The One Punch Man Workout

Scroll Down

Since 2009, I’ve followed the exploits of this bald badass named Saitama.  And in a reveal just a few years back, he shares his superpowered training routine.

First, an introduction to the manga if you aren’t familiar: Saitama is a bald hero who has an unconventional issue. He is too strong to satisfy his desire to have a challenging fight, and often ends enemies with world-ending powers with a single punch.

Hence “One Punch Man”.

The manga itself started as a joke, poking fun at Japan’s action manga/anime cliches. Over time, it has spun off into a well-drawn (and now, well-animated) series drawing many fans who yearn to see Saitama need more than one good blow to kill a monster.

Saitama
Saitama, in serious business mode.

In the series, he reveals his secret training that transformed him from a humble Japanese man into a superhero. This is the One Punch Man Workout.

The One Punch Man Workout Routine

  • 100 Push-Ups
  • 100 Sit-Ups
  • 100 Squats
  • 10KM Running (that’s 6.2 miles)

Repeat 7 days a week. That’s it!

One Punch Man Workout Manga
Source: Mangahere

What Will Saitama’s Workout Do For You?

Now, a few observations on this routine, compared to real routines like Roam Strong’s Workout System.

Will you explode things in one punch and go bald? Probably not. But the routine is pretty good and offers some excellent health & body benefits.

This system does hit many major movement patterns. You have a pushing motion (push-ups), core training (sit-ups), leg training (squats), and some cardio (running). As far as fitness routines goes, this is superior to what people normally do at the gym. That is, these bodyweight exercises hit more muscle groups in a more natural pattern. No cable curls, no strange forced machine movements, and much less injury risk since all exercises are bodyweight only.

You could expect a routine like this to be great for an actual fighter. Boxers, martial artists, and other athletes looking for both explosiveness and muscular endurance (so you can throw a LOT of good punches, not just one) benefit from high-rep exercises, like 100 reps would accomplish. Your cardiovascular conditioning and muscular endurance would be phenomenal in the upper body (100 push-ups in a row is a lot), but you’d expect just average core and legs compared to a generic gym-goer. 100 squats and 100 sit-ups is not the most trying accomplishment on muscle.

Your cardiovascular health would be incredible! You have a good balance of strength work with road work (an old boxing term for running), and the two together turn your body into a juggernaut of fitness.

And since everything is bodyweight, you have no fear of ballooning up in weight. If you start to gain inefficient weight (fat), doing more push-ups, squats, and sit-ups becomes harder. So this bodyweight workout does an excellent job of regulating fat gain, but encouraging muscle gain.

However, this routine would not be the best if you’re looking to raw muscle size or raw muscle strength. While you will see positive muscle size increases and strength increases, the routine does not focus on them. You are better off following my bodyweight workout system or a conventional weightlifting protocol like Ice Cream Fitness if you want to lift heavy things.

It also lacks a pulling movement pattern, as found in pull-ups. Including pull-ups would make this a bulletproof workout plan. If you have access to a bar or can afford one, absolutely add pull-ups. Just don’t expect to hit 100 reps of them!

Pros of the One Punch Man Workout:

  • Muscular Endurance
  • Cardiovascular Endurance
  • Really, really fun
  • Very easy to follow
  • No equipment needed!

Cons of the One Punch Man Workout:

  • Not the most effective for hypertrophy (muscle size growth)
  • Doesn’t build excellent force production (raw strength for heavy weights)

Ways to Work Up to Saitama’s Workout

If you’re inspired by your favorite fiction to work out (hell, that’s how I started out) then go for it! This workout is a pretty exciting and effective way to get seriously fit, even if you’re currently very unfit.

That said, Saitama’s workout isn’t as simple as just hammering out 100 reps of the 3 exercises and running 6.2 miles. But I have a solution.

Break up the 100 reps into multiple sets, with a 2-3 minute break inbetween.  So instead of 100 reps of push-ups straight, you’ll work up to doing 5 sets of 20 (100 reps total). Then 5 sets of 25 (125 reps total). Then 4×25 (100 reps total). And so on.

The idea is, the less sets you need to get up to (or past) 100 reps, the better your muscular endurance and raw strength potential become. And eventually, you’ll find you only need 1 set to hit 100 push-ups!

ANOTHER OPTION: Instead of having a single workout time to do all these, strive to work in small sets of 1-10 reps through the day of each exercise. So say, in the morning, do 10 push-ups, then 10 sit-ups, then 10 squats. Maybe an hour later, do it again.

I would also advise you don’t do this everyday, even when you can manage to. Your body requires time to rest and recover. That’s where you actually develop strength, endurance, and heatlh. If you’re constantly tearing down your body without giving it some rest, you will stall your progress. Instead, I suggest you workout 3-4 days a week. I’ll say 3 for now, but do 4 if you are as ambitious as Saitama or Genos. If you feel the need to go for more, let me know how it goes… but I imagine that you’d quickly plateau.

NOTE: Skip running for now if you don’t like it, as running has been the number 1 exercise that steers a person away from fitness – anecdotal experience. We want to make sure you start small, but consistently! If you want to add a little running after your workout, don’t go crazy. Most of the benefits will come from the other exercises.

Here’s a sample of how this workout could look over a 3 week period.

A Sample Starter One Punch Man Workout

Here are tutorials of the moves (and other variants building up to them): Push-up Tutorial // Sit-up Tutorial // Squat Tutorial

Week 1:

  • Monday: 5×5 Push-ups, 5×10 Sit-ups, 5×5 Squats
  • Wednesday: 5×6 Push-ups, 5×11 Sit-ups, 5×6 Squats
  • Friday: 5×7 Push-ups, 5×12 Sit-ups, 5×7 Squats

Week 2:

  • Monday: 5×8 Push-ups, 5×13 Sit-ups, 5×8 Squats
  • Wednesday: 5×9 Push-ups, 5×14 Sit-ups, 5×9 Squats
  • Friday: 5×10 Push-ups, 5×15 Sit-ups, 5×10 Squats

Week 3:

  • Monday: 7×6 Push-ups, 7×10 Sit-ups, 7×8 Squats
  • Wednesday: 7×7 Push-ups, 7×11 Sit-ups, 7×9 Squats
  • Friday: 7×8 Push-ups, 7×12 Sit-ups, 7×10 Squats

The idea is, you want to stick to sets of 5 to 7 in the early stages. Increase your reps by 1 per set until you hit a plateau (meaning, your progress stalls). Then add more sets with less reps. So if you can’t hit 5×10 (5 sets of 10 reps, 50 reps total), next day, try 7×7 (7 sets of 7 reps, 49 reps total). This way, your reps is about the same, but you have them drawn out over a longer period of time, giving you time to recover.

But if you can hit 5×10, then you’d try 5×11 next workout. Make sense? Always use 5-sets as your benchmark! And whenever you feel like it, you can replace a workout day with a “test day”. Meaning, you try your hardest to make it to 100 of each exercise.

The Diet: What Should I Eat For This Workout?

Saitama only had one rule: don’t skip breakfast (and a banana in the morning is fine, too). But in reality, your results comes from your diet.

Lucky for you, this isn’t difficult. There’s 2 major necessities to develop your hero strength:

  1. More protein – at least .8g per pound of bodyweight. Feel free to do a little more or a little less, but know that you likely won’t need more than that.
  2. More vegetables – to make bowel movements easier, to balance your body’s PH, and to get some vitamins and minerals (though a good multivitamin like Rainbow Light’s Men’s One covers that). You should strive to eat some vegetables with your protein

I also have a simple guide for you: my Nomad Diet, a simple way to eat that gives you food flexibility, staying true to principles that work instead of bullshit.

