Science Vs. Fiction

HOLLYWOOD’S GREATEST TRAINING REGIMES WERE DESIGNED TO LOOK GOOD ON THE SILVER SCREEN, BUT COULD THEY REALLY COMPETE WITH A MODERN, SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO SPORTS COMBAT? FILM WRITER DAN COOPER GOES BEHIND THE SCENES TO FIND OUT

- Dan Cooper

Glycogen-loading protocols. Effective mass generation. Energy systems development. The ‘sweat science’ of boxing – along with other combat sports – leans heavily towards research these days, with every calorie consumed and milligram of sweat expelled converting into data: a ceaseless stream of information that forms a cold, calculative algorithm, determining a fighter’s chances of success before they’ve even gloved up.

But there is, in film at least, another dimension to the fight game. One that can’t be measured in ones and zeroes. Because while hooking a fighter up to an arm crank ergometer and analysing their metrics may be a fine way to assess power, it doesn’t have the same degree of romance as running up some steps, or enlisting the help of a local butcher and punching some carcasses…

To measure the effectiveness of the regimes seen on the big screen, MF enlisted the help of Dan Roberts, fight trainer to a host of Hollywood actors, celebrated PT and trained martial artist. Having lived and fought professionally in Thailand, Roberts now teaches actors to look and move like warriors.

Together, we pored over some of cinema’s most iconic fight training sequences to determine just how useful they would be in reality, if you were truly preparing to face the fight of your life.

CHASING CHICKENS AND PUNCHING MEAT: THE ROCKY FILMS

Rocky Balboa, the poster boy for the success of lo-fi training techniques, managed to triumph in some of cinema’s greatest dust-ups against a veritable murderer’s row of heavyweight nemeses, including Mr T, Apollo Creed and the Soviet giant Ivan Drago.