Every man who grew up during the age of Hulk Hogan, Ricky Steamboat and Lex Luger wanted to one day have veins popping out of his arms and biceps bigger than his head. Mickey Rourke got to live that dream -- about 30 years too late. For Darren Aronofsky's new movie, "The Wrestler," the 52-year-old Rourke put on 33 lbs. of muscle to play a down-and-out former 1980s wrestling superstar.

For the role, Rourke spent seven months training everyday with an ex-Israeli cage fighter, stuffing his face with protein and occasionally making trips to the hospital for MRIs. If this sounds like a small price to pay to look like a massive '80s grappler, you're in luck, because Mickey Rourke gave us a step-by-step on what to do to get the physique of a TV wrestling God.

Train all day, everyday, for seven months
"We did a two-mile run on the beach every morning and went back and went back to sleep. Then we got up a little later and went and lifted weights for an hour an a half and had lunch. A little while later we'd do cardio for about 45 minutes. And then in the evenings we'd go back to the gym and lift weights. Then we'd have about an hour and a half, two hours of wrestling practice. This went on for seven months."


Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

    Mickey Rourke (left) has his hand raised in victory by the referee after his fight against Steve Powell, then shown right (30lbs later) as Randy "The Ram" Robinson in "The Wrestler."

    Getty Images (1) / Everett Collection (1)

    Mickey Rourke as Randy "The Ram" Robinson in "The Wrestler."

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    Mickey Rourke as Randy "The Ram" Robinson in "The Wrestler."

    Fox Searchlight

    Mickey Rourke as Randy "The Ram" Robinson in "The Wrestler."

    Everett Collection

    Mickey Rourke as Randy "The Ram" Robinson in "The Wrestler."

    Everett Collection



What you need to eat, constantly, every day
"Basically I had to go from 192 pounds to 235, so it consisted of eating between six to seven high protein, low carb meals a day, lots of supplements and 2-3 protein shakes that were really king size.

We'd have like 12 egg whites in the morning, chicken breasts and then a banana with two scoops of peanut butter and a sh*tload of supplements. We'd have like a thin piece of steak with a salad and vegetables and a cup of rice and then we'd have a gigantic protein shake. Maybe after that we'd have two more scoops of peanut butter and an apple or some kind of piece of fruit. Then I'd have my last two meals and a giant protein shake at night."

When you get sick of eating, swap it up and keep eating
"It got to the point where, up until when I got to 217 lbs. I'd been OK with all this eating, but after that I couldn't eat six meals so I'd eat four and I couldn't drink three shakes so I'd have one. It was a constant battle for me to get that heavy. From 217 to 220 lbs. I just couldn't put in on. So we kind of changed it around and we started going from fish to red meat. We started going from egg whites to regular eggs."

Forget GNC, get your own doctor
"Pretty much we were just doubling up on amino acids and doing B12 shots maybe three days a week to have the extra energy to last. I was also doing this thing with an anti-aging doctor called a drip. What he does is he does a urine and blood test, because everyone is deficient in different things, calcium or potassium or something like that. So we'd do the drip and that would help us get a little more energy."

Treat injuries like an old-school boxer
While training for "The Wrestler," Rourke had a "pretty severe neck injury," plus a reoccurring ACL injury and he blew out a disc in his back. His solution? Two hour massages.

"Basically I was getting a two-hour massage every evening, like five days a week. I live in a three-story walk up and the trainer had to help push me up the stairs and hold my arm to get down the stairs and go to work. It hurt to breathe. Darren insisted that I do all my own stunts. It wasn't like it was a joy to go to work everyday."