This year celebrities have already received golden statuettes for their performances on-screen, but don't roll up the red carpet just yet. Now—just in time for beach season—we want to award the hard work that makes them look chiseled and toned even when the cameras aren't rolling.

"It takes about three months of intense training at the gym to prepare for a six-second shot of a celebrity with his shirt off," says Mike Ryan, the trainer responsible for the six-pack smorgasbords on display in Fight Club and The Scorpion King.

But do awards panels take note? Hardly. That's why Gold's Gym and US Weekly are proud to announce the second annual Gold's Gym Hollywood's Hottest Bodies Awards. Our goal is to celebrate Hollywood's hottest, most talked about transformations—and the bodies that put them a rep above the rest.

"You need to have willpower to mold a superhero body," says Gold's Gym Fitness Institute trainer Ramona Braganza, who has whipped countless celebrities including cast members of the X-men trilogy into shape. "In addition to working with a trainer, actors also have to do fight training, so they end up being quite active for a large part of the day."

To bulk up for a role following a star turn as a cancer victim, one leading man turned to Ryan to help him—with hardcore 12-hour workouts every day for one month. "It was just train, run, eat, sleep," Ryan recalls.

For another film, Ryan helped one A-lister put on 10 pounds of muscle in just three months, through a punishing combination of strength training, wrestling and cardio—which not everyone is cut out for.

"That's too extreme for most people," Ryan admits. "He was just a maniac. When I saw what he did and the guts he put on—he led by example."

Starting May 9, log on to usmagazine.com to check out the nominees and vote for your favorite stars. Then check back on May 23, to find out which ten stars muscled their way to the top.