Brad Pitt Fight Club Workout

Hitting the big screen in 1999, Fight Club was a movie that captivated millions of people right away. As the single most successful adaptation of one of Chuck Palahniuk’s works, narrating the story of Tyler Durden, Fight Club became an iconic film and a cultural reference still used 20 years after the original release. And while the plot and cinematography are to be viewed as the cornerstone for worldwide acclaim, it was the casting that many people remember and associate with the story. Brad Pitt and Edward Norton defined the movie, with a performance that is hard to forget.

But there are two types of people when it comes to Fight Club fans – ones who search for an explanation after the Fight Club ending, and others who search for the Brad Pitt Fight Club workout. And regardless of how much I enjoyed the story, acting, and cinematography, I’ve always found myself in the second camp. Before creating my own fitness program, and even before starting Lifestyle Updated, I’ve always admired Brad Pitt for his body transformation, unquestionable diligence, and well-defined physique.

Even during the promotion of the movie, there were a garden variety of interviews and articles talking about the Brad Pitt workout. His body was incredible, tough looking, lean and defined. In an era predating the muscle buff celebrity, Brad Pitt was a role model of choice.

So what is the secret behind the Brad Pitt Fight Club workout? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Scrolling down this article, you are going to familiarize yourself with the building principles, and exact numbers of his workout routine and diet.

The goal of the Brad Pitt Fight Club workout

Before moving forward it is important to understand why his body looked the way it did in Fight Club. Considering the skinny narrator – Edward Norton – and the fact that Tyler Durden is an alter ego of his, Brad Pitt wasn’t supposed to be buff.

He was, if you will, an enhanced version of the narrator, and therefore muscular but lean and defined. With his height of 5ft and 11 inches, the goal was to aim for 150-155 pounds. This made for a very lean physique, with 5-6 percent of body fat.

Mostly achieved through a strenuous cutting phase, and for the purposes of photo shoots, such a low number is unhealthy on the long run. Needless to say, you can look like Brad Pitt in Fight Club, but you’ll have to get realistic on how long it takes before adding a pound or two.

Furthermore, the movie dealt heavily with the depiction of street fights. And in order for Brad Pitt to play Tyler Durden, he had to look ready for a fight – lean, agile, punchy…

Even if you fail to reach the exact number when it comes to body fat percentage, this workout will burn a lot of fat tissue, tone your muscles and define your body. You will have your abs showing (as they always tend to show after you go lower than 10% of body fat), your chest flat, with shoulders and arms defined.

So let’s take a look of the blueprint, and go over the entire Fight Club workout.

Principles of the Fight Club workout

While bodybuilders often train for muscle mass increase, this workout aims for definition above all. The underlying principle, therefore, is simple. Instead of lifting heavy weights in sets of fewer repetitions, you’ll lift moderately heavy weights with more repetitions per set.

When it comes to resistance training, he went with 15 repetitions per set. For bodyweight exercises, the number was higher, usually at around 25.

Since muscle tone was important to Pitt, he also trained one muscle group per day, so Mondays were for chest, Tuesdays for the back, Wednesdays for shoulders, and Thursdays for the arms. The rest of the week, and specifically Friday, was for cardio, and then some rest.

It is also important to note that he was training with bodyweight moves as well. And this is rather logical considering the look they were after. He needed muscular density, which is to build the muscle fibers instead of pumping more fluid. But I’ll add more on this later as we talk about the Brad Pitt Troy workout.

Before examining the workout, make sure to calculate the resistance weight according to your own body weight. For example, if Brad Pitt was between 150 and 155 pounds, and used bench press weights at around 165, 195, and 225 pounds, you’ll need to add more or maybe subtract some of the resistance.

To get there, however, you’ll need to get in some sort of a decent cardio-vascular shape and work on your strength. After all, nobody starts with 220 pounds at the bench press right from being a couch potato.