Diet is a massive topic with a lot of emotion surrounding it, with a million different books and a million experts telling you they know what’s best. Do whatever you want as long as you get enough protein, and adjust accordingly. If you’re seeing results with whatever diet you’re on (meaning, you’re looker better, getting stronger, doing more reps, feeling less tired), then do whatever you want.

If you’re working out 3 days a week or more, I’d also supplement your diet with a scoop of protein powder sometime during the day (ideally post-workout). My two favorites are:

  1. Optimum Nutrition’s Gold Standard for the best cost-to-purity
  2.  Dymatize XT line for one of my favorite flavors without being loaded with other macros (Syntha-6, while delicious, has less “pure” protein in the mixture).

Conclusion

I used a lot of words to describe a workout that was printed on a single page of a manga, but I wanted to make sure you saw the potential this workout has as a legitimate “General Physical Preparedness” (GPP) program, or as an intro to bodyweight strength training.

I hope this program helps you get excited to workout. And who knows, with enough training, you might become the next Saitama.

Thanks for reading everyone, and I hope this inspires you as much as it inspires me. Any questions or ideas, leave a comment below.

Become Stronger, Live Longer

Be your own hero, and transform your body and habits. Get updates whenever I post new content.

I agree to have my personal information transfered to MailChimp ( more information )

Unsubscribe any time, no hard feelings.

196 replies on “The One Punch Man Workout”

Lol, 100 Push-Ups, Sit-Ups, and Squats wouldn’t even make a seasoned fighter sweat. That’s not even a warmup. The 6.2 miles is the only potentially challenging part of the workout. I’m not even being cocky either. Those numbers are stuff to laugh at for high level athletes.

You’d be right if we were just doing the 100/100/100/6.2 reps. Boxing classes did about that much in a typical training day. Respectfully, I must also say that you’re missing the point.
Everybody starts somewhere, and people need a workout that inspires them. If this is the goal they can focus on (with a worthwhile progression: simply increasing volume of exercise), then I say it’s a worthwhile one.
That said, doing 100 pushups without rest is a feat. So I also disagree with the ease of that challenge. 😉

I have been doing zym from 2 months as everyone I was doing 4days in a week each day..like one day chest then biceps and then shoulder ..repeat everyday ..I was getting results as I was gaining muscle but then from last 6 days m doing saitama sensei’s training method and it was really intense and I was sweating so much ..but I lost my muscles gain and again came back to normal body as I was before ..so what would u recommend me should I keep doing it or change to normal routine like one day biceps etc or should I mix them like after doing running,push ups and sit ups I will do chest one day then second day same running,push ups ,sit ups then biceps .
Please answer me asap

Blast,

This type of exercise will cut excess bloat in muscle, but increases endurance pathways and bloodflow and nueron connections. You need both types of training. Start with bodyweight/endurance like a fighter, then look at replacing one or two days a week with weight days after you get this solid dense muscle, and then new heavyweight endurance muscle will start to build. Also, take at least 1 day a week off a week when you start lifting.

Also he said you have to train until your hair fall out.
Has anyone ever been crazy enough to follow that regime for three years straight?

Dude 100 push ups, reps and sit ups is to be done in 1 go/ 1 set no brakes that hard bro ur saying like ur the one punch man stop being a lazy ass and get some workout

well, like he said this workout isn’t the best for gaining muscles so if your looking to keep gaining muscle mass then you should do your old workout. But i’m just guessing here so you can take what i said as a grain of salt.

I am 35, I weigh +/- 250lbs, and I don’t keep track of anything as far as protien, carbs, etc. goes. I quit smoking about three years ago & I am Not Happy with the weight I have gained since. I think the Saitama workout is a great starting point for someone in my position. My biggest question is, can I replace the running w/ riding a bicycle? How far should I ride? I wanna start this and keep track on a instagram account focused specifically on my weight loss. So any advice you have is greatly appreciated.

Not to mention the biggest issue people have; proper form, without proper form you could do 10 or a thousand reps but they just won’t get the same results and less risk of injury.

Well if ur around 10-15 it’s a good workout, especially children nowadays aren’t getting as much physical education in their day to day basis. I’m 13 and it’s helped a lot

I used to do 260 five days a week of push ups sit ups and crucnches ans 5 mintue plank along with squats and then did my martail art traning 3 days q week pluse carido on the other 1 day and 1 other day somthing else now i gor some injuries i did way to much teaning but my body was insane ans so much muscle and i had a very good carido systerm now i have to take time because of injury

you are supposed to do them non-stop back-to-back and doing it that way is extremely exhausting despite seeming simple

Well yeah… that’s how the show portrays it. Realistically though, to train up to that point, you’ll want to structure the workout more appropriately. The end goal is to complete a circuit of Saitama’s workout back-to-back.

well for the average person for me in my prime that would barely be a worm up, frankly this just shows how unfit the average person is

My thought on Saitamas work out. Yes that might of been all he did as far as a workout routine but my guess is he also fought monsters to constantly physically exert himself. The 100 of push up, sit ups, squats, and then a 10K just became a warm up for his actual work out which was fighting monsters.

What I just realized is that Saitama was already a skilled fighter, if you watched one of the first OVAs (sorry for being such a nerd). He had the strength of a body builder or so, but he then increased that immense strength, but of course….the whole story is satire so the creator can make him go to unlimited power.

I think you didn’t hear the part when he said “EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.” 100 body squats are easy by themselves, but then run a 10k, then try 100 body squats the next day. If that still isn’t hard enough, try it for 1,095 more days.

When people say “weight loss”, they normally refer to “fat loss” specifically (after all, losing bone density or muscle also count as weight loss!)

If that’s the case, then yes! Strength training is one of the pillars of consistent fat loss (alongside diet and rest/recovery). There are a few diet-related links at the bottom of the post – check ’em out and take one for a spin if you’re inclined.

By Post Author

Yea that’s true I’ve been doing Saitama’s workout since the beginning of 2016 it’s gotten extremely easy now that i’m a high level athlete.

Congrats on missing the point of this post entirely.

This article is written for an average individual who just wants to look for an exercise routine to start with.

With phrases such as “Seasoned figher”/”High level athletes”, it seems that you’re subjecting this article to the same scrutinization as the training regiment of a professional athelete. It’s also quite amusing how you state “I’m not even being cocky” but your tone of voice suggests otherwise.

With all due respect, your argument is ridiculous simply because 99.9% of us here are not professional atheletes, and most likely won’t be able to perform everything outlined in this article without breaking a sweat.

trust a midget to flex here. dude, save your blatantly obvious showing off for school, and every day. Although being able to run 10km is good, many other 14 year olds can as well. The point is the regular basis bit. Also, running ain’t hard. It doesn’t take much work to train up to be able to run far, contrary to pushups and squats

Kids under 15 are also notorious for being a terrible judge of distance and over-embellishing their own endurance. So probably not.

I’ve been doing for a year and half with just recently putting the run behind it all this past month hehe the key of this workout is you are trying to finish it all together at once as fast as you can with good form and the fact that you want to surpass it the next day. I havent rested and I’ve found my prs have come in phenomenal when I keep to a schedule and routine… that being 24 hours when you start… this workout will make you powerful you just have to have the will to hit your limits and keep chiseling away at your limiter through every breath and step… my record for the whole workout is 46 minutes… and I’m trying to beat that hehe but I also do 120 reps as to catch up from sick days I missed but other than that I’ve been on the path. And you don’t need a rest day if you stretch and eat healthy… so depends on what you want to sacrifice to obtain your goals I may be losing my hair soon due to the wind resistance if I keep it up lol! But I suggest this workout as a complete circuit knocking out all the core first then running for your time to beat… but have fun and don’t overkill because you’ll find this workout purely puts you on the brink of your body’s limits and suffering. So through that suffering you have to obtain your happiness…

It’s actually less than that…he is saying he did 100 push-ups, squats, and sit-ups plus the run in 46 minutes. Let’s just say it took 2 minutes per 100, that’s 6 minutes off of 46 giving him 40 for the run. That’s about 6 1/2 minutes per mile, same pace throughout

Lol genzho then you don’t understand this workout is altogether all at once as fast as you can get the entire circuit done and beating it every single day at the same time.

