Spartacus Workout

Training and Nutrition Secrets to an A-List PhysiqSpartacus

Andy

Whitfield’s Workout and Diet Posted on May 18th, 2010 Craig Avera 43 comments Want to look like a Roman Gladiator?

Sure you do. If you’ve seen The Starz Original Series, Spartacus: Blood and Sand, you’ve undoubtedly noticed the ripped physiques the actors have attained to portray authentic Roman gladiators who fight in the arena as a living, or die by the sword If you haven’t seen this glorious new show, I’m sorry for you, because it is kickass. Check out the trailer at the bottom of the post (after you read it, no cheating!) and you’ll undoubtedly want to know how these guys got so ripped! Well lucky for you, I’m going to go over the workout and diet plan the actors used to achieve this look and how you can tweak it to meet your goals.

I...AM...SPARTACUS! If you've seen the show, you get it. If not, you probably  just think I have turrets.

The Spartacus Workout Men’s Health has come up with an interval-style workout that is said to have  been the backbone of the actors’ workout wor kout regimen (as they always alwa ys do when Hollywood creates a physique-based show or film). One of the great things

about the workout is it’s very mobile; you can pretty much do it anywhere with little space needed. To do the workout, all that’s needed are a pair of light dumbbells and one slightly heavier dumbbell (unless you have a slightly heavier kettlebell, which is preferred).

Myself, I use 15 lb dumbbells for the light weights and a 30 lb dumbbell for the heavier one. Feel it out for yourself, you may want to increase or decrease the weights,  but that’s what works best for me. You want to make each ex ercise challenging but not too heavy; you still want to be able to perform all the exercises with as little rest as possible. Designed for muscle strength, tone, and endurance

If huge muscle mass gains are your goal, you can still implement this workout into your program, because it really is kick-ass (I’ve mentioned that twice now so I’m not joking). However, as I’ll outline below for you, it won’t be the mainstay of your regimen. It does challenge your cardio as it is a weightedinterval circuit. o o o o

o

o

This is a 41 minute full body workout, including the rest periods Some exercises incorporate the weights, others are bodyweight only You will perform 3 rounds of 10 different exercises Each exercise is performed for 1 minute. You then rest for 15 seconds and move onto the next exercise. Rinse, lather and repeat. After a complete round of 10 exercises is finished, you earn a 2 minute break  before repeating the round twice more You should not rest; if you can’t finish an exercise for the full minute, rest as minimally as possible and keep going This is NOT an easy workout, but the more you do it, the easier it becomes as your strength and endurance increases

These are the exercises you’ll be doing:

7. Goblet Squat (Using heavier DB) 8. Mountain Climbers 9. Single-arm DB Swing (30 seconds each arm) 10. Alternating T-Pushups 11. Split Jumps 12. Bentover DB Row 13. DB Side-lunge and Touch 14. Renegade Row (Yavor @ Relative Strength Advantage shows the perfect form on these, watch video to see how) 15. Forward-lunge and Twist (Using heavier DB) 16. Overhead DB Press Don’t worry about counting reps while performing the exercises, just worry about staying on your two feet! Some of these really suck, I hate the Split Jumps but damn are they effective! The most amazing thing ever created for this

workout is the “Spartacus Workout Muse” which can be downloaded for free by clicking here. You won’t have to worry about a clock because this guy in your  headphones will tell you when to stop and when to go. AMAZING! Okay, I said earlier this isn’t as effective for mass-building. Some of you are worried about that, others are not. The brainiac child I am, I have designed two different workout plans based on each goal. And of course, you can tweak it how you see fit. These are just my recommendations: A) If you’re happy with the size of your muscles but want to increase definition, perform this workout 3 times per week on days you do not weight train. Monday: Chest/Back  Tuesday: Spartacus Workout Wednesday: Shoulders Thursday: Spartacus Workout Friday: Biceps and Triceps Saturday: Spartacus Workout Sunday: REST B) If you still want to add muscular size to your frame, use this workout 1-2 times per week, or perform just 1 round after your normal weight training workout as “finishing cardio.” Monday: Chest Tuesday: Back  Wednesday: Spartacus Workout Thursday: Legs Friday: Shoulders Saturday: Spartacus Workout Sunday: REST

