300

Set in 480BC, 300 is a fantasy/action film based on the Battle of Thermopylae during which 300 Spartans led by King Leonidas make a heroic stand against the overwhelming Persian army commanded by Xerxes. If you haven’t seen the film, go watch it. Alright, it’s not exactly an award winning blockbuster but it’s a pure cult movie.

I like it for its OTT brutality and the venomous and famous This Is Sparta cry. It also made me wonder, how did Gerard Butler get those six-pack abs, that stacked upper body and those rock-hard thighs?

This is how! Check out this workout. The Spartan 300 workout contains of:

·         Pullups - 25 reps

·         Barbell Deadlift with 135 lbs. - 50 reps

·         Pushups - 50 reps

·         24-inch Box Jumps - 50 reps

·         Floor Wipers - 50 reps

·         Single-Arm Clean-and-Press with 36 lbs Kettlebell - 50 reps

·         Pullups - 25 reps

According to Craig Ballantyne (Men's Health contributor and strength and conditioning coach): “It's a brutal workout, starting out strong and slowing down, finishing at a crawl … I don't plan on doing that any time soon or, really, ever again."

Sounds like my kind of workout - planning on doing it tonight. I’ll let you know how I stacked up.

The clock it ticking ...

This blog is the classic mirror reflection of the fitness industry. When the clock strikes midnight on 31^st December, each year we are full of two things: champagne and the desire to change. We’ve all drawn up that list of new years’ resolutions to force change typically around health, wealth and happiness. A very likely trend across all such forced changes is that by 15^th January most of those resolutions have been broken. It so happens that my last fitness related blog post came on 26^th January. Time to take stock and pick up the pieces.

Earlier this year, I set out to improve my physical appearance and train myself into the best body shape of my life (let’s refresh our memory here; Fit By July 2012). Sometimes you start a project with the best intentions but life has a way of putting obstacles in my way. There always is another work email/project that needs doing, a holiday to go on, a night out drinking, a day on the sofa to recover from the drinking, etc. that takes higher short term importance over that next workout. Truth be told, while my blogging has been non-existent over the past 5 months my training has only been slightly better. Far from exemplary but I have averaged somewhere around 2 workouts per week. I already mentioned old habits, lacking a clear goal/aim and the fact that physical exercise with the sole purpose of maintenance is not rewarding.

So, the clock is ticking. Fact. I’ve got 3 weeks left to make a change. Oh and I’ve stupidly signed up to a Tough Mudder event which is also rapidly approaching. Time to ramp up the training, change my workout routine and diet. Watch this space.