Iron Man = Iron Balls.

Normally, I could care less about what actors do to prepare physically for their roles, but I like this WebMD story on how Robery Downey Jr. buffed up for Iron Man 2, partially because of the human interest element (or should I say super-human interest?) and partially because RDJ is just such a weirdo.

As the story goes, he had just dropped 20 pounds for his role as Sherlock Holmes, so he needed to add muscle mass, fast. Only problem is, the poor little petal didn't want to workout anymore.

"We had to do some pretty drastic stuff to get him up near the 170-plus pounds of Iron Man," says Brad Bose, PhD, the exercise physiologist and kinesiologist who sculpted Downey for all three films.

And they had to do it quickly. Downey had only three months to prepare for Iron Man 2 – and a full 20 pounds to regain.

On top of that, Bose says Downey was exhausted from the diet and training he had done for Sherlock Holmes and was bored with traditional workouts.

"As mentally strong as he was, the body was tired," says Bose, who owns Bose Management in Santa Monica, Calif.

"Robert said, ‘If I have to get underneath a bench press or [do] a squat, I'm going to shoot myself. I just don't have the motivation.' So his challenge to me was to make the workouts fun and challenging."

Bose ended up designing a program filled with tons of crossfit-style wacky workouts. His gear included firehoses filled with sand, wheelbarrows with 650-pound payloads and truck tires to be beaten with a sledgehammer.

Yes, I think that sounds like fun and I'd love to try all that stuff. And yes, I think RDJ is a hell of an actor and I admire the devotion he puts into the roles, but I gotta say, "Really, Bobby Jr.? Is your life that hard?" You're getting paid seven zeros and change per picture yet you're not motivated to pump a little old-school iron? It seems a little much to me, considering a few short years ago, the only alternative workout he had access to would potentially involve prison bars and biting a pillow.

I suppose that if I could afford a private exercise physiologist, I'd probably ask him to make me some fancy pants workout too -- or maybe not, because I actually like lifting weights. Whether they're in the form of dumbbells or weighted farm equipment is irrelevant to me.

Either way, I hope RDJ thanks some higher power every time he swings that firehose in the air. Life doesn't give out second chances like that all too often.