You will indeed notice results quickly from this workout. It is  awesome for leaning out and dropping body fat quickly, if your diet is  on the mark.  PROS -High-intensity interval workout  -Great for burning fat and leaning out  -Will enhance muscle definition and strength -Increase muscular endurance -Hits practically every muscle in the body -Can be done practically anywhere with minimal equipment  -Great substitute for tedious boring cardio CON  -Not effective at building muscle mass because low resistance is used as opposed to heavy weights

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2CqtNeRK_w

The Spartacus Diet Plan To achieve the level of definition these characters have, diet is going to play a crucial role in the equation. Although not as glamorous or exciting as the workout plan, nutrition will be the key player in achieving the level of leanness to achieve the body of a gladiator. Calorie reduction and macronutrient balance will both be important. Because we’re going for leanness, we’re going to take my favorite route, the Paleo way. You should know what this is already from reading my Paleo Diet post, but if not, slap yourself on the wrist and check  it out. Then come back. Basically we are going to take insulin by the horn and not allow it to store fat –  we’re going to burn it instead. We are cutting out refined sugars and refined carbs – we will give anything processed the boot as well. There are tons of Paleo recipes on the internet – Google them for the time being, and I will post some of  my favorites soon. My year-round nutritional foundation is built upon this diet. It keeps me around 5 to 7 percent body fat all the time. You will be pleasantly surprised by how many Paleo-friendly substitutes can be used in place of typical ingredients. Chicken can be rolled in almond meal and pan fried in coconut oil for Paleo fried chicken – delicious by the way. Or if   you’re more culinary-challenged like me, you can take the simple route and basically have meals of lean meat and veggies, with nuts and fruit for snacks. And if you’re lazy and/or culinary-challenged, become friends with the everamazing Crock Pot. In the morning you can throw in a whole chicken, some vegetables, season the heck out of it, and go about your day. 8 hours later you’ll have the best tasting, most nutritious meal ever. Voila!  For even faster fat loss, Eat Stop Eat is a great nutritional tactic to use while eating a healthy Paleo Diet.

Sample Paleo Diet Daily Menu Breakfast – 3 whole egg omelet with mushrooms, broccoli, spinach Snack – Apple, handful of almonds Lunch – 6 oz salmon or chicken, mixed vegetables, green tea Snack – Banana with almond butter Dinner – Ribeye Steak, sweet potatoes with coconut oil and cinnamon, steamed asparagus Dessert – Frozen blueberries in almond milk (Paleo cereal)

Give the Spartacus Plan a shot if you want to look like a stud statue. It’s effective and challenging. I’m doing this workout 3 times a week at the moment, as in the first plan above. I’ve noticed definite strength increases and body fat is melting like ice cream on a hot summer day (come on, you love my analogies) . I think the workout itself is awesome – definitely demanding and brutally effective. Give it a shot and let me know what you think.

(I will be videoing myself doing this workout very soon, and will put it up as soon as I’ve done so)

Related posts: 17. My Personal Workout for Spring 2010 18. Training with a Purpose, Part 2: The Workout Celebrity Workouts, Workout Routines hollywood body, hollywood workouts, intervals, paleo diet, Spartacus workout

43 responses to “Spartacus Andy Whitfield’s Workout and Diet” o

Yavor May 18th, 2010 at 23:37 Craig, these kind of super detailed posts are killer. Regarding the guy in the workout video – he is doing Renegade Rows wrong lol! He is twisting his damn hips! Btw, I’m half way through the series, fantastic show!