So Narrow-minded have a open mind I believe this training will make you as strong as saitima I believe it’s possible to become that strong and I will show you in the future keep your eyes peeled 🤜🏻😵

That’s dumb. You forgot the part where you use NO AC DURING THE SUMMER AND NO HEATING DURING THE WINTER. That’s the whole core of the routine. Obvious

… You got me.

But really, mental toughness is a surprisingy understated topic when it comes to fitness. But it’s less about what you see on TV – loud grunting, buckets of sweat, and bright athleisure tights – and more about somatic and cognitive awareness. It’s all about being acquainted with the sensation of strain and the (natural) thoughts that you should stop… the understanding that things are going to be uncomfortable, but the skill to realize you should do it anyways.

Uhh, hate to burst the easy bubble there, but Saitama also said that’s he’s been doing that workout for THREE YEARS. That’s a total of 2263 miles to run, 365000 sit-ups, 365000 push-ups and 365000 squats IN TOTAL.

Your math is terrible sir, lmao.

– 100 situps for a year would = 36,500
– 36,500 x 3 years = 109,500 situps, pushups or squats
– 328,500 in total for all 3 workouts over 3 years

Distance ran would be 3,650 km in a year
– 10,950 km in 3 years

365.25 would be a more accurate representation of a day, therefore that’s around 75 more pushups situps or squats.

well you can do variations like 100 1 handed clapping pushups with 1 hand then the other while wearing a let’s say a 25kg weight west then do 100 sit ups while hanging upside and holding let’s say 25kg weights in each hand (which wouldn’t do much in normal sit ups but be great for upside down sit ups) then put on the weight west again and do pistol sit ups, might not be up to your standards but if not you can just increase the weights to change the difficulty

That’s the entire point.

Saitama thinks THAT is what gave him the power to punch a planet in half with a single punch.

The people that asked him responded to him saying that was his training routine with laughter and anger.

They thought he was joking.

Whoosh…
It is supposed to be a joke. It’s a story about a guy who’s so strong he can defeat anything with a single punch and the way he got that strong was through a mediocre level strength training regimen.

I know, but he does it every day. Which human can do it without a rest day.
Surely he needs a really strong body or his body will be destroyed.

who said anything about you being a high level athletes? this is about anyone, so people that are none high level athletes would do great whit this… you’re saying you’re not being cocky but the fact you didn’t even think about that, and just thought lets say it anyway means that it was pretty cocky buddy.

I’m here to say that for three years straight, no ac or heater, regulated diet I have followed the workout routine precisely. I’m able to punch a full grown tree apart with one punch.

As a football player in high school at 5’7 280-300 lbs, our whole team had to do 200 push-ups, sit-ups, squat THRUSTS, and 200 jumping jack variants that equaled 600 jumping jacks. That was all after jogging around the high school for 20 mins. And after that the weight room and more running. BTW I was a starter so I clearly was able to do this 5 days in a row which we did. However, doing 100 of any of those workouts without stopping is tough and I don’t think a high level athlete would do this with ease. And if you wanna get cocky about it, I know they couldn’t do it every single day which is the ACTUAL workout. I hate when people troll bc they think they are better than everyone else.

It takes time to build up to that, but yeah, you can do this shit everyday. I was doing it every day for about a month, minus the run, because THESE COLORS DON’T RUN. You can build up until 100 doesn’t even feel like a workout. It takes time, and a little effort. Anyways, I guess you can say I’m a dumb faggot now, but it’s pretty apparent that this entire comment section is filled with people who have no clue what they are talking about. This was one of the coolest exercises I have ever done, but God, the people that seem interested in it are more than likely looking for an easy alternative to lifting and dieting.
Tl;Dr this workout is decent for endurance, but is no substitute for an actual diet and lifting program. Stop being lazy and do some research you weak fat fucks.

And do you see yourself doing it as i did try it and now i regret it, but feel good at the same time as it is literally like going through hell and the workout is designed for people like me that just sit around and don’t have anything to do in life, so i don’t really think that a seasoned fighter would attempt it anyway as they do workouts every 2-3 days a week not all the time as that would be insane so i disagree with your comment

Well, that’s part of the joke, he became the strongest man by doing something that a high level athlete would do before having breakfast (one punch man is an anime and a superhero parody after all). But I think the hardest part of it all it’s doing it every single day, it’s more a training for your will and spirit than for your body, Saitama said that the first days it was hard to keep on training, that he wanted a day just to rest his muscles, but he kept doing it for 3 years, and it started to get easier and easier. But, I mean, at the end of the day OPM it’s just a parody, it’s not supposed to be taken seriously. In fact when he said he became that strong by doing that training none believes him, because it sounds a bit ridiculous. In the OPM universe people become strong by having a strong will, that’s how many superheroes got their powers and how many people became horrible monsters.

Not really true most high level athletes that don’t take part in combat sports have the most trouble with cardio. Also most athletes who do take part in combat sports run anywhere from 3.2 mi (5k) to 5 miles because they don’t try to over work there muscles and lactic acid build up makes fighters slower.

Well this workout tells a lot if you have seen one punch man. This workout is a joke for a seasoned fighter but it was made for a normal human. He wanted to be strong so he made a workout that was too much for his and even after years, sticked to it just to unlock his limits. Its not about the workout but challenging yourself.

Ok, you got me, i´m going to give it a try for a month (i hope that by the end of it i will be running) and come back to give a review from someone who has the muscular mass of a snake 😀

I am too going to start today. Wish me luck I will post in 15-20 days how it went. (I have the same body as that guy and am a little bit fat)

Hello there
I´ve been doing the one punch man workout for about two months (well, not a perfect replica but still)
I split the 100s on 5 sets of 20 reps (20 push ups, 20 sit ups, 20 squats and rest about 4 – 5 mins rinse and repeat four more times) I skip the 10 km run, not a fan of running.
I do this every morning for 5 days a week, but I can´t increase the number of reps, specially the push ups. Do you have any advice for this?
Thanks

If you’re hitting a plateau (aka, you’re not making progress), it’s always one of three conditions. Let’s walk through each one, then I’ll suggest things you can experiment with:

1) Training: you might plateau if you aren’t training towards your goal appropriately. You can change either frequency (how often you workout), intensity (more exercises per set, to prompt more adaptation), or volume (more sets).

2) Nutrition: you could plateau if you aren’t eating enough protein, if you aren’t drinking enough water, or if you aren’t eating enough period. The most important nutrient to monitor is protein for recovery. It’s literally the building block of muscle (alongside lots of water, as muscle is about 79% water) Are you eating enough protein (.8 to 1.1g per pound of bodyweight)? How many gram of fat/carbs are you getting? if you don’t know, describe your typical meals in a day from waking up to sleeping so I can estimate. But often, people trying to get stronger underestimate how much they’re eating, and when they hit a plateau, it’s solved by eating more protein and drinking more water (at least 64oz, but likely more). Sometimes, they just need to eat more in general.

3) Recovery: if you have poor circulation, or aren’t resting or sleeping enough, you might plateau. Your body needs a chance to utilize your

I think your problem is likely not enough protein and rest. Eat more meat, drink some whey protein, and get your sleep. See how that affects you.

After 2 weeks, if you’re still not progressing, then I think you should train 4 days a week (so one day less), but add an AMRAP (as many reps as possible) set of each exercise at the very end of your workout, on the last day of the week that you train. So say you train M, T, Th, and F. Do AMRAP sets on the Friday workout. When you see progress, maybe add another AMRAP circuit to another day of the week. So what I’m doing is lowering frequency, but increasing intensity. For people who are eating around maintenance or just a little above it, this tends to help give muscle time to recover.

