The 300 Workout: Hype or Road to Awesome Muscle?

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 .

Are Low Carb Diets Bad For Gut Health?

A recent study showed that weight loss diets which restrict dietary carbohydrates may have a harmful effect on gut health. The Scottish researchers, a team from the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen studied 19 obese men as they struggled through a series of different weight loss diets varying in carbohydrate content (399 g carbohydrate/day; 164 g/day or 24 g/day).

The study showed some interesting results. The volunteers lost similar amounts of weight on the high protein diet versions regardless of carbohydrate content, which would bode well with certain health criteria. But differences in the health of their gut bacteria is were out of the ordinary. With the very low carbohydrate diet, their feces contained four times fewer ‘friendly’ bacteria than when they followed the higher carbohydrate diet.

‘Friendly’, or probiotic, bacteria such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria, are believed to release beneficial chemicals, such as butyrate and propionate into the gut, which may help prevent bowel cancer.

Lead researcher, Dr Harry Flint commented that this makes it imperative that long term low carbohydrate diets contain carbs which are beneficial for human gut health. This means plenty of sources of fibre – such as fruit and vegetables. It also shows once again that good health runs deeper than mere weight loss.

Source:

1) European Food Information Council (EUFIC)

2) Duncan SH et al (2007) Reduced dietary intake of carbohydrates by obese subjects results in decreased concentrations of butyrate and butyrate-producing bacteria in feces. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Vol 73, pg 1073-8.

 

 

The Danger Of Low-Carb Diets

The low carb craze in North America has hit all time peaks in popularity, as well as marketing practices. In Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution, Robert Atkins claims that by minimizing your carbohydrate intake you can quickly lose substantial amounts of weight, even while pigging out daily on an obscene fat intake.

Claims like these should make even those who barely scraped through basic high school biology suspicious. Our bodies are biologically designed to consume a certain amount of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. Trying to work against nature is a losing battle; one that can result in grave consequences. For those whose metabolic type tolerates high protein intake well, this diet may be quite effective, but for the majority, it will not be.

The body uses carbohydrates as a preferred fuel to produce cellular energy (ATP), with fat as a second choice and protein last. Glucose is the major breakdown product of carbohydrate digestion and the body’s major fuel. We should question a diet predominant in foods used as a last option for bodily energy, instead of it’s first choice. Even though protein is essential to good health, too much of anything is not good.

Amino acids are used by the body to make ATP only when proteins are overabundant and/or when carbohydrates and fats are not available. When it is necessary to oxidize amino acids for energy, their amine groups are removed as ammonia, which is toxic to the body cells. Fortunately, the body is designed to have the liver combine the ammonia with carbon dioxide to form urea, which is not harmful to body cells and is flushed out in the urine. What we want to avoid though is forcing the liver to work overtime in order to detoxify.

Low carb diets are also full of health complications because of high cholesterol, saturated and trans-fat content, while being low in fruits, vegetables and whole grains — foods with proven health benefits. It’s no good to say that some of the vitamins and minerals in these foods can be obtained through supplements, as this is a fragmented nutritional approach. It leaves out fiber or phytochemicals, which can only be found at the source.

When the American Institute for Cancer Research evaluated the Atkins’ diet, they found that this type of eating promotes the loss of water weight, and if maintained, the body reverts to a fasting state of ketosis, by which it begins to break down muscle tissue instead of fat over the long term. Ketosis is one of the body’s last-ditch emergency responses and deliberately inducing ketosis can lead to a host of serious complications.

The secret to good health is balanced nutrition, not unbalanced body manipulation. Nothing about the low carb diet encourages dieters to learn some very basic weight management strategies like portion control and serving sizes, let alone develop the skills necessary for a lifetime of balanced nutrition. Many people will tell you that this diet has worked for them, but they know little what permanent damage will come to light in the future. Both anti-low carb and pro-low carb advocates admit that the long-term effects are inconclusive.

I would also stress that the medical establishment’s low-fat, low-calorie, high-carb recommendations are not in moderation either, as they teach nothing about essential fatty acids, nor educate about whole or refined carbohydrates. Refinement is one of the leading factors contributing to the rate of being overweight and obese in the U.S. and other Western countries. Finding a healthy way to eat is what really counts.

Our bodies need correct portions of protein, carbohydrates and fats to run at peak efficiency. This calls for a moderate, whole food dietary approach, based upon correct metabolic type eating, to stay alkaline. This is done by subtly adjusting and fine-tuning the amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates you eat to feel your best.