Be that as it may, here is the exact Brad Pitt Fight Club workout:

Monday — day for chest

Push-ups — 3 sets of 25 repetitions
Bench press — 25, 15 and 8 repetitions at 165, 195, 225 lbs
Nautilus press — 15 repetitions at 80, 100, 130 lbs
Incline press — 15 repetitions at 80, 100, 130 lbs
Pec deck — 15 repetitions at 60, 70, 80 lbs

Tuesday — day for back

25 pull-ups — 3 sets to failure (as many repetitions as you can)
Seated rows — 3 sets of 15 repetitions at 75, 80, 85 lbs
Lat pull downs — 3 sets of 15 repetitions at 135, 150, 165 lbs
T-bar rows — 3 sets of 15 repetitions at 80, 95, 110 lbs

Wednesday – day for shoulders

Arnold dumbbell press — 3 sets of 15 repetitions at 55 lbs
Side lateral raises — 3 sets of 15 repetitions at 30 lbs
Front dumbbell raises — 3 sets of 15 repetitions at 25 lbs

Thursday – day for arms (biceps & triceps)

Preacher curls — 3 sets of 15 repetitions at 60, 80, 95 lbs
EZ cable curls — 3 sets of 15 repetitions at 50, 65, 80 lbs
Hammer curls — 3 sets of 15 repetitions at 30, 45, 55 lbs
Triceps push-downs — 3 sets of 15 repetitions at 70, 85, 100 lbs

Friday – Cardio

Running on treadmill — one hour at 80 to 90 % of maximum heart rate

Saturday – Cardio

Running on treadmill— one hour at 80 to 90 % of maximum heart rate

Cardio was an integral part of Pitt’s routine and he gave his absolute best in order to endure the workouts. Running on a treadmill sounds easy, but not if you are at 80 % of your maximum heart rate or higher. You can substitute the treadmill for the open track, but note that it’s much harder to keep the exact same pace throughout your entire run. A quality heart rate monitor can definitely help.

You’ll notice that he did a fair number of push-up repetitions, as well as a very hard pull-up workout, training until failure. Or as the 7th rule of Fight Club says: fights will go on as long as they have to.

The above, if you want to follow the workout routine to the letter, is an exact blueprint. However, make sure to adjust the weight according to your own measurements. If you were wondering how to look like Brad Pitt in Fight Club, simply follow the workout program for about four to five months.

Below you can download the Fight Club workout pdf but let’s first discuss diet.

Brad Pitt Fight club diet

In order to achieve a lean physique, Brad had to follow an extremely strict diet. His meals were mainly of protein, whether that is lean chicken, turkey or fish, and only as many carbs as necessary in order to go through a strenuous workout. He consumed brown rice and pasta, and lots of green veggies. He also ate oatmeal.

As for the timing of his meals, Brad maintained a steady schedule, with several meals throughout his day, eating moderately, and never above his caloric needs.

An average day for the Brad Pitt Fight Club diet would look something like this:

Breakfast:

Six eggs (both whites and yolks)
70-80g of oatmeal with raisins
Occasionally replace eggs with a protein shake

Pre-lunch snack:

Tinned tuna
whole wheat pita breads

Lunch:

Two chicken breasts
75-100g brown rice/pasta
Green veggies

Pre-workout snack:

Protein bar or whey protein shake plus a banana

Post-workout snack:

Whey protein shake plus a banana

Dinner:

Grilled fish or chicken
Brown rice/pasta
Vegetables salad

Evening snack:

Casein protein shake or low fat cottage cheese

Though you have the clear blueprint of the entire Fight Club diet, you still need to figure out how many grams of chicken, or how many grams of brown rice you’ll need to prepare.

It is more than obvious that Brad consumer fewer carbs than many of us can comfortably endure at first, so be gentle at the beginning, and give yourself a preparation phase if necessary (one week sounds about right). Or as the 5th rule of Fight Club says: one fight at a time!

Also, looking at the diet plan, you’ll notice a lack of healthy fats. If you were, therefore, to consume at least omega 3 fatty acids, or perhaps a handful of walnuts throughout the entire day, the results might look surprisingly better.

However, additions or not, the Brad Pitt Fight Club diet is pretty much a sub-2000 calorie diet. This means that you will have to eat very clean and disciplined in order to match Brad’s diet.

Get the Brad Pitt Fight Club Workout PDF here

And as the first rule of Fight club goes: you do not talk about Fight club. I encourage you to share this article, but please keep the pdf to yourself.

Getting a ton of requests for celebrity workouts, I’m happy to announce that Lifestyle Updated is starting the series. This article, which is longer than the usual format which I had in mind, will also encompass the Brad Pitt Troy workout, as well as his preparation for the movie Snatch.

So let’s scroll down and see how the Brad Pitt workout routine has progressed throughout the years, along with each new role for a movie.

Brad Pitt Snatch workout routine

Starring in Guy Ritchie’s movie, Snatch, Brad Pitt portrayed the knuckle fighter Mikey. And while his body was definitely lean, there was an obvious gain in both fat tissue as well as muscle mass. Needless to say, he wasn’t at his 5-6% body fat anymore.