Let me know if anything changes!

Lol I skip the running too but not because I don’t want to I have no time because of exams but just wanna say…don’t split them up. Haha do it all the way. Just do it all the way. Because think about it, you basically rested a total of 25 minutes. That’s a very long time haha. I do the routine too because its very efficient timewise and i time myself, i aim to finish the 100 of each by 15mins. And i have a few times. But if i exceed, at most ill exceed to 17 minutes. So if i were to total my rest, its abt 4minutes. For the entire 300 reps. Because this workout is honestly pretty useless if its treated as a typical workout with adequate rest time, etc etc. You just won’t get the same intensity if so. I suggest timing the whole thing maybe 20mins for starters at most. Including whatever amt of rest you want just prepare to do it faster

Grow balls, females only have 55% of the upper body strength of males with similar builds, according the a study by the American Army.

This is intriguing. Gives me an idea. I’ll do one year of the following workout (modified), record it all, and timelapse with data of a one year result on youtube. Tell me what you think of this.
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
I start the week with what I can comfortably do (max of each); pushups, situps, pullups, squats, and a run afterwards.
Each Friday, I go for a new max of each, and the following Monday and Wednesday, I do about 85% of what I managed that last Friday.
(I wont have exact starting numbers until I start it)

Two things:
1) Love the addition of pull-ups to balance the upper body pushing. Nice job!
2) Love the idea of both a Max Friday and a “deload” Friday

If you can, keep me updated in the comments right here. I’m sure we’ll all be interested in how things work out for you.

Agreed! I’m going to try this out as soon as possible. Going to go for Thurs, Sat, Monday. Friday, Sunday, Tuesday/Wednesday are all rests. Do you think that’s appropriate?

Also, I used to work out consistently for about 3 months. I used to be a good solid 215. Still a little chubby, but was gaining muscle. Unfortunately my workout partner had left the state and no one wanted to work out with me because of laziness ;-;. I’ve now become 255 pounds… Lets just say I’m not proud of my body. With this workout I’m not expecting “fast results” but I’m hoping for results within the months to come!

My “schedule” for this workout will be 5 sets of 20 pushups, 5 sets of 20 situps, 5 sets of 20 squats, and a 1 – 2 mile bike ride. About a 4-5 minute break between this all. Sounds healthy enough, I’d say. Though, I’ve lost a lot of muscle. This will be a hard challenge. It does sound like it’ll help me with my weight problem though!

What do you think?

3 days a week, one day rest inbetween, is a classic (and thus, proven) workout schedule so that’s great! Is your 4-5 minute break between each set (so pushup set->rest->pushup set->rest), or between each circuit (a circuit would be pushups->situps->squats, then rest)? Either way, I’d probably knock it down to about 2-3 minutes each. Save 4-5 minute rest periods for heavier loads (working in the 1-6 rep range).

As for weight loss… it’s nuts, but diet’s going to be your greatest ally here! Training accelerates fat loss, but food choice is what actually makes you lose it. Take a look at IIFYM, intermittant fasting, or flexible dieting. I find people who follow either of these eating styles (and I try to avoid the word “diet”, because they’re really lifestyle changes) will get you where you want to go.

If you don’t want to read up on those just yet, then add a half pound of chicken breast (or trimmed chicken thigh) to a meal or two each day. Eating more protein to recover and keep you satiated will likely help you eat less, and thus help you lose weight. Keep an eye on the scale every week. If you see consistent progress, then keep it up. And if you need to kick up your routine at any point, the Roam Strong workout is totally free on site.

Let me know how things progress!

I’ll be starting it sometime soon, just saving up for the filming equipment. But yeah, I’ll keep you updated once it begins.

Hey I have been doing the challenge for a few weeks now,my work out works like this I wake up in the morning starting with about 20 of each push ups,sit ups and squats then I finish it off in the evening with 30 of each and I have been doing this for the past few weeks now
Tell me what you think

I meant that I do 40 of each in the morining 20 before eating breakfast and 20 after breakfast and 60 in the evening before I go sleep doing 30 of each and another 30 after about 30 minutes

It’s great that you’ve fit this into your schedule! And you’ve stumbled upon one of my favorite aspects of bodyweight training: you can do it anywhere, and any time. I’m actually writing about it right now, but strength and muscle growth can be almost directly attributed to total work done, meaning the more you can squeeze into a day, the better your results!

That said, I think you’ve hit a point where you should add a rep to each exercise. So next morning workout, do 41 total pushups/situps/squats in the morning, and 61 pushups/situps/squats at night. Every day, repeat this addition of a single extra rep until you can no longer add reps. The goal here is that we want your intensity to steadily increase over time. If you stick with the same tempo/volume/frequency, it’s likely that your growth will stagnate. Adding reps also gives you a quantifiable way to measure progress.

Good luck, and let me know how it tuns out.

Hey. So, I’d like your oppinion..
To start
I’m 16y and 10 months, male, 1,75cm, weight 61kg, with 4% bf. I’ve been working out for 2y n half, a fter I finished my physiotherapy and started GPR ( dunno if that’s the therm in english.. Global Postural Reeducation in my mother language though ). I’ve always focused on resistance and general health above building muscle and looks, although they came along the way.. Lately I haven’t been going to the gym, focusing on doing bodyweight exercises at home. I became interested in this series of exercises, and I wanted your opinion on how to progress through it in a challenging way. This is day one, and as I’m writing this during rest times among the series, I’m doing 10 Burpees/10 Jumping Squats/10 concentrated Leg Raises/33 Jumping Jacks then 1mnt rest, 5 times in the morning, and planning on doing running, pull ups and 1mnt planks at night. I take care of diet, eating lots of water and all.. Don’t drink anything othwr than water, rarely natural juice, and I don’t eat junk. I’d like some help on how to continue challenging myself..

There’s 3 ways to make stuff harder, assuming you’re recovering fine. Change any component of these 3, and you’ll likely not plateau. Ready?

1) Intensity: Intensity is the mother of all adaptation. Increasing it intraworkout (or intraset) can cause a cascade of physical/chemical reactions that make you stronger. I just wrote about this a few days ago, so check it out.
2) Volume: Add more reps to your routine. Volume is another seed for intensity to occur. That article I linked above just about covers it.
3) Frequency: Work out more often. Frequency increases neuromuscular capability more than literal muscle building. It helps you become more efficient with the muscles you have, rather than creating more muscle (though it most certainly still can).

In the end, challenge just means 1) adding more weight or 2) adding more reps intraset (aka, without breaks). When it comes to bodyweight, it’s easier to add more reps, so I’d do that for now. When you want to shift gears to adding more weight (by decreasing leverage), maybe give the Roam Strong System a try.

Good luck with everything you do!

Hello… i am 20 years old, 170 cm, 80 kg. I tried this workout, because i really like that it is possible to do it anywhere… After i broke my leg a year ago i didnt do anything and gained 7 kg… My muscles are gone so i started this with 60 sit-ups, 60 squats…. but push-ups are too difficult for me. I tried “women push-ups” (if you know what i mean) but it is hard to get past 50 and i feel like something is wrong. It feels like i dont have energy to do more of them. Am i doing them wrong ? What should i do ?
I was doing this for 2 weeks every second day adding 5 every training to sit-ups and squats… but i could add 5 to push-ups only once a week, that is why i think something is wrong with me… Maybe it is dumb question and i should just continue doing it but when i started i wanted to workout twice a day every second day… but I was too exhausted to do it…

If you’re making progress, then I would stick to it.

Can you do at least 1 normal pushup? If so, I’d make sure you at least do that, then finish up your sets with your knee pushups (or a pushup style from Step 2-3 from my Pushup guide).

