Spartan 300 Workout

The “300″

A new movie boxoffice called “300″ has generated huge sales in recent weeks. The movie is about the Battle of Thermopylae where King Leonidas and 300 Spartan warriors fought against Xerxes and the million-man Persian army.

There is a lot of buzz now about how incredibly fit all of the actors who portrayed the Spartans looked. Is it a hype?

All the actors looked very fit, lean and muscular. You can tell that they didn’t do the traditional body-building type exercises. These stuntmen-turned actors only had a few months to get from “already in shape” into “shreded” ready for the big screen shooting – definitely no time for endless sets and reps.

The Spartan 300 Workout is performed in a strength circuit training fashion to simultaneously build lean muscle, increase muscular endurance and lose fat fast. It’s a “timed” fitness test, not a workout routine they train everyday.

Do the following exercises back to back without rest in between until finishing all 300 reps as one cycle. Some exercises are based on bodyweight workout or plyometric explosive power training.

Spartan 300 Workout Routine

Pullups x 25 reps
Deadlifts (135-lb barbell) x 50 reps
Pushups x 25 reps
Box Jumps (24-inch box) x 50 reps
Floor Wipers (135-lb barbell) x 50 reps
Single-Arm Clean-and-Presses (36-lb kettle bell) x 50 reps each arm
Pushups x 25 reps

Total Work = 300 reps in one cycle! That’s right. 300. Period.

I’m sure 99% of people would fail on the first exercise (pullups) no matter how many sets they’re allowed to do to complete the 25 reps.

Additionally, Trainer Mark Twight also put the actors through other very brutal functional strength training such as tire flipping, gymnastics-style ring pushup, medicine ball exercises, farmer’s walk, bear crawl, running with a jumpstretch band, and a lot of “core” conditioning exercises.

My last word of caution: the “300″ was in fact a “timed” test, a fitness challenge taken by some of the actors at the end of the 4-month training. It’s a true test of anyone’s mental toughness, muscular strength and endurance, and cardiovascular conditioning.

Is “300″ THE best workout? Not necessarily. But it’s absolutely an excellent conditioning routine. Before you flip-flop your training program, it’s how you do a training program consistently that really matters to see the results.

Success = Progression + Overload + Consistency + Nutrition

Still having troubles? How many of us are related to Spartans anyway?

Here is a modern Spartan 300 workout routine you can do right in your own backyard.

The Backyard Spartan Warrior 300 Workout