Although these actors are no longer in the spot light people are still discovering the films for the first time and wanting to learn how they get in shape.
Daniel Craig is a British actor who really made his mark by transforming the image of secret agent James Bond when he took on the role in 2006 in the remake of Casino Royale. Daniel Craig was the first James Bond that really looked like he could handle himself in a sticky situation.
Brad Pitt transformed his own image when he took on a few action roles such as Fight Club, Snatch and Troy after first developing his career in dramas and thrillers such as Interview with the Vampire and Legends of the Fall.
What unites these two actors from each side of the “pond” is that in the space of 1 or 2 films they became role models for men all over the world. It seems that every guy that wants to get in shape either wants to beef up like Craig’s James Bond or get lean and muscular like Pitt’s Tyler Durden from Fight Club.
The main difference between Brad Pitt and Daniel Craig is the way that they trained. There are obviously some genetic differences which make them unique but what makes them different is the type of fitness training that they perform to sculpt their bodies.
Daniel Craig focuses much more on weight training with around 50% of his time spent lifting, and the other 50% doing bodyweight training and cardio exercises.
Brad Pitt on the other hand works much harder on burning off body fat to achieve a very lean and almost scrawny look. To achieve this he still has to work hard with the weights, but spends around 75% of his time performing intensive cardio workouts such as hill sprints and interval sessions so maximize fat burning.
Daniel Craig’s Nutrition for the James Bond Body
Daniel Craig’s extra muscle mass requires a lot of additional energy and nutrition. Although both Brad Pitt and Daniel Craig need to eat a well balanced diet with plenty of protein, Daniel Craig needs additional protein every day to help repair and rebuild lean muscle tissue.
Daniel Craig actually talked about his Bond Diet in an interview before Casino Royale was released. He said that he was on a high protein diet, however, it is important to note that is carbohydrate intake was also important to provide vital energy to fuel muscle movement.
Brad Pitt’s Diet for Fight Club
Brad Pitt followed a slightly different approach to diet to get as lean and cut as he did. Rather than piling in the calories with healthy carbs and proteins he followed a strict Zone Diet. The Zone Diet recommends that 30% of daily caloric intake comes from protein.
James Bond Should Eat More Calories Than Tyler Durden
To some this is an obvious statement, however, many people do fail to grasp the importance of a restrictive diet when cutting to the extent that Brad Pitt did.
Brad Pitt dropped his body fat to around 5%, whereas Daniel Craig maintained a body fat of about 8%. Craig had to take in more calories simply to work those larger muscles harder. Pitt on the other hand focused on fat burning after the initial muscle gains.
To get enough nutrition (nutrition means proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins as well as total Calories) to bulk up you really need to spread your meals throughout the day. This is why bodybuilders have 6-8 small meals throughout the day, or 3 standard (but smaller) meals with 3-4 snacks including protein shakes.
The most important thing for both Brad Pitt and Daniel Craig is to ensure that carbs are low GI. This means that energy is released slowly preventing a blood sugar spike. The moment blood sugar levels are maxed out the body is ready to start converting sugar into fat (insulin is released which facilitates glucose uptake to adipose tissue, a.k.a. fat cells).
Moderate Cardio for the James Bond Workout
Brad Pitt had to really focus on his high intensity training to reduce fat. In addition to the high intensity workouts he would have also done more moderate cardio.
Cardio can be a very effective way to lose fat, as while exercising you are burning fat, and also there is the “after burn” effect where metabolism is raised for 24 hours after exercise. In addition to this, exercise helps to reduce appetite with the release of the PYY hormone – known as “exercise induced anorexia”.
Daniel Craig on the other hand really needed to save his muscle glycogen reserves to allow more weight training, so kept cardio to a minimum to aid fat loss without harming muscle development.