Batman and caper over rooftops.
Here is Christians’ “Batman” type of workout routine”.
Day one: Back
- ‘Wide Grip Lateral Pull Downs (Cable): 3 sets of 10 reps’
- ‘Bent Over Rows (Barbell): 3 sets of 10 reps’
- ‘Russian Swings (Kettlebells): 5 sets of 10 reps’
- ‘Pull-Ups: 3 sets of 10 reps’
- ‘Deadlifts (Barbell): 1 set of each: 10-8-5-5-3-1RM reps’
Day two: Arms
- ‘Bicep Curls (Dumbbells): 3 sets of 10 reps’
- ‘Skull Crushers (EZ-bar): 3 sets of 10 reps’
- ‘Hammer Curls (Dumbbells): 3 sets of 10 reps’
- ‘Triceps Extensions (Dumbbells): 3 sets of 10 reps’
- ‘Chin-ups: 3 sets of 10 reps’
- ‘Triceps Extensions (Cable): 3 sets of 10 reps’
Day three: Shoulders
- ‘Front Raises (Dumbbells): 3 sets of 10 reps’
- ‘Pull-Ups: 3 sets of 10 reps’
- ‘Lateral Raises: 3 sets of 10 reps’
- ‘Shrugs (Dumbbells): 3 sets of 25 reps’
- ‘Overhead Press (Barbell): 4 sets of 8 reps’
- ‘Arnold Press (Dumbbell): 3 sets of 10 reps’
Day four: Legs
- ‘Calf Raises (Machine): 3 sets of 25 reps’
- ‘Seated Leg Curls (Machine): 3 sets of 10 reps’
- ‘Weighted Lunges (Barbell/Dumbbell/Kettlebell): 3 sets of 10 reps on each leg’
- ‘Weighted Step Ups (Barbell/Kettlebell): 3 sets of 10 reps on each leg’
- ‘Front Squats (Barbell): 3 sets of 10 reps’
- ‘Squats (Barbell): 1 set of each: 10-8-5-5-3-1RM reps’
Day five: Chest
- ‘Chest Press (Dumbbell): 3 sets of 10 reps’
- ‘Pec Flyes (Cable): 3 sets of 10 reps’
- ‘Incline Bench Press (Barbell): 3 sets of 10 reps’
- ‘Push-Ups: 3 sets of 25 reps’
- ‘Bench Press (Barbell): 1 set of each, 10-8-5-5-3-1RM reps’
Christian Bale’s Diet Plan
Christian Bale has done a lot of yo-yo dieting for his different movie roles.
From a medical point of view, there is quite a bit of evidence that if you starve yourself and then 6 months later you are bulking up, it can cause you to suffer from long-term health implications, even though it earns you an academy award.
And Christian Bale has been called “the king of Hollywood yo-yo dieting”.
In The Machinist, the psychological thriller, Christian lived on coffee, tuna, and apples, and lost over 130 pounds.
Doctors told him to stop back then because he lost so much weight for the movie – his body had actually started to burn muscle in place of fat.
After The Machinist, Christian went straight into training for Batman Begins
He had to regain all his weight and pack on more muscle than ever. Then a year after that he had to lose 55 pounds to perform in Rescue Dawn.
And there is more – a constant yo-yo of dieting and putting it all back on again.
“The risks of drastic, rapid weight loss includes the loss of muscle mass and muscle strength, hormone or electrolyte imbalances, malnutrition, organ dysfunction, dizziness, and mood swings”
That’s what Jennifer McDaniel from the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics says.
“In addition, repeatedly losing and gaining weight usually results in a high body fat percentage, lower resting metabolic rate, and less responsive hunger and satiety hormones.”
Not healthy, you could say.
And another doctor says this yo-yo dieting gets worse every time you do it – and often you end up regaining more weight than you lost!
Christian admitted that gaining weight so rapidly after being so thin in The Machinist did make him very ill.
Here is how he ate for Batman to get the superhero ‘bod’
To be Batman, Christian had to focus a lot on proteins and carbs.
In an interview he had, he said at the time that he had a15/35/50 split of fats, proteins, and carbs.
He would also require a few protein shakes.
He would average around one meal every 2-3 hours because the timing had to be just right to provide the necessary energy and protein to speed up his muscle building. See his Batman diet here.
Carefully planned carbs
Christian avoided eating highly processed carbohydrates – rather he would eat complex carbs from veggies.
He would load up on these veggies before noon so that he acquired the necessary energy for his workouts.
Christian Bale’s Supplements
- Multivitamins
- Caffeine
- Vitamin D
- Omega-3
- Probiotics
- Chromium
Christian Bale’s Noteworthy Recommendations
One noteworthy recommendation from Christian Bale would be that if you want to get ripped as he did for Batman, don’t do what he did and that is to eat less than 200 calories per day – not healthy at all.
He says such an extreme diet like that plays havoc with your metabolism and places heaps of stress on the body.
Rather try a healthier alternative such as the 16:8 method of intermittent fasting.
“It’s not who I am underneath but what I do that defines me” – Christian Bale