The Henry Cavill Workout for Man of Steel
I am thoroughly impressed with Henry Cavill’s physical condition for the Man of Steel film.
The Henry Cavill Workout for Man of Steel allowed him to lean bulk the way it’s supposed to be done; he added muscle to the right areas while keeping his body fat under 10%. The Henry Cavill workout also allowed him to gain around 18 lbs of muscle in 9 months of training and preparation, bringing his body weight from a slim 175 lbs to a very muscular 193 lbs.
Some people may be surprised to hear that he was still under 200 lbs at just over 6′ tall. If you maintain a low body fat and add muscle properly, you will almost always look 10-15 lbs bigger than you are. With elusive camera angels, Hollywood tricks and an extremely tight superman suit, you can create the illusion of looking 20-30 lbs bigger than you actually are.
For example, compare the two pictures below. Both are clips from the movie. On the left, Cavill looks completely jacked and around 225 lbs. On the right, Cavill looks at-least 20 lbs smaller.
I’m not trying to take anything away from Cavill, he did an excellent job getting into shape, I just want to ensure you get an accurate depiction of what his physique truly looks like. This also shows you without a doubt, that by using the Henry Cavill workout, his transformation is achievable without the use of anabolic steroids.
The Henry Cavill Superman Workout
The Henry Cavill workout requires you to include a mix of tension work and pump work. Tension work is heavy lifting with long rest periods and lower repetitions, the goal is to lift progressively heavier weights each week. This is what enlarges the actual muscle fibers. However, to maximize muscle growth, you also need to perform pump work to increase the fluid within the muscle cells, also known as sarcoplasm.
This type of growth is accomplished with a high number of sets and reps combined with short rest periods. As a general rule, you should always do the tension lifting first and then follow that up with the pump lifting.
Workout A – Upperbody (Chest Emphasis)
Incline Bench Press: 2 sets x 6-8 reps + 2 sets x 8-10 reps (2-3 mins rest between sets)
Seated Cable Rows: 2 sets x 6-8 reps + 2 sets x 8-10 reps (2-3 mins rest between sets)
Flat DB Bench Press: 4 sets – 12, 10, 8, 6 (30 seconds rest between sets)
Barbell Curls: 3 sets x 6-8 reps (2 minutes rest between sets)
Skull Crushers: 3 sets x 8-12 reps (2 minutes rest between sets)
DB Lateral Raises: 5 sets – 12, 10, 8, 6 + 12-15 (30 seconds rest between sets)
Workout B – Legs and Abs
Barbell Squats: 3 sets x 6-8 reps (3 mins rest)
Romanian Deadlifts: 3 sets x 8-10 reps (2 mins rest)
Leg Extensions: 3 sets x 10-15 reps (90 seconds rest)
Calf Raises: 3 sets x 10-15 reps (60 seconds rest)
Hanging Leg Raises (feet to bar): 4 sets x 10-12 reps (60-90 seconds rest)
Abs Wheel Roll outs: 4 sets x 10-15 reps (60-90 seconds rest)
Workout C – Upperbody (Shoulder Emphasis)
Standing Barbell Press: 2 sets x 6-8 reps + 2 sets x 8-10 reps (2-3 mins rest between sets)
Weighted Pull ups: 2 sets x 6-8 reps + 2 sets x 8-10 reps (2-3 mins rest between sets)
Incline DB Bench: 4 sets – 12, 10, 8, 6 reps (30 seconds rest between sets)
Incline DB Curls: 3 sets x 6-8 reps (2 minutes rest between sets)
Cable Triceps Push Downs: 3 sets x 8-12 reps (1 minute rest between sets)
One Arm Cable Lateral Raises: 5 sets – 12, 10, 8, 6 + 12-15 reps (30 seconds rest between sets)
Henry Cavill Workout Notes:
- You will be training 3x per week on non consecutive days (ex: mon, wed and fri)
- For the first two exercises of each workout I recommend performing 2 warm up sets. 5 reps and 3 reps with progressively heavier weights before doing your first work set.
- For the first two exercises of the upperbody workouts you will perform 2 heavy sets for 6-8 reps. You will then reduce the weight by 10-15% and perform an additional 2 sets for 8-10 reps.
- For the third exercise of the upperbody workouts you will select a weight you can do for 12 reps. Rest only 30 seconds between sets and perform 12, 10, 8, 6. This will create cumulative fatigue and trigger sarcoplasmic muscle growth. You are using the same weight for all of these sets, the short rest periods will cause the drop in reps.
- You will be doing the same on lateral raises but you after finishing the fourth set of 6 reps you will drop the weight and perform a fifth set for 12-15 reps.
- On all movements I recommend stopping 1-2 reps before you reach muscle failure. This will help to avoid burnout.
- An important part of the Henry Cavill workout is making sure you are tracking the workouts and aiming to set personal records each week by performing more reps or increasing the weight lifted.
Key Attributes Of The Man of Steel Physique
There are a few things going for Henry Cavill that really enhance his physique development, earning him the right to proudly wear the S on his chest.
The most notable of all is his shoulder to waist ratio. This requires you to build a big upper chest, wide back, round shoulders and maintain sub 10% body fat. Adding muscle to these areas alone will make the most profound difference to your physique. After that, it’s just a matter of keeping everything else balanced and proportionate.
Keeping the body fat low provides many perks. These include – increased muscle definition and separation, chiseled facial features and a taut waist. All of these qualities give you a breath taking presence when combined with some solid muscle mass. This is exactly what the Kinobody Superhero physique is all about. Now lets break all of these down and show you the fastest ways to achieve each individual attribute
1. You Need To Have A Wide Back
Developing broad shoulders really comes down to lat development. Building big lats will invariably widen your torso, creating a more dominant V taper. This makes a more profound effect than adding muscle to your shoulders. Your shoulders are a much smaller muscle group and you are limited to how much muscle you can add to them. On the other hand, your lats are the biggest muscle in your upper-body and have huge potential for growth.
The fastest way to build up your lats is from heavy weighted chin ups. I recommend using a slightly wider than shoulder width grip to really hit your lats. All hand positions are effective (neutral, hands away and hands facing you).
Just make sure when you start adding weight that you’re using a high-quality weight belt that won’t get in the way or distract you from doing the exercise.
Just take a look at Henry pumping up his lats while on set.
2. You Need A Big Upper Chest
Adding muscle to the top part of the chest is going to make the most visual difference. A big upper chest creates a masculine and dominant look.
Unfortunately, great upper chest development is a rare thing to find today. This is for two reasons:
Firstly, most people are obsessed with the flat bench because they can lift more weight. To really develop great upper pecs you need to do most of your benching on an incline.
Secondly, most people aren’t lean enough and hold some fat in the lower chest, causing their upper chest to appear smaller. In order to build a jaw dropping chest, you will need to stay lean and perform at-least 2x the number of sets on an incline than flat. So you might do 6 sets of barbell/dumbbell incline presses and 3 sets of the regular flat bench press.
3. You Need To Build Round Shoulders
Think of your shoulders as the icing on the cake. When you have big lats and a great chest then round shoulders are the last piece of the puzzle. To develop round shoulders you need to do two things.
1) Heavy Shoulder Pressing: This includes all variations; seated and standing dumbbell and barbell presses and even handstand push ups. Heavy shoulder presses will help add overall size to your shoulders.
2) High Volume Lateral Raises: Lateral raises do the best job at hitting the lateral head of the shoulder. This head doesn’t get fully worked from shoulder pressing so it’s imperative that you add some isolation movements in your training to develop it. This muscle responds best to very high volume and very short rest periods. So you should be performing 4-6 sets of 8-12 reps with 30-60 seconds rest maximum.
4. You Need To Maintain a Taut Waist
Having a slim waist is what makes the difference between looking good and looking awesome! Even just one inch off the waist can completely change the way you look.
In order to maintain a taut waist you need to avoid fat gain as you add muscle. My recommendation is to aim for 0.5 lbs of muscle per week. This is really the limit to how much muscle natural lifters can gain.
If you look at Henry Cavill’s transformation, he gained 18 lbs in 9 months which is an average of 2 lbs per month. This is right at pace with what is achievable naturally.
What’s cool is that if Henry slims down for another role and then has to bulk back up for Man of Steel 2, he will be able to hit his goals much faster. This is because you can regain lost muscle much faster than trying to build muscle for the first time.
Best Way To Achieve The Henry Cavill Body
You can see from this picture that Henry has wide lats, a big chest, prominent shoulders, toned arms and a slim and defined stomach. This is exactly what the superhero physique is about.
The great thing about this shape is the versatility. You can throw on a t-shirt and look fantastic. If you maintain proper leanness you can pull off the GQ look in a nice fitted suit. And of course, when the shirt comes off there is no shortage of abs definition.
What About My Man of Steel Superhero Physique Journey?
I have actually been focusing on adding muscle over the past 9 months to attain the Kinobody Superhero Physique.
Honestly, I don’t know if I want to get any bigger. With consistent training and proper eating, the muscle has been coming on very nicely and the strength has been increasing unbelievably fast. My recent lifts include; Incline Benching 260 lbs for 6, Chin ups with an extra 115 lbs for 6 and Barbell Curling 140 lbs for 6.
If you’re looking for a more complete, comprehensive workout system similar to the Henry Cavill superman workout, my Superhero Bulking Program is designed to get you into superhero shape like Henry Cavill. You will be training three times per week, and each week that goes by you will be measurably stronger, harder and bigger in the right places. This is not a routine to get you pumped up in a few weeks, but there are many benefits to this kind of split.
It takes time and hard work and you will be training to lift very heavy weights; think weighted chin ups with 100+ lbs and incline benching with 225 lbs. If you’re serious with your training and not afraid to push yourself you can really benefit from it.
318 Comments
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Supplementation Increases Muscle Mass Gain During …
enter link: http://bit.ly/1nwYZQm
Hey Greg will this be a good workout routine for football offseason?
