Has anyone used this? It seems really fucking intense. I'm pretty out of shape, get lost in a gym, and I have terrible form on most weight-lifting routines (I also wont have a partner, so I need something I can do either at home or at the gym)

I really like how explicit it is; more so than dealing with a journal and tracking workouts.

This seems like something I can handle, but I'm not sure if it's going to scale well. I haven't really worked out in years, and when I tried a simple situps and pushups test last night I could only do about 30/10 before my fucking body wanted to /wrist.


Here's a link to it and shit.

http://tinyurl.com/ydjuejs





It's an old workout, so I figure someone has tried this or something close to it.

atm I'm around 6'2" and 210lbs of poptarts and cookies. I'd like to change that over the next several months.

I plan on just watching what I eat, instead of going on some gimmick diet like no carbs or nutrisystem.

I'm also curious about suppliments. Does anyone have experience with hydroxycut or something similar? is it a waste of time/money?

12/3/2009 1:09:04 PM

I don't know much about the "300" workout. I looked at the plan, and it looks like a decent workout, but that's just going to depend on how much effort you're willing to put into it. I've been doing p90x for 2 months and I've seen some pretty good results. The nice thing about p90x is that you don't really have to use heavy weights, you just start with whatever you can. You do each set until you feel the burn, but it's ultimately about putting as much effort forth as possible without injuring yourself. A few days of cardio each week will go a long way, too.

You don't have to do any kind of gimmick diet to shed fat, but having proper nutrition is going to be key if you want to build muscle and lose fat. You need to make sure you're getting enough calories (and the right amount of protein, fat, and carbs) to build new muscle. At the same time, you want to run a calorie deficit so you can start to lose body fat. It's a tough balancing act. Supplements, I don't really know about any of that. I usually mix whey protein with some milk and splenda after I workout. I'm not a nutrionist or a dietition, I just know what works for me, so someone with more expertise on the subject would need to give you specifics on what your diet needs to look like.

[Edited on December 3, 2009 at 1:23 PM. Reason : ]

12/3/2009 1:20:53 PM

I don't think of the 300 as a workout so much as a benchmark. You might do it today and record your time; then come back in two months and see how much you have improved. It's going to hurt you for a long time afterward, so you'll probably get better results with doing easier workouts more frequently.

If you have terrible form there is a good chance you will really injure yourself trying to rep 50 times on things like deadlifts or kettlebell cleans. People naturally get sloppy when they get tired and you really have to be aware of this and follow good form throughout the whole workout. It's not going to do you any good from a health perspective to workout twice and get injured for the next month or two.

I really recommend finding a trainer who can teach you proper form on all the olympic lifts and kettlebell workouts you do. You'd be surprised at just how many things they will point out on a seemingly simple lift like the deadlift.

As far as stuff like Hydroxycut goes; the metabolic effect is nowhere near the price you pay. Ok, you might get jumpy and burn an extra 30 calories a day, but you'd do just as well to park at the back of the lot at work and walk a little further. I do see a benefit from appetite suppressants that are included in a lot of those types of weight loss devices though. I have no idea if Hydroxycut has anything like this in it. When you're working out you will naturally be a lot hungrier than when you're not; so the appetite suppressants might be helpful to you if you have trouble maintaining your diet.

[Edited on December 3, 2009 at 1:23 PM. Reason : l]

12/3/2009 1:21:50 PM

Yeah, I'm reading that it's a great workout



the problem is that I cant do it yet. Will it scale well if i cut it in half (ie a "150" workout.)

12/3/2009 1:23:31 PM

THANKS. This is going to be my new challenge/work out regime. I will conquer it.

12/3/2009 1:27:34 PM

apparently if you can do the "300" in 17 minutes or less, you're fucking pro.

12/3/2009 1:28:09 PM

I would suggest bringing your body weight down through cardio before starting something like this. They're intense and they really do require you to have a fairly in shape body. By the time you're at your optimal weight your lungs will be in great shape, and you'll get much less lactic acid build up in your muscles, which in turn will allow you to do more.

