"Unless it's your job, three hours a day in the gym, or two hours and then a long run later... or a long hike with a weight vest on... it just sucks," he told Total Film, "And then it's the diet where you're not really eating anything you want to eat. You're not having that glass of wine at the end of the day... it's pretty lame."
Behind the Scenes - Matt Damon:
Yeah, that sounds pretty bad. But damn, it sure had some impressive results. That'd be thanks to trainer Jason Walsh, who went into further detail with Men's Health on exactly how he prepped Damon for his various action star roles. (Walsh is also responsible for getting Bradley Cooper seriously ripped for American Sniper.)
Damon is not the first guy to go through a crazy fitness routine to prepare for an acting role. David Harbour's prep for Hellboy resulted in an incredible body transformation. But Damon's Bourne prep was particularly brutal — on purpose. The actor said that director Paul Greengrass thought Damon not only needed to pack on some muscle to take on the role of a former CIA assassin, but to look like a guy who's had a hard life. Apparently Greengrass thought that would be best-achieved by making Damon's life somewhat miserable.
"He has to look like he's suffered, and the only way to look like you've suffered is to suffer. I'm sorry but that's the deal," Damon said of what Greengrass told him. "He was really right and I knew he was right, on a thematic level. I went, 'If I'm going to do it, then I really have to do that.' It wasn't really a question."
No word on what Damon's thoughts are on a sane fitness regime. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to get Damon-level buff-ness without Damon-level suffering. This kettlebell workout only takes 20 minutes and is a killer full-body workout.