Sir i’d started my workout 2 weeks ago , doing some specific program for each day but then i do not know if that program i was doing fits me. I’d been reading some of your articles also specially this one. is it okay to follow this program or can you give me some advice about proper workout for beginner ? i will appreciate if what ever will be your response.
This workout can be done while in caloric deficit? If yes, do you recommend any changes?
IF you’re going to be dieting I’d suggest dropping one set from each exercise.
Thanks.
On the RPT exercises I should take off one set from the heavier two or the lighter two?
The lighter two
Hi Greg!
Is this workout suited for a beginner looking to add mass?
If not, which of the workouts would be appropiate? Been playing soccer all my life so i’m fit with a low level of body fat, just a bit too skinny!
This is definitely more advanced. Ideally I’d worth through my Greek God Program at greekgodprogram.com.
http://forum.softpedia.com/index.php?app=core&module=attach§ion=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=1361468
Should i bulk or should i cut? What workout rotine is good for me?
I can’t view the picture.
http://i1369.photobucket.com/albums/ag216/obogdan23/IMG_20140805_104316_zps101a066f.jpg
Up to you. You could cut like 5 lbs of fat and get pretty lean then switch to lean bulking.
Hey Greg,
just thinking that will my arms grow at all with this workout?
Of course!
Hey Greg,
Just purchased your Greek God program, looks awesome. I have been folowing the man of steel workout for the last 6 weeks and have made great gains in strength and size. Not sure what to follow now, as the greek god looks to have alot less volume etc than what i’m currently doing(dont want to looze gains). Should I stay doing Man of steel, or jump straight into MEGA workouts as they have more volume than the others workouts in the program. Will the super hero program have more volume etc workouts than Greek God.
Regards Andrew
I would definitely do strength and density for 8-12 weeks. You’ll gain killer strength!!! Then when you go to MEGA you’ll add serious size.
Hey, Greg.
I am new to your Kinobody systems, but I have been working out for years with slow progress. I was hooked when I saw the video of you bencing big weight. In your 5 Muscle Maxers video, you emphasize lifting for strength and dumping the minor lifts. My goal is to get stronger on the major lifts. But your Superhero workout seems more like the traditional workout consisting of a lot of exercises and sets while taking up to an hour to complete. Is the Superhero workout designed for the quick pump? Would you recommend the Greek God approach? You have a lot of intormation–which I absolutely love–but it can get confusing to know which protocol is the right one for me at this time.
Thanks!
Ed
Superhero workout takes the best of both worlds without compromising on strength gain. Start with the greek god approach till you have great strength then its time to bring in the lighter work.
Hi Greg,
This program is awesome, I been doing it for the last month, had unbelievable gains( bigger upper chest ,arms especially my shoulders). I used to workout 5 days a week, but thought I would try 3 days a week, as per your advice. What a difference it has made. Thanks you so much. Can’t wait to your super hero program comes out. Quick question when you do pull ups and chin ups do you use a false(thumbless) grip ?
Keep up the fantastic work.
Regards Andrew
Dude that’s awesome man! For pull ups I do a false grip for chin ups I do a regular grip.
Hey Greg,
Your workout doesn’t have many lat (the muscle I can’t seem to grow) specific exercises except for the Seated Cable Rows and Lat Pull-ups. Cavill seems to have grown them overnight.
Can you elaborate on the lats exercises you recommend?
Also, Cavill and Jackman seemed to have worked out 5 days a week for 6 plus months. I usually do 3 days a week. Like me, they also work a full day (plus appearances, future projects), so how did they recover with only 2 days of rest and have the energy after 4 weeks at this intensity?
Regards,
Rod
Well I’m sure their bodies adapted to the very high work load. I just don’t feel its the most optimal way to train. But it can definitely work. Lots of people have made great gains training 5-6 days per week. They also could have been using performance enhancers, can’t write that off.
Oh and there’s really no need for anything beyond heavy pull ups and rows. Get strong on your pull ups and you’ll have lats for days. They’ll soon become too big.
Hey Greg,
Great workout. Quick question,can I do workout as follows
Week 1 Mon A Wed B Fri C Week 2 Sun A Tues B Thurs C Week 3 Sat A Mon B Wed C…and so on
or do I need to rest two full days after workout C. Thanks
Regards
Andrew
I’d suggest doing the 7 day schedule. The 2 days of rest after C is important.
Hey Greg
Because of my schedule, what with school and such, I’m only able to go the gym on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, would you say it would still be okay to follow this routine with these days?
Thanks
Yeah that can work
Hey Greg,
I was curious as to how you would implement a carb reefed day, when cutting? Or do you already have an article or video explaining this? My macros are 63g Fat 163g of protein and 243g of Carbs. Keep on doing your thing brotha!
-Zach
You can bump up your fat to 75g and bring carbs up by 120.
Hey there, when I started going down the gym 3 months ago I was a scrawny 147 pounds (5 ft 10) and here I am now at 175 pounds. I recently stumbled across your website and I’m intrigued by the workouts and nutrition you use. Would you suggest adopting your methods or keep at what I’m doing now? I know you can call it ‘noob gains’ but I just keep getting stronger each week. What most intrigues me is I want to bring my fat percentage down for my holiday (vacation) in July. I’m not sure what my BF% is to know what to look into but I can say when I look in the mirror tensing I can see abs so it can’t be too high. Since training my waist has stayed the same but the rest of my upper body has significantly increased in size, especially my shoulders. I’ve found I’ve had to buy to bigger shirts purely because my shoulders can’t fit into my old ones anymore. Anyway, what I’m getting at is; should I keep this up for another few months and then in June start cutting down for my holiday in mid July to get to the 10% mark or start your program now? My ultimate goal is to get the man of steel body. Ever since I watched that movie I’ve been motivated to get to get that size. Sorry for the essay lol.
Hey James! There is no reason to hold off from doing my routines. If you’re making good strength gains now then this will just be a whole other level. And it’s time to tighten up the nutrition, go with a recomp protocol. 175 and 5’10 is pretty good if you’re very, very lean.
I really want to tighten up on my nutrition but with my work its difficult to incorporate it. I currently work 12 hour shifts. So I do 2 days of 6am to 6pm and then 2 days of 6pm to 6am. Then 4 days off. For my breakfast I’m having bacon and eggs. So to change my eating plan, should i fast in the morning and then at lunch have my bacon and eggs ? That’s the way I read it as. Thanks for the help
Whatever best suits your lifestyle. But you should fast about 4-6 hours from when you first wake up.
Hi Greg,
Big fan of your work, and have seen great results with your philosophies.
I’ve been a big fan of your Daniel Craig workout, very direct, and gets the job done.
My first instinct would be to split my days, similar to the way you did on Daniel Craig workout, push day and pull day. I recently just saw this Henry Cavill and was wondering why the back is worked on both chest and shoulder days, what is the major difference between the both workouts? whats the advantage?
Well the idea is to build a very big back, because that will make the biggest visual difference to the size of your upperbody. So pairing back work on both days helps to build muscle a little quicker. You can think of it as Pushes as pulls. So on chest day you’re doing horizontal pushes and rows. And on shoulder day you’re doing vertical presses and vertical pulls.
Hey Greg,
I’m a Kinobody Elite member and I was wondering if you have any plans on incorporating a forum into the website? Also, I have the Greek God program and I was wondering how fast you cycle through the various MEGA routines. I read and reread the sections and couldn’t find when I should progress from one to the next. Thanks man, your stuff rocks!
Her Eric! I would do each MEGA phase for one month before progressing to the next. A forum is a great idea, let me see if I can get that set up.
I think a forum would be a big step forward. Thanks for the reply and keep doing what you’re doing. You’ve got something great going here.
Thanks Eric!
If throw in an hour of steady Cardio with this on workout days, will I compromise my muscle building? I’m about 190 at 5’11 and am trying to shed some pounds as well.
Well I would save this routine for when you aren’t dieting. Go with a lower volume set up and then follow this when you’re focusing on building muscle and putting on size.
Just wanted to say, after 2 weeks if this routine with 2 cardio days in between, I have had more visible gains than the past 2 months of everything else I’ve done! Thanks man! You rock!
Very awesome dude! Keep up the great work and make sure to join the priority list for when the superhero program will be coming out – https://my.leadpages.net/leadbox/140dbe973f72a2%3A9446b1329/5710096743006208/
Been reading your site and taking tips for almost a year now. After about 8 moths of pretty intense strength training I decided it was time to step it up and try this workout. Day one was yesterday. I killed it, and it killed me. Awesome session! Those pyramid sets are brutal but I can see how effective they will be. Thanks so much for the good info and tips!
Hey greg,
Been doing your RPT/Standard Pyramid workout for a while. Im seeing awesome gains! I just have a couple questions. To bring out my shoulder shape, in terms of the rounded cap look what should i focus on? lateral raises im guessing? and my rear deltoids are lagging behind too? what would help? should be doing bent over lateral raises for them?
Also, I have kinda slowed down my training on legs; before your program i started with 5 by 5 strength training/glen pendlay and now they had gotten thick. Now ,i wanted to tone them out. any recommendations?
Thanks for all your videos blogs and posts Greg, I’m a big fan of yours!
Hey man, definitely work up to heavy shoulder presses. As well, lots of volume on lateral raises and bent over flyes/face pulls.
I’d suggest low rep pistol squats (on a bench if you can’t do them). As well, front foot elevated split squats to give your legs better proportion (build the vmo).
Hi Greg,
I would just like to ask if which workout would add more size, this or the MEGA in the greek god ebook.. Which would add more strength? And which would you recommend better?
Thanks!
I’d follow the MEGA workout in the greek god program. The Henry Cavill one work well too, but I found the strength gains weren’t as good. It’s better for 3-4 weeks because it’s just a lot of volume to recover from.
When doing the MEGA workout, could i just skip level 1 and go straight to level 2? Or do i have to go through all of them?
Well level 1 will be plenty if you’re new to it. So I’d do at-least 2-3 weeks at level 1.
Ok thanks!!
