Spartan Workout Secrets from the Star of 300

To become fit for a king, 300 star Gerard Butler trained harder than most pro athletes for 4 months straight. But his biggest challenge came when the cameras stopped rolling

As Gerard Butler rushes into his hotel lobby, he seems slightly disoriented. Maybe it's the chill winds buffeting New York City. But more likely, it's the lingering effects of his just-completed session of eye- movement desensitization and reprocessing, a laser-light show of sorts that supposedly hot-wires the synapses of your gray matter. "It's normally used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder," the 37-year-old actor says. However, his hope is that it will help coordinate the analytical and creative lobes of his brain, enabling him to better manage his life.

Perhaps he should ask for a refund. Butler not only is 45 minutes late for our interview, but also requires an additional 5 minutes to tidy up -- his pug puppy is in heat -- and then another 10 when his room key won't open the door. Once inside, he quickly apologizes for the clutter of brochures and tile samples, which he attributes to the overdue renovation of his Manhattan condo -- the one he bought in early 2004 but has yet to occupy.

While all of this frustrates Butler enough to take a stab at laser-light therapy, at least he can justify his disorganized personal life as an occupational hazard. After all, his success as an actor depends on his ability to inhabit the mind of another person and then stay in character for months. And when you consider his larger-than-life roles in modern-day epics such as Dracula 2000, Attila the Hun, and the newly released 300 -- in which he plays Leonidas, King of Sparta (*1) -- you understand why he might run late for an appointment or take 3 years to remodel his apartment. Would a vampire heed deadlines? Would a king compare swatches?

To become King Leonidas, Butler, who by his own admission was in less- than-ideal shape when he was tapped for the starring role in 300, spent 4 months transforming both his body and his mind. Early on, it became an all-consuming task. That's because the intense training required to build a warrior's physique -- aesthetically and functionally -- simultaneously cultivated a warrior's mentality. Or maybe it was vice versa.

Either way, it's the reason Butler enlisted the help of Mark Twight, a former world-class mountain climber who, based on personal experience, believes in training as if your life depends on it. In fact, Twight would argue that a good workout should make you feel almost queasy upon hearing what lies ahead. For example, to hasten Butler's mind-body transformation, he created what he calls the "300-rep Spartan workout." (Trust us, 100 reps is plenty hard.) (*2) It goes like this: Without resting between exercises, Butler performs 25 pullups, 50 deadlifts with 135 pounds, 50 pushups, 50 jumps on a 24-inch box, 50 floor wipers (*3), 50 single-arm clean-and-presses using a 36-pound kettle bell, and 25 more pullups. All this, in addition to utilizing other unconventional yet equally taxing training methods, such as tire flipping and gymnastics-style ring training. Sound like hell? It is. In fact, upon receiving his marching orders for a Spartan workout, one of Butler's costars told Twight, "It feels like you just killed my dog."

Five weeks before the cameras were to roll, Butler took on extra sessions with a Venezuelan bodybuilder named Franco LiCastro in order to exaggerate the physique he was after. "I wanted to look really strong," says Butler. "I've seen so many actors play these kinds of roles, and you see all this equipment on either a big belly or skinny little arms." It worked in more ways than one: On-screen, the bearded actor lords over the battlefield like testosterone incarnate, with the steely gaze, cobblestone abs, and broad, chiseled shoulders you suspect one would need to command 300 men to their slaughter.

"You know that every bead of sweat falling off your head, every weight you've pumped -- the history of that is all in your eyes," says Butler of his dedication. "That was a great thing, to put on that cape and put on that helmet, and not have to think, Shit, I should have trained more. Instead, I was standing there feeling like a lion."