I’m not a big fan of knee pushups because they don’t teach full body tension and target the muscle group at a slightly different angle than desired to progress cleanly to normal pushups, but if you’re seeing progress, then stick with it. Good luck to you!

I gave this a try for the first time today after taking a two week break from the gym (had non-workout sprints at work).

I am in excellent shape and normally, I do push ups with a 25 lb plate on my back (3×12).

I tried adding pull ups to this routine as suggested but like the man said, I could only reach 62… and at least half of those were balanced out by weights (that thing you stand on that makes it easier to pull yourself up–shut up, I don’t know what the proper name is 🙂

I did manage 100 push ups, 100 sit ups, and 100 squats broken up in 4 x 25 each (first knocking out the 100 sit ups, rotating 4 x 25 push ups -> 60 sec rest -> 4 x 25 squats -> 60 sec rest -> 4 x25 pull ups -> 60 sec rest -> repeat).

Not only was I out of breath throughout, but I have so far almost passed out in the office three times now. Forget the run (but I want to bike when I get home).

This workout, like Saitama fighting a worthy foe, has reignited my passion for working out. This is by NO means an easy feat for the average weight lifter (key word average).

However, I feel like it lacks some good shoulder work, so I’m adding swimming with freestyle strokes on the weekend (unless anyone has a better suggestion).

This is perfect for a guy like me who has lower back and myofascial pain. Doctor’s orders were no heavy lifting, but push ups, sit ups, pull ups, and squats are okay–hence Saitama came to mind.

To anyone who says this is “easy,” be my guest, and if you can do it back to back with 0 effort, you really are the One Punch Man 🙂

Bodyweight and calisthenics training has that awesome psychological effect – where you feel like you’re the hero of your own story preparing for a big fight – especially when the intensity gets cranked up. Glad to see you’re pushing through!

Swimming is a great idea for shoulders and lower intensity cardio, especially with injuries. It makes me happy to see people training smarter, not just harder. Keep it up!

Hello there! I found this article when I was looking up Saitama’s workout to compare it to mine and get some motivation, and it really made my day.
I’m a 15yo girl, 68kg, and I always wanted to work out to get some muscles more than to get thin, and I never had any luck when looking up suitable workout routines. None had the beginner option, it was a thousand different exercises I didn’t have time or self-confidence for, they required going to the gym (I’m really embarrassed when people watch me do, well, anything). Workout articles almost always come in two versions: the extreme strength buff guy one and the yoga weight loss girl one, and my workout goals are neither of those.
Your routine is the most fitting for a weak beginner like me, and the way you explain it is so friendly and fun. For real, I sometimes feel like I’m being poked at when I read other serious fitness articles. When reading your articles it’s like I’m talking with a friend who’s trying to help me out, it’s really sweet .
My personal routine so far has been 10 “woman” push-ups, 2 normal push-ups (I have very weak arms so I sometimes try a bit more after an hour or so to strengthen them a little more ?), 15 sit-ups, and 20 squats every day. I’m going to try your routine now and see how much better I feel after that. I have also been going on small bike trips (2,5 – 5 km, depending on the day) with my family on the weekends, but now that bad fall weather and winter is around the corner, I won’t be able to do that anymore. Do you have any recommendations for what I could do instead of that?
Thanks for reading and thanks again for writing this.

Hello I’m 17y, 1.80m, 60kg male I’m very slim I’d like to know if this work out will be good for me. I usually eat a lot but I can’t get weight, I’d like to grow a bit my muscles and get more resistance. And I’m a really fan of Saitama
*sorry for bad English, thanks in Spanish *

Hi, im a 15 y/o guy that is a sophomore in high school, and today is my first time trying this exercise out. “i spaced it out horribly, but plan to do good spacing from now on”.
I was wondering if doing this everyday would be ok to do, i know you recommended 3-4 days but it makes it easier for me to remember and get into a habit of it if i do it every day.
I was also wondering if over time this will make my upper body alot more muscleur then it is now. im good on my leg muscle “but ill still do the 10k every day” but i want to make my upper body in really good shape. I know you said that it isn’t the best for muscle building but because it is the one punch man workout and because of its simplicity i want to try it out for a year. if I remember I will try to update you every month or so.
Any tips for me doing this at the age of 15?

Love the way you wrote out this article. Im 15, male, 67kg, 174cm tall and not very big. Im gonna do this back to back for a full year and then give some feedback. See you all next year on the 8th of October, 8:40pm.

That’s the spirit! And remember, feel free to add supplementary exercises as needed. Anything in “progressive calisthenics” or bodyweight strength training will be helpful for this journey.

Looking forward to seeing you lose some hair!

Hey my name is yusuf im 16 wanna start this workout.Is working out monday to friday ok and take off on the weekend.I plan to follow the workout you gave the 5×5 and increase it by 1 everytime i dont follow any eating patterns could you give me one.

well very bad form and not resting enough is pretty much the only danger to your body you can easily fix both of these things by doing a bit of research and looking up the correct form (youtube i find is the best) and obviously getting to bed early enough if your not already. Hope this helps your welcome!

I think it is a pretty decent routine for a started. I used to do 50 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and 50 pull-ups on daily basis when I was around 16, it helped a lot. Now I just hit the gym, and I do my workouts there, so I dont need this one, but I would recommend it! If you are a beginner, try it out, but also pay attention to what you need to do – if you want to lose weight, pay more attention to the running, while if you want to gain some, exclude the whole running part at all for the first month or two…cardio just burns your calories and takes the fat out, but would also cause loss of mass…
P.S: I have never seen One Punch Man, I might try it, this dude seems like a genuine badass! Happy New Year everyone!

I just finished the first season of the animated series(English Dub). When i first saw the workout was something that could be done at your own home, i became interested in trying it out for myself. I am no body builder or an athlete, not by any means. In fact, i am the farthest thing from it. I am a 5’11 teenager who weighs roughly 220 pound. I can barely break 10 push ups and that’s not guaranteeing that they are in correct form either. I can, however, run, or used to be able to run, a 9:30 mile. It is with this fact alone that i believe i can take on this challenge. I recently have been struggling with depression. I feel like i have no purpose in my life and am tearing myself up from the inside. Now, i think its time i carve my own path, make my own decisions and not let anyone hold me back, not even myself. There was a time when i believed i couldn’t do anything because of my physical appearance. This was most apparent when my own friends told me i couldn’t beat their mile time in middle school. They were all around a 10:50 mile time while i was at a measly 15:00. They taunted me, said i had a habit of saying i would do things that never ended up happening. This was true and i knew it so i pushed myself. That very same day, i ran a 10:30 mile. With my sheer will power i was able to beat my own mile time by over 4 minutes. This will power is what i hope will help me on this life changing journey. Sorry for posting my life story but i want whoever reads this to know that there are people who wont give up no matter what. I plan on doing this for a full week without stopping. I wont be doing all the reps at once, i don’t think it would be humanly possible(for me at least). I will wake up and do as many as possible and finish the rest throughout the week. Along with this i will be reforging my desires relating to school and working towards becoming a better overall person. The only part i do not have planned out is my eating habits(what “good” foods i should eat), although i feel like the solution will come to me soon enough. I will check up to see if anyone has any tips for me and will report back with my results in exactly one weeks time. I would end this with “good luck to you all” but it seems i’m the one who is needing luck.

No need to apologize about posting this. Fitness is all about self-transformation, and the idea that, with nothing but your own work, you master your own body. It’s unbuyable – all based on effort of your own accord.

It’s no wonder why so many find themselves taking the lessons learned from training – discipline, grit, achievement, and self-sufficiency – and start to apply it to all pursuits in life. Fitness is a key that unlocks the potential of all other goals, as people start realizing with the right plan and action, anything’s possible

Continue to put in the effort, and best of effort (no luck needed) to you.

Thank you so much for posting this , I will start my road to fitness starting today to get back in track.