However, many people, myself included, believe that this is the look that many young men should aspire towards – nicely defined shoulders, toned chest, and a tight torso with abs showing – not to lean, and definitely not too bulky.

For this role he definitely had to put some more weight. The training, therefore, was probably less strenuous, and the diet not nearly as strict. However, it is one thing to go from the Fight Club body to the Snatch body, and another entirely to go from a normal looking physique to rocking an upper body like Mickey.

Note, also, that you need to consider genetics. And though I know how discouraging this sounds, for I understand all too intimately the type of disappointment when told I cannot look a certain way simply because of genetics, you have to be realistic.

This doesn’t mean that you cannot have an amazing body, but simply that you will need to fine tune the proportions between chest, shoulders, torso and arms very diligently in order to follow someone else’s physique. Needless to say, it is a very demanding pursuit.

If you want the specifics, however, note that the Brad Pitt Snatch workout is generally a continuation of his routine from Fight Club, only far less strenuous when it comes to cardio and following a strict diet. Of course, you’ll need to increase the weight for resistance training, and lower the number of repetitions. You can say, even from a layman’s perspective, that Brad Pitt has put 15+ pounds of muscle for the role of Snatch.

The Brad Pitt Troy workout

Whereas Brad Pitt looked great in Fight Club and Snatch, his portrayal of Achilles demanded another phisique entirely. For his role in Troy, he endured what is perhaps the toughest workout routine in his entire career.

Arguably, the Troy transformation was a poster for fitness possibilities, inspiring many young men to give their best at developing a muscular body.

Working along Gregory Joujon-Roche, a personal fitness trainer for celebrities, Pitt had access to a team of professionals each concerned with various aspects of his physique – a yoga instructor, a masseur, core strength professional, a martial arts instructor (Gregory’s assistant Steven Ho)…

Pitt says that the training was brutal, but after 3 months he was able to enjoy it.

But in order for a 160 pound guy to arrive at 185 pounds, he had to pack a lot of muscle. And considering the speed of his metabolism this was not an easy journey. The plan, therefore, was to divide the workout routine for Troy in two phases otherwise known as the Bulk and Cut.

He trained 4 months for bulk, and went into the cut phase for the final 3 months of the preparation. This meant very heavy weights, low number of repetitions per set, and minimum cardio during the first half of the training program, resulting with radical increase in muscle size, but also a lot of weight gain.

To remedy this, he needed to enter the cut phase, while still keeping the weight lifting routine fairly similar to what it was during the first part of the program, for otherwise it is inevitable to quickly lose the gains in muscle.

You must credit Brad Pitt for enduring this intense chapter, for he was simultaneously working out, studying for the role, acting, training for the sword fight choreography, giving interviews, speaking and promoting the movie.

Forget about traditional workouts, says Pitt, if you want to get in shape, just do sword training.

And this comes from a guy who lifts 220 on a bench press at 25 repetitions per set, and runs nearly one hour on a treadmill at 80% of his maximum heart rate. So yeah, sword training sounds awesome!

I’d go ahead and say that many agility-based sports can help you get a rocking body. Think about tennis which is the equivalent of sword fighting but with much more cardio, whole body moves, and sudden acceleration involved. Or how about basketball?

The body is an amazing machine. If you tell the body that it needs to perform in these areas, and feed it the proper fuel, it will get to the point where after being ripped apart, it repairs itself and gets stronger. ~ Brad Pitt

The Brad Pitt workout for Troy was supplemented with sword training, so you can definitely improve your program by adding some agility based exercises. Basketball sounds great – all the better if you find it engaging and fun.

So let’s take a look at the actual blueprint of the Brad Pitt Troy workout, for the bulk phase:

Monday – upper chest/ shoulders, triceps and abs

3 sets of 10 repetitions Inclined Dumbbell Press
2 sets of 10 repetitions Military Press
2 sets of 12 repetitions Arnold Press
2 sets of 12 repetitions dumbbell flys
2 sets of 12 repetitions bent over dumbbell flys
2 sets of 8 repetitions skull crushers

Tuesday: back/ trapezoids / biceps

3 sets x 12 reps Pullups
3 sets x 10 reps seated rows
3 sets x 10 reps upright rows
2 sets x 15 reps dumbbell shrugs
3 sets x 10 reps preacher curls

