Last Friday I explained that there are only 4 situations where you can build muscle while losing fat WITHOUT creating that caloric deficit that is otherwise crucial for fat loss: a) newbie gains b) muscle memory c) genetics d) steroids.
Today I want to give you an example of a guy who has gained a massive amount of weight WITHOUT gaining fat - Christian Bale.
You've probably heard that Christian Bale gained 109lbs for "Batman Begins" after losing 63lbs for "The Machinist". Bale went from 121lbs to 230lbs in only 6 months which ended up being MORE than director Christopher Nolan desired. So by the time filming began, Christian Bale had dropped to 190lbs.
Christian Bale: left 121lbs in "The Machinist" (2004). Right 190lbs in "Batman Begins".
How Did Christian Bale Gain 109lbs Weight So Fast? Bale had been lifting weights for at least 5y before he starred in "Batman Begins". Imdb mentions that he went to the gym 6x/week for 3h/day with a personal trainer for his movie "American Psycho" (2000). Check his physique in "Equilibrium" (2002).
Christian Bale. On the left weighing around 185lbs in "Equilibrium" (2002). On the right weighing 121lbs for "The Machinist" (2004).
Newbie gains? No. Freaky genetics? I don't think so. Steroids? Maybe. What you can be sure of: MUSCLE MEMORY. More important: he HAD TO gain weight to get the role, and he had a personal trainer for "Batman Begins".
Do you think you could gain 109lbs in 6 months if you lost 63lbs first? Let's say you've been training for years, your paycheck depends on your results and you have a coach yelling at you in the gym. Could you do it? Of course.
Muscle memory - deadlines - coaching. That's how he gained 109lb so fast.
I shouldn't be telling you this, but the secret behind many of those before/after transformations you see in muscle magazines is this very Muscle Memory. Snake oil companies use it to fool you into buying their worthless supplements. And I'm going to show you an example of that next. Stay tuned.
Thanks for sharing this story about Christian Bale. I had no idea he he did this. I know Robert Deniro gained an incredible amount of weight for the 1980 movie Raging Bull and then successfully lost it. He got into incredible shape for the boxing scenes as well
I really like these new daily articles. Good job!
Off topic, but if no-one here has watched The Machinist then please do. It’s a brilliant movie.
Mehdi, I’m almost positive I heard that Bale gained so much weight for Batman that they were calling him “Fatman” on set and he had to cut a lot of weight to look right on camera. He had gained a substantial amount of fat in addition when he gained all that weight back. He was definitely able to cut some fat after that, but do you think it would be possible to make weight gains like that and not gain a good deal of fat in the process? Like could a person gain 40 pounds of lean muscle and be ripped without gaining, say, 60 pounds first then shedding the flab, in that amount of time? And NOT steroid assisted, of course. I’d like to hear your take on it.
You are giving such good articles. thank you so much. For me you are one of the best.
I think you should point out that a lot of steroids are taken to do this. I train at a bb gym, the guys there don’t even try and hide it.
I have no doubt that to get his muscle he needs to be strong, just like at my gym the lifters are very strong and could do some amazing weights if they found time between the posturing. But it’s steroids and ghb to keep on working 2 or 3 times a day 6 days a week that these people take.
Mehdi, these interconnected regular articles are awesome! Loving the format!
Interesting article! I was just thinking about this the other day and I was even googling “christian bale workout.” Great minds think alike haha. The actor is incredible and his physique in Batman was ridiculous, the man’s work ethic is awe inspiring. I’d like to be in that kind of Batman shape!
Good job on these new articles!
I was always amazed how Bale was able to transform himself in that short amount of time.
Muscle Memory is true but I bet roids were also involved – as you said: his paycheck depended on it.
Yeah, when your (potentially huge) paycheck depends on it, it makes a big difference.
great articles Mehdi. Christian is my favourite actor and it is a good example of yours to enlight people about his incredible transformations. I think his best physique is in Equilibrium (2002).
imagine how much more dedicated the people who are in better shape than some of us (me, for example) must be, then imagine tossing in the extreme changes bale has made in his career and ‘fanatic’ becomes one of the few words that must describe his mindset. i wonder if his health will eventually suffer from it. i’ll also be interested to see what kind of roles he takes on in his later years, when he abandons the ‘leading man’ stuff for the more interesting character roles.
The real question is, how did he get that skinny for the machinist!? Honestly, you can count every single one of his ribs.
Mehdi you come up with so many eye openers and amazing articles that my eye size has also increased! (Joke :))
Thanks for all the info sir.
It seems likely that at 213 pounds, he was carrying some fat. Which is why the director wanted him to lose weight. He then cut to 190 lbs. So he didn’t gain all that muscle without gaining fat. It sounds like he lost 23 lbs of fat to star in Batman. So fat accounts for part of his amazing weight gain. The fact that he was starting out from near starvation levels is another reason. And I wouldn’t be surprised if steroids were used. Still, his build in Batman looks good, not roid-monkeyish at all.
Wow, that’s amaizyng! HUGE different, seems impossible…
I read somewhere that Bale lost the weight for the Machinist by starving himself and smoking to subside appitite. This extreme case can not be healthy.