Tom Hardy Is in A Secret Martial Arts Club With This Platinum-Selling Rapper
Tom Hardy has gone above and beyond to morph his body for a role. When it comes to characters like Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, or Tom Conlon in Warrior, the actor normally goes through rigorous training to do the characters justice. What some may know, however, is that Hardy keeps his body and skills in shape during his downtime, too.
While in the gym, Hardy apparently also has some interesting choices in training partners. In fact, a famous platinum-selling rapper revealed that he and Hardy would spar regularly at the gym, and even suggested that they should fight each other for charity.
Tom Hardy’s history of body transformations
Hardy’s history of transforming his physique to match his characters rivals Christian Bale’s. The Inception actor has often indulged in intense workouts if required to add believability to a role. As reported by Yahoo, Hardy went through a grueling training regimen to shapeshift into the character of Charles Bronson for Bronson.
“To become Charlie Bronson I had to quickly put a lot of weight on my forearms, chest and neck. By the time I’d finished, my legs looked like those of a stork in comparison to the top half of my body,” Hardy said to Askmen.
Hardy’s transformation into Bronson was also time-sensitive, showing the actor’s commitment to his craft under enormous pressure.
“We didn’t have any time to waste, so I started eating and my arse very quickly got very fat,” Hardy said. “For Bronson, I put on about 7 pounds a week—with no steroids. In the end, I’d put on about two and a half stone by eating chicken and rice, which was my staple diet throughout the day.”
As reported by Men’s Journal, Hardy has also trained for the upcoming Venom movie. To prepare for the film, his routine included MMA, boxing, and jiu-jitsu training.
Tom Hardy is in a secret martial arts club with Tinie Tempah
Mirror UK revealed that Tom Hardy is allegedly in a martial arts class with rap superstar Tinie Tempah. The Pass Out singer shared on Instagram that he and Hardy regularly train together in Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu.
“We are in a class of very talented people,” Tempah said to Metro Newspaper according to Mirror UK. “We do it a couple of times a week.”
When Metro Newspaper had even floated the idea around a match between Tempah and Hardy for charity, Tempah welcomed the idea.
“If it was for a good cause then why not? If he is up for it, I am,” Tempah said. “And I have to say I would win. I’ve got a little daughter who might read this.”
Tom Hardy thinks his training has damaged his body for life
Hardy believes that putting in all of that effort for his body has cost him in the long run. In a 2017 interview with The Daily Beast, Hardy explained why he’s a little warier about drastically changing his body nowadays.
“I’ve probably damaged my body too much,” Hardy said. “I’m only little! If I keep putting on weight I’ll collapse like a house of cards under too much pressure.”
Hardy confided that his age is a reason why he’s more careful with his routine than he was before. Aging out of his 30s, his 40s are catching up with him.
I think you pay the price with any drastic physical changes. It was alright when I was younger, to put myself under that kind of duress,” Hardy said. “But I think as you get into your 40s you have to be more mindful of the rapid training, packing on a lot of weight and getting physical, and then not having enough time to keep training because you’re busy filming, so your body is swimming in two different directions at the same time.
