Lisa Twight Talks Getting Jude Law Into Shape

18 August 2010

0Comments | Comment on this Article

For his new movie Repo Men, which is released in DVD on 23rd August, Jude Law was whipped into shape by Lisa Twight from Gym Jones.

Gym Jones is not a cosy place, it’s a real gym. There are no televisions, no machines, no comfortable spots to sit and admire yourself in the mirror.

Their philosophy is based upon achieving genuine fitness, not the appearance of fitness and it is this belief that convinced Zack Snyder to call upon the gym to train his 40 Spartans for 300.

- You worked with Jude law for his new movie Repo-Men so what kind of brief were you given before you got his training under way?

I was advised that Jude needed to get ready for a very physical role. Jude needed to be convincing from the inside out.  He had to actually live the part of his character. 

I was interested in helping him. I had a 15 minute conversation with Jude before hand and he advised 'I have been looking through your website. I think I need to eat more meat!'
 
- What sort of shape was Jude in before you started working with him - were you worried in any way?

Jude was not in good shape at all but I had no concerns about training him. Everyone has the ability to be 'fit'. They just need to be shown the way. Jude was dedicated from day one.

It is easy to work with someone who has his level of dedication. Jude is a professional.

- You worked with him for a good four months so can you talk about the regime that you put him through - the types of exercises or equipment and how they help build certain aspects of his fitness?

In my opinion the physical training is secondary to the psychological changes that occur when someone really trains for something and doesn’t simply show up and work out.

Working out is just picking stuff up and putting it down. It is simple. You can use Kettlebells, a rower or bodyweight exercises and it just doesn’t matter. What really matters is the effort and mindset that go into the program.

To be meaningful training must challenge a person’s self imposed limitations. Equipment and exercise selection is a secondary concern. 

- And what was Jude like to work with? And how much input did Jude have to the type of work that you would do?

Jude was one of the most dedicated athletes I have ever worked with. I use the word athlete because he was trained as one. As I said before Jude is a professional.

He trusted the process. He trusted me implicitly and treated the training like a job. He did everything we asked of him without question.

- I suppose it would be easy to treat someone like Jude Law a little differently given that he is a major movie star but did you crack the whip with him like you would with anyone else?

In the gym we have a rule. Nobody is different. Nobody is special. Nobody gets a free ride. Jude is an actor but that doesn’t define him. He is much more than that.

At the end of the day Jude is a person just like anyone else therefore in the gym that is how he was treated. I respect Jude more than I can say but he earned every bit of that respect. 
 
- Gym Jones is based in Utah so how did you become the gym that the movie industry phones when they need actors to get into shape?

Ever since the ‘300’ movie there has been interest. I think it is more than that though. We have a direct approach, we are good at what we do and we treat everyone like we would expect to be treated.

Furthermore we lead by example. I think that people in the movie industry, people everywhere respect that.
 
- Your website says that the people you work with have to be willing to suffer, to throw former selves on the fire, to overcome, and to change. So how tough are you on the people that you work with?

0Comments | Be the first to comment!