The movie "Nine" coming to theaters in the New York area this December 18th and then the rest of the Nation on Christmas Day, certainly boasts a star studded cast. The line up includes Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Kate Hudson, Sophia Loren, Fergie, Judi Dench, Marion Cottilard, and Daniel Day-Lewis. Directed by Rob Marshall, "Nine" looks to make an impact come awards season. Marion Cotillard is nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress, Penelope Cruz up for Best Supporting Actress, Daniel Day-Lewis up for Best Actor, and the movie up for the Golden Globe Best Comedy or Musical Motion Picture. But with so many stunning leading ladies fighting for camera time, how did they all get into tip top form?

"Nine" combines both drama and musical genres, similar to that of "Chicago", and there are many scenes where costumes are plenty revealing. Not only that but the dancing itself was quite a workout for the ladies and while the intense choreography and dance rehearsals certainly helped get those leading ladies toned and svelte, there were other measures they took in preparation to bare those tiny costumes. Penelope Cruz admits that even though the hours of dance rehearsal were grueling, "I worked and worked and regained the memory of muscles in my legs I hadn't used since I was a teenager studying ballet," she still supplemented that with, "stretching, running and going to the gym to get my arms strong to support me on the ropes."

Thankfully Cruz was able to rely on her dancer's past, and the same could be said for Catherine Zeta-Jones as she spent copious hours training on set for "Chicago". Nicole Kidman too has her fair share of dancing and acting under her belt, think back to "Moulin Rouge", but even the star who already has an enviable dancer's body had to kick up her game. Kidman is a regular runner, often logging seven miles a day and up to twelve on the weekends, but needed to target muscles she hadn't been using for a while to swing on those ropes and shimmy around those poles.

As for Kate Hudson, she is no stranger to the gym and was recently spotted doing an intense three hours worth of core work at a gym in TriBeCa. To bring her role to life she felt she had something to prove alongside the cast and during filming dropped ten pounds due to the rigorous on set dancing. Still she was pleased to find that her dance classes during childhood helped give her a leg up.

Much of the on stage choreography and dancing incorporates moves similar to pole dancing, in which one relies on muscle strength to support the rest of the body. This is very isometric in nature and combined with the cardio that high energy dancing supplies you can find that it is both a calorie blasting and muscle building workout all in one.