Y. o

Raymond May 19th, 2010 at 00:33 Cool! these are my favourite style of workouts. It’s real warrior stuff. What helps me is really get into the zone… at the start I play music then I start to think treat this like a battle (me vs weights) …the intens ity level goes into outerspace. Paleo Diet is fantastic too ..I do my own version for the last year and I’m

now around 8% bodyfat and hoping to loose a bit more. Excellent topic o

FitXcel May 19th, 2010 at 01:27 Something that keeps popping up with these celebrity workouts is the circuit training they do. Great post! -Drew

o

Matt S May 19th, 2010 at 04:45 Workout look’s pretty intense. Im going to give it a go today. Also I have never heard of this show I don’t get the channel in Canada. Im going to start downloading now it looks great

o

Kelly May 19th, 2010 at 04:50 Craig, This is a great post! It is so informative and doesn’t leave anything to chance. I like to do these types of workouts every once in awhile. I was doing some other types of circuit training like the MODE training and Turbulence training from Craig Ballantyne. They all work great, I just have a hard time staying away from the weights for too long. I guess I still have a little meathead in me!

o

Matt S May 19th, 2010 at 07:01 I had to come back and make another post. I just finished it 20 minuets ago and … holy shit. ahahaha That killed me looking forward to incorporate this into my workout for a couple weeks and see the results.

o

Craig Avera May 19th, 2010 at 07:52 Yavor, Lol yeah I just noticed that – good thing I linked over to your video because your form is impeccable. To be honest I think this guy in the video is pretty boring but it was the best one I could find, but I am going to film myself doing the workout ASAP  – I’ll make you proud on the renegade rows Raymond, 8% body fat is excellent man – great work! I love intervals too – it’s cool you could pick 10 different exercises if you wanted and create a whole different workout, but just as intense – love it. And yeah, I feel my intensity shoot up big time AFTER round 1 on this one. After I get a sweat going, I turn into a beast lol.

Drew, Yep, true – especially when the role calls for super lean and size is less of a factor – although some of the actors of Spartacus are pretty darn big AND shredded! I saw Nick E Tarabay, who plays Asher, about a week  ago when hiking at Runyon Canyon… considering he doesn’t even play a Gladiator in the show, he looked pretty in shape! Matt, So glad you liked it man! The first time was so brutal on my legs  –  ugh… lol. But my pace is way faster now and I’ve definitely gained strength through it. BTW… go to “watchspartacus.com” and you can watch every episode, streaming video, for free Some are HD, others the quality lacks, but hey – at least you’ll get to check it out, it’s a great series! Enjoy. Kelly, Oh I agree completely man! As much as I love these workouts, I still do traditional weight training (usually non-competing supersets) for about 50% of my workouts. But I am a fan of full-body workouts, and this workout definitely nails em all! I don’t train legs with heavy weight, except deadlifts and thrusters on occasion, so these bodyweight leg workouts keep em strong without adding a lot of bulk. o

Matt S May 19th, 2010 at 08:09 Yeah my legs kill! Im only used to HIIT on my legs because im scared to add any mass to my legs. I played hockey most of my life and my legs are quite big already so any bigger and nice jeans don’t fit well. But doing this probably wont add any mass just tone up the muscle, maybe even knock off the little fat on them. Its sad I hurt but I can’t wait to do it again.

o

Craig Avera May 20th, 2010 at 10:02 Matt, Exactly man – I never do heavy weights for legs anymore. They just get  bulky too fast and it’s a pain in the ass! I’ve been doing the Spartacus Workout for a few weeks now, and it hasn’t caused any extra bulk, but my legs are gaining muscle tone. I did the workout last night, I swear I love it more each time

o

Luis August 29th, 2010 at 11:43 Easy to speak xD

o

Phil September 16th, 2010 at 11:32 how many calories should I take in a day on this diet? im eating 2000 calories down from 4500 a day for 16 years I’ve lost 25 pounds in 25 days. is 2000 calories good for this diet?

o

Craig Avera September 19th, 2010 at 12:34 Phil, 2000 is a good starting point. If you are performing the workout on 2000 cal and still not seeing fat loss, drop in daily increments of 200-300 until the fat begins to melt.

o

Phil September 20th, 2010 at 09:23 Thanks craig I’m proud to say today is 1 month since I changed my diet and I lost 27 pounds in 30 days! at 2000 calories and working out hard. my FFM is 180-185 I’m told. so to be at 10% body fat I’d need to be 203  pounds. I’m hoping that at 2000 calories joggin g / power walking 10km a day 7 days a week with weights 4 times a week that I will get to 10% body fat. I wonder how many calories Andy Whitfield takes in a day to keep his physique.

