Taylor Lautner, who plays werewolf sweetheart Jacob Black in The Twilight Saga, had to beef up considerably for the second installment, New Moon, due in theaters November 20th. (Squeeel! Anyone else as excited as I am?!)
Lautner, who is only 17 years old, had to put on nearly 30 pounds of muscle to accurately represent Jacob as he grows into his werewolf body. Lautner worked out 2 hours a day, 5 days a week with professional personal trainer, Jordan Yaum, and ate 6 huge meals to pack on the pounds for the role.
There was much speculation of a recasting due to the drastic physical transformation Jacob goes through from Twilight to New Moon, but Taylor knew he could keep the part if he put in the hours at the gym.
Taylor told ET:
“When we wrapped Twilight I knew where Jacob’s character was going, so I started to get to work immediately. I started hitting the gym. I just stayed focused the whole time and the role was always mine. It was a lot of hard work but it’s definitely paying off now.”
Thank you, Taylor. Finally, the perfect message when it comes to fitness, and life in general: If you want it, you are going to have to work hard for it.
The hype over Taylor’s new bod, and his admittance of how much work it took to achieve it is such a refreshing change of pace from the “Oh, I don’t workout” and “I eat whatever I want” responses most Hollywood stars and starlets give when asked how they stay in such “great” shape. (Although, Hollywood reporters and tabloids often have a much different definition of great shape than I do.)
Granted, Taylor is a boy (man? boy-man?) which means his body expectations are different than young girls, but boy or girl, he is a shining (and flexing) example that being healthy and looking good takes hard work- and that hard work is something to be proud of.
