Brandon Routh Talks 'Superman Returns' Training

[Thursday, June 22nd, 2006]
Brandon Routh as SupermanBrandon Routh, who plays Superman in director Bryan Singer's upcoming Superman Returns, says he trained very hard for his role. "Well, I did a lot of things," told Sci-Fi Wire. "I lifted weights, obviously. I did this rope yoga, which is a mix between karate and yoga, that my first trainer, Gudni Gunnarsson, created."

"We got my body in shape to be in shape," Routh said. "And, I mean, I was in shape. I was an athlete before that [training]. I did certain things [swimming and soccer in high school], but never to this extent. So that by the time we got to Australia, two months into my training, we started hitting the weights really hard and building more and more mass, and I ended up putting on 22 pounds for the film. Which was fantastic, to see my body change in five months' time. I had a little extra time when we went into Sydney, because we didn't start filming Superman right away."

Routh says that sometimes he put on a little bit too much muscle. "There were a couple of times when we got a little overzealous with the workout, and I started to get a little bit [too big and] had to back back down," he said. "Because you start to lift a lot, and you go, 'OK, well, how much more could we do?' But I had to maintain a limit."

"The worst thing, as always, is probably just going to be the physical aspect of being in the harness and the flight [effects], making flight happen. Some days it was great. Some days it was fun. Some days it wasn't fun. Depending on how early in the morning I was up and in the harness. If had to work out at 4 a.m. ... ."

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