Wednesday: cardio

30 minutes running at moderate pace

Thursday: Shoulders/ Upper Chest

2 sets of 10 repetitions Military Press
2 sets of 12 repetitions Arnold Press
2 sets of 12 repetitions dumbbell flys 2 sets of 12 repetitions bent over dumbbell flys
3 sets of 10 repetitions Inclined Dumbbell Press

Friday: back/ cardio

3 sets x 12 reps Pullups
3 sets x 10 reps seated rows
3 sets x 10 reps upright rows
2 sets x 15 reps dumbbell shrugs
30 minutes running at moderate pace

Saturday: cardio

30 minutes running at moderate pace

Sunday: rest

Brad Pitt on his workout for Troy:

It sucked. It was brutal. I started out about six months ahead, going in. I got a guy who knew what he was talking about. It was four meals a day of protein and low-carb. It was quitting smoking. And it was two, three hours in the gym, getting to a point of absolute discomfort. After three months I finally started to enjoy it. And on top of that we have sword lessons.

Troy workout – Phase two

The phase two is all about hardening the muscle, so that the resting tension increases with more muscle fiber being built. Therefore, the blueprint for the Brad Pitt Troy workout is as follows:

Monday: shoulders/ upper chest

2 sets of 6 repetitions Military Press
2 sets of 8 repetitions Arnold Press
2 sets of 8 repetitions dumbbell flys
2 sets of 10 repetitions bent over dumbbell flys
3 sets of 10 repetitions Inclined Dumbbell Press

Tuesday

Part 1:

Each exercise needs to be performed in succession. After the circuit is complete, rest for 30 seconds. You’ll have to perform this circuit until failure (as many times as you can).

Find the maximum number of repetitions you can do for each of these exercises, and then perform half that number for the purpose of this circuit.

max Pushups
max Pull ups
max Sit ups
max Triangular pushups
30 seconds rest

Part 2:

Finish consecutive intervals for a complete length of 20 minutes. Run the spring cycle and rest for a minute. Rinse and repeat for a total of 20 minutes. Do a prior war-up of 5 minutes and additional stretch of 5 minutes after the circuit.

30 seconds sprint (run as fast as you can for 30 seconds)
Rest for 1 minute
Repeat until you reach 20 minutes of total workout time

Wednesday

Part 1:

30 minutes running at a moderate pace.

Part 2:

30 seconds sprint (run as fast as you can for 30 seconds)
Rest for 1 minute
Repeat until you reach 20 minutes of total workout time

Thursday: back/ trapezoids/ biceps

3 sets of 12 repetitions Pullups
3 sets of 10 repetitions seated rows
3 sets of 10 repetitions upright rows
2 sets of 15 repetitions dumbbell shrugs
3 sets of 10 repetitions preacher curls

Friday: cardio

1 hour of running at a moderate pace

Saturday:

Perform the same workout from day 2. If you feel fatigue, just skip the sprints.

Sunday:

Rest

Days 4 or 5 are to be paused if you feel too tired during the program, and incorporated again once you are back in full strength.

This concludes the Brad Pitt Troy workout, which is perhaps one of the most popular celebrity workouts, and definitely an inspiring example of an amazing body transformation. If you wanted to know how to look like Brad Pitt in Troy, this is the exact workout routine that he’s been following for 7 months.

Remember to pay attention to the cut phase, and stress each muscle group with enough load and repetitions so your body looks proportional. The cut phase will make your entire effort visible, so make sure to invest your energy during the cardio circuits. There is a reason why fewer people are searching for the Eric Bana Troy workout – if you have a more defined physique, you are always going to be more noticeable and attractive as opposed to someone who is more on the bulk side.

The Brad Pit Troy diet

While there is no need to do an extensive write-up covering his every choice, it is important to note that contrary to his Fight Club diet, the Troy diet was much less rigorous. He ate clean, but the number of calories, especially carbs, was less restrictive. He also kept his habit of drinking a milkshake.

Needless to say, if you want to follow this program, you’ll still need to pay attention to every ingredient that goes into your body. And considering the intensity of the workouts, the increase in calories won’t make that much of a difference.

The information in this article is gathered from various interviews, where Brad Pitt is talking about his physical training for each role, as well as bodybuilding forums where they’ve posted a detailed schedule for each of the Brad Pitt workout routines. I’ve found bits and fragments, made sense of it all, and re-written the credible info.

Now that Lifestyle Updated is focusing on celebrity workouts as well, make sure to write a comment and request your favorite celebrity training regimen. Also, feel free to open a discussion on the Brad Pitt workout routine, and show us some love by liking and sharing this lengthy guide.

Here is to building an amazing body!