Iron Man's trainer reveals high-tech workout

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- To handle working in his 40-lb. costume in "Iron Man," actor Robert Downey Jr. used the Vortex, Jacobs Ladder and the Pineapple to stay lean and strong two years ago. For "Iron Man 2," he got a whole new set of fitness toys that would keep things fresh.

Brad Bose, the actor's trainer and the brainchild of Downey's workout, went back to the basics.

"It's really high-tech meets the Siberian outdoors," Bose said.

Using weighted wheelbarrows, flipping truck tires and hauling a fire hose filled with 50 pounds of sand and a sled - it's hard and certainly nowhere near boring.

Bose's workout includes pounding on tires with sledge hammers, which is great for upper body strength and stress release. A bamboo bar with kettle bells in lieu of a bench press is much harder to control, which is the whole idea.

Then there's the War Machine - a cable pulley system you can use just about anywhere and do just about anything.

Why do conventional crunches when you can do the Absolo? It's something you think you'd find at the video arcade. It's far more motivating than traditional ab workouts and certainly hits more muscles.

"It doesn't just isolate the abdominals. It works the glutes, it stretches out the hip flexors, which most people are too tight in," Bose said.

For Bose, it's keeping things fun, keeping things fresh, and of course making it effective. Functional performance training is not just for Iron Man, but for every man and every woman.

"When you're going to the grocery store, when you're picking up the kids, when you're out with your friends playing tennis, there's just no application that doesn't apply to this type of training," Bose said.

Along with the toys, what's different are the intentional movement that targets the left side, the right side and our back side - all equally as important for proper function.

Our training focuses on those three planes of training and really getting back to the posterior side of the body, which also incidentally makes the front side of the body look better," Bose said.

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