Earning his ‘Hazzard’ pay

Mike Alexander

Personal Trainer at Sports Club / L.A. in Beverly Hills

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First movie assignment: Getting Jessica Simpson in shape for “The Dukes of Hazzard.”

A body fit for fiction: “There is more of a sense of urgency with accomplishing the goals. Other people come in [to the gym] with general fitness goals and they have a longer timetable, whereas celebrities have a shoot that starts in three months and they have millions of dollars riding on their looks. It’s very different, but it is also goal-specific.

“If Jessica is getting ready for Daisy Duke it is going to be different than if she was getting ready for something that needed a different look. With Daisy Duke, the role is known for the shorts, so you are going to have to concentrate a little more on the butt and the legs. You take into account what the wardrobe is going to be.

“Jessica’s goal was to be as aesthetically pleasing as possible, so we didn’t really care if she could stand on one leg and press a dumbbell over her head. We wanted her to look like she could, but she didn’t necessarily have to. We trained the muscles you were going to see.

“If Hazzard County is a real place and Daisy Duke is a real person, I don’t see her going to the gym every day, so we didn’t want Jessica to look like she spent an hour and a half in the gym every day.”

The workout: “The second she was up for the role, she was like, ‘We are going to do this together.’ Then when she got on the short list, which was like early August of last year, that’s when we started working out. [The exercise routine] was probably four to six times a week -- 45 minutes to an hour of resistance training, 20 to 35 minutes of cardio.

And when we went to Baton Rouge [to shoot the movie], it was probably less because she had a really demanding shooting schedule so it was more like three or four times a week. I was there the entire shoot.”

The food: “It was just common sense. She had never been on a restricted diet. She had always just eaten what she wanted. Since increasing definition was our goal, she was going to have to cut out the stuff that wasn’t good for her and eat smaller portions. It was more like lean fish and lean chicken, but also drinking water and staying hydrated is very important. So I told her to start drinking a lot more fluids.

“If you see any pictures of her, she still looks fantastic. I have been really impressed with how well she’s maintained the diet. Ex-athletes, when they retire they balloon, so I was kind of scared that she might have been burned out with working out and diet.”

Branching out: “It was a really cool experience because you come in every day knowing exactly what you are working toward and having a deadline you have to meet and knowing that everybody is going to be looking at your body of work -- literally. So that is cool. I got to go to the premiere last night and afterward everyone who knew what I did came up to me and said, ‘You did a great job, she looked beautiful.’ ”

Background: “I pretty much played every sport growing up, and wrestling was probably the one that really got me interested in the physical fitness aspect of sports. Also the human body is always fascinating, I guess. I graduated from college in 2001 with a degree in health fitness from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. I started doing training immediately.”

The Hollywood-Texas nexus: “Jessica and I grew up together [in Texas], and her dad was my youth minister at church. I lived with her parents when I first moved out here; they were the ones who told me to come out here. Jessica and her dad worked at the Sports Club / L.A. on Sepulveda, and when I was coming out they were opening the one in Beverly Hills. I came out and interviewed.”

Age: 27

Resides: Beverly Hills

Salary: “At the top level at nice gyms, you can make over $100,000 with bonuses and stuff. But it is not a glorious job; a lot of people don’t make that kind of money.”

Plans: “It is cool [training someone for a movie]. But as far as being a trainer to the stars, that doesn’t matter to me. It’s more like working with people you enjoy working with. An hour is a long time to spend with somebody, and if you don’t all see eye to eye when you are training them four times a week, it can be tedious. My clientele is really motivated, so it makes my job easier.”

-- Susan King