Hi Greg,
I am getting married in October and want to develop a body like Henry Cavill in Man Of Steel. I am currently 6ft tall and weigh 193.5lbs. My chest is 43″, arms flexed are 14″, but my waist (relaxed) is 39″ (!!!!!!!) – but when i tense it its only 35.5″.
I really like the look of this Man of steel superhero workout. I am re-joining the gym tomorrow (I have been training at home doing mainly bodyweight training for a few months now). According to my bodyfat calipers I only have a BF% of 14.8% (measuring an inch or so above the hip bone).
My main problem is all my fat is around my waist – not much anywhere else on my body.
I am 37 years old and vegetarian (I do eat eggs, fish and take whey protein). But if needed I would eat chicken again!
Any advice for me? Should I follow the above workout? Or would you suggest I buy your Greek God Program? (I have a tight budget – wedding plans and all that!).
Whats the difference between the greek god program and the program listed above?
Many many thanks
Paul
Hey Paul, sounds like your biggest priority should be dropping fat. I’d recommend leaning down to around 180 lbs. This will do much more to your physique then focusing on muscle growth. The best workout routine to follow would be the strength and density workouts from the Greek God Program. You’ll want to do the recomp nutrition plan, except I’d recommend doing rest day calorie and macros 6 days per week. This will let you lean down much faster. As long as you hit the right calories and macros then you wont need to eat meat.
When you get down to 180 lbs, you can do the training day macros on your 3 workout days.
Hi Greg,
Thanks so much for the reply (and on Facebook also) – you have been a great help. Since I am officially starting the program tomorrow (Tue) I decided to have one last night out/blow out on Saturday. Mam I wish I hadn’t – I ended up being sick for over an hour saturday night, slept all night then was sick in the morning again. Ended up not eating all day and spending the day in bed. But, I did end up losing an inch around my waist and could almost see my Abs!!! Something I have not seen since a teenager.
This is not something I would recommend though – I felt terrible!, but on the plus side its been a good start to my fat loss lol (prpbably just dehydration to be honest).
Thanks – I will keep you updated
HI again Greg,
Right – I’ve leaned down to 182lbs and don’t want to lose any more as I am starting to look a bit skinny.
So now my goal is to get muscular (like Henry Cavill ! ! ! !) by November (Or as near to that build as possible). At 6ft tall what weight and bodyfat % do you think this would be?
So now I am deciding which program to follow? Should I do the super hero workouts off your website? Or should I stick with the Greek God program and diet?
Also I do Karate one day a week (usuaklly wednesdays), so am thinking of weight training thursday, Saturday and mondays, but am aware that I may be a little aching on the thursday workout after Karate. Would you recommend that? Or do you think I should do something like Friday, Sunday, tuesday? Or am i asking for injury at karate doing that? The only other option would be karate on wed, giving it a day recovery then training on Friday, Saturday and monday (but that means training two days in a row).
Any suggestions?
many thanks
I look forward to your reply.
Paul
Hey Paul,
You’re going to want to be around 190-195 lbs at around 10-12% body fat or less. I would do the MEGA training from the Greek God Program. As well, my superhero bulking program will be coming out in the summer time.
Hi Greg. Many thanks for your advice. Yeah I was thinking around 190+ lbs at least,
I am starting the MEGA workout 1 this week and will continue with that.
One question though – I can’t do any kind of chest flye movements as I always end up waking up in the night after it with severe pains in my chest,. I have to stretch for ages until my ribcage literally cracks really loud (and very painfully) then the pain is instantly gone!! Its as though the muscles in my chest pull my ribcage together or something. the first couple of times I thought I was having a heart attack!! But after 3-4 times I realised it was the chest flyes and pec dec movements. What kind of chest isolation movement should I do instead in the workout instead of the incline flyes?
Also – if you need somebody to test drive your super hero workout that you are planning to release, then drop me an email and I will be happy to test it for you ;)
Cheers,
Paul
Hey Paul.
I actually don’t do any flyes or isolation movements for my chest. You don’t actually need to do them. If you want, you can substitute chest flyes for machine bench press with the high rep protocol.
Hey Greg,
I have been following your greek god program for awhile (Since November and it is crazy how much of a difference it is rather than a traditional “Bro” split) and I was wondering, that how often should I been switching back over to the strength and density portion through the duration of the program while doing a body recomp and IF two days a week. I also wanted to let you know when people ask how often I workout and I say just 3 days a week their dumbfounded and I simply just say check out Kinobody.com haha. Keep doing what youre doing.
-Zach
Thanks for sharing my stuff Zach! Very much appreciated brother.
No problem! But How often should I been switching back to the strength and density protocol during the greek god workouts. Just whenever I deam it necessary. Because I have seen slower progressions in strength than I did intially.
Do strength and density for 6-8 weeks before switching.
thanks Greg for the prompt reply. I am interested. How do I get in touch for all of the details on coaching?
You can learn about the coaching program and apply here – https://kinobody.com/workouts-and-exercises/henry-cavill-workout/
Hi Greg. I found your website by accident and absolutely love it. I am interested in the Greek God routine or even better personal coaching from you but don’t know how much I would benefit from either of those. I am 54 and have been training for a while but I have a few limiting factors such as pretty bad osteo-arthritis in my shoulders and wrists which make benching and dips very hard and standing shoulder presses close to impossible . I squat but need a safety squat bar to do it. I have never attained the body and strength levels that I wanted; basically your physique is what I’m after. I’m in decent shape now but want to take it to the next level. Is your program/coaching right for me? Sorry for the lengthy post and thank you in advance for any reply.
Hey Vito!
With my clients, I always work around certain limitations or injuries. I myself have dealt with shoulder and wrist injuries so I’m no stranger to this. I’d encourage the use of dumbbells to alleviate pain to the wrists. As well, incline presses tend to be better on the shoulders than flat presses.
I get amazing results with my clients and that would be a good option if you have it in the budget. I work best with people that have exercise experience and are able to track and record their nutritional intake and follow a specific protocol. My coaching rate is 497 and I have payment plan options to make it more affordable.
The greek god program is definitely an awesome routine that will deliver great results if you want to do this on your own. You’d just have to substitute the barbell presses for dumbbells and you’d be fine.
Greg, could I add something for shoulders in workout c my shoulders lack a need to be “bigger”
Your shoulders will be getting tons of work already. So I wouldn’t add anything.
thx man! so what do you recommend that isolates the anterior deltoid?
Rear delt flyes
ok I’ll try that thx
I meant the front part of the shoulder
Shoulder presses and even incline presses are the best exercises to build the front part of the shoulder. Front raies suck.
Hi Greg, I’m following your Greek God routine, I’m 46 so my metabolism is slower, and I never trained before, but I’m really happy with the results!
I’m trying to improve shoulder gains, so this what I do:
Day 1 standing press with reverse pyramid training + lateral raises with standard pyramid
and on training days 2 and 3 I add front raises and delts with standard pyramid.
Am I risking overtraining or not? will this speed up my gains or is better to take longer rests?
thanks for your input and keep up the good work!
Hey Marcin! That should be fine but I’d ditch the front raises they’re really a useless exercise.
Hey Greg i sent you my application for the personal coaching i dont know if my ab pictures went through with it or not but could you please let me know i could really use your helped and i sent you a msg on instagram as well. A response would be great thanks :))
I never got an application from you so I don’t think it went through
Greg,
How much aerobic exercise is too much with your program? In the past if I am getting too many aggressive aerobic workouts in (think ice hockey pace for an hour 2 to 4 times a week) I have a real hard time putting muscle on.
Thanks.
Tim
Limit aerobic work to 45 minutes up to three days per week and you should be fine.
Hey Greg, any any chance you could write a celebrity workout for the look brad Pitt had in fight club? Love your website!
Cheers
Yep for sure! Great idea.
Hi Gregg
I would just like to know how long should I stay on this programme for?
Thank you
Liam
Uk
You can do this program for 3-4 months before making adjustments.
Dear Greg,
Any tips for guys with gynocomastia (“man boobs”), I had come back from a fatty 250 pounds to normal 160 pounds through dieting and exercise, however due to this problem i have regained weight to currently 200 pounds, because a flat stomach with a chest like that does not look good at all….
Basically you’re going to want to get to a low body fat and most of the issues should go away. As well, focus hard on developing the upper chest to make your chest look very masculine.
And would it be okay to do conventional dead lifts instead of Romanian?
Yes
Can we use this routine to cut?
Nope, this isn’t suited for cutting since it’s much higher in volume and you’ll need plenty of calories to properly recover.
Thanks for your reply Greg! I was wondering if you could recommend another one of your workouts for a cut to get lean enough to start building towards this superman physique?
Definitely check out my fat loss course – warrior shredding program
What exercise could i substitute Romanian Dead lifts with?
You can do leg curls or glute ham raises or stiff legged deads instead
Pistol Squats. This is a body skill I want to achieve but I don’t know if there is a smart and effective progression to get there. Any tips?
Thanks man!
You can do assisted pistols holding onto something for balance and help. You can also do partial pistols onto a low body and gradually reduce the height of the box. Train them 2x per week.
Awesome thanks man!
how do you find out your body fat percentage?
It can be rather difficult and expensive. You can have someone measure with calipers (cheap) or you can do a DXA scan or hydrostatic (under water weighing). That said, body fat percentage doesn’t matter so much. It’s really a matter of whether you like the way you look in terms of definition.
Hey Greg,
I’ve got a few questions and I would appreciate it if you could give me some advice/your insight!
1) I would like to follow the “Man of Steel workout”, however i do not have access to heavy dumbells. So would I be able switch the Flat bench DB press for standard bench press? And do the same thing for incline? Would that still be effective?
2) I workout in my basement and do not have the ceiling space to perform standing shoulder press. So would the seated barbell shoulder press suffice?
3) I am thinking of taking creatine, more specifically Con-Cret by promera sports, which is a Hydrochloride Creatine. Do you know any thing about Hydrocloride creatine? Is it better or worse than monohydrates?
Thanks in advance,
Nick L
1) Yes, that would work just as well
2) Yes seated is fine
3) It’s worse. Just go with monohydrates.
