- "Barbie" trainer David Higgins had the cast do pull-up, push-up, and plank challenges.
- Higgins said Ryan Gosling got so invested in the pull-up challenge that he integrated it into the film.
It's no secret that Ryan Gosling took his role as Ken in "Barbie" very seriously, even when it came to training in the gym.
And personal trainer David Higgins said Gosling even integrated one of the cast's workout challenges into the film.
Higgins, who worked with the "Barbie" cast during filming last summer, recently spoke with Insider about his favorite behind-the-scenes memories.
The cast worked out together six days a week, and Higgins said the atmosphere was always full of camaraderie.
But things took a competitive turn when it came to Higgins' workout challenges — which included pull-ups, push-ups, and planks.
"No one wanted to be the first person to drop, which kind of spurred everyone on at the same time," he told Insider.
Higgins said Gosling "was really involved" in the pull-up challenge, once jokingly telling him, "I'm going to absolutely smash these guys."
"It was a real fun and competitive environment for everyone involved," Higgins said. "The shirts came off and we got the muscles out."
Gosling ended up winning the pull-up challenge, and according to Higgins, the competition inspired a small part of the film.
"They took his pull-up challenge and put it in the film," Higgins told Insider, referencing a scene where Gosling does a pull-up shirtless in a fur coat. Gosling's costar Nicola Coughlan told British Vogue she was on set the day that scene was filmed and it became a "core memory" for her.
But Gosling didn't win every workout challenge. Simu Liu, who also plays one of the Kens in "Barbie," took first place in the push-up challenge, while Margot Robbie was able to hold the longest plank — beating Gosling by over a minute.
Higgins said he used the challenges to inspire the cast as well as track their weekly progress. The Kens also did four days of strength and conditioning and two days of Pilates per week, while the Barbies did the reverse.
Before every workout, Higgins had the cast do ab exercises to help engage their core.
"I'm from a Pilates background, so for me, engaging the core is everything at the beginning of the workout," he said.
"It's more about longevity and injury prevention rather than anything aesthetic," he added. "But the aesthetic value definitely comes because you're targeting it so specifically and then integrating it into everything that we do."