o

Craig Avera September 22nd, 2010 at 08:46 Phil, 27 pounds in 30 days is incredible – I admire your dedication and hard work, that’s no easy task right there. Keep up the hard work, it’s obviously paying off and you’ll be sub 10% body fat before you know it!

o

kokki October 10th, 2010 at 21:54 great post aswume shit.

o

 jeremiah October 19th, 2010 at 07:23 craig, I just started doing this workout and its amazing. It is so much better than the workouts I did for college football. I am currently 5’10” 211 lbs and my BMI says im at 25% body fat. I need to either get down to 179 or 18% by February for basic training. I would like to be at 12-14. Do you think this workout will do the trick?

o

Craig Avera October 19th, 2010 at 17:14 Jeremiah, Yeah I love the workout too. Did it this morning. Yeah it will help you drop body fat quickly and effectively. Since you did college football and are obviously athletic, I’d aim for 3-4 times a week with this workout and a Paleo diet and I would expect to see some amazing results.

o

Trevor November 10th, 2010 at 21:33 Craig,

Thanks for the great post. I found this workout on the men’s health website recently and you really nailed the explanation.

Question: Would this workout help put on “muscle-weight”? It seems like it would but they also tote it as a fat-burning workout too. Right now I am 5’11″ and 150 pounds. I am only 19 and I don’t hav e a lot of fat on me and I want to build some muscle. This workout looks great and I would love to do it but I am just not sure if it will help me put on muscle. o

Craig Avera November 10th, 2010 at 23:48 Trevor, Thanks man. I noticed more improvements in definition and fat loss from this workout. If you’re looking to gain a little muscle, I would use this workout along with days where you do traditional weight training and keep the calories up. At your stats, you shouldn’t put on fat, but might gain some lean muscle by doing so.

o

Apolonia Schuchardt December 2nd, 2010 at 21:47 We really cherish this site. Iwish I could come here all the time.

o

 john December 29th, 2010 at 19:41 hey man im 14 going on 15 and im going to start this workout.All i REALLY want is a 6-pack. i can already see my top 2 but have some fat on my stomach. will this burn it off? what would i have to eat/how many calories? im 5’4″ 110pounds(maybe more really not to sure.) all ive always wanted is that six pack man! thats all its about at our age =/ 

o

T December 31st, 2010 at 10:36 Hi Craig, Can an eighteen year old female at 5ft4 and 125lbs do this?

o

Craig Avera January 3rd, 2011 at 17:00 John, Ahh the coveted six- pack. You’ll get there if you take the right steps. This workout program / diet is certainly effective at burning fat. Nutrition is a crucial component so make sure you are spot on in that area, although at 15 years old, your metabolism should be burning like a Ferrari anyway. Be patient, at that age, muscle development is tough, so your abs may not “pop” for awhile.

T, The cool thing is you can go at your own pace. Form comes before speed, so make sure you are performing every movement correctly to avoid injury – range of motion is also important here. Say you can do 50 split jumps and I can only do 20. As long as you’re pushing your lactic threshold, you will reap the benefits. o

Gary January 23rd, 2011 at 22:18 Hey awesome post Craig I really love this show and the story behind Andy Whitfield. I am currently 5’8″ 176lbs, tons of muscle, but looking to really add definition. I am currently at 10% BMI. What weight would you recommend to use??

o

Craig Avera January 24th, 2011 at 10:36 Gary, Hey buddy – It’s a great show right? My good friend was in the running for the lead of Season 2, but didn’t quite get it If you’re looking to be at a similar type physique as Whitfield, he’s actually not all that big, but lean as hell. At 5’8″ you sound like you have more than enough muscle to have the look, just need to get your BF down to around 6-8%. You should be doing weighted interval workouts with a slightly restricted calorie diet. I would lean toward a more Paleo style diet and try to get down to about 165 lbs.