Will also add pull-ups to this routine.

Wish me luck.

Hi..
Well, Im about to give it a try.. I’m going into a fitness atleast 5 times at week.. And Im kinda scared because I dont want to lose my muscles… I heard that you lose muscles while doing thinks like this.. Can you tell me what to do?.. Thanks

You’re scared you’ll lose muscle from working out 5 times a week, due to high reps, or due to cardio?

Either way, your diet and rest will determine if you gain/lose muscle mass. I wouldn’t worry about a little extra cardio – you should be OK.

I started this one punch man workout with pull-up and of course I am doing it in a smaller scale first since I have not worked out in many years. I have two problems here:
1. I noticed, for every 10 push up I did, I only managed to do 1 pull up as it seems to be extremely difficult, so the question is, what should be the ratio between push up and pull up in order for my muscles to develop equally?
2. I swim as well and I can do breaststrokes and freestyle. The problem is, swimming is exhausting and I am not sure which of one punch man’s workout is involved in swimming of either styles. And what’s the distance of swimming is equivalent to the one punch man’s work out?
A rough estimate based on your experiences will be appreciated.

Hey, I’m 14 and wanting to do this. I’m seriously unfit and seriously underweight. I believe I can do this though if I try hard enough. For somebody who’s weight is pretty much that of somebody half his age, what would you recommend as the diet for this?

You guys also forgot that saitama also went without a/c or heat to obtain a trained and focused minds so he would stay calm during his fights.

Y’know, thank you for reminding me about that. There’s one element that new trainees often miss when they begin training: psychological adaptation. Not physical adaptation – but pshychogical.

There’s an old saying among those who train: “it doesn’t get easier, you just get stronger.” It’s cliche, but true – the intensity of resistance and fatigue stays the same – or even becomes greater – as you become better.

The mind changes with good training. You become familiar with the pain – and how you should move depending on the type of pain. You begin to develop a metacognitive/somatic awareness – knowing and identifying when you are fatigued, becoming familiar with the tension and weakening of your muscle as a workout continues – that changes pain from an unfamiliar (and scary) thing to an expectation that you know you can overcome.

That’s the real beauty of training – knowing discomfort, and thriving within it.

This is so overlooked, that I should write a post about it.

This workout is for anyone really. Go until you fail everyday. That is the only way. Its ok to stop in between. Break in to 5 workouts perday (20;20;20;2) Eat only vegetables. Homegrown if you can. Organic as possible is what you need. No drugs or alcohol. If you’re not a super athlete, walk the km. I’m preparing a training regimen right now. I started by walking to and from school 10km each way. It take me about 2.5hr to walk 4 days over 7. By the third day I felt myself getting used to it. I started to take deep breathes as a walk. The next morning I had this super head high and felt the urge to walk even further. I suggest you try it. Just wake up, relax get your mind ready, cook breakfast, Then walk 10km taking super big breathes and each walk. Be an super oxygenated walking machine. 10km/2.5hr

I love this: especially the urge to push further. I can relate – and I’m sure many who have seen training success can, too.

It’s the mindset of someone who will thrive.

This is a legit training protocol… when folks say this isn’t much, I just chuckle. Folks, as a strength coach that has been in the field for lots of years now, I can say without hesitation that this workout is fantastic as long as one builds up properly. It’s all about progression. Also, it’s awesome that a show has influenced so many kids and adults to get out and move!!

My spine tingles in joy when I hear that people train because of the show. I’m moved when artistic media inspires people to become stronger and better – especially since those who enjoy it are normally the underdogs who wouldn’t do this otherwise.

My favorite kind of story.

Hi Aaron, love the post! This workout as well as the Progressive Body Weight one seem really great 🙂 I’ve actually been doing the PBW workout for a little while now. I’ve seen good results over a few months such as progressing from sets of 5 negative pull-ups to sets of 2-3 REAL pull-ups, yay! (Despite sometimes(quite often) only training once a week… whoops)

I’ve recently watched One Punch Man again so here I am to give the workout a go with the interest of self experimentation 🙂 I was wondering if doing different types of push-ups within each set would be okay? For example, doing sets of push-ups that include normal, diamond and wide push-ups, changing each rep. I feel like I am hitting more muscles this way and the variation is also more enjoyable for me. Any advice would be really great!

That’s incredible progress Neito! Congrats! You’re a fantatsic reminder that once a week is all it takes to make that progress – even if theoretically slower, you’ll always outpace the naysayers and yoyo dieters/trainees.

To answer your question, I see no issue with changing up your push-up positions for a wider variety – as long as you systemize it a little bit. Here’s a few examples:
1) Doing 1 set normal, 1 set diamond, 1 set wide would be easy to track workout-to-workout!
2) Post-workout, do a couple extra sets of whatever variant you feel like working on as an extracurricular. That’ll give you the taste of experimentation while remaining structured enough to generate data towards progress.
3) Literally doing 1 normal, 1 diamond, 1 wide, repeating, inside a single set is technically a system! I feel like it’d be mentally taxing to constantly shift your hand positions, though. Maybe 5 normal, 5 diamond, 5 wide, repeating, or a similar cadence would be helpful and keep you engaged.

A warning: random pushup territory – where each set is just whatever you feel like – might be harder to track in your notebook and you might feel discouraged when you don’t hit the pushup numbers that you hit last week. But all in all, as long as you feel like you’re not stalling, you should be OK!

By the way, PBW is catchy. And I’m 100% going to call it that now!

Thanks for the detailed reply, Aaron!
Great advice! Yeah it’s clear that adding variety without structure is just going to create unnecessary complexity. Each of your ideas seem pretty effective so I’ll experiment to see what works for me 🙂

I feel excited and eager to get into more regular training now that I have a clearer goal. I think successfully completing the full One Punch Man workout even once would be a very rewarding milestone for a lot of people, myself included.
Thanks again!

What if I have a Malformation in my chest that doesn’t let me breathe that well so I instead of running I do 200 sit-ups. Is it still good?

I’d check with a doctor on that… No good substitute for medical opinion in this case.

My expectation is that you’ll be fine. We can take inspiration from the program without adapting the entire thing.

Btw I haven’t exercised that much for a few years and started doing the 100 push-ups, 200 sit-ups, and 100 squats from the first day. Is that ok too?

Athletes no nothing when it comes to a fighter knowing what true training is if you think all this is a funny joke to an athlete tell that to a fighter like me I’m a Muay Thai Fighter. Us more Thai fighters do more training than certain athletes.

Thanks so much for posting this. I found this page, bookmarked it, and I’ve been slowly progressing in this workout for something like 12 weeks now. Longest I’ve ever stuck with a workout!! Today I’ll be at 5 x 20 push-ups, 5 x 24 sit-ups, 5 x 22 squats, and 7 x 1 pull-ups. So thanks so much for making this.

If you’ve got time to answer a question: I saw a masseuse recently for some unrelated stress, and she’s also a PT and told me my right side is gaining muscle faster than my left. Should I freeze my progress for a while to work on my form?

Again, really appreciate the page!

My pleasure, David! Sounds like you’re making a ton of progress.

The quick answer: work on form, but that shouldn’t degrade your progress significantly.

The longer answer: muscle balancing is an interesting issue – and it’s difficult to give an answer without knowing more. A good place to start would be to record yourself training as normal so you can spot any obvious form degredation and remember the feeling of a symmetrical/balanced rep, versus an asymmetrical/imbalanced rep.

Another option: slowing your eccentrics – and especially allow your weaker side to feel out the rep. If I were to give a percentage of feeling, I’d say 45% stronger side, 55% weaker side. Remember, it doesn’t take much to make a huge change.

This is one of those situations where having dumbbels could be handy. Working a little extra unilateral movement does wonders in balancing out strength. The rest of the Internet has a lot on correcting muscle imbalances with dumbbells.

