How To Build 300 Warrior’s Body with Gym Workout?

September 26th, 2007 · 16 Comments ·

Most of you have probably watched 300 movie. Many have written about this movie and some are still talking about it. Hope it is not too late for me to write about 300. Not really the review on the movie itself, but something else.

Just in case you wonder what 300 movie is about - it is actually a film adaptation of the graphic novel 300 by Frank Miller. It is about how Spartan King Leonidas and 300 Spartans fight to the last man against Persian King Xerxes and his army of over one million soldiers.

Lots of slow motion shots and gimmicky Matrix-style battle scenes. Almost all battle scene features at least one long shot that varies from super slow motion to super fast motion repeatedly. If you like Matrix with lots of blood, you will like 300.

What really impressed me is not so much on the story, but the actors’ body shapes.

Most girls may drool over the actors’ solid body shapes because this movie really shows lots of man-flesh. I almost dropped my balls after I found out about the training routine the crew has gone through. The director has successfully shown that Spartan army was not only cruel, but also ripped with muscle built from the hardships.

While surfing the Net for 300 movie posters, came to know Mark Twight with his so called 300 workout. Wonder who Mark Twight is? Mark Twight is an exercise guru and former world-class mountain climber who clings to the “no pain, no gain” mantra. 300 actors were trained by him under his brainchild program which has the same name, 300.

Gym Jones, where the crew was trained, is a no-frills gym. No funky music, no air conditioning, no mirrors and no comfortable place to sit. Twight warns that his Spartan workout is not for the faint-hearted, nor the out-of-shape.

These men were trained eight to ten weeks. One of the more interesting purposes behind this workout scheme is that the trainers did not want to turn the actors into bodybuilders. They wanted to create the conditions of the Greek warriors, shaping the modern man into a warrior look alike.

When I watched the preview of this movie, I thought the production team was relying computers alone to shape the actor’s bodies. I was wrong. These actors have shed their sweat and tears to get bodies like that. Like what Twight wrote, “The typical interviewer wants to know about the “magic” workout the cast did to make them look so good. Some were disappointed to learn that hard work is magic…”

No shortcut. Hard work and discipline instead.

King Xerxes (left) is not really that tall in real life.

“300″ workout gets its name from the total number of repetitions. But, those 300 reps are not done every day. Rather, the 300 workout was the finale of months of training, a kind of graduation test, after actors had weight lifted and trained with tools such as medicine balls and Kettlebells. What they were training is to prepare for the “300″ test. Here is what the regimen:

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 for a total of 300 reps and do all of them in less than 20 minutes.

See the pool of sweat?

No shit. All compound exercises.

300 is a one-time test, an invitation-only challenge undertaken by those deemed ready for it. By the end of the four-month project, 17 people had done the workout. This constitutes about 50% of the cast and stunt crew. Only one actor passed the test. Andrew Pleavin, who plays Daxos, leader of the Arcadians, was the only actor to take it. He finished in 18 minutes and 11 seconds.

You may have thought they have gone through typical bodybuilding programme of progressive overload and tonnes of supplements to make those guys bulk up. Not really. Twight said, “We took the opposite route of calorie restriction to make them look like they lived off the land, in the wild, all sinewy and ripped. The diet was adequate to fuel effort and recovery, barely.”

Training for the actors required 90 minutes to two hours a day, five days a week, plus the same amount of time fight training. Stuntmen trained 90 minutes to two hours, five days a week, and another four to six hours fight training.

The workouts are tough. In one interview, Gerry Butler, who plays the Spartan King Leonidas, summed up his experience when he said, “Pretty much anything Mark Twight offered up was so difficult in the kind of way where you wish you had never been born - and even more than that, wished he had never been born.”

To become King Leonidas, Butler, who by his own admission was in less- than-ideal shape when he was tapped for the starring role in 300, spent 4 months transforming both his body and his mind. He went through the intense training required to build a warrior’s physique, aesthetically and functionally and with a warrior’s mentality.

This program is not for layman like us. “To ensure that the guys would last for the entire project, we addressed recovery as well as hard work in our process: we had a massage therapist on-site every day and a kinesiologist visited twice per week to treat anyone ailing.”

Damn, can you believe that?

If one is out-of-shape person, he will not survive under 300 training, even on the first day. One could probably only benefit from the Gym Jones workout is the person who already has a foundation in working out. So, no, not for a beginner. The entire regimen is too intense for the average person, but, do not be surprised if a modified version of the 300 workout appears at your local gym club. If US, Australia and Singapore can accommodate pole dancing after Demi Moore popularized it in the movie of Striptease, it is definitely possible to see a scale down version of 300 is introduced.

I like what Mark said, “…If you decide to do any of the workouts, take responsibility for your decisions and for the load you use. You make your own bed. Be willing to lie in it.”