Hey greg, I am 16 years old and im overweight im not sure about my body fat but im 176 pounds and I am 5 foot 6 im still growing but anyway I don’t know which way to turn, I really want to develop a nice physique something similar to tom welling, im sure you know who he is, but anyway which workout would you recommend me trying to get similar results like his?, i thought maybe i could do this, or maybe the superhero workout, but well your the expert so I thought id ask you what you would suggest me doing to achieve a similar physique, also should i cut fat first or gain muscle if so what diet would you recommend?, sorry for such a long question, but a friend told me you are very helpful.
Hey Chris! Well you can’t go wrong with any workout per say. The main thing is to get started. I’d recommend the daniel craig skyfall workout on the site. As well, you’re going to want to cut first.
cheers for the quick reply really helped a lot, anyway what cutting diet should i use, the eat like a model diet seems simple but what would you recommend?
Eat like a model diet I would say is too low in calories, it’s not sustainable. Go with the beach ripped diet.
greg…is there any problem…if we go way lower than 90dgree on dips for triceps…because I was kust going through the website of stronglifts and it says to do dips with going below parallel…
so should we do dips for triceps parallel or should we go below parallel…
what do u recommend sir
I’d recommend going slightly below parallel. Just until the point where the shoulder dips below the elbow. If you go really low then you’re going to be putting a ton of stress on your shoulder and pec. As well, that last range of motion is super weak so you’ll be selling yourself short if you go that low.
Hey Greg,
For the past month and a half I have been following your superhero workout from the muscle building course. I have seen great results in all muscle groups with my lifts going up however the only muscle I feel that is still lacking is my triceps. For it, I’ve been doing the close grip bench presses and rope extensions as is stated in the manual. Do you think I should resume these same exercises or should I substitute the close grip for dips or skull crushers? IF so, which of the two is better?
I find dips are better for triceps then close grip bench. To really hit your triceps with close grip bench you want to use chains, that makes the lock out harder. So yah, go with weighted dips and just go down to 90 degrees to really focus on the triceps.
hey…greg…
I have been doing your superhero workout routine for past 1 month while cutting…I am now at 9.5%bf from 12%..but I want to get down to 8%bf…to get my abs more visible….
I have been stalling on weighted dips for 3weeks…on Monday…I do the chest and tris workoit…in which I do..inclne bench press…followed by incline dbell press spt style…then weighted dips,skull crushers and then rope extensions spt for tris…then some core work…
question
1-should I not do incline dumbell press spt bfore dips……though I rest 4-5min before my first BW set of rpt style dips.
2-should I continue the same thing and increase rest period to 5min instead of 3.5min..
3-spt training between rpt training..is not good…
4-I am doing this program while cutting…and I think I will have to continue…this for few more weeks till I get to 8%bf…so should I temove spt training from my workout…I mean na dumbell incline presses..
…please answer sir…3stalls in a row on dips…is not what I expected at 17kg weight…till now I have got 5reps on previous weights and I increase 2.5lbs…per workout on rpt lifts…which has not been done for dips for 3weeks…please help sir…
While your cutting that’s too much volume. I would get rid of the incline dumbbell SPT presses.
Instead do Incline Bench Press, Dips and Rope Extensions OR skull crushers. If you want, you can do SPT dumbbell presses after dips, but not before.
well…greg…I do the incline dumbell.spt
…and after 4min rest…I do bar dips…
are u saying that after doing incline bench…rpt style…I should go for bar dips for tris rpt style…then I do skull crushers rpt style
…and after all the rpt style training has been done…I should pick my 20kg dumbells and do spt style incline dumbell press…and after that rope extensions for triceps spt style…
or are u saying that…I should totally remove spt traing for chest and focus only on rpt training…
should I do spt…traing while cutting on other bodyparts…or purely focus on rpt traing on other body parts tiill I have reached8%bf…after which I will start a lean bulk..
pleaee help sir
..
You’re doing too much that strength will decline. You can leave out dips for a while and do Incline Barbell RPT, Dumbbell Presses SPT, Skull Crushers, Rope Extensions. Alternatively, you can do RPT dips instead of dumbbell presses. Then you can do some flyes SPT stype and finish off with rope extensions.
I’m kind of “skinny fat” I want to build muscle while leaning out. what diet guidelines should I follow?
I’d recommend taking fat loss pretty slowly. No more than a 500 calorie deficit. You should also be engaging in strength training a few times per week. My new kinobody warrior shredding course is being released soon. That would be the perfect program for you.
Hey Greg
What all do you do for abs? Do you just do leg raises, renegade rows and ab wheel rollouts? Also, can you explain why minimalist if training is better. Because I’m sure other people such as myself have hard Time believing it can work. I just want to hear the science behind. Looks like it has worked great for you. Looking good!
Zach
Yah I’m not even training my abs much at all these days. But yah, my favorite movements are hanging leg raises, renegade rows and abs wheel roll outs. The only way you know that your workout routine is working is if you’re getting strong on a monthly basis. That’s the number one thing you have to do to make gains. Lift heavier weights. If you’re training frequently and with high volume, stalls are going to take place. With a minimilstic set up, getting stronger is a fuck ton easier. If you’re incline benching 250, chinning 100+ lbs, standing shoulder pressing 185 lbs and curling 135 lbs for 6 reps you’re going to be jacked as fuck. But if you’ve been lifting 5 days per week and you’re not even close to those lifts then your program is sucking balls and you need to start focusing on strength improvement and less fucking around.
Natural lifters make better gains on lower volume routines. THis is because the body is only good at doing one thing at a time. When you’re hammering lots of volume then your body needs to replenish glycogen stores and deal with lots of fatigue before it can even rebuild the muscle fibers. Drop the volume down and get rid of the nonsense and your body is going to get right to work and rebuilding the muscle fibers bigger and stronger than before.
Hey Greg weird question but I was just curious as to whether you shave your chest? I have been toying with the idea of doing mine because i notice a lot of people do it and my question is does shaving your chest improve your physiques appearance? Because seeing the abs more clearly? Sorry for the weird question, just wanted to know your opinion.
Thanks
Sounds crazy but I don’t get chest hair, at-least not yet. I would go with a female’s opinion. I know some girls are into a little chest hair and find it sexy. If your abs are being covered up by hair then I would definitely take care of that. But leaving some hair on the chest or just trimming it should be enough.
Hey Greg, great article as always. Was just wondering what body fat percentage you had/have in your photo?
Thanks man! Probably around 11% there. I’m currently around 9% and going to 8%.
Sweet Greg, thanks.
Hey Greg, I’ve been reading this website for a while now and I think its freaking awesome. I’ve been boxing 3 times a week for the past year or so but I’ve also been wanting to start up on this workout as well. Would I be able to do both and get the results I want or would that be too hard on my body? Thanks a lot Greg!
Merrick
Yah I think that can work! Boxing shouldn’t cut into recovery too heavily
Thanks a ton.
Hey Greg, what angle do you recommend I should do the incline bench on? And would flat and incline flyes produce better results in terms of widening my chest? I’ve read that it actually stretches the muscle fibers. Thanks
About 30-40 degrees for incline. Flyes aren’t that effective. Assume you can feel your chest hard on bench and incline, then flyes will be pretty useless.
Since I have a pretty weak muscle-mind link with this particular area in my body, do you think it’s sensible to substitute the dumbbell presses with flyes?
Definitely don’t replace a solid compound lift with flyes. You can do 2-3 sets of flat presses and 2 additional sets of flyes if you’d like.
In that case, what kind of a set and rep scheme would be most effective?
You can pick a weight you can do for 12 reps on flat presses. First set 12 then 10 then 8. Next do two sets of flyes for 8-12 reps.
Hi. Fantastic workout plan… I was wondering, is it possible to just do this workout twice a week? I am super busy with school and work lately. I can only train twice a week without burning out. How would I do this? Would it still be effective? Also, my chest and shoulders and really lacking on development, no matter what I do they just won’t grow that much, can this workout be tweeked to build those parts more? Shrugs?
Thanks. You are a hero my friend.
John
This routine will already hit your chest and shoulders hard! No need for more.
You can do Monday and Friday workouts. Then on wednesday you can do a bodyweight workout at home. Something like 3 sets of pistol squats and hanging leg raises.
Hey greg, i was wondering since i m not interested in training legs, do i get bigger with this workout or with the super hero One?
Ps is it possibile to meet u in person in California? ???it would be a dream!!!!!
I would go with the superhero one as it’s more specific to your goals. Yes, I’d be happy to have a santa monica meet up on the weekend when I’m in california.
Greg, I saw your rest pause video on YouTube for shoulders. My question is could that be used on biceps and triceps as well or is it only effective on lateral raises? Thanks.
You can technically use it on any muscle group. That being said, I find that using it on certain muscle groups can interfere with strength gain. So doing rest pause on biceps curls I found it caused me to plateau in strength development on biceps curls and chin ups. I find it works best on shoulders, triceps and calves. You can also try using it on back and chest and see how it works.
Hi There,
What supplements is it necessary to take?
None
So 300 above maintenance on rest days and above 300 on lifting days? Also what if I don’t do cardio then how much would I eat on my rest days?
You can do 300 over maintenance everyday. If you’re not doing cardio then your maintenance on rest days will just be lower so naturally you’ll be consuming fewer calories.
Ok so if maintenance is 2700 then 3000 on workout and cardio days and if no cardio then is 2700 or 2600 fine? Sorry the reason why I’m asking is because I tend to gain fat easily
Yah if you’re burning 3000 on a lift/cardio day then I’d use 2600 as maintenance on a rest day
Hey Greg,
Of your “Man of Steel” workout or your “Superhero” workout, which of the two workouts would you recommend more for putting on some serious size? Also, can I substitute Barbell Squats for Romanian squats? Finally, my gym doesn’t have an ab wheel so what can i do for that exercise instead?
Yah you can substitute squats for romanian split squats. You can do planks instead of abs wheel roll outs. Both programs will work well. Ideally, I’d go with the superhero program from the muscle building course! It will get you strong as hell and the size will come on nicely.
