High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens was surprised by her own strength as she trained for new action movie SUCKER PUNCH - she could lift more than her own body weight.
The actress is set to shed her clean-cut Disney image to play a member of a group of female inmates who try to break out of an asylum in the forthcoming film.
The petite star trained with a team of experienced Navy officers for the role but admits she eventually grew to enjoy the punishing fitness regime after excelling in her gym sessions.
She tells Britain's Total Film, "I really loved it (training). One of the most valuable things I learned was this thing we call 'finding the beast' when you're working out and you're at the point where you think you're going to give up.
"It's that moment of turning your mind off that just makes you power through and know that you can do anything. I was deadlifting like 180 pounds!"