"Spider-Man" star Tobey Maguire says working on stunts as the comic-book web-slinger was a lot easier on his body than riding a 1,200-pound thoroughbred for his role as jockey Red Pollard for the horse-race drama "Seabiscuit."
"I did all this training for about 10 weeks. Then I got on a horse for the first time. When I got off the horse, my legs were completely noodles, just overcooked noodles," he told The Associated Press.
The "Seabiscuit" DVD was set for release in stores Tuesday.
"I was working out and getting really strong and losing a lot of weight, but when you get on a real horse, it's a whole different deal," he said. "You're using all the stabilizing muscles in your legs and balancing on the balls of your feet on this 1,200-pound elite athlete."
The 28-year-old, who has a longtime back injury that makes stunts difficult, said his body-build has fluctuated wildly in recent years for his various movie roles.
He put on weight and muscle to star in 2002's "Spider-Man," then shed as much as possible to appear gaunt in "Seabiscuit." Then it was back to building muscle to bulk up for "Spider-Man II," which is set to debut in theaters next July.
"It gets a little tedious," he said. "People are always talking about diets and, 'Oh, it's so hard to lose weight.' Part of me really sympathizes with that because if I wasn't getting paid to do it, if it wasn't part of my job, I'd have never done it."