300 WorkOut

The 300 misconception.

Everyone who has seen the movie 300 is familiar with the ripped abs and physiques of the Warrior Spartans i.e. the 300 of them that went out to attack the invading Persians.

Historically, around 480 BC King Leonidas of Sparta went out with 300 warrior body guards to attack an invading Persian army led by King Xerxes. Leonidas eventually dies in the Battle of Thermopylae after repelling waves of attacks. The release of the movie 300 brought about a renewed interest in warrior grade physiques and more so what we in 2009 can do to achieve them.

'This is Madness!'
'Madness?? This is Spaaaaaartaaaaaaaa !!!!'

Those are probably the most famous words taken from the movie.

While some of us hope to some day adorn a red pair of undies and a red cape, some of us have aspired to work on the physiques to match the outfit. There have been numerous you tube clips and articles on the '300 workout'. My research has led me to find the workout to be -

“300 workout”

25x Pull-ups,
50x Deadlift at 135 lb,
50x Push-up,
50x Box Jump at 24” above the floor box,
50x Floor Wiper at 135 lbs,
50x KB Clean and Press at 36 lbs,
25x Pull-up.

300 reps in total.

After listening to a few interviews by Scotsman Gerard Butler on Jay Leno and others, I looked into the coach behind the training whom I found to be Mark Twight. Mark describes the 300 workout as not really the work out at all. The '300' was actually a test after the workouts!

The actual training involved compound movements, lifting and throwing. They used tools like kettleballs, medicine balls, etc as opposed to machines. The training itself was different to bodybuilding as they did not focus on progressive overloads and over feeding. In fact, the 300 actors were not allowed to eat much at all focusing on what it may have been like to live off the land at the time. Hence there cut ripped look.

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