How Bradley Cooper Got Massively Buff For American Sniper

Bradley Cooper earned an Oscar nomination for playing Navy SEAL Chris Kyle in American Sniper. Based on the intensity of his preparation, as alluded to in this exclusive behind-the-scenes clip with Cooper and director Clint Eastwood, that nod was well-earned.

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“There was a certain day when he hit that tipping point,” Jason Walsh, Cooper’s personal trainer, tells Yahoo Movies, recalling a moment before filming commenced in Morocco. At the time Cooper had packed on close to 40 pounds for the role. “He was channeling Chris Kyle and it was really crazy. You could almost feel it. He had the beard, he was burly, he was big, he was strong — he just held himself differently,” adds Walsh.

Cooper’s training regimen was hardcore. The actor really did dead squats on film. According to Walsh, Cooper got to the point where he could do reps of 10 at 425 pounds. “That is really heavy — especially for a guy who’s not a lifter,” Walsh points out.

The star got so big that he could no longer wear his late father’s wedding ring. Another effect from all that weightlifting: “Testosterone goes up so I’m sure, you know, sex drive [laughs] — that all happens. Uh-huh, yeah,” says Walsh, insisting he’s speaking generally (reticent to disclose any locker-room conversation he had with Cooper).

To get Cooper from 185 pounds to roughly 227, it took more than three months of working out, on average, nine times a week, and 5,000 calories of food a day. (Walsh is quick to correct Cooper’s estimates in the above video of 6K calories and 238 pounds). The trainer also balks when asked if the actor ate junk food. “I hate when actors talk about gaining weight and how they ate burgers and pizza. That’s a health risk,” Walsh says. “He ate very clean, healthy foods.”

In addition to those clean foods, Cooper gulped down protein-rich drinks (Mag-10 by Biotest and an energy drink called Plasma). “Eating 5,000 calories is miserable… so we would end up supplementing quite a few calories.”

The workout was designed to push Cooper to his limits without causing any injuries. In lifting, he worked up gradually to his max weight and did no cardio exercises, like running or spinning — though Walsh says Cooper still got the effects of a cardiovascular workout with the kind of weight training they were doing.

While Cooper had weekends off to recover, it was grueling. “There were days when he came in and he was so beat down,” Walsh recalls. “[I’d tell him,] 'Go home, you’re not going to work out today.’ If I would have pushed him I probably would have hurt him — and once you have someone who’s injured you’re done. That’s a lot of stress, a big responsibility to take on something like that with a big client like that. It’s my reputation on the line with a big studio that’s paying me to get this guy in shape.”

Watch the result of Walsh and Cooper’s blood, sweat, and tears in American Sniper, available now on Digital HD and tomorrow on Blu-ray.