Robert Downey Jr. Added 20 Pounds of Muscle for ‘Iron Man 2′

Robert Downey Jr. put on on 20 pounds of muscle to justify his role in “Iron Man 2.”

“When we did ‘Iron Man 1,’ we had five months before the shoot to get ready, so we used more traditional, heavy-weight training,” Brad Bose, trainer of Downey said.

Downey, 45, had just finished “Sherlock Holmes,” and was down to 151 pounds when shooting on the action flick started.

“After the initial routine, Robert felt kind of bored with it and wanted to something a little more exciting… so we decided to do what I call a Rocky IV meets high-tech training,” says Bose, who was responsible in bulking  Downey Jr. up to 175 pounds over the first three to four weeks filming.

“Instead of doing regular bench presses, we used a bamboo bar… and we would hang plates on rubber bands off the bar… so it was like trying to bench press a snake!” Bose explains. “It bounced all over the place.”

After the variety of programs that Bose introduced to Downey, the actor was  able to achieve the weight of muscle they need.

Meanwhile, it was also reported that Downey also trained in kung fu two to three days a week with Eric Oram.

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