Thanks Greg. Also I feel as if I leave hang cleans out, then the superhero program lacks traps development. What do you think I should do for this problem since I can’t get my form right on hang cleans? Finally, would it be possible to cut and follow a cardio program while doing the superhero workout?
Many times we don’t actually need any trap work. Hitting chin ups, rows and shoulder presses will work the traps enough most of the time. We don’t want our traps too big as that doesn’t look good and will invariably make your shoulders appear smaller. You can do sumo deadlifts or high pulls instead of hang cleans.
I woudln’t cut while doing the superman workout. Do the strength and density while cutting and you can do cardio on rest days. When you are no longer running a calorie deficit then you can do the superhero routine.
Thanks Greg. Do you mean to say that I shouldn’t do cardio at all while doing the superhero workout? I calculated my maintenance and it is 2700 calories so how many calories should I have for my workout days, off days, and cardio days?
You can do cardio on rest days on the superhero program. I would eat about 300 over maintenance on the superhero program. You’ll be burning more calories on your lift days so take this into account. Also one day per week you could drop calories a little under maintenance.
Hi Greg!
I just saw your new video in youtube. Great strategy! i have a question though. What are the differences of rest pause training vs standard pyramid training. All i know is that they both help build stubborn muscles. But which technique is better? or which technique will give faster or better results?
thanks!
They are both very effective! You can alterante between using the two different techniques. For example, you rest-pause for 4-6 weeks and then standard pyramid for 4-6 weeks. Then of course, you should be doing RPT on your main compound movements.
what would a diet plan for this workout look like?? cals, and macros ecc…
thanks old sport , you’re the best!!!!!!!
I’d recommend something like 16 calories per pound of bodyweight, 25% fat, 30% protein and 45% carbs. Adjust calorie intake, depending on rate of weight change. You should aim for a muscle gain of about 0.5 lbs per week.
Hey Greg
Currently, I weigh 137 pounds, my waist is about 29.5 inches and I’m 5’10. My chest seems to be seriously lacking in mass as it’s 36 inches and my shoulders are 46 inches. Will this routine help in sorting out my lagging chest or should I consider extra chest days? Thanks
Yes, this routine will definitely help you add size to your chest. No need to add an additional routine.
Hey Greg! Love your podcast with Chris! I am very much interested in building a superhero physique because I love the idea of having broad shoulders and a tight waist. I’m interested in how such a physique has strong psychological impacts on people.
I had a question on how developing the wide back actually plays into broad shoulders? It is an illusion from the back or do the lats end up pushing your arms out a bit to create an impact on the shoulder measurement?
Cheers!
Adding significant size to your upperback will widen your shoulders. Take a look at people that have added a significant amount of muscle. Their shoulders clearly become broader.
I like this workout plan but one thing I see missing is some rear delt work. Which day would you suggest adding some of that in?
You can do rear delts instead of cable lateral raises on workout c. That said, the rear delts will still get hit from pull ups and rows.
what are good supplements i can to help me better in this program? good article btw
Creatine monohydrate is effective. Caffeine before training. Then fish oils and vitamin d are useful. But far more effective is going to be sleep and solid nutrition.
Hi, do you have any tips on building massive triceps? heavy weight or low weight? Exercises?
Thanks
Heavy weighted dips and close grip bench is fantastic. I’d also recommend getting strong at skull crushers and rope push downs. It takes time to build big triceps. If you can build up to dips with your 0.75x bodyweight attached for 6 reps, that would be beastly.
Awesome, cheers. I also have a question about muscle gains in general. Could someone follow a VIMB phase 1 style workout year round and keep getting bigger? Or is there a limit on the sarcoplasmic hypertrophy? I have also noted you say that 75%-80% of muscle gains are from getting stronger in the 5-8 rep range.
Thanks
That is definitely not the way to go! You’ll get some good gains for a couple months, but if you’re not getting stronger, you will quickly plateau! 80% of your overall muscle growth will come from strength gains.
Hi,
I absolutely love your site and your articles are amazing! I have a question for you. This time of year I only get to go to the gym twice a week (I work in a seaside town so work is full on this time of year). I have access to any foods I want as I work in a kitchen. (I don’t eat red meat, just eggs, fish, chicken, quorn etc) so the diet is always ok for me.
I was wondering how I would incorporate this workout into just two days (I train sundays and Wednesdays at a local gym) – however I could squeeze in a bodyweight workout at home on a Friday (I also have a TotalGym, chin bar and dumbbells at home) – so could add that to my routine if needed, although due to the long hours I work this time of year (I get 6 hours sleep a night, plus a power nap of 1 hour in the days) – I find that training more than two days a week burns me out.
I currently weigh around 176-180lbs of muscle at 6ft tall and apart from a tiny bit of fat around my waist I have not much bodyfat (around 10-12% according to my calipers).
I would love it if you could offer me any advice? My goal is to have a very similar body to Henry’s on the Man of steel film (also like wolverines build as well as Thors – although I am not sure that kind of build is achievable for me??).
I am 36, and consider myself in good shape already. I am currently deadlifting around 140kgs – 2 sets of 8. I squat around 130kg 8-10 reps, incline bench DB of 25kg each, and press around 70kg. I have been stuck on my bench for years! – But I do respond better to pushups strangely enough.
I look forward to hearing from you and would like to thank you in advance.
Paul
Hey dude! Glad you enjoy the site my man.
It is apparent that your lowerbody is significantly stronger than your upperbody. Therefore I would recommend hitting the two upperbody workouts at the gym. Once per week you can do 3-5 sets of pistol squats, lunges and hanging leg raises at home.
Do you think I could get maximum results by combining this workout routine with the ” Christian Bale – American Psycho ” (strength training part on tuesdays & thursdays + diet from the article) one ?
I could also easily pull-off 60mins cardio on saturdays and give myself a rest day on sunday ?
Is this a good combination or should I simply do something else ?
No! Definitely don’t combine two workouts. That’s a recipe for a disaster. Rest between workout days is massively important. Less is more. The American Psycho diet is way too low in calories for the superhero workout routine.
Hi Greg,
I was wondering what kind of strength targets on some dumbbell exercises I should be hitting to achieve the super hero physique. Say for instance, incline dumbbell press, dumbbell shoulder press, dumbbell row and alternating curls.
Also, could you tell me what your measurements were roughly in that pic shown above? (Waist at belly button, arms, chest etc).
Thank you
Well right now I’m hitting 120’s for 6 on incline, 100’s for 6 on shoulder press, 65’s for 4-5 on db curls. In that picture my waist is about 33″, chest 45.5″, arms about 16.5″.
I think if you can get to 90 lbs on shoulder press for 6 and 110 lbs on incline bench and curl 60 lbs for 5 reps you’ll be set.
Not to be redundant on this question, but can weighted dips be subbed for skull crushers? I use a dip belt and really feel it in my triceps, but I want to make the most of every rep.
I find two heavy pushing movements to be sufficient. Doing three heavy pushing movements becomes greatly strenuous, especially when you’re adding weight to the bar regularly. For this reason, I find strength gains are better with just two pushing movements. So if you want to do dips I’d recommend replacing flat bench with dips and keep in the skull crushers.
Okay sounds good. I’ll make that switch. I do love some weighted dips.
Hi Greg, thanks for all the great advice in your articles and podcasts. I plan on buying your muscle building course soon.
My question is, having pretty underdeveloped legs (genetics I guess), what would be your opinion in doing the Legs workout twice a week? Taking one rest day between every workout.
I’ve been working out for almost a year, and gains made to my legs have been very insignificant in comparison to my upperbody.
Yah you can hit legs 2x per week until they start to catch up. Do the other leg workout on saturday. Best not to hit upperbody the day after a leg workout as your nervous system will still be recovering.
Okay, thanks!
Hi Gregory,
Awesome post!
I’m 5′ 9″, 12% bodyfat and 145 lbs. I’ve been training seriously for the past three years and have been steadily improving my nutrition and sleep habits. I was curious if I should try the Man of Steel workout or follow your earlier “Muscle Mass” post (https://kinobody.com/906/workout-for-muscle-mass/).
Would it be wise to employ your “Cardio and Abs” workout in either of the lifting programs?
Thanks again for the website!
I’d go with the Man of Steel workout. It reflects my current training philosophies as I don’t believe in lifting more than 3-4x per week.
You can do the cardio and abs workout 2x per week on non lifting days.
Hi Greg. I love weighted dips. Anyway you could incorporate them into these workouts?
Yes, you can substitute for flat bench press.
On workout A is there anything I can replace Skull Crushers with?
You can do any triceps movement. Dumbbell overhead triceps extensions, dumbbell skull crushers, cable push downs….
Hey Greg, I’ve been following your muscle building program for sometime now and it has been great man. But I’ve hit a plateau on my bench press and can’t seem to get above 180 lbs for 4 reps. How would you go about getting through these plateaus not only this one but on the other exercises as well?
Plateau’s can happen man. I’d recommend using a different rep range. So if you normally do 3 sets – 5, 6, 8 reps (RPT), then consider dropping the weight and doing higher reps, ex: 7-8, 9-10, 11-12. So drop down to 160 lbs or so and bang out as many reps as possible. Start adding 2.5 lbs total to the bar or 5 lbs on first or second/third set. Eventually you’ll hit a plateau and only get 6 reps. Then stay at 6, 8, 10. Continue adding weight and you might only get 5. Then do 5, 6 and 8. Continue until you can only get 4 reps then the next workout drop the weight by about 10-15% and start back up at 8 reps.
Hey Greg, loving the article and recent podcasts!!! Congrats on your success. What did the sprint/power leg workout variation that used look like? Thanks in advance dude
Thanks dude!
I’ll start with 3 sets of 5 reps on pistol squats per leg. I’ll control on the way down and explode on the way up. Next, I’ll do 3 sets of 6 reps of knee tucks, jumping as high as possible. Then I’ll hit 3 sets of single leg calf raises (weighted). After, 3 sets of hanging leg raises (feet to bar) or L sit chin ups for 10-12 reps. Then 2 sets of side to side bent knee ups, 2 sets of 10 reps of the abs wheel roll outs. And finally 3 sets of 6 reps of the stand to stand bridge.
