“I want to do some nudge scenes,” she told her agent, who was looking for a change from her previous projects, unaware that the thought of it will see her doing crazy stunts right next to Tom Cruise.

If the name Rebecca Ferguson doesn’t ring in your ears, then you missed watching Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation in 2015. It’s extremely difficult to keep up with Tom Cruise in one of his action movies, but she pulled it off quite well, despite her was unaware of the inner environment of a gym before being cast for the role of Ilsa Faust .

Rebecca is a Swedish and British music school graduate who has had great success in the Swedish-American soap opera scene. With a 2013 Golden Globe nomination for the game, she positioned her worldwide fame for Elizabeth Woodville in The White Queen , a ten-part BBC historical drama series. Additionally, the same role also convinced Tom Cruise of her potential action movie appeal.

Expect the unexpected: the training regime looks tough and controlled

When it came to transforming for the role, then the whole ride came and went by in one big jolt for the Swedish actress. An occasional screen test suddenly became a recall, and Rebecca was filming The Red Tent , taking off from the desert of Morocco and landing at London’s Heathrow Airport, from where a car took her straight to the gym!

After a few hours of casting calls with Tom Cruise and director Chris McQuarrie, when Ferguson was sure she was part of the big production, she set her nerves aside to do her best. The demand for her role was to look like a sophisticated 1940s starlet with a deadly attitude.

Posture is incomplete without the appropriate level of physical agility and dexterity. Rebecca is a trained dancer with a background in ballet, tap, jazz, street funk and Argentine tango. She also loves swimming and walking outdoors.

Frequent historical roles playing a queen, however, made Rebecca’s posture far too stiff and erect, likely hampering the safe execution of a complex battle scene. Sam Eastwood, her trainer for the duration of the film, had her enroll in bodyweight training primarily to correct her posture and make her both strong and lean. Her workouts alternated between yoga and Pilates, coupled with frequent running to build endurance and running a half-mile fast alongside Tom Cruise.

Ferguson trained six hours a day, six days a day and a week and a half to prepare for the film. In addition to filming, her training lasted one to three hours a day. Once the fight choreography began, Rebece’s trainer paid close attention to all the main moves to repeat the appropriate exercises in her daily regimen. The focus was on strengthening the latissimus dorsi, the back muscle that helps with pulling , obliques for twisting, and quadriceps and hamstrings for generating kicking and jumping power.

Top tip from Sam Eastwood

Nothing beats the safety and corrective therapy of high rep bodyweight exercises. One of her favorite full-core exercises that is simple yet dynamic is plank down dog shown below.

Dietary Adjustments

As with everything else set in a Tom Cruise film, he sets the standard and Ferguson followed suit. Before each intense action-packed scene, Rebecca consumed a meal loaded with slow-digesting complex carbohydrates. Most of the ingredients are organic, organically grown and locally sourced, while coconut oil or coconut butter was the main ingredient used in the preparation of all meals.

During filming, Ferguson stayed away from both sugar and dairy. Most notably, the elimination of dairy surprised Rebecca by reducing her usual bloat. She has since given up dairy altogether, claiming to be consuming almond milk as a substitute.

Feel like an action star in everyday life

Occasionally take the trouble to make a stubborn commitment to meet a tough challenge or nip a nagging fear in the bud. Nothing comes close to feeling an inner breakthrough.

Rebecca is claustrophobic and afraid of heights, yet she refused to use a stunt double to jump off the 120-foot-tall Opera House building. Courage did not come to her easily. She was tied to the harness and climbed a little higher every day until she came down all the way down. This was her effort to find her place in the. To justify the Impossible Mission franchise.