I'm 6'-4"...went from 333lbs to 190lbs through a strict diet and a good solid cardio routine. In the next month or so I'll probably be starting p90x to gain some tone back and build some lean mass.

12/3/2009 1:30:02 PM

Rather than scaling it I would split the exercises into two separate workouts and then into multiple sets. Something like:
Workout 1:
20 pullups
20 dead lift
20 push up
Do all three exercises and repeat for a total of three rounds.

Workout 2:
box jump - 20 reps
floor wipers - 20 reps
kettlebell clean & press - 20 reps per arm
Do all three exercises and repeat for a total of three rounds.

So you'd go through all three exercises in a row...20 pullups followed by 20 dead lifts followed by 20 push ups and then repeat two more times. Do each exercise one after the other with as little rest as possible in between sets.

Doing this should get you in shape to do the real 300 workout sometime when you're feeling like punishing yourself.

[Edited on December 3, 2009 at 1:34 PM. Reason : l]

12/3/2009 1:32:49 PM

Quote :

"I don't think of the 300 as a workout so much as a benchmark. You might do it today and record your time; then come back in two months and see how much you have improved."

This is correct, and was a big misconception when this workout surfaced. Everyone thought the actors got to where they were by doing this workout, but it was actually just a benchmark used by the trainer so everyone could see how much they improved and who was better.

When I first saw this workout I was extremely excited about it, and did it every day for about 2 weeks. Once it got really boring and I found out what it really was I started looking for alternatives and found Crossfit, which I highly recommend.

What I loved about the 300 workout was that there were clear goals, "fun" exercises (as opposed to bicep curls, bench press, etc), and it seemed to be a great mix of cardio and strength training. Crossfit is essentially the same thing, except different every day (in fact, we did the 300 workout at my gym just a month ago). A lot of people think Crossfit is only for people that are already in shape due to it's intensity, but everything can be scaled very easily. I've personally seen many people come in overweight and completely out of shape that vastly improved in just a matter of months.

I'm not trying to sell anything here...in fact there may be other types of gyms and workout out there that have something similar, I just haven't found them.

If this is at all interesting to you or anyone I'd recommend going to http://www.crossfit.com and trying some of the workouts. If you have any questions about anything you can go to their "Exercises and Demos" section where they have a very extensive library of videos showing the exercises. Obviously for beginner I would skip any of the olympic lifts or anything that seems complicated.

12/3/2009 2:00:22 PM

I'll do this from time to time when my workout schedule permits it...more of a full body workout which I don't really do daily. The workout is pretty intense...the first few exercises aren't so bad...floor wipers are what slows me down...i have to break those into 5 sets of 10...i do 40lb clean and press 50x per arm...sets of 20, 20, 10...the final pull ups are . I forget my times but they were in the low 20s

Max-OT training definitely can be fun...just don't get into a mindset that Exercise A is the best/better....some work > no work. If you're too beat or bored, change things up...diet will account for 90% of the results you seek...no fat burning supplements needed. I'd just take a stab at what you eat now, and either reduce cals by 500 to lose fat, increase by 500 to gain LBM(hopefully), or keep it the same and just exercise your ass off to recomp(lose/increase at the same time, slowly). You really don't have to eat perfect either, in the long run 2000 cals is 2000 cals, just be smart and don't go all "poptarts and cookies"...certainly no need to eliminate them though

I do have experience with fat burners, however I didn't touch any til I had plateaued after losing 90lbs the traditional way. Really, they're just caffeine pills...so unless you've plateaued for a few months, I'd veer away from them. If you're looking for an extreme jitter fest...go snag a box of Primatene/Bronk-Aid and a bottle of 200mg Caffeine pills. Taper dosage up to 3x25mg E, 3x200mg C per day after 2 weeks, discontinuing after 4-5 weeks(or until Bronk-Aid is out). ~$20 "fat burner"
Certainly not needed though. Curbs appetite real well though and makes you sleep 4hrs/night. GL!

