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Want to know how the actors in the movie “300″ (based on a famous Greek Spartan battle) got their ripped abs, toning and overall bad-ass muscles? They did it the old-fashioned way, by earning them honestly. Admittedly, 10-12 hours of gym workouts a day, 5 days a week, for 4 months, and probably anyone who survived that would end up considerably more fit.

Mark Twight at Gym Jones explains the regimine they put the actors through:

Buzz about the movie “300″ increases in volume as its release date approaches. Because we were responsible for the fitness and appearance of the barely-clothed protagonists we are fielding calls regarding the training undertaken by cast and stunt crew. Since it was a Hollywood gig assumptions are made about the preparation, with a 50-50 split between accuracy and utter madness. The following explanation should help to rectify the more erroneous ideas about what actually happened.

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This sort of training seems perfectly normal to us but others find both the work and our language unusual. Gerry Butler commented that, “the first time anyone ever told me I was ‘fat’ was after I got this part.” Many observers got hung up on the penalty part, or the fact that one penalty session was called “Loser’s Redemption”. One individual commented, “You call people ‘losers’? That’s unkind.” And the answer is that we’re not here to make friends; there’s a job and it’s got to be done.

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The second misconception surrounds the idea of the Spartan workout, aka “300″, how frequently it was done or who actually finished it. “300″ is a one-time test, an invitation-only challenge undertaken by those deemed ready for it. By the end of our four-month project 17 people had done the workout (Logan and I were two of them). This constitutes about 50% of the cast and stunt crew. We supervised every test, evaluated each rep for quality and only counted those that achieved our standards for form and range of motion. Like many workouts “300″ is not hard once you’ve done it but the apprehension built up ahead of it — something we encouraged — was enough to make some guys fear it to the degree that performance was compromised. This workout was a crucible that some passed through and others still have hanging over them.

“300″
25x Pull-up +
50x Deadlift @ 135# +
50x Push-up +
50x Box Jump @ 24″ box +
50x Floor Wiper @ 135# (one-count) +
50x KB Clean and Press @ 36# (KB must touch floor between reps) +
25x Pull-up
300 reps total

Gym Jones was started by a bunch of climbers. They are bad-ass, and set a pretty good example for people who want or NEED to accomplish real results in their lives for when the real competition happens — on the mountain, in fire fights, or playing professional sports.

For those of us who program computers for a living… there is inspiration in seeing their dedication and hard work, maybe even enough to get us off our butts for a change.

Click here to read the full article at Gym Jones about their “300″ workout