So, ladies, if you have not watched 300 yet, go watch it now and it will better prepare you for a naughty night dream. As for guys, feel free to be jealous, but, don’t hate. And all for gym goers, watch the movie and go whack the irons today!

You may be interested in getting some of these 300 stuffs from Amazon:

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16 responses so far ↓

ShadowFox // Sep 26, 2007 at 12:28 am

The most important element left out, the DIET.. What were they eating ??!!
Mun // Sep 26, 2007 at 12:39 am

According to Mark Twight, he did not overfeed to make the guys look huge. He took the opposite route of calorie restriction to make them look like they lived in the wild. Ripped and toned. In short, the diet was just adequate to fuel effort and recovery. Unfortunately, he did not disclose what diet menu he used.
Angie Tan // Sep 26, 2007 at 11:40 am

Wow…

Hmmmm… Expected that their diet to be kind of frugal if they want to mimic the body conditions of the Spartan warrior of those times.

Besides, if you look at Spartan history, they train all their life from childhood right up to retirement/death.
Mike Pedersen Golf // Sep 30, 2007 at 9:14 pm

This is my all time favorite movie. The dedication of these guys from a fitness standpoint is admirable. I don’t know if another movie can top this one for me.
Andy P // Oct 14, 2007 at 11:20 pm

The results the actors got for the movie is truly remarkable, and much credit belongs to their trainer, Mark Twight, for getting the job done. However, to write he is “a self-taught exercise guru” or imply that the it was “his” training style / exercise programming he used in getting those results is simply flat out wrong. Twight’s programming is an EXACT replica of the training that CrossFit has been doing for years prior to even the idea for the movie “300″. In fact, Twight used to be affiliated with CrossFit, having attended multiple seminars and learned all that he could from it’s remarkable system, until, that is, he decided to completely break all ties, and claim that EVERYTHING he did for 300 was his own invention.
Jannie Brooks // Nov 10, 2007 at 1:15 pm

Is there anyway to get the die that the actors used to get trhe lean look.
MS // Nov 16, 2007 at 11:59 am

My guess is that you should try either something like the Zone or a Paleo diet of Meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar. That coupled with some calorie restriction and consistent Crossfit workouts should get you there…Not easy but fun.
Csaba_KB_Exp // Dec 11, 2007 at 2:57 pm

On one of the black and white picture an actor working out with a kettlebell.
I have two of those at home and in my opinion, it’s a simple but very effective exercise tool for extreme all-round fitness. You can do a full body workout combined with cardiovascular training at the same time and get very fast results in fat loss, strength gains and endurance.
Sam // Mar 5, 2008 at 12:35 pm

so, what are “floor wipers”
leyton // Mar 14, 2008 at 7:48 pm

I question why no individual has mentioned the role lighting and make-up played in the way the guys bodies looked.In one of the above pictures the you can clearly see what i mean.Not to take anything away from them….the cross fit style workout is hard and rigorous but it would be a shame if any young people new to training were not given all the facts.
Former Fat Guy // Mar 20, 2008 at 3:42 pm

Nice post, well written.

I’m in the middle of an interview with Craig Ballantyne, author of Turbulence Training and the guy who created the 300 workout video for Mens Health.

But that’s not why I’m here.

Stumbled Upon your post as anything 300 related always catches my attention. As I said, nicely worded post.
Plumley // Mar 25, 2008 at 5:17 am

This is a gd workout for me right now i’m at the point now where i am goign to be doign this workout for 2 weeks straight 6 days a week, i can get it done just under 23 mintes:) hopfully by the end i can get it done around 15 min I’m only 18 200 lbs been working out for just over a year but am super hardcore:) Rugby ftw!!
helena // Apr 4, 2008 at 7:28 am

OMG I loved that movie but I want to know y king xerxes has so many piercings I’ve tried to look it up all over history and the internet and it doesn’t say anything about it can you tell me why he does and for what purpose?
Three Hunzx // Jun 10, 2008 at 12:05 am

Great movie, really gives you motivation to get to the gym and train.

I do conventional weight training, the 300 routine would be great for switching things up. Not only is it muscular, but endurance as well.
chirag // Jun 23, 2008 at 11:26 pm

They worked very hard and we can see that in the movie. I also do regular exercises and more interested in building bigger muscles. After seeing this movie, I have been motivated and now I can do exercises with more intensity. Great movie!!!!
Slz // Jul 29, 2008 at 8:03 pm

haha, reminds of the time i went for muay thai training,
morning: 5-6km jog/run
light strecthing
footwork, 15 mins skiprope, pad punches and kicks

evening:200 punches, 200 kicks
200 crunches, 200 pushups and above
2×500 sprints, uphill and downhill.
light stretching

result: loss of 10kgs, more muscle definition, improved heart and stamina rate

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How To Build 300 Warrior’s Body with Gym Workout?