How Rebecca Ferguson’s Trainer Made Her ‘Mission: Impossible’ ready.

Rebecca Ferguson plays Ilsa and Tom Cruise plays Ethan Hunt in ‘Mission: Impossible.’
Photo credit: Chiabella James/Paramount Pictures

Getting ready to work with Tom Cruise in the latest installment of “Mission: Impossible” can be a daunting task. That’s where trainer Sam Eastwood steps in.

Eastwood was brought in to get star Rebecca Ferguson into fighting shape for “Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation” six weeks before the film began shooting. The workouts were intense: six hours a day, six days a week.

Once Ferguson saw how her body was reacting to training, Eastwood stayed on for the entire production where they trained in one-to-three-hour increments, depending on the daily shooting schedule.

Sam Eastwood trained ‘Mission Impossible’ actress Rebecca Ferguson.

Action-star ready

In this exclusive interview, Lifescript spoke with Sam Eastwood about what it takes to become an action star.

Eastwood found it easy to start a training regimen with Ferguson because she was fit, but there were adjustments to be made.

“She came from a dancing background. Rebecca had been playing lots of princesses where her posture very upright,” says Eastwood. “So we had to work on alignment stuff with her. I brought her posture back to a neutral stance.”

In order to get her into a more aligned state, Eastwood used a series of exercises to achieve a “feminine, yet strong” look. Ferguson incorporated running, yoga, stretching and Pilates into her daily routine.

“With any Tom Cruise movie, Tom sets the standard. Rebecca was 100% committed to that. She had to be strong and she had to be able to fight for 10 minutes and go at it again and again and again,” explains Eastwood. “Rebecca had to be tough and as strong as Tom Cruise but still have a long, lean, muscle-toned body.

Read “Best Strength-Training Exercises for Women” on Lifescript.com

In order to make sure the actress was prepared for each scene, Eastwood worked closely with stunt coordinator and husband, Wade Eastwood.

“I would watch whatever Rebecca was doing on set,” she says. “We would work on her movements and then incorporate it into the workout.”

Targeting the right muscles

Some of the areas they targeted during her on-set workouts included lats, obliques, quads and hamstrings. “It was simple, but technical stuff because Rebecca’s body was under a lot of stress,” says the trainer.

[Editor’s Note: The latissimus dorsi muscle [“lats”] is one of the largest muscles in the back. The muscle is located in the middle of the back. The abdominal external oblique muscles are the largest and the outermost of the three flat muscles of the lateral abdomen.]

When it came to diet, Ferguson was already a clean eater, so they didn’t have to adjust her food intake.

“She made good choices with her food,” she shares. “As the old saying goes, ‘you are what you eat’ and she was super sensible with her diet.”

Rebecca Ferguson plays Ilsa in ‘Mission: Impossible.’
Photo credit: Keith Hamshere/Paramount Pictures

Rebecca Ferguson plays Ilsa in ‘Mission: Impossible.’
Photo credit: Keith Hamshere/Paramount Pictures

The hard work Ferguson put in before and during the shoot is evident in a pinnacle action scene. Her shapely legs are on full display while dressed in an evening gown with a sky-high slit — fitness never looked so sexy.

“To achieve that look, we leaned out the muscles and made them long with reps of planks. We did a lot of ballet-based movements and we stretched after running,” says Eastwood. “I love to incorporate ballet because it is good for thighs and calves.”

Rebecca Ferguson plays Ilsa and Tom Cruise plays Ethan Hunt in ‘Mission: Impossible.’
Photo credit: David James

Rebecca Ferguson plays Ilsa and Tom Cruise plays Ethan Hunt in ‘Mission: Impossible.’
Photo credit: David James

The fitness trainer also offered Lifescript a few tips to achieving an action-star physique:

• “Live Life From The Core”-It’s important to have your abdominal core in shape, so a Pilates workout is a great way to strengthen those muscles.
• High Reps, Low Weights– Do a repetitive series of movements using body weight instead of heavy weights. 
• Run and Stretch-Strap on those jogging shoes and do some low-level running to lengthen those leg muscles. Don’t forget to incorporate stretching before and after your workout.