o

Gary January 24th, 2011 at 21:40 Thanks Craig for the speedy response!! yeah my physique is there, just needs that little extra!! I’m in college and working full-time so preparing my meals can be hard at times, but after reading through the Paleo diet(caveman diet) it seems very easy to follow, and easy on the pocket book as well. I’ll give this workout a try, and let you know my progress by Valentines day.. haha

o

Gary January 31st, 2011 at 13:49 If anyone is interested I made a few printable workout tracker for this, courtesy of bodybuilding.com, just cross out my name with yours http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/printlog2.php?firstname=Gary&name =The+Spartacus+Workout&num_exercises=10&Exercise%5B%5D=Go blet+Squat&Sets%5B%5D=3&Exercise%5B%5D=Mountain+Climber& Sets%5B%5D=3&Exercise%5B%5D=Singlearm+dumbbell+swing&Sets%5B%5D=3&Exercise%5B%5D=Tpushup&Sets%5B%5D=3&Exercise%5B%5D=Split+jump&Sets%5B% 5D=3&Exercise%5B%5D=Dumbbell+row&Sets%5B%5D=3&Exercise

%5B%5D=Dumbbell+side+lunge+and+touch&Sets%5B%5D=3&Exerci se%5B%5D=Pushupposition+row&Sets%5B%5D=3&Exercise%5B%5D=Dumbbell+lunge+ and+rotation&Sets%5B%5D=3&Exercise%5B%5D=Dumbbell+push+pr ess&Sets%5B%5D=3&mood=yes&weight=yes&cardio=yes&location=y es&length=yes&comments=yes&instruct=yes&pdf=yes o

Shaun Fleming February 18th, 2011 at 23:12 Great website. Love the Spartacus workout plans in detail. I’ve been wanting to try spartacus my lift days and didnt know the right way to work it in. In addition, felt working out only 3 days a week wasnt enough as currently going 5-6 times. I was planning on doing plan A – happy with size but want increased definition. Just had a quick question. At the end of heavy lift days I like running on the treadmill – great stress reliever and really enjoy it. Do u think I risk over training doing treadmill runs on the lift days and spartacus workout the other days? When would u work in ab workouts or are the mountain climbers in spartacus sufficient?? Thanks for your help.

o

Craig Avera February 23rd, 2011 at 23:35 Shaun, I think hitting a little post-lifting cardio will be just fine, as long as you’re not overdoing it. I would limit it to 30 minutes or less if you’re coupling lifting with the Spartacus workout, because although it’s interval cardio, it will create muscle fatigue so you will want recovery time. If you’re in pretty good shape and it sounds like you are, you shouldn’t risk over training by doing as mentioned above. Although many of the exercises are core- based and will tighten up the abdominals, it wouldn’t hurt to dedicate 15-20 minutes to ab work 2-3 times a week. Best wishes!

o

Cale February 28th, 2011 at 11:54 Craig, Excellent workout, Sir! I have spent the last couple years dropping fat from my out of shape  body and adding muscle slowly but surely. I’m happy with my size now, 18, 5’10”, 160 lbs..But I’m sitting at around 11-12% body fat. If I stay strict on this plan, do you think it will help me drop these last few pounds of fat before summer comes around? I was also wondering whether or not I should add any extra cardio to the plan as well. Thanks in advance!

Cale o

Zee March 1st, 2011 at 09:19 Hi Craig! Thanks so much for your posts. I love your site. This and reading about Spartacus on other sites has inspired me to try it! In the middle of my first week. It gets my breathing really intense – but I feel pretty conditioned going into it, due to taking gym classes that work circuits sort of similar to this. I’ve had about 10-15 lbs of what I call “desk job weight.” I managed to lose 7-9 of those over 3 months (over the HOLIDAYS, to boot!) through nutrition and exercise (4-6 days/week). But it has been very slow going –  my body seems to not want to lose any more weight (I’m female, at 137 lbs at 5’8– a healthy weight for my height, but I want to achieve that LA physique and have my muscles pop.) Hoping Spartacus and cutting sugar from my diet will do the trick.

o

Luka March 1st, 2011 at 16:27 Hi Craig! Thanks for great post. I’ ve been Spartacus fan from the beginning, and always admired to those actors and theirs 6-packs! Now I can try to be like them, but I have some questions before.. I’m 6’1 and have 222 lbs,(hopefully I converted it correctly) which is far  from perfect, but I’m not either one of those guys with beer belly, have some muscles too, so I was wondering if combination of spartacus training 3 days a week and kickboxing training 3 days a week can give me so much wanted looks or at least close to that… or that is going to be to much and maybe produce counter effect – and is 2000 kcal a lot or is it ok (diet is already in process, not exactly Paleo diet, but very similar)?