I really like this site, i´ve been following it for quite a while already. I have a particular question. I workout first thing in the morning, from 5:30 to 6:30 a.m. cause it gets me started very nicely after sleeping for 8,5 hours and my schedule doesnt give me big chances to do it later in the day. Now the question is, do I have to eat after the workout, or could I fast (i do intermittent fasting) till 2 pm when i will have lunch? Then I eat a snack at 4 pm, and dinner at 7 pm, to fast for 17 hours. What do you think? Is that ok, or do I have to start eating breakfast after the early morning workout and therefore start fasting earlier in the afternoon, lets say right after having lunch?
Thank you very much, and keep up the very nice work!!!
You can train and then fast until lunch. That’s fine.
Thank you very much. One last question? Should I consider taking more than 10g. of BCAA or not?
You only need 10g of bcaa, 10 minutes prior to training if you’re fasted. If you’ve eaten protein 4-6 hours before training, you won’t require pre workout BCAA.
Could you lose/maintain weight with this workout?
Way too much volume for cutting. If you’re going to cut just do 2 sets per exercise. Anymore is counterproductive.
Hey Greg,
I’d really like you to write an article on post-workout nutrition, adressing topics such as how long after the workout to have your meal, what the best post workout foods are… There’s lots of debate on this subject so I’d really like you to share your take on this with us.
Thanks.
There’s not too much to talk about here. If you’re training fasted then you should eat within two hours of training. I like to eat balanced meals that are high in protein and contain fats and carbs as well. If you have consumed a meal containing protein 2-3 hours before training than you will have amino acids in your bloodstream for several hours. So post workout nutrition isn’t actually that important. You can simply eat when you prefer.
Thanks.
Also, I’ve strated VIMB phase 1 specialization, though I made my own changes to the program, so I’d like to hear your opinion on it:
Push day:
3 x Incline Chest Press
4 x Weighted Pushups
4 x Dumbbell Chest Press
3 x Handstand pushups
4 x Side Raises
4 x Seated Shoulder Press
4 x Dips (bodyweight)
3 x Bodyweight Tricep Extensions
Pull and abs day:
3 x Pullups (bodyweight)
3 x Chinups (bodyweight)
4 x Bent Over Rows
4 x Barbell Curls
4 x Dumbbell Curls
4 x Ab Roller
4 x Crunches superset wit Pulse Ups
Weighted exercises are to be done in the 6-12 range (like Rusty says), bodyweight exercises are done to near failure. So, what do you think? :)
Another thing, since the program is 4 days on/ 3 days rest, would you recommend me to eat less calories on the rest days to try to stay lean, or would that hinder my gains?
Thanks again, and sorry for being such a pain in the ass.
I think there is way too much overlap. Pick one of weighted push ups or db chest press. Pick one of handstand pushups and seated shoulder press.
PIck one of chin ups or pull ups.
I thought about it, but Rusty advises us to use high volume on this phase so he uses 3 exercises per muscle large group on his sample workout. I simply replaced some of his exercises by some I like the most, whilst keeping the 3 exercises per muscle group.
Did you only do 2 exercises per muscle group when you did VIMB?
Well if you’re going to do three chest exercises then make your third one a fly variation. Otherwise two is plenty. One shoulder press movement is enough, especially considering this is after hammering chest. Put some more work into the lateral raises.
I`m gonna cut the number of exercises for shoulders and chest to 2, but would you recommend me to increase the number of sets in those exercises so I can meet Rusty`s recommended 12 sets per large group (which would probably be 6 sets each exercise, including lateral raises)?
Rusty says volume is very important in phase 1, so should I listen to him and stay with the same number of sets or would cutting the sets down grant me similar results in phase 1?
Again, thanks for all of your support.
Well you can do three exercises for chest. Incline bench, flat bench or weighted push up and incline fly. For shoulders two is perfect since you’re already getting shoulder work from chest movements.
They have an interesting article on all actors’ superhero training workouts here:
http://www.zootoday.com/thelist/movies/superhero-workout-secrets-zoo-finds-out-what-it-takes-to-be-a-comic-book-hero
DIET OF SUPERMAN
(Henry Cavill)
– Before Man Of Steel, Cavill had to get in amazing shape for Immortals, where he reduced his body fat to just six per cent.
– While in full training for MOS, Cavill was eating 5,000 calories per day. “You’ve got to eat protein first, then a little bit of carbs,” he says. “You’ve got to keep your hunger levels going.”
– Cavill was drinking post-training shakes containing up to 1,500 calories; two thirds of a normal man’s daily diet.
– He used a 100-rep workout called the “tailpipe”. The second you finish each exercise, you take eight controlled breaths, which helps manage the stress of extreme fatigue
For pyramid sets you are supposed to increase weight while decreasing reps such as 12,10,8,6 right? How would you continue to progressively overload while doing these sets?
No, you are using the same weight for all of those sets. The short rest periods create cumulative fatigue, which is why you’re performing less reps on each set. When you can finish it with only 30 seconds of rest between sets then you can increase the weight the next workout.
Hey man so my goal would be to get to this physic. I am 16 years old, about 5’7″-5’8″, im 72 kilos and around 20% i guess maybe even more- What would be around my goal weight and dimensions?
Well the first step would be to lean down and get your waist to about 31″. From there you can focus on adding muscle and reaching the man of steel condition. But don’t worry about that for now, focus on getting lean.
Alright thanks
Hey man, me again. I also forgot to ask you about arm and leg width for the warrior physique. It probably varies for my height
5’7
THanks!!
Probably 15-15.5″ arms. Legs maybe 22-22.5″. Calves 15″
hey Greg,
my current workout routine pretty much consists of alternating these two low volume/long rest period workouts A and B monday/wenesday/friday.
workout A: incline barbell bench, straight bar curls, lateral raises
workout B: chin ups, shoulder press, close grip bench.
I was so intrigued by your superhero/henry cavill workouts that I decided to give them a go but the issue is that by the time I get to the second exercise for a particular muscle group, I can’t load up the bar nearly as heavy as what I have been used to. For example, following weighted chin ups I perform straight bar curls 125 for 3 whereas I could normally get 135 for 4 and for the other workout day following incline bench press i could only hit my close grip bench 225 for 2 whereas I could normally get 235 for 3.
my question is whether you believe that not grouping chest/triceps and shoulders/biceps is inefficient in the long run even though I could press more weight when these muscle groups are isolated. Any other tips/changes you see my current program should gear towards?
Any input would be greatly appreciated, Nick.
Hey Nick, yes this can be an issue. If this is the case then I’d recommend limiting each exercise to only 3 sets. Also take about 5 minute rest before moving into the next exercise. Sure, you won’t be as strong as if you were super fresh but you’ll still be able to increase muscle size and strength. When you go back to doing an exercise completely fresh, you’ll be blown away at how strong you are. So my advise is to continue with it, don’t worry if you have to go lighter than usual. You’ll still be able to increase your lifts and with time you’ll make killer gains.
Would it be possible to gain a bit of muscle in my upper chest doing ur muscle building course in a calorie defecit to drop bf? Lets say if after the rpt I did some high rep pump sets of incline db. Or am I asking my body to do to much things at once….
Yah you should be able to add a bit of size. If you’re cutting, you can usually bring up 1-2 muscle groups. The key is that you use a small deficit and get progressively stronger.
Hey Greg,
great stuff as always. a couple of questions.
1. How big are your legs? How do they fare in jeans? Like you, I like to wear fitted straight leg jeans. My legs are currently about 21 inches in the thigh, but I would like to get them up to about 24 inches in the next few months (according to the Adonis/Greek body measurement ideals). Do you think that would be too big if I got jeans now? Just wondering what your experience with this.
2. I am currently about 167-170 lbs, incline benching 120 for 5-6 reps, chin ups with 40 lbs for 5-6 reps, curling 90-95 lbs for 5-6 reps, and shoulder pressing about 80 lbs for 5-6 reps. I know I have a long way to go, but If i want the Man of Steel type physique, would you recommend starting with this workout now, or following a simpler routine with less pump work until I get up to warrior/Greek God size?
Thanks man! Your articles and help is invaluable.
1. 23-24″
They fit pretty good in most fitted jeans / pants. Any bigger and I would run into problems. If I could slim them down a tad or simply drop 5-7 lbs then I would probably have more versatility.
2. You could alternate between some strength and density training to bring your lifts up for 3-4 months and this workout for 2-3 months.
Hey Greg!
I’d appreciate if you could tell me body proportions for the warrior physique (Shoulder width, chest width etc.) I’m 5’7 and 1/2
Probably like 150-155 lbs with a 30″ waist, 41-42″ chest and 47-48″ shoulders! That would actually be an insanely developed physique.
Thanks man! What about arm and leg width for my height?
Appreciate it!
Hey Greg! Great article.
I woulds just like to ask for your advice on trying to develop chest size when arms are a little out of proportion (they look bigger than my chest). Any thoughts?
Thank You! Keep up the great work.
This routine is definitely going to be hitting the chest harder than the arms. I think you should be fine.
Hi Greg,
I’ve decided that gyms suck because the fees are ridiculous and the equipment is always hogged so i’ve decided that i’m going to make a home gym in my garage! Any tips for making an awesome home gym?
Squat rack with built in chin up bar, bench, barbell, plates (4 x 45 and 2 x 25, 10, 5, 2.5), dumbbells, dip bar and dipping belt.
Nice article!
How would you mix in cardio or what would you do on your
non strength training days?
You can do cardio and abs 2x per week. Try this – https://kinobody.com/1741/cardio-abs-workout/
Hey Greg,
I’d really like you to make an article with your thoughts on normal muscle building nutrition and diet approaches (like cutting, bulking, how many calories for each,macros…)
I think I’ve read somewhere around here that you’re not a fan of the bulking approach. So, how do you build muscle? Don’t you have to be in a caloric suplus to do so?