A final note: you may want to address the “why” of favoring one side. This could be either muscular (which is self-correctable with mindful training and a strategy) or skeletal (also correctable – but more nuanced – and likely necessitating a hands-on PT). Let me know what you end up doing, and keep us all updated on your progress!

I’ve been doing this every day and just increasing reps per set over time, is that bad?

I started doing this workout a little over a month ago. Have I caused damage by not taking days off?

I started at five sets of ten reps for each, doing a circuit with each, and every time O felt I was getting used to the amount I added ten reps to the total workout. So 5×10 for a week or so, then 5×12, 5×14, and so on. Doing 6×15 right now, and I feel I’ll be able to move up to a hundred soon (at which point it’d be 5×20).

My main question though is this, I’ve been doing this on the daily for a little over a month, Have I done any damage by not taking off days? Would it be appropriate to alternate cardio days with push/sit/squat days? Or should I do the whole thing every other day?

While it would seem I am improving as long as I keep forcing myself to, I am loath to cause damage through negligence.

Obv. Not the super strength but you may be able to get close to Bruce Lee or beyond if you follow I for 3 years right now I’m doing the 100 100 100 3 miles with 50lb pack I do the 100 100 100 twice a day take like 30 minutes to do the reps

I’ve been following that routine, with 100 pull ups added, and only a 5km run for the past 2years or so.

At first it’s hard to do, the first 2 -3months.
But after that I hit a plateau, so now i’m doing this routine as a warm up for my actual exercising.

I’m not bald though, however i’m probably as bored as Saitama as I have nobody to accompany me with in the routine, and after a while the things you’re able to do seem impossible to the majority of your friends.

If you want tremendous strength, endurance and speed, i’d say this routine is absolutely for you.
If you’d rather have a social life, i’d say this routine is totally not for you… even now i’m considering to quit the routine, just to live life and make new friends.

Would walking or jogging the 10km yield similar effects? I have a problem with one of my legs, so I physically cannot run 10km without harming myself, but I still think this workout would be cool to try.

By the way, your other post on how you started out has really inspired me to attempt to start working out. 🙂

So, to start off frankly, I want to do this. I have tried it once in the past but I messed up my leg for a little while for not running correctly. The experience? I thought I was going to die.

Some background: I am 14, about to turn 15. I weigh 150lbs with a height of 5’6. I would describe myself as a muscular/thin person with the amount of “working out” I do in the yard every week. I break my back carrying extremely heavy things. I do sports, but the training for them is not very serious. Even though someone would say I have an athletic build, I was dying doing this challenge/workout.

I made it to a week until I had to go to the doctor for my leg, but in that week it was hell. I tried to simulate the no AC in the summer, so I put heaters in my room to have the same temp as outside. That was horrible. Not to mention the soreness I felt after the first day. Sit-ups are generally easy, for me at least, but I could barely move when I was trying to get out of bed that morning.

The amount of pain I felt was unbearable, but I made it through a week. I am willing to try this challenge again because I now know how to run for longer distances correctly (I’m a sprinter).

My only concern, as a female, is will I lose my backside from all the running that I will be doing? Seeing the differences between sprinter and distance runner’s leg’s, I haven’t seen any woman with a backside from distance running. Or would the squats make sure I am still identifiable as a female from behind?

Either way, I am planning on doing this for a month and sharing my results online.

Hey i was wondering if you could help me.

Im currently a 21 y/o, 5’10 and 210 pounds. working a very sedentary job.

Looking to get really lean and fit while doing this workout. looking to lose about 30-35 pounds over a 6 month period.

how would i go about doing it with this plan. i know nutrition is a HUGE part of it, i once took the bodybuilding approach of cutting and i had results but i went on vacation and when i came back, i was too bored of the diet and routine. so this looks like something to really jazz it up and get me back on the horse.

Would love to hear your opinion!
Thanks,

There are really 3 components here – diet, program, and psychology.

1) Go with the diet that worked. Diet is the major precursor of fat loss, so you need that situated. Since you already know what worked for you last, I’d just do the same thing. Then, add some wiggle room for cheat meals/snacks that you missed – and save a day or two each week for those so you don’t get as easily bored with the diet.
2) Do the program (or any strength training program). As long as performance is measurable, then you’re doing good. I’d say “find something you like” with a caveat – find ways to become enamored with whatever workout you’re doing. Which brings me to the third component…
3) Become intrigued. Beyond what you think you want to do for a workout, I’d challenge you to enjoy any workout you are in. Get enveloped in the process of doing them, instead of focusing on just the end goal. This is one tactic to get yourself to enjoy the workouts – and be a better athlete.

tl;dr: jump back on the same diet (but don’t be scared to have what you want sometimes), jump into any program, and be extremely mindful of your workouts until you start really enjoying them. Sounds weird, but hey. Haha

Would using just the legs on an elliptical be fine to replace the running? A friend and I are trying to get more fit for cosplay for a con that we’re hoping to have a panel at.

If I did half or ben 2/3 pot the original quantity of the workout, but I did it everyday, what would happen after a week? a month? a year?

I’m trying it out now. I’ve got a blog dedicated to it.

It’s hard as hell, but I’ll adapt. Of course, I’ve made some adaptations, like, well, not doing it every single day. lol

Great! in just a few weeks I noticed a difference. Most workouts I try I normally quit in about a week. (im lazy like that) but this one keeps me motivated! glad I came upon this one

Music to my ears. Learning how to stick to fitness is one of the main drivers of any good beginning workout. Sometimes, we just need a simple system that we can connect with!

Keep it up – looking forward to hearing how your mindset shifts from lazy to eager!

Just an update – my mindset definitely switched, actually excited for training days, and piggyriding my friends feels easier, I did add clap pushups and planks to it, im not a excersize expert so I dont know if its a good idea or not, but seems to be working. Thanks for the routine (:

You all forget that was the e decide part

He did this for 3 years straight and he also did not use air conditioning or the heater. Increasing his resistance to the elements.

Also you can’t work up to it you have to dive right in

If you remember he also said he kept pushing no matter what and when he thought to take a day off he shruged the idea off and went at it

Unfortunate, but true.

What I love about shonen anime – even after all these years – is this consistent pursuit of being better. And of course, the most obvious is becoming physically and spiritually fitter.

The “go beyond your limits” attitude is inspiring in tough times, forcing positive adaptation in the face of adversity. Yet I constantly remind myself that recognize that misapplied force in one bad instance can cause huge setbacks. There is a need to avoid the classic “ego lifting” scenario, where injury and damage is accrued from excessive grit.

I’m still striving to find the balance the physical/mental optimum to push boundaries. The question repeats itself: How much is too much exercise/nutrition/anything? It’s up to each of us to choose an appropriate amount of risk for ourselves.

(and to never believe that we’re too old to stop watching shonen anime)

Great idea for season 2. Saitama can’t defeat an enemy and adds pull ups to his routine to compensate. Then squashes them in one punch!

I made the body weight component of this my exercise regimen in 2018, beginning in late January. The sit-ups (I did crunches) and squats were easy, and I made it to 1×100 on both within a few months. I can crank out 100 of each very easily now. The pushups, on the other hand, have been a bitch and a half. I tried your approach, as well as the Hundred Pushups program (https://hundredpushups.com/), but what gave me the most consistent gains was performing a single set of pushups every other day and adding 5 every 2 to 4 weeks. After one year, I am at 65 pushups. It is much slower and more difficult than I expected, but it’s consistent…

There aren’t many other comments on long-term progress here, so I thought others might appreciate a view of the journey ahead!