“Mission:Impossible-Rogue Nation” opens nationwide on July 31.

Sweaty Betty #GetFit4free

Sam took her unique form of Pilates to Sweaty Betty in Richmond this month as part of the successful Get Fit 4 Free program of events. Meeting at the Sweaty Betty store in Richmond, the session started with a gentle jog to Richmond Park, followed by a series of gentle through to more complex Pilates moves to strengthen the core and give those dormant muscles a thorough workout. Commenting on the collaboration, Sam said: "I love everything Sweaty Betty stands for and was delighted to lead out a class as part of the Fit 4 Free campaign. We were blessed with the weather and it was fabulous to meet so many positive, strong and determined women!"

Sam will head up another #GetFit4Free event on Sunday 6th November, to book your place click here http://www.sweatybetty.com/page/fynder/. Availability will show a week before the event. 

What? Salt is GOOD FOR YOU???

This is one of those bits of info that everyone will love me for. Well not everyone, someone will always rear their head and take issue, BUT FOR THOSE OF YOU who love salt.

You're going to love this.

Sodium Chloride (salt) is actually essential for our bodies to function. Our kidneys have a little machine in them called a potassium/sodium pump, and it can't function without sodium!!!

Our adrenals can't hold their hydration and function properly unless they have adequate sodium.

Our tummies cannot make HydroCHLORIC acid which is essential for digestion without sodium CHLORIDE! HydroCHLORIC acid, Sodium CHLORIDE. See where I'm headed with this??

So why do docs always sell us on the LOW SODIUM, NO SALT diets etc etc…

Well, somewhere along the way of commercial production of salt, the companies that made it only made a small percentage for commercial consumption, the rest was mined and processed for industrial usages of which there are MANY.

One of the steps in processing salt is to disinfect it and in order to do this they would heat it to extremely high temperatures causing the molecule bond of the salt (sodium + chloride or NaCl) to melt together. When you eat this, the body has no idea what it is, and it will treat it like a foreign invader storing it as fat or wrap it in cholesterol to immobilize it OR worse, it will try and use it for it's proper function and wreak havoc on that organ, like the kidneys. Kind of like when you eat bad Chinese food and your hands and feel swell up. Well the kidneys were attempting to use all that salt, but because it was 'garbage' salt it backed up the kidneys and created water retention.

Same goes for clogged arteries. The body is actually trying to do you favor by wrapping the 'garbage' salt in cholesterol and keep it from running amuck in your heart and if you keep eating bad salt, well that bad cholesterol will eventually just clog up those pathways. It's not always the cause of clogged arteries but it certainly doesn't help. That's why docs say to people with heart problems and blood pressure issues, AVOID SALT.  Well I'm not here to tell those people to start eating healthy salt, but I AM HERE to say that if that 'garbage' salt was never consumed in the first place. It may have helped avoid that issue to begin with. 

So what kind of salt should I be eating and if I stop eating table salt where will I get my iodine?

Well it's best to use air-dried sea salts that do NOT have any anti caking agents in it. Even better if you can use Himalayan or Pink Sea Salt. AND EVEN BETTER, the salt that comes in chunks and you can grind yourself as you use it.  These salts tend to be higher in trace mineral content which is AWESOME, and when it isn't already ground you don't have to worry about it having been ground with nickel plated grinders and having shreds of metal shavings in it. Ewww...

As for Iodine, well guess what my friends, we were never meant to get our iodine from salt anyway. They started adding it ARTIFICIALLY to salt in 1924 because people were having deficiencies. Here is a link of a list of foods sources for iodine and a supplement if you are interested. 

http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/iodine-foods/

A good teaspoon of healthy pink salt per day, in food or even down it in a glass of water (blech) is a great way to make sure you are getting enough. And if you sweat as much as I do in a day, well you can increase it! 

My mad nutritionist friend Healthy Gut Girl, Catalina Martone even suggests that parents supplement healthy salt for children because it's all a healthy child really needs as a basis for so many functions in the body. My own daughter is a testament to that fact! 

Hope this sheds light on your day.

Enjoy 

SamX