I saw the Avengers recently, and I had the idea to write this post. I am a huge Robert Downey Jr. fan and an Iron Man fan as well. I happened to come across his workout routine for the Avengers (which Gwyneth also appeared in again as Pepper Potts and of course is still trained by Tracy) and thought I'd post what I found. After all, I'm pretty sure I do have SOME male readers. I will try to dig up other workouts for the other characters in the movie (Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye, etc).
Usually, male actors tend to work out to get bigger for roles. Not so much with Iron Man. After all, he's a millionaire playboy/arms dealer who uses his brain more than his brawn. The goal was to make it believable that he has the strength to work with iron, but not needing rippling muscles (like Captain America for example). For Iron Man, RDJ had to slim down and build up about 15 pounds of muscle.
So how did he do it?
He trained with trainer Brad Bose, who has had over 20 years in training experience, martial arts, swordwork, etc. He had RDJ do strength training, martial arts, and a lot of cardio. He also implemented some of his own inventions (a machine called "the pineapple", for example).
The article I found didn't show details on the actual workouts they did, but what I can assess is if you would like a body like Iron Man, incorporate strength training (not bodybuilding type, just enough to build strength gradually), and do your cardio. (A lot of men I know like to avoid this part). In my opinion, I think cardio in any form should be okay, as long as you keep it up and enjoy it. And of course, true for ANYONE male or female, eating well is key!
Link to my source: http://healthmad.com/health/robert-downey-jr-s-ironman-workout-routine/