Thank you for sharing your discipine – I love hearing stories about people who make this habit. It’s interesting to hear your training methodology. To clarify on your approach, it would look like:

Week 1 – 2:
Mon: 1×50 Pushups
Wed: 1×50 Pushups
Fri: 1×50 Pushups

Week 3 – 4:
Mon: 1×55 Pushups
Wed: 1×55 Pushups
Fri: 1×55 Pushups

Week 5 – 6:
Mon: 1×60 Pushups
Wed: 1×60 Pushups
Fri: 1×60 Pushups

(But perhaps less rigidly 5 reps more for every 2 weeks?)

In theory, this makes sense. Your training style is a bit like Greasing the Groove, a Pavel technique of high frequency, sub-maximal training focused on neurological adaptation rather than mass creation. The difference is that GTGers tend to do the exercise every few hours, multiple times a day in sub-max sets. The sets are anywhere from 40-80% of your max reps per set depending on who you ask. Your methodology seems to err close to 85-90%, but only once every other day. Sorta like it’s inbetween typical strength training and GTG training.

2019’s begun – perhaps a good year for me to experiment a lttle with this. I’ll test a bit and write on it a little later.

When you say work-out 3-4 times a week, do you mean 3-4 days back to back, or 3-4 times with a day break inbetween? Thank you.

Hi I have a question iam used to do 100 push ups a day by 2 reps of 50 since few years, with 2mins between. But you guess iam stuck… I wish to reach 100 in a row but I don’t know how to deal now, at my best I can do 60 and 40 if I slept well !

I love this way of training, for people like me wanted to be in fit, not looking super muscular and not to spend my days on it because yes guys there are other things to study also in life than to be be big !

Back in May I started with a plan of alternating 100 push-ups and 100 squats each day. The first two days I barely got them done by the end of the day. In fact, I was so sore I didn’t try again until the following weekend. I was surprised to find how much easier they were at that point and I was able to start exercising every day.

I kept this up for 3 months, pushing myself to failure on the first set each time. During the day I would find a conference room and do a quick 10 when I could. I didn’t want to do so many that I came back to my office sweaty or out of breath, just so I could get my 100 done during the day.

At the end of 3 months I pushed too hard and injured my elbow. I dropped the push-ups and started doing squats every day. I got to the point where I could roll out of bed and do 100 squats before I left for work.

After a month I added the push-ups back in, starting with 15 every day (afraid to re-injure the elbow). I’ve added a few every month, just during my morning workout. I’m up to 50 and will go back to 100 through the day pretty soon.

A month ago I hit 100 squats in a single rep for the first time. I’m getting closer to being able to do so every morning and I think it is just a mental block preventing me to doing so now.

I am adding sit-ups but am inconsistent because I need a couch or something to hold my feet and once I leave the bedroom I am distracted with getting ready for work.

I park 1km from my office and have worked up to jogging the distance without a stop. My next step here is to choose a longer route or run around my neighborhood.

Eventually, I will be able to do the whole workout first thing in the morning. Until then there is no rush, this has become a habit and I will get there.

Keeping a record has been very helpful. I have recorded my weight in a google sheet every morning for the past three years and it was easy to add a column for each exercise.

I find that small, incremental changes to a habit are more sustainable than a sudden lifestyle change. Record my weight before I brush my teeth; add a column for squats; add a column for push-ups; etc.

Consistency is also critical for me. Some people argue for giving your muscles time to recover (and I am sure they are right) but I find that if I don’t do the same thing every day I’ll skip and eventually stop.

I don’t need to beat Saitama in a fair fight, being healthy will do just fine.

Couldn’t tell you the last time I hit a gym and the last time I worked out seriously was like a decade ago… now in my thirties, I’m going to start this workout, going to document it. Will post on social media and stuff; the works. Hopefully inspire some people because I am just sick of being out of shape.

I did 3x 50 push-ups
3x 50 sit-ups
But I added more core and squats because once you break yourself in and you keep a positive attitude the pump makes you wanna go for more I threw up after the first day lol

So i do weight training for my upper body. Specifically for chest, upper/ lower back, biceps, triceps and abs.

What would happen if i replaced it with this workout. Or could i combine them somehow?

Would running Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and doing the bodyweight exercises Monday, Wednesday, Friday work, or does that mess with rest days? I already run 5k 3 times a week but my legs kill afterwards (6 ft, 95kg male, so quite heavy for running) – don’t think I could do it after squats.

So i’m wanting to use this as inspiration to work up to this as a personal exercise challenge, but I have a question that hopefully some of the fitness-savvy people here can answer. Due to some back and neck issues I’ve had in the past, i want to replace the sit-ups with planks. Any suggestions on roughly how long a plank I should try and hold to equal 100 sit-ups?

… shot in the dark, but maybe 10 minutes? Tough enough to strive for, yet reasonable enough to accomplish. A fit male can normally plank for 2 minutes – so I just sorta multiplied that.

There isn’t a perfect analogy, but it’s something. Best of luck.

Legally, I leave that up to your physican.

Anecdotally, I began working out at 15 and it was functionally very similar. Lots of pushups, pullups (at the time, I could only do eccentrics), bodyweight squats, bodyweight lunges, dips, and various ab exercise (crunches, sit-ups, v-ups). Best of luck!

HI guys. I am 43 year old male. 5 foot 11, around 83 kg. haven’t really exercised in quite a few years and tired of the dad bod. hopefully taking on this challenge will help me shed the stomach. The rest of my body is pretty slim. Any advice would be appreciated.

Hey Mitch – I believe this is going to be a great first step. There are always 3 fundamental principles of fat loss:

  • Training: you need to do enough to encourage your body to adapt and grow fitter. In this case, you’ve got this workout. Just remember that the body responds best to being pushed just a little outside of its comfort zone, and you’ll notice this for your muscles when your rep speed decreases. It’s as if your 100th rep is nowhere near as explosive as your first rep, even if you wanted it to be. That’s where the magic happens. Use that rule of thumb for most exercises.
  • Nutrition: managing macronutrients (protein, fat, carbs) is key. Give the Nomad Diet a whirl to manage them with intuition. Or if you’re already comfortable with macros, check out IIFYM (google it). You’ll be using physical sensation, the mirror, and the scale as your guides. If you’re feeling healthy and strong, feeling like you look better in the mirror, and your scale number is trending slightly downward, then you’re on the right path to losing fat.
  • Recovery: the body recomposition happens outside of the workout. Tissue repairs best with nutrition and rest. Make sure you’re getting enough sleep. 7-8 hours for most people. Find ways to identify and reduce psychological stressors when appropriate. Take on the persona of the monk.

    • Feel free to ask any specific questions here or via contact form, and of course, keep on roaming strong.

    Hey Esnaider. You can absolutely drink water while doing exercise, especially strength training.

    I find drinking water during exercise is an art form.
    1) If you are thirsty during workout, you want to drink just enough to hydrate and quench a little thirst, but not so much that your stomach feels sloshy as you move about your gym. This is a totally personal thing, but after I’m finished with a set, I pour about 2-4 oz of water in my mouth, then let it sit and absorb for 10 seconds before swallowing. I find this helps reduce the sensation of thirst without overburdening my stomach.
    2) If you are not yet thirsty, but haven’t had liquid in a while, you should still drink some water. Dehydration actually occurs before we feel the need to drink, so drinking some preemptively could offset that and keep you in peak form.

    Water is an important catalyst for a LOT of things in our body. Never get in the way of your body’s request for drinking water, especially when working out. Sweat and other fluids need replenishing. It is outright dangerous to NOT drink water when you’re losing it.*

    *Barring some rare physical disorder I do not know about.

    Thank you for the workout, i started this a couple weeks ago, i’m not fit guy, i weight about 210lbs and i want to reduce some fat from my body, i’m not planning on becoming an athlete or anything, i just want to workout a bit for a healthier life, so this seemed kinda fun for me, i liked the show so i wanted to give it a try.
    I added dips into the routine to add some arm strenght and i tried to add another kind of situp to strenghten the core but that was a bit too much for me lol.

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published.