Health In Motion

With all the post-show buzz about the movie “300” and the huge interest in the physical fitness undertaken by the cast, it’s no surprise that their training regimen is appearing all over the internet. Mark Twight, a former world record-holding professional mountain climber, was enlisted to train the actors and stuntmen with the goal of making them look as close as possible to Greek warrior of old. And after some research, along with watching some videos of these guys working out, it’s undeniable that they shed a lot of sweat and tears to get into such great shape.

The actors trained for four months prior to the movie being made, with grueling workouts lasting for 2-3 hours a day, five days per week. They were pushed to the limit, with tire flips, jumping, sprints, kettlebells, medicine balls, pull-ups, bear crawls, tuck sits, barbell thrusters and so on.

In other words, real, old school, brutal, full body movements through unstructured workouts designed to force results. And to make it all more competitive, the entire program hinged on a penalty-reward system tied to performance, with results posted daily for everyone else to see. No pressure at all.

300 program all the time?

The “300″ workout gets its name from the total number of repetitions performed through a set of different exercises. Many people believe that this workout should be done daily, something Twight rebuffs. In fact, he says it is done only as a finale – a kind of graduation test – after actors had weight lifted and trained brutally for months to prepare for it.

“300” is a one-time test, an invitation-only challenge undertaken by those deemed ready for it. By the end of our four-month project 17 people had done the workout. This constitutes about 50% of the cast and stunt crew. We supervised every test, evaluated each rep for quality and only counted those that achieved our standards for form and range of motion. Like many workouts “300” is not hard once you’ve done it but the apprehension built up ahead of it – something we encouraged – was enough to make some guys fear it to the degree that performance was compromised. This workout was a crucible that some passed through and others still have hanging over them,” said Twight.

Think about that statement. Even though it’s not supposed to be hard once done, only half the staff, having trained their butts off for four months, completed it. Here is what the 300 regimen looks like:

• 25 pull-ups
• 50 deadlifts at 135 pounds
• 50 push-ups
• 50 box jumps with a 24-inch box
• 50 “floor wipers” (a core and shoulders exercise at 135 pounds)
• 50 “clean and press” at 36 pounds kettlebell (a weight-lifting exercise)
• 25 more pull-ups

Add the above reps together and you will get a total of 300 reps, which you will have to do in less than 20 minutes.

Workout 100% responsible for those physiques?

Gerry Butler, who played Spartan King Leonidas, insisted in a “Men’s Health” video that his regular workout routine for the last year has been generally lacking. In other words, he implied that he was somewhat of a couch potato and out of shape. However, the veracity of that statement is doubtful.

The casting director for 300 interviewed hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals and I’m willing to believe he chose really fit, rather than average, untrained men. There is simply no training program on earth that can transform flabby arms and skinny chests into a Spartan physique in two months. And neither could these Clark Kent types withstand the brutal assault on their bodies.

Twight said himself that his Spartan workout is not for the faint-hearted, nor the out-of-shape. He knew that those who would get the best results are those who have trained before. So he whipped a cast which had a physical training background, and improved dramatically on their physiques. Anyone who fell off the bus over the weekend got smashed in the gym on Monday. So your average couch potato actor would never survive under the 300 training, even on the first day.

Here are some typical workouts at the Jones Gym website, used for this movie – http://www.gymjones.com/schedule.php.

Of course, training 90 minutes to two hours a day, five days a week, for four months, plus the same amount of time fight training led towards some overuse injuries. In an article written by Mark Twight himself, called “300 – The So Called Program,” recovery had to be stressed to make sure the men would last for the length of the project. “We had a massage therapist on-site every day and a kinesiologist visited twice per week to treat anyone ailing.”

Not satisfied with all that, Men’s Health Magazine quoted Butler as taking on extra sessions with a Venezuelan bodybuilder named Franco LiCastro in order to exaggerate the physique he was after. “I wanted to look really strong,” he said.

In other words, he wanted a bigger set of guns and chest than the 300 program afforded. No secret there. If you want muscle isolation and that bigger, fuller look, weight training is required.

Eating regimen

In addition to their exercise program, the actors also followed a strict diet to give them a rugged, lean look – said to be barely adequate to fuel effort and recovery. In other words, a diet to get the actors to look their best in the short term, but not one conducive to long term good health.

The 300 workout (with its inherent healthy, but restrictive diet) is not the Holy Grail to a better physique. While it may shock your system into new growth; in the end, it is nutrition which will determine the outcome of your hard work. You are what you eat, and you can test that theory by stuffing yourself with junk food for a week. There’s nothing more efficient at hampering good long term workout progress than an inadequate food supply.

So in conclusion, will this type of workout whip the average Joe into Spartan shape in eight weeks? Not a chance. Will it help the average Joe get into superb shape in due time? Absolutely, granted he takes the time to build up the strength and endurance to sustain the workouts. But from experience, I can tell you that all of the actors have gone back to a more balanced eating and workout schedule after making this movie.

In the short term, the workouts are a good example of the type of intensity it takes to get into really great shape, but in the long run, it’s unrealistic to maintain all out effort, all the time. No one has that type of discipline, because it leads to overtraining. The 300 workout was never designed for that purpose. Rather, it was meant as a short term, brutal training regime to get these actors into killer buff shape, helping the movie make more money – period.

However, the principles of the workouts can be intelligently employed in a scaled down version to jump start your physique. Men’s Health contributor Craig Ballantyne, a strength/conditioning coach in Toronto advocates dropping down to 150 total reps, or 4-6 exercises of 15-25 reps each.

For example, a guy with a moderate fitness background might try this routine to start:

• 15 bodyweight rows
• 25 bodyweight squats
• 15 pushups
• 50 jumping jacks
• 20 mountain climbers
• 10 close grip pushups
• 15 bodyweight rows

Source: http://www.menshealth.com

To advance, you can use other exercises with lighter weights more suited to you:

• 25x Bent Row
• 50x Deadlifts
• 50x DB Inc Chest Press
• 50x Bench Straddle Jumps
• 25x Standing Military Press
• 50x Ab Waves
• 25x Bent Row
• 25x Standing Military Press

Or try this one:

• 25x Pull Ups
• 50x Squats
• 50x Bench Press
• 50x Hanging Knees to Elbows Crunch
• 50x Squat Jumps
• 50x DB Snatches, each arm
• 25x Pull Ups

Source: http://integral-options.blogspot.com

**Remember to use weights suited to your strength and conditioning.

It’s true that most people should be working out harder than they currently are. But experience has shown me that only few have the consistency and drive to achieve long lasting results through properly exercising the body to make it consistently stronger and more functional. It’s not about getting serious for a week, or two, or even a month with a current flavour such as the 300 workout. Fitness and nutrition should be a lifelong dedication and passion to be of optimal use. Mix it up, keep it interesting, and stay in shape – without injury .