Thanks for your answer and greetings from Croatia. Luka o

Luke March 7th, 2011 at 21:06 Can u use the Spartacus workout for mass gaining?, I was thinking instead of doing it to cut fat with the as many reps in a minute , could u do those exercises in the order they r there but do the 8-12 reps to gain mass?

o

Craig Avera March 7th, 2011 at 21:51

Cale, This is a definite calorie/fat burner and will expedite getting that summer body in shape! If you want to toss in some more cardio, feel free, but I would try and do the Spartacus workout and the additional cardio in separate workouts… ie, AM cardio, PM Spartacus or visa versa. Zee, Cutting sugars and refined carbs will definitely benefit your goals I dropped refined sugar from my diet (I’m Paleo) and maintain 6% body fat and feel amazing. That with a high intensity workout like this one, and you will notice great results. Way to go! Luka, Dude, you have a great plan going. I actually just finished a 1 hour kickboxing class and it kicked my ass! Sweating like crazy and felt great afterward. Definitely will condition your body and tone muscles in ways other workouts can’t. I really like the idea you have of  Spartacus/kickboxing alternating the two. Let me know how it goes. I would stick around 2000 calories to start and adjust accordingly. Personally I don’t count calories, but eat a ton and maintain a low BF% due to good food choices and a high activity level. Luke, 8-12 reps with weight? Hmm… some of the exercises yes, some no…(mountain climbers for example) but I like that idea. o

Shaun Fleming March 8th, 2011 at 10:24 Thanks for you help Craig in answering my questions. Just one more quick question. Mens Health just came out with Spartacus 2.0. Have you tried it? How does it compare to the original in your opinion?

o

Craig Avera March 9th, 2011 at 16:37 Shaun, Just looked it over and it does indeed look to be another good one. All movements are functional and accessible… both good things. I will try this bad boy out and let you know first hand But from a first glance, looks stellar. Good movements, great work/rest ratio and high intensity level. I will for now, blindly recommend. It would be good to alternate  between this and the original… that way you will be mixing it up even more.

o

Jeremy March 13th, 2011 at 13:35 Is it ok to do this workout everyday for quick fatloss instead of doing it 3x week?

o

Craig Avera March 20th, 2011 at 09:41

Jeremy, I suppose you could, although I wouldn’t recommend doing the same workout every time – all the time. Variety as I’m sure you know, is good when it comes to working out. Although this is a killer workout and great for fat burning, I’d still implement other means of training in there as well. o

Steven Bancroft April 5th, 2011 at 08:57 This is a great workout because you don’t need much equipment and can easily do it at home. I haven’t tried the regimen you set out, but have done most of the exercises you suggest and they are good. Thanks for setting out the workout like that. Often you need to pay for access to that kind of detail but you’re cool enough to give it away free. Thanks. Steven Bancroft´s last blog ..Horizon Fitness EX-59 Elliptical Trainer

Review o

manny April 5th, 2011 at 21:43 If doing this workout. Should I take the $ protin shakes a day with the diet plan?

o

manny April 6th, 2011 at 16:38 If doing this workout. Should I take the 4 protin shakes a day with the diet plan?

o

Ernest @ weight loss drops April 7th, 2011 at 09:06 Spartacus workout is like the circuit routine that i am doing. You should not stop performing it. But everything that you had mentioned about the workout is a bit complicated. I would really want to try this one. But then everything should be done with determination to see great results. Am I right?

o

ankit mahajan April 22nd, 2011 at 19:09 what will be the diet plan for vegetarians?

Leave a reply