When it comes to getting fit for a blockbuster franchise like Mission Impossible 7, in which you will go toe-to-toe with the world’s biggest, most dedicated action star, most of us would need a little help. Which is exactly why Simon Pegg – the British actor who plays Benji in the series – reached out to expert PT Nick Lower.
Lower was doing PT work at gym chain David Lloyd when Pegg’s team reached out. Pegg had been training for a Star Trek film in LA and wanted a PT to help him continue his work at home in London.
The two hit it off, with Lower eventually helping Pegg get unbelievably buff for Cornetto Trilogy capper, The World’s End. The pair’s work was based around one particular scene in that film in which Pegg lifts his shirt (for plot purposes, we can assure you) indirectly revealing that he’s absolutely ripped. For audiences that knew Pegg as the slacker in Spaced, this new version of Pegg helped change perceptions, even as he transitioned into more dramatic roles.
This off-screen transformation mirrored Pegg’s Mission: Impossible role. First appearing as IT guy Benji Dunn in the third entry, Pegg’s character has become an action star in his own right. With the seventh (and penultimate) entry in the franchise out soon, Lower shares his experiences of training Pegg, watching the stunt team do their thing, and absorbing all he can from Tom Cruise.
The Mission
For the latest M:I flick, Lower’s mission (should he choose to accept it) was to help Pegg build on a foundation of fitness, even as he entered his fifties. “Simon keeps in good shape, even between filming he’ll be training with me Monday to Friday,” Lower says. “He’s very much into his fitness and he eats well.”
Known as a franchise that throws everything at the wall, the latest M:I entry was no exception. That translated to a greater emphasis on injury prevention – especially so given Tom Cruise famously broke his ankle while jumping across a London rooftop in the previous film (watch closely and you can pinpoint the moment in the finished film, should you so wish).
“We are all getting older, so in the last 18 months we've really drilled down on mobility, flexibility, and recovery,” says Lower, pointing to Reformer Pilates as a great way of remaining limber as part of a holistic approach to overall wellbeing.
With COVID restrictions making filming a bit stop-start, Lower often had to adapt. Sometimes, he would Zoom Pegg and they’d run through the session remotely. If he was in a hotel room with no equipment available, Pegg would improvise, using the equipment to hand.
“I seem to remember, he actually grabbed a marble tabletop and used it as a weight,” laughs Lower. “If you’re stuck in a hotel room and you can’t use the gym, that’s what you have to do.”
“Benji has changed considerably since he first appeared as a schlubby lab tech,” Pegg tells GQ. “As he’s become more adept as an agent in the field, we have built up a regimen based around strength and power, but always making time for mobility and recovery. At 53, I’m in better shape than I ever was in my thirties.”
The Team
While ostensibly a Tom Cruise vehicle, the M:I series has always been an ensemble, with everyone from Jeremy Renner to Henry Cavill stopping by to play their part. No one, however, works harder than Cruise.
“Tom trains religiously, and he obviously eats very well,” says Lower, who didn’t work with Cruise but did get to spend time with him at Pegg’s 50th birthday party. “He’s a completely stand-up guy,” Lower says. “When he’s talking to you, he’s engaged and only talking to you. He said to me ‘You keep Simon in good shape’ because one of Simon’s nicknames had been ‘Six Pack Pegg’”.
“I think Tom was impressed with Simon, because sometimes they would workout together and Simon would keep up.”
Famous for putting his body and life on the line by doing his own stunts, in Dead Reckoning, Cruise takes it one step further, driving a motocross bike off a cliff before BASE-jumping to safety. A behind the scenes video detailed Cruise’s near-obsessive preparation, instilling vertigo in nearly everyone who watched it.
“There is no bullshit,” Lower says of Cruise’s approach. “He does his own stunts. He’s in top condition all the time.” Lower says that, at 60, Cruise has the best team in the world who keep on top of all the latest fitness science and technology. “I do know that he uses this very expensive, high-end machine that instead of just being a normal chest press machine, for example, it works you on your eccentric load, pushing you back. So instead of doing a set of 10, you could do a set of five and you’ve done just as much work.
“Whatever he’s doing, it works. You meet him in the flesh and he looks 10 years younger,” Lower adds, also praising the stunt team who spent all day getting thrown through fake walls and rehearsing intricate fighting stick scenes.
An on-set standout, however, was Swedish actress Rebecca Ferguson who joined the franchise with the fifth entry, Rogue Nation in 2015. For M:I: Fallout, the precursor to this year’s Dead Reckoning, Ferguson expertly pulled off gruelling stunts while pregnant. “She was great, she was giving it some and she was very fit,” Lower enthuses.
“This is just an observation but I think when you're working with someone like Tom, it rubs off on you. You want to be fit, you want to be healthy. You want to do your stunts,” Lower says. “It’s really inspiring.”
Nutrition Impossible
When it came to fuelling all of the action, Lower and Pegg took a macro approach, dialling in calories depending on where they were in the training schedule. As a baseline, they operated from:
Protein
1-1.5g per pound of body weight, opting for lean sources like chicken, grass-fed beef, salmon, and Greek yogurt.
Carbs
An equal split with fats, made up of quality, minimally processed, whole or sprouted grains e.g. quinoa, buckwheat, beans, lentils, and fruit.
Fats
Made up of extra virgin olive oil, avocado, cashews, and mixed seeds.
The Workout
Lower and Pegg tended to work in 4-8 week training blocks, giving them plenty of freedom to switch things up, and keeping Pegg constantly challenged. “There will be periods of traditional strength training with various rep and tempo ranges, then we may do more circuit-style and higher intensity training with some functional stuff that helps to keep him mobile,” Lower explains.
For Dead Reckoning, they worked through a pretty traditional split, with specific days dedicated to push and pull exercises, also adding in a legs day, a mobility day, one day for Reformer Pilates or a core workout, a rest day and another rest/recovery run day.
The sample leg day, below, serves as a great starting point to help you build explosive power in your pins, whether you’re running from explosions, or just looking to improve your box jumps. And, as any fan of leg day knows, it will absolutely torch calories.
Work through three to four sets of the below, aiming for eight to 12 reps. Start with five minutes of cardio followed by ten minutes of mobility drills, and don’t forget to warm-down with a stretch.
And yes, it will help you run like Tom Cruise.
Trap bar deadlift
Stand inside the trap bar, shins aligned with the centre of the bar. Grip the bar. Back straight, head neutral, chest out, push through your heels, hinging at the hips to lift the bar. Finish by sitting back, bending your knees as you lower the weight.
Dumbbell reverse lunge
Take a dumbbell in each hand, then step back on one leg, bending at the knee. Push down to return to standing. Complete all reps, then switch legs.
Bench hip thrusts
Sit on the ground, back against a bench, soles of your feet flat. Hinge at the waist, powering your groin towards the ceiling. You should feel this through your glutes. Too easy? Add a barbell across your waist.
Alternating dumbbell forward lunges
Like the reverse lunge, but this time you’re stepping forward, swapping your leading foot each time.
Dumbbell Romanian deadlifts
Place your dumbbells on the ground in front of your toes. Hinge at the hips, keeping your back straight as you lift the weights as you would a barbell in a normal deadlift. Straighten up, then reverse the movement for one.
Dumbbell calf raises
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, a dumbbell in each hand. Rise up on your toes, feeling the burn through your calves. Slowly lower to the start.
4 x 1 minute hill sprints
Find a hill (or set a fat incline on your treadmill) and run for your life.
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