12/3/2009 2:00:50 PM

i like the 300 workout because it is quick and i hate working out. but a lot of times i prefer to be away from the weight room crowd and just go to the track by myself. my workout of choice is:

run 1 mile
100 pull ups
200 push ups
300 squats
run 1 mile
maybe throw a 7 minute abs workout in there

at least that is what the workout is supposed to be...

[Edited on December 3, 2009 at 2:13 PM. Reason : ]

12/3/2009 2:12:41 PM

^ That is a crossfit workout...it's called "Murph"...the guy who came up with it did it with a 35 pound vest on

12/3/2009 2:42:24 PM

^^that workout is hard as fucking balls

my legs are jello on that last mile. My roommate did it with 20 lbs of weight in 35 min. I still dont know why he isnt an army ranger or navy seal. crazy bastard

12/3/2009 2:57:37 PM

i think this is way too intense for someone in your condition. Take a good look at p90x if you haven't already.

You won't go low carbs, but you'll use hydroxy-cut? There's something wrong there. A low carb diet can be very healthy and can be used for long periods of times. I don't really consider it "gimmicky" at all. personally, i would tailor my diet to my goals. I want to shed fat, i go low carbs (not 0 carbs, no diet recommends that). I want extremely intense workouts, I want a lot of complex carbs.

12/3/2009 2:59:32 PM

^^^^You'd need to be in pretty good condition to do that many pullups, pushups, and squats without taking substantial breaks, it seems like.

12/3/2009 3:04:05 PM

I don't know how they do it, but when this comes up for Crossfit you are allowed to switch back and forth between the pullups, pushups, and squats as much as you want.

12/3/2009 3:10:22 PM

Quote :

"100 pull ups"

wat?!

12/3/2009 3:48:38 PM

Keep in mind that most people are doing Kipping pull-ups rather than traditional...Makes doing big numbers much easier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouZFwzABvw4&feature=related

Not to discredit the workout at all though.

[Edited on December 3, 2009 at 4:24 PM. Reason : l]

12/3/2009 4:22:48 PM

i do jump pull ups

12/3/2009 5:15:36 PM

pull-ups are too hard for me

Has anyone tried upside down pushups?? sort of like a pullup, but you're laying on your back, holding onto a bar and you pull yourself up, maintaining a plank position, pivoting at your heels.... pretty tough to do - its almost all back muscles

[Edited on December 3, 2009 at 5:27 PM. Reason : s]

12/3/2009 5:26:43 PM

I think those are called supine pullups...they are tough and hard to cheat on...great exercise

12/3/2009 5:41:55 PM

^^ i try to do those when i can, as it is hard to find places to do them. i try to do them under tables. but you know they are easier than normal pull ups, right? (you are not lifting your full bodyweight... in the same way that pushups are way easier than dips)

12/3/2009 6:00:18 PM

yea, I'd say those are a good choice to build up to the full pull up

12/3/2009 6:03:48 PM

I just do assisted pull-ups using a bench. It's the only way I can do the number of reps I need to do. Usually I can bang out around 12 wide grip pull ups if I'm not fatigued at all, but I can't even do one if I'm towards the end of a workout.

12/3/2009 6:10:41 PM

the assisted pullup/dip machine at ncsu's gym is great. i used to use it to build up the number i could do with my full BW.

12/3/2009 6:14:13 PM

I like those pull-up bands. Hook one end to the bar, put the other end under one foot, and you've got some assistance.

12/3/2009 6:53:44 PM

I thought it was called the 300 workout because you would look like one of the guys from 300 when you were done.

12/3/2009 8:06:02 PM

BTW, the article doesn't mention it but Mark Twight founder of Gymjones is responsible for the '300' training. I have mad respect for the guy, he pursued alpine