Thanks for your time.
You should read some of my articles here
https://kinobody.com/2464/how-fast-can-you-build-muscle/
https://kinobody.com/1354/how-to-build-muscle-and-lose-fat/
Hey man, quick question about lateral raises:
After 17.5lb w/ the dumbells, holding the weight gets challenging. I can easily bang out 12 reps with 17.5lb. So how should i progress? I think you’ve mentioned this same issue before with DB lateral raises but im not sure. THanks for the help!!
Not sure what you’re question is. But you might need to sacrifice the form or reps when moving up to 20 pounders. That’s to be expected. Keep that weight for a few workouts and your shoulders will adapt.
Would it be possible to substitute Incline Bench for Incline DB or is there a major difference between the two?
excuse my confusion. what i meant was to substitute DB press for the bench. *final minutes at work and my brain is shut* lol
Yah that’s fine!
Yah you can switch those if you’d prefer.
Hi Greg,
Unfortunately my local gym is really small yet very busy so the weights room is always packed and so there is rarely a chance to use the stuff for bench pressing, deadlifting etc. However, the ‘resistance room’ where there are machines like chest press, pectoral flies, shoulder press etc are always available. So my question is, can a well proportioned, muscular physique be achieved using these LifeFitness machines? Or, because they restrict your full movement would it be difficult to build muscle with them? Thanks.
Resistance is resistance. I feel there are certain functional advantages to using free weights, especially for athletes. But machines can get definitely build strength and muscle.
Very, very good article and it definitely makes you want to achieve that kind of fitness that goes with the body. If the gap, though, was between being a never-been-in-shape-ever comics guy and having the body of an actual comic book super hero, where might a good place to start be? Would you recommend a program like this to someone at the semi-beginner level?
Thanks!
Hey Marthy! Good question.
This is definitely a more advanced routine, and many of the techniques will be more beneficial once you develop a base. You can do the same workout, but I would just start with doing only 3 sets for each exercise with 2 minutes of rest and 6-12 reps. After 3 months of that you can follow the workout as is.
Thanks a lot! Hoping to make do with adapting this workout with the equipment I have (a pair of dumbbells, a pretty-good set of resistance bands and a wooden bench that’s actually just an antique plank with four legs nailed on it). If you have suggestions towards that, my branding design skills are at your debt sir!
A wooden bench ain’t optimal. I would encourage you to save up to buy an exercise bench. Also I’d recommend getting a chin up bar. Best piece of equipment you can buy.
Great work Greg,
Your work always inspires me.Am currently at Greek God physique but would want a bit more muscle.At 6ft tall what should be my target weight for the amazing superman physique.
You write about the lateral raises:
“So you should be performing 4-6 sets of 8-12 reps with 30-60 seconds rest maximum.”
Differs from your muscle building course, S&D..
Should i change my workout to this scheme instead, or just keep doing as written in your muscle building course?
again, great job on an interesting article!
Strength and Density is geared at more myofibrillar hypertrophy. Therefore you’re only doing sets of 8-12 reps with 2 minutes rest on lateral raises. Stick with the program as laid out. If you want to get more muscle growth you can do 5 sets with shorter rest periods on lateral raises.
Hi Greg! Great results! Your the number one fitness author by far!! Quick question off topic. I know you are also into psychology and other other aspects like that. Any great books you can recommend that you’ve read recently or in the past? Keep up the good work on the posts!! I’m always looking out for them! Cheers
I really liked the Will Power Instinct by Kelly McGonigal. Probably my favourite author is Eckhart Tolle. However, his books are more on being present and mindful. Nonetheless probably the most life changing books in my view.
Hey man
How would you recommend I lose the last 10-15 pounds of fat? I’ve been using your website for months now and it has helped greatly. But i can’t seem to figure out how to lose the last few stubborn pounds.
Thanks
Read the beach ripped article series – https://kinobody.com/2552/beach-ripped/
Great article, once more !
I juste have a couple of questions though. Which workout is the most effective ? This one or the Superhero workout in your Muscle building Course ?
Also, does the fact that this one does not use RPT mean that it will be a bit less efficient at building strength ?
Thanks in advance for informing me, Greg !
Hard to label one workout as better than the other. I’d recommend giving both of them a run through and determining which workout works better for you. That said, this routine is quite high in volume and you’ll be hitting 5 sets on some movements. That’s a lot, especially when you’re lifting heavy and training with max effort.
You can do RPT style for the first 3 sets of the first two exericses. Ex: 6, 8, 10 + 2 more sets of 8-10 with the same weight as third set.
Would neutral grip weighted chin ups affect my lat development at all?
Neutral grip is great for the lats as well. I actually prefer that hand position. If you go slightly wider than shoulder width, you will hit the lats hard!
Greg for the compound movements, what was the progression method for this training? 5 lbs increase in weights for both Monday and Friday workouts? Is this RPT style training for the first 2 exercises of the workout?
You can do RPT style for the first 3 sets of the first two exericses. Ex: 6, 8, 10 + 2 more sets of 8-10 with the same weight as third set.
5 lbs increase is too fast. You won’t to increase by about 2.5 lbs. So fractional plates or increase half of the sets by 5 lbs and the other half increase by 5 lbs on the next workout. The other movements build up the reps then increase the weight.
I’m just about recovered from an operation on my arm as I ripped the tendon on my bicep away from the forearm so it’s been a while since I did bicep work but I’ve just started again. How often would you do your biceps to get the size on again ?
Twice per week
To get to this weight did you do a slow bulk with intermittent fasting? Or did you go for the 5 meals a day approach? Also my shoulders and arms are lacking compared to my back and chest do you have any ideas? And also what kinds of sprints do you do if you incorporate them into a program?
Yah I slow bulked with Intermittent Fasting. Usually 2-3 meals in a 6-10 hour eating window. You’ll just need to cut back on the chest and back work and really focus on your shoulders and arms. You can do 6 sets of 60 yard sprints once per week. Walk back for rest.
thanks man I appreciate it
Great article! What really makes Cavill stand out from the other superhero actors are his lats. Usually the Hollywood look is all about abs, chest and shoulders. It’s not often you see someone with impressive lats, which is a shame because they create a brilliant look. I’ve wanted huge lats ever since I first saw Bruce Lee showing his off.
You look awesome Greg! Let me ask you something, what should I change in this workout if I want to focus on lats? I look lot smaller because of my low shoulder to waist ratio, even with a lean waist. Thank you!
Well if you want more back work on Workout A you could do chin ups instead of barbell curls. Use a shoulder width or slightly wider grip.
Thanks for your answer Greg! But should I do light (3 x 6-8 reps) or heavy (6,8,10 + 2 x 10 reps) chin ups on workout A?
Thank you!
Do the latter
Thank you very much Greg!
Hey Greg
Can this workout be incorporated in the Muscle Building Program or is this more of a pump training workout? Because i have been following the Muscle Building program strength and density workout and so far my strength has certainly increased on incline bench and chin ups but my shoulders are pretty weak. can this workout be used for like a month in between the Muscle building course?
thanks
This is a blend of pump work and strength workout. Although, the volume is higher on the strength work since you’ll be doing up to 5 sets on some movements. You could probably do great with 3 sets RPT style instead. In fact I usually only do 2 sets for heavy movements. After that, I feel like I’ve gotten the job done.
Yah, you could do this routine for a month to mix it up!
What is your height and weight in that picture?
5’10 and 190-192 lbs.
I’m sure the workout is great……but honestly,all I did was look at the pictures…..yum.
haha
Hi Greg,
I have one question to you.
The thing is – when I do standing shoulder press my lower back hurts and I’m afraid that I may get injured. What is your suggestion? With what exercise may I replace ssp
without losing any of it’s benefits?
Well it could be that the exercise is exposing a weakness in your body, your core. Standing presses require a very strong core to properly execute. When doing them you should really be focusing on squeezing your butt and bracing your abs. This will help enormously.
If it still feels off then you can do seated variations.
I said this before and I’ll say it again: Greg your Physique is absolutely perfect. I wouldn’t change a damn thing. To be totally honest, If I had your physique, I’d just maintain that shit for the rest of my life. I’d just eat maintenance and do power lifting, that’s just my opinion. I’d be the sexiest old man in my retirement home, straight up big pimping dem grannys.
Seriously though, people would kill just for your VIMB physique. I know I would. You remember those days? When you came out with that transformation video, that’s when I turned my life around. Iwas like ” Holy shit, THATS WHAT I WANT!!” Nothing short of inspiration. I still say till this day, even with this super-hero/warrior look you promote, your VIMB results was fucking incredible and probably the best physique I’ve seen on you yet. I still go back and look at the video till this day. Again, just my opinion though.
What you give to us and the community is a true gift of your humbleness and your no bullshit philosophy. Watching you for the last 3-4 years evolve/transform has been, and always will be a pleasure and I’ve learn more from you than anyone else in this corrupted fitness world we reside in.
I see a lot of guys in my gym and friends who get to a certain point in their physique development, they can’t progress any further so they hope on some gear and blow the fuck up and ruin their life. Even though my friends know the risks of this shit, I ask them ” Why can’t you be greatfull for what you have, you look Fucking amazing!” and their response: ” I want to take my physique to a new level and this is the only way” I don’t judge them I just don’t agree with it. its their life.
What im trying to say Greg is that: You have great genetics, but I think you can only go so far with it. At what point in time do you think ” Well, this is it! This is my absolute max development. I can’t go any further”… Whats next?” How much further can I go until I jump to the dark side?”
Im not trying to come across disrespectful or insinuate anything, I have nothing but love and respect for you. Always have and always will. I just like to know what goes through peoples minds who look as incredible as you do when they get to a certain point of their fitness journey where they say enough is enough and im happy with this.
Thanks dude!
Yah the shrink wrap shape was pretty insane. About the leanest I’ve ever been. Achieving that condition was mostly about enduring a pretty brutal diet, the training is the easy part.
