“Mission Impossible”: the ability of the human body behind the acrobatics of Tom Cruise at 62

“Mission Impossible”: the ability of the human body behind the acrobatics of Tom Cruise at 62


The actor records all the danger scenes in action films thanks to the intense training.




He jumped with the cliffs, hanging on the planes in motion and arrested his breath underwater for so long that he looked like an apnea professional. Now, at the age of 62, Tom Cruise returns while Ethan Hunt for his last mission and continues to do his stunts.

With Mission Impossible: final successThe saga reaches an electrifying result. But behind the scenes that challenge death, a fascinating question is hidden: to what extent the human body can go to achieve what seems impossible? And at what price?

During the filming of the eight films of Impossible missionTom Cruise broke his ankle, fractured the ribs and wounded his shoulder. This makes us reflect on the boundaries of our body and our ability to train it to perform some exploits.

Water -resistant

In Mission Impossible: Secret NationHunt – Tom Cruise character – invades an underwater chamber to recover a stolen accounting book. The actor wanted to film everything in one shot and asked the apnea instructors for help to hold back the breath for the required time: more than six minutes!

A normal person can hold the breath between 30 and 90 seconds. This, without training. However, there is a reflection of innate diving in the human body, which allows temporary adaptation to the immersion underwater.

This reflection reduces the heart rhythm and directs the blood in the center of the body, which allows to reduce the metabolic demand and preserve the functioning of vital organs such as the brain and the heart.



Tom Cruise has already broken the ribs and has been injured in the shoulder during the recordings of

So far it is fine. But think about the need to swim and resist the pressure of water in the lungs. All this while fighting that desperate impulse – caused by the increase in COâ‚‚ – to make a deep breath, which, under water, would be catastrophic.

If oxygen levels drop a lot, the person can lose knowledge. Therefore, the risk of drowning in shallow waters is real.

This is where the training of apnea comes into play.

With the practice, it is possible to extend the time that someone can be underwater. One way to do this is the mastery of breathing techniques to preserve as much air as possible to the lungs. Continuous training can also increase the ability to conservation of oxygen in the bloodstream.

This process can prolong the immersion time at about five minutes, but usually takes months or even years to reach. That is, what Tom Cruise has achieved was exceptional.

Free climbing

The films of Impossible mission Usually they start with Ethan Hunt climbing a steep building or cliff with great agility. The feeling, for those who look, is that it climbs without rope and at the beginning of Impossible mission 2cling with one hand. Although Cruise uses security cables to arrest, the climb was 100%real.

And how can we forget that scene, Impossible mission Original, where is hanging, a few centimeters from the floor, so that the alarms do not start?

Although Cruise has not revealed what specific formation does for these scenes, making one of these exploits requires an exceptional back and trunk.

The muscles of the rear keep the vertebral column straight and straight. Some extend from the back to the limbs, like the large dorsal. These muscles, highly appreciated by bodybuilders, are also important for climbers because they help climb the rocky walls.



Tom Cruise hung centimeters from the ground in an impossible mission scene 2

In addition to these muscles, many others are necessary to make extreme climbs: those that allow a strong imprint, those that allow us to get up and take impulses and those who maintain tension and support. It is not surprising that the climb is considered one of the best exercises to work the whole body.

Nor is it surprised that Tom Cruise has trained intensely for this.

To understand a little the difficulty he has faced, he tries to make that position of the robbery at the safe, with his belly on the floor and see how long you can manage.

Explosions and broken ribs

Hunt also escaped many explosions, from a helicopter in a tunnel on the staining channel to the explosion of an aquarium in Prague.

In Impossible mission 3On the Gulf of Chesapeake Bay, a helicopter launches a missile that causes an explosion, causing the hunting clash against a car. Once again, Tom Cruise did everything alone, which cost him two broken ribs.

For explosion, pyrotechnics were used, but obviously it could not be used to lift the actor and throw it against the car. The solution? A series of cables have been used to drag it. Never the expression “Arms, arms” (Prepared, prepared, free translation in Portuguese) had so much sense.

And as curiosity, breaking the ribs is not fun at all. Some people describe as one of the most painful wounds that someone may have, because it only hurts to toss, sneezing or simply breathing.

Even so, during the scenes, Tom Cruise gets up, shakes the dust and continues.

What is your motivation? They say he wants the audience to really feel what happens at that moment. Well, it seems that he is managing to do it.

*This article was originally published on the academic news website The conversation and republished under the Creative Commons license. Leia Here The original English version.

Source: Terra

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