When you work with plastic, it’s pretty easy to make perfect abs like Ryan Gosling’s character Ken. After all, a doll is made from the start with the right body. Or it has been since 1961, when Kenneth Sean Carson, who his friends call Ken, first stepped out of a wooden box.
But when it was time for Ken to make his big screen debut in Barbie, it was harder than just imagining the right body to make the perfect partner for the woman who has everything. First, there had to be actors who were good enough to play such an iconic person. Simu Liu and Ncuti Gatwa, as well as Ryan Gosling, fit the bill.
READ MORE: Ryan Gosling & Kens Barbie Movie Workout Routine
After all the Kens were put together, they had to be put to work. David Higgins, the famous sports trainer, didn’t design Barbie’s dream house. He did, however, design the Kens’ daily torture practices.
The getting together of the Kens
“I had worked with entire teams on Eternals and Justice League,” says Higgins. “Having people with different levels of fitness and knowledge is always interesting. There are different people. We get together as a group at the gym.”
There were no directions for making the dummies that were specific to the study. Instead, the Kenses worked together on full-body training plans that included weights, Pilates, and, outside of the Higgins sessions, hours of dance training every day since Barbie has dance sequences.
“It gave them a sense that ‘we’re all in this together,'” says Higgins of the group gym workouts. “If someone was having trouble, someone else would say, ‘Come on, let’s do it.'” I really liked this group of guys. They have a great attitude and are ready for anything.
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As part of their daily routine, the actors did sit-ups and exercises for their upper and lower bodies. The exercises changed every day, focused on different rep ranges or weights. Classic bodybuilding wasn’t an option because the actors, like Ryan Gosling, needed to be able to move freely for their dancing scenes. But Higgins didn’t have to work on her fitness because she danced for two hours every day. But they would play basketball or ping pong to keep up team unity.
“Everyone had a good time,” he says, and “no one felt bad.” It wasn’t about training for one scene without a shirt; it was about training for the job as a whole. That doesn’t mean they didn’t give it their all, though,” says the expert.
But not everything was peaceful in the world of dreams. Higgins wanted to make the players work as a team, but he also knew that competition would help them push each other. Just like in the movie, their natural desire to beat each other is used against them, so push-up and plank challenges were a big part of the Barbie cast’s workouts.
Higgins says that leader Ken (Ryan Gosling) came and went from lessons, but that Ken liked Higgins’ Pilates classes and competitions the most. “Ryan loved the planks and pull-ups,” says Higgins. “Simu and Ncuti liked the pull-ups and special crunches we did better. They all started to compete a lot.”
Fantasy kitchen
As for the actor’s diet, the main rule was that he couldn’t eat any prepared foods, which means that he couldn’t eat anything that comes in a plastic wrapper. He also had to do intermittent fasting, which was different every day. Higgins didn’t go on a low-carb diet because he wanted the players to be well fed because they worked so hard. Smoothies helped keep the dreamy mood going on set.
How the Kens were trained
Even though Ken has a pretty strong body as a whole, we couldn’t help but notice Ryan Gosling’s abs. And let’s not forget Simu Liu. And if Barbie Land isn’t your thing, you must want to know how to get those rock-hard abs, don’t you?
Higgins is able to help. Based on what he did with the Ken squad, this ab workout takes nine minutes straight, with one minute for each practice. So forget about fake abs; here’s how to get real ones.
Rollback
Sit on the floor first. Then, stand tall with your legs bent toward your chest and put your hands on your shins. Keep your knees together and roll back until your upper back is on the floor. Repeat, going back up to the standing position before going down again. It looks like you’re trying to roll your body backwards, which a Ken doll couldn’t do, right?
Leg raise
Lay on your back, ideally on a bed, and cross your left leg over your right. Lift your legs and feet. Once you reach the top, do a slow throne roll to the left, then to the right, and then slowly lower your feet until you hit the ground. Do this for one minute, then switch the position of your right leg and start again.
Two-step crunch
Do a crunch as you normally would, but stop halfway through and again at the top to add more time under strain.
Cross crunch
On the way down, cross the arm with the knee on the other side to return to the starting position. Do each side for one minute.
Climbing a rope
Put your back down. Imagine that there is a rope running between your feet and that you are doing sit-ups to try to hold on to that rope, going up one arm after the other and pulling left, right, left, and right at the top of each side of your feet. ABS.
Wiper washer
Bend your knees as you sit. Lean back so you can feel the tightness in your stomach. Raise your knees and move your feet as far to the left and right as you can. Add a knee-to-chest lift in the middle of each move to really feel the pain.
Static dead bug
Stretch your arms out and lie on your back with your knees bent. She lifts one knee at a time and brings them together by lowering her other hand. Hold this pose for 30 seconds, then switch your arms and legs and do another 30 seconds. If you need a two-second break in the middle, take it. That’s what Ken would want.
