Andrew Pleavin is an English film and television actor who played Daxos in "300" and reprised the role for "300: Rise Of An Empire". He was born in England but spent his early years in Transvaal, South Africa, returning to Northern England at age 12. He is an avid martial artist and his home gym is a thing of beauty.

Mark began working with Andrew remotely after he was cast for the original "300" movie. Despite the small role he was dedicated to the craft and to transforming into the most muscular and leanest version of himself that was possible to achieve in the short time frame. Andrew showed up at the gym at 9a.m. every day, worked as hard as anyone could ask of a man, looked after his recovery and nutrition, and eventually posted some fantastic times for named workouts, rowing ERG pieces, and he was the only actor to take and pass the "300 Workout" test.

He rowed 500m in 1:25.6, did 5000m in 18:12.8 and finished the “300” test workout in 18:11, which was faster than a lot of the stunt guys and a testament to his dedication and hard work.

Seven years later, in his mid-40s, Andrew returned to the crucible as dedicated and diligent as ever. For that role he lost 30 pounds in five weeks. He dropped from 18% body fat to 10%. And although his strength and work capacity increased, which one might imagine being the result of increased muscle mass, he simply learned to use the muscle he was already carrying. If we put him side-by-side with his original Daxos condition of 2005 I would put money on him looking better in 2012. And that proves some things possible that many men, perhaps most men, have already given up on at that age.

Andrew Pleavin

Alastair Humphreys

Ben Saunders