NYPD
Homicide detective Sara Pezzini - the wearer of the Witchblade - pounds
down 10 bottles of water a day and goes to town on a multiberry smoothie
concoction.
Harnessing
the powers of a bracelet that gives you supernatural strength can be a
workout for anyone. And super powers or no, when you're flying off buildings,
kickboxing or sword fighting, you can end up exhausted.
``I
was doing a stunt the other day where I spent like 12 hours of sprinting
and running and kicking the crap out of somebody, and I was sore,'' said
Yancy Butler, the husky-voiced Sarah Lawrence graduate who has parlayed
the ``Witchblade'' role from a TV movie to a series that airs Tuesday nights
on TNT.
``Somebody
said to me, 'A superhero doesn't get sore.' I don't think Superman ever
had to soak in Epsom salts.''
(No,
he didn't, but we'll get to that later.)
Butler
trained with Gail Marion Mayer, a regular triathlon competitor and exercise
physiologist at the Sports Center at Chelsea Piers in New York. Butler,
who had already filmed the series pilot episode when she hooked up with
Mayer, wanted to incorporate more complete training, including swimming,
and she wanted to develop a workout that she could take with her on location
in Toronto.
``She
was really thin to begin with,'' says Mayer. ``We wanted to make her a
little bigger looking without increasing her size, more superhero- ish.''
Butler
handled her own cardiovascular routine. She and Mayer did lots of core
training, which would alternate between abdominal work, chest, back and
arms. The actress performs most of her own stunts.
``I'll
try something once, within bounds, if it's not crazy,'' she said. ``Much
to my surprise, I'm amazed I can do a backward somersault while firing
a gun, although not without paying a price.''
Butler
and Mayer worked two to three times a week, with Butler doing a cardio
workout on nongym days. On location, Butler frequently exercises in her
trailer.
``It's
almost like a prison workout,'' says Butler, who typically likes to work
out four days a week. ``I do sit-ups and push-ups, use books as weight,
whatever is available. I'm a firm believer in yoga, but I find it often
takes a lot of time. The ideal thing for me is about 45 minutes of cardio
and 30 minutes of weight training.''
On
the nutrition front, Butler eats egg whites, high-protein energy foods
and drinks about 10 bottles of water per day. A smoothie with low-fat strawberry
yogurt, cranberry juice, frozen strawberries and fresh raspberries is also
a favorite.
