We'd all like to be a bit more Michael – here's a fitness regime to get you started.

If there were Oscars for impressive torsos, Mr Michael Fassbender’s trophy cabinet would buckle. His cinematic oeuvre – from bleak, independent films such as Shame to blockbusters like new movie Assassin’s Creed – is littered with shirtless (and at time shortless) moments. Suffice to say, Mr Fassbender’s wardrobe assistant has the easy life.

It’s his personal trainer that has his work cut out. In Assassin’s Creed, out 21 December in the US, Mr Fassbender plays a man with a murderous lineage and killer physique, deft at the Renaissance period’s version of parkour, and a dab hand at swordplay. “We had to make him capable of all this,” says Mr Fassbender’s A-list trainer Mr David Kingsbury. And they succeeded: “His combination of high-intensity training, weights and a targeted nutritional plan provided incredible results,” said Mr Fassbender of their time together.

“It wasn’t just about muscle; the brief was to create a nimble assassin,” says Mr Kingsbury. Follow their superhuman plan below and you’ll carve out a physique as agile as it is defined.

Mr Kingsbury had to make Mr Fassbender into a sinewy killer with palpable dexterity. “Michael is naturally lean,” he says. “We needed strength and size gains while retaining his athleticism. You can’t make these gains without progressive overload [lifting more weight each time you hit a new phase].”

That means making big compound moves like the deadlift the meat of each workout, and forgetting about vainglorious bicep curls for now. “The pull-up was crucial for this job,” says Mr Kingsbury. Their workouts comprised a warm-up, five sets of five heavy deadlifts, then a circuit of lunges, weighted pull-ups and then press-ups, all for a count of five sets of 10. “The trick is to minimise rest, moving between the push and pull moves to stimulate muscle growth. It hammers your abs, too.”

Not content to simply make muscles ripple, Mr Kingsbury also wanted to build a physique ready to rumble: the action in Assassin’s Creed was demanding in the extreme, and Mr Fassbender had to be ready. “With action films we focus on key pillars: strength, flexibility and recovery.” If you want fast results, you’ll need to do the same. “Strength-endurance is crucial, as you need to do things over and over again. So ensure you’re training with consistency, and making all of your reps count,” says Mr Kingsbury. “You’ll need to stretch properly after each session to reduce muscle stress and improve your posture, too. This makes your physique look more impressive, but also ensures you’re as strong as you possibly can be – tight muscles are weak muscles.”

The nutrition cognoscenti know that while carbs are essential for energy and therefore integral to training, scoff too many and you’ll never become acquainted with your abs. “With all my clients – whether it’s to make someone huge like Hugh Jackman or athletic like Fassbender – I employ carb-cycling,” says Mr Kingsbury.

This dietary yo-yoing involves a systematised approach to your rice and potatoes. While the science underpinning it is complicated (it’s all to do with blood sugar and hormones), the surface plan is simple: “It varies depending on each person’s needs, but you’ll generally consume a lot of carbs on training days – particularly if big strength moves feature – and less on recovery days. Then, when a lean middle is your goal, you'll gradually back off to hardly any at all,” says Mr Kingsbury.

davidkingsbury.co.uk