Your mission, should you choose to accept it: bulging biceps, washboard abs, impenetrable pipes and a chiseled jaw.
Oh, plus a sharp secret operative intellect, weapons proficiency and the ability to make A-list actresses swoon over you.
If Daniel Craig can play James Bond, why can’t you? Sure, maybe you can’t prod the barhop for a shaken martini as suavely as he can, but a Bond body may be attainable.
Jon Bula, personal trainer and owner of Vancouver’s Groundworks Athletics, says you must prepare if you hope to shape a Bond-like physique. “If your end goal is to look like James Bond, you need to set the plan in motion on how you’re going to get there,” he says. “A James Bond body is not going to come easy. That’s hard work, not a gimme.”
While building your upper body seems like a key area to turn from average to Adonis, Bula says he tells his clients that working their lower body is just as important.
“(My clients) look at me like I’m weird, but when you train your lower body, it improves testosterone and growth hormone release, and it actually helps the rest of your workouts,” he says.
Add that to weight training and finding the motivation to work out five days a week and Bula says men need not invest in a high-priced personal trainer to find results.
But, Bula urges a toned figure is more than just the absence of body fat. He says you need to focus on food, too. “You can train like a mad man and if you’re overeating and drinking too much alcohol, you’re still going to be chubby and you’re not going to see the benefits of your training.”
But how can you be like Bond without drinking his token martini? Doug Cook, a dietician at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, says the traditional martini – gin or vodka and vermouth – is fine in moderation. He wards against fancy mixes.
“If you’re getting into mixed drinks or some of these pseudo-martinis, you’re going to get a lot of higher sugar content mixes versus the more traditional one he drinks,” says Cook.
Other dietary considerations Cook recommends include following a higher protein diet and ensuring you consume appropriate fats, which he says are important to maintain testosterone levels and aid in burning body fat.
And while Cook contends a healthy diet doesn’t require supplements, he says nutrients will direct metabolic rates for health and exercise. “A general multivitamin really should be recommended for everybody across the board.”
- For more coverage, check out Rick McGinnis trying James Bond’s life on for size.