How Gal Gadot transformed to Wonder Woman
Her action scenes as Wonder Woman in the recent film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice may have been brief, but Gal Gadot certainly impressed and created much buzz. Currently, she is filming Justice League and a solo Wonder Woman movie, both scheduled for a 2017 release.
The 5-foot-10-inch stunner won the Miss Israel pageant in 2004 when she was 18. Though she did not win the Miss Universe crown that year in Ecuador, a successful modeling and acting career ensued and steered her away from her original plan of becoming a lawyer.
Aside from being Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, Gadot is known for her role as Gisele in The Fast and The Furious film series. She is among the highest paid models in Israel and is the face of Gucci’s Bamboo perfume.
Gadot served in the Israeli Army for two years, before landing in an audition for the Bond girl Camille Montes in the film Quantum of Solace. While she did not get the part, the casting director hired her instead for Fast & Furious.
She appeared as Gisele in the fourth film of the Fast & Furious franchise. In 2011, she once again reprised the role of Gisele in Fast 5. In 2013, Gadot played her last role as Gisele in Fast & Furious 6.
Gadot received swordsmanship, kung fu, kickboxing, capoeira, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu training to prepare for her role as Wonder Woman.
Mark Twight, a strength coach and co-owner of Gym Jones in Utah, was also tasked to transform Gadot’s physique into Wonder Woman. Twight was also Henry Cavill’s coach. Incidentally, Twight was also the lead trainer for the movie 300.
Twight’s biggest challenge was to convince the slim model Gadot to eat more and add weight. “Anytime you present someone with a really radical change, it’s hard to get them to buy in 100% to the idea. So we took it in incremental steps. We went from a model to a high jumper, in terms of an athletic look. And then, once she was comfortable with that, then we’d go a little bit further,” Twight told Muscle & Fitness magazine.
The key to the transformation of Gadot was the same for Henry Cavill and Ben Affleck. All three were training and eating right every day for months and months. “The real thing is consistency. It just has to be something that you are paying attention to all day, every day. And the training itself isn’t enough unless other behavior changes,” Twight clarified.
Gadot’s Wonder Woman Workout was revealed in Muscle & Fitness magazine. The Twight-designed routine starts with five minutes of row done on an easy pace. Followed by another five minutes of row with a 10-second fast pace, then 50-second easy pace. One- minute rest allowed in between. Bear Crawl for 30 meters, then Backward Bear Crawl for another 30 meters. Burpee Broad Jump for 30 meters, Crab Wolf for 30 meters, then Burpee Broad Jump again for 30 meters. Finish off with seven sets of pull-up and five sets of ring push-up.
Gadot then will do a set of five reps of Romanian Deadlift, five reps of Bentover Row, five reps of Reverse Curl, five reps of Push Press, and five reps of Squat. Then repeat with heavier weights. After which, Gadot will do another four sets again with heavier weights. And finally, four sets of three reps, each using the heaviest possible weights.
Cool down with light medicine ball throw for five minutes.
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