I am very objective with my physique to be honest. I have reached the point where I don’t want to get much bigger at all. I’d be happy to lean down a little more and then just maintain while keeping my training and diet more relaxed.
Hey Greg,
All the articles about Cavill have him stating he was eating an insane 5,000 calories per day to bulk up. How would he not be putting on fat during this phase?
Good question! Henry does claim to have consumed 5000 calories per day so I guess we have to believe it. For him not to gain any fat he would have to be active for about 3-4 hours per day minimum. That could be 2 hours of resistance training and 2 hours of technical skill work or cardio. It’s not entirely hard to believe this since many athletes claim to consume even more than this. Then again, GSP only eats about 3200-3500.
So the 5000 figure could be an exaggeration or it could have only been a couple days per week and then on the other days he could have eaten around 3000-3500. Who knows. But he did have to sign a contract to eat only the food that he had been provided with. So maybe his nutrition guys decided he required 5000 calories.
But what we need to understand is that most of us are going to be highly inactive apart from 3-4 workouts per week. So hopefully people don’t read that Cavill consumed 5000 calories and decide that’s what they need to do to look huge. We know where that will lead them…
In another interview, he said that he did gain fat from that diet and that weeks before the shooting he had to cut down to 2500 and felt horrible. I prefer the more modorate way outline here…
That would definitely be a hard transition to go from 5000 calories to 2500. He would have been much better off setting the calorie at a more reasonable surplus.
Hey! There´s a lot of different opinions when it comes to angle in incline bench press. From the looks of it, you appear to be doing ok ;) How is your angle in incline bench?
Also, in your earlier workouts you have emphasized hitting every muscle group every 4-5 days, how come this one is different?
Great site man, you´ve become my new hero!
I like to go about 45 degrees or slightly below to really hit the upper chest.
Both methods work quite well! The advantage of training every 4-5 days is you get perfect recovery. This allows you to train the respective muscle groups extremely hard and not have to worry about recovering in time for the next session. The other method, as shown in this workout, is hitting your upper body two times per week. The advantage of this is it allows you to have an entire day to hit legs. This is great if you need to add size to your legs. But since you’re hitting the whole upperbody two times in the week, you’ll need to keep an eye out for recovery. As well, it’s important to do different exercises on both upperbody days to avoid burnout.
Hey Greg,
Quick question, Do you still incorporate leg lifts + leg spread on dip bar? Are they really more effective on developing the v-cut than other ab exercises? If so, what is the set n rep scheme that you recommend? Much appreciate it!
Yes, I still perform the exercise. I like to do 3-4 sets of 8-15 reps with 1 minute of rest.
I read this article yesterday and read it again today. Is it just me or did u change the weighted chin ups to seated cable rows in workout A? and if yes, i would want to know the reason.
Haha Thanks Greg!
Good eye dude!
Yah I did make that change haha. I really love chin ups / pull ups but decided not to let my personal taste influence the workout too much. It’s probably a good idea to get some horizontal rows in just to balance out the back and keep the shoulders healthy.
Been doing your superhero program from the muscle guide and am getting closer to 200lb incline bench and 50lb weighted chins.
I’ve been following the diet and cardio from your get shredded series and have been doing 1800 calories a day on average. Problem is I’m not losing any weight. Strength is up and my waist is down by a couple inches but visibly I’m no more ripped.
Should I drop calories further, go lower carb or change my cardio? I reckon I’m about 14%bf and I just wanna get to 10.
Problem w/ cardio is I don’t have access to fancy machines and just do 2 minutes step ups followed by a minute of burpees/box jumps for 6 rounds then an ab and bw lower body circuit. What else could I do?
Cheers man! Your guide is awesome and I’m getting stronger just need to get ripped like Jesus now!
I wouldn’t drop the calories down further! Maybe do a 2 week diet break and consume about 14-15 calories per pound of bodyweight. Then go back down to about 12 calories per pound and you should start loosing fat again. You may even build muscle with the increased calories and continue to get leaner.
How does the progression scheme look like?
you barbell curl what I shoulder press… shit.
140 lbs shoulder press is still pretty decent dude! Keep it up.
Hey Greg, I do like this workout, however i have a question. I really have to watch out for my shoulder health. I see you include a lot of presses and pull ups. these are fantastic exercises for mass, however, there is not really an exercise that trains the external rotator muscles like rowing movements do. isn’t this a recipe for internally rotated shoulders and impingement syndrome?
what are your thoughts on this?
grts
You can substitute cable rows for chin ups on Workout A. You can also substitute rear delts for lateral raises on Workout A. This should help keep your shoulders healthy and balanced if you are susceptible to shoulder impingement.
Hey greg, do you have any tips while incline pressing to feel it more in the chest?
Keep your shoulders back and retracted. Push your chest up as high as possible. Maybe do some light chest flyes before just to build the mind to muscle connection.
Great article. You are looking great too. I’m with you on the choice of Batman as the superhero to be.
Could you do A-C-A, C-A-C if you are happy with leg development?
Good question. You’re pretty much hitting the entire upperbody in both upperbody workouts. Therefore it’s going to be hard to recover in time with only one day of rest in between. I would recommend doing either Workout A or Workout C every 3 days. Alternatively you can do a sprint or HIIT session instead of the leg workout.
Hey Greg,
I am a Muslim and next month I have to fast from 5 am to 7 pm for 30 days. Knowing this, do you think it would be reasonable to carry out this vigorous routine or should I just stick to your Strength and Density program? Also, do you think that it would be possible for me to put on any muscle next month while I’m fasting? Finally, how do you think I should distribute my meals in the small 10 hour window in the day when I’m done fasting?
I would stick with the strength and density program while you are fasting until sundown everyday. It will be hard to gain muscle during this intense fasting regime. It’s possible but I would still save the higher volume routine for next month. You can simply have your first meal 4-5 hours waking and then two more meals 4 hours apart.
This looks great Greg. I dropped you a message the other day. I’m 9.2% and around 168 -175 pounds.( 76 – 78kg). To gain 10 pounds of muscle and remain within the same or slightly lower BF%. How would you approach the diet aspect. Would you create calorie deficit on cardio days. Maybe doing 2 sessions. AM and quick PM. And on weight days eat a reasonable meal about 1 and a half before hitting the weights. Thanks
Hey Greg, I’ve been eagerly waiting for this article! I have been following your Hollywood Workout routine for about 2 months and it’s been absolutely amazing. I can’t wait to get started on this with my progress thus far!!
Was curious what you thought of decline bench as opposed to the flat?
Thank you sincerely for all your devotion and hard work!
P.S. You have an email for a consult!
Thanks Steve!
I find that flat bench hits the lower chest hard enough. Very rarely do people need to do decline work. Decline work can lead to an overdeveloped lower chest which is definitely undesirable.
Hey greg killer article and killer shape you have achieved…i wanted to know if i can lose fat and build muscle at the same time with this workout…eating at a slight surplus at workout days and creatin a deficit on non workout days with dieting and/or fat loss workouts
Yes it’s possible but I feel it would be more effective to focus on building muscle without gaining fat. Maybe go 300-400 surplus on lift days and 100-200 below on rest days. Should actually allow you to build muscle and maybe get a bit leaner and tighter.
Awesome article Greg! You never disappoint. I will definitely try this workout after finishing your muscle building course. I have a question though. Is this the exact workout you did in attaining your man of steel physique?
thanks :)
Thanks dude! I did something similar… I did a little less volume on chest and a bit more work on biceps. As well, I did more of a sprint/power workout on the leg day. This is because I already had the chest and leg size and needed to add more mass to the rest of my body.
Leg Extensions: 3 sets x 10-15 reps (90 seconds rest)? Seems you’ve changed your view on leg training, since the early days of Kinobody:
https://kinobody.com/351/how-to-build-great-legs-that-are-super-strong-and-powerful/ (btw nothing wrong with that, just a bit curious)
Henry Cavill needed to have great quad development for the Superman suit. Overdo it and it can make it difficult to wear slim fitting pants. Leg extensions hit the VMO nicely which add thickness to the lower quad. This makes your legs appear longer than turnip shaped thigh’s.
Great article as always greg. Thanks for sharing. I will say that cavill does say in interviews that he cant maintain that physique. Check out a youtube replay of him and russell crowe on a uk chat show called graham norton. They both got given their diets and had to sign a contract etc. Clearly you probe that this physique is maintainable whilst having a life. Cavill also trained for around 5 times as long as you in a week! This has to be pointed out to highlight exactly how powerful your course and advice is! Great job.
Yep it’s definitely maintainable. However, he did mention that his Man of Steel physique is only good for that one movie. It really cuts him off from other roles to be that big. Thanks dude, yah I lift 3x per week not because I don’t like training more. But because I have found it to be more effective, especially when you reduce the lowerbody volume.
Yeah I heard he trained at gym jones same as 300 movie. I was pretty disappointed in movie though..saw it yesterday it was ok nothing special. Great Article Greg.
Thanks dude. I definitely prefer the Batman franchise over Man of Steel. I like movies and characters that I can relate to. Makes it more interesting for me.
Serious great work on this article man. You are looking great! Since I already bought VIMB, I plan on following the routine as laid out and once I’m done I’ll start the kinobody routine and be on my way to attaining a kinobody physique.
Right on dude!
Of the comic book movies made who do you think has the best physique? Also if you were a superhero who would you be? I’m thinking The Punisher!
Probably Cavill, Hemsworth and Evans…. Good question, not too sure. I really like Batman to be honest.
Hey Greg,
What would the Superhero Physique look like for someone who is 5’8″? Weight, dimensions, etc.
Thanks
Good question….. Probably like 170-175 lbs, 31″ waist, 15-16″ arms, 42-43″ chest.
And for someone 6’2-6’3?
Probably 200-205 lbs. Waist at 33-34″, chest 46″, arms at 17″
I’m 5’5. can i also get some measurements please. thank you :)
I’d say you’re probably looking at being around 155-160 lbs, 29.5-30″ waist, 15.5″ arms and 41-42″ chest.