Waterson - Intelligent Fitness: The Smart Way to Reboot Your Body and Get in Shape

INTELLIGENT
FITNESS

FURTHER PRAISE FOR SIMON WATERSON:

Working with Simon is the nearest you get to actually being a superhero, in the sense you are at your absolute peak of physical health. That makes you feel incredibly robust in these challenging times. BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH

What sets Simon apart is not his work ethic, which is as strong as any trainer Ive ever worked with, nor his innovative approach to fitness that over the past ten years has evolved to help me adapt to the setbacks of a forty-plus-year-old man attempting to maintain peak performance on the worlds stage. Those are all qualities you would expect from one of Hollywoods top trainers. What makes him particularly unforgettable to me is his lovability. His warmth. The personal moments weve shared over the years. Hes the kind of trainer that is a true partner, one who not only sets the appointment and counts the reps, but does the workout with you, motivating and challenging you, and engaging in the kind of conversations that leave you laughing and chatting for an hour after your session. CHRIS PRATT

Simon has a very strong philosophy, that aesthetic is a byproduct of performance. This always made sense to me. All the information he gives you is easy to understand and sustainable, and it allowed me to reach my goals and each time surpass them. He gave me the confidence physically to carry off these roles. Hes also a great human and I love working with him. LUKE EVANS

Results come not just from working hard, but from working smart. With Simons help, Ive been able to sustain the highest level of health and fitness through several action movie franchises without injury or misery. I am one of countless others within the entertainment industry who trust him completely. Its thrilling that Simons proven strategies will now be available to all. BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD

Simon is extremely rigorous and diligent: always prepared and punctual. He is unfailingly respectful, careful and kind. He knows when to work hard: he knows when to push a little further, to encourage you out of your comfort zone. He taught me so much. TOM HIDDLESTON

If you had told me Id be in the best shape of my life at forty-one, I would have said you were crazy. Simon was able to achieve that by not only changing my workout regimen, but by changing my entire mental approach to the whole process. Normally getting in shape for anything feels like a one-shot deal. Go hard, hit a number, celebrate, go back to old habits. But working with Simon is a completely holistic experience. In his mind, the end result is just a step of a longer journey. From diet and cardio to heavy lifts and recovery treatments, Simon takes great care to push your body in incremental steps rather than vicious shifts in weight or appearance ... He makes you see and appreciate for yourself the massive difference between getting in shape and getting healthy. JOHN KRASINSKI

Simon, working with you has always been a great pleasure. Not only are you the best trainer but you are also the funniest. You always make me laugh so much and, for the abs, there is nothing better! LA SEYDOUX

For B, H and O xxx
And for P, A and O xxx

First published in Great Britain in 2022
by Michael OMara Books Limited
9 Lion Yard
Tremadoc Road
London SW4 7NQ

Copyright Simon Waterson 2022

All rights reserved. You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-1-78929-388-3 in hardback print format
ISBN: 978-1-78929-429-3 in trade paperback format
ISBN: 978-1-63727-176-6 in ebook format

www.mombooks.com

CONTENTS

Without Simons help and guidance, I wouldnt have made it through fifteen years of playing James Bond. From 5 a.m. call times on wet and windy sets at Pinewood Studios to twelve-hour night shoots hanging precariously off the back of some moving vehicle and in exotic locations around the world, Simon was always right by my side.

Bond takes a battering which he should, as a secret agent and Simon was always there, always helping and supporting. Hed prepare me and, when necessary, repair me too when some knee or elbow joint gave out. Simon put in endless hours of rehab and treatment after the inevitable injuries. For all five of my Bond films, he was also always alongside me in the gym, a training partner as well as a trainer, doing every single exercise that he had asked me to do. Simon understood what I was going through to get in shape for Bond because he was experiencing just the same beside me.

Simons curiosity, his commitment, humility and willingness to learn are what make him such a unique and talented trainer. Youre in rare air when youre making a Bond movie, and the first time that Simon and I went out for dinner, we spoke about how I wanted the character to look and move. Simon, who took notes that evening, says that I used the word imposing.

To play Bond, you need a lot of energy you have to bring an intensity to the long days and nights, with the shoots lasting for months and I couldnt have been in better hands with Simon, who had trained Pierce Brosnan for a couple of Bond movies before me. I was in my thirties when I shot my first Bond film, Casino Royale, and in my fifties for my fifth, No Time to Die, and every time Simon ensured by starting slowly and building up to pre-production boot camps that I had the conditioning I needed to portray Bond.

While Simon gave me a little longer to prepare for No Time to Die than I had for my previous Bond movies it took around a year we were both still just as competitive and ambitious as we had been for Casino Royale and the other three films. We werent going to use age as an excuse for lowering our standards. In fact, on the first day of the main shoot, I believe I was as fit as I had ever been.

For every Bond film, I wanted to do as much of the stunt work as I could, and that was possible because of Simons intelligent approach to fitness, and the way he put as much focus on my recovery and nutrition as he did on my training. Its been an honour to have worked with him.

From Jurassic World and Indiana Jones to The Avengers and The Fast and the Furious, I have been turning actors into athletes for more than twenty-five years. As a health and fitness coach in the film industry, I work with actors to enable them to portray some of cinemas most iconic and athletic characters.

Using my intelligent fitness approach, Ive been fortunate enough to have trained actors for some major movie transformations. I prepared Daniel Craig for all five of his James Bond films, starting with Casino Royale right through to No Time to Die. I transformed Chris Evans for Captain America, one of the first films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, my task being to turn a superhero from the pages of a comic book into human form. I also worked with Chris Pratt on the first Guardians of the Galaxy film, another Marvel production with a key aesthetic shot focusing on an actors physique. On the Star Wars set, the joke was that the franchise should have been renamed Spa Wars after so many of the cast got into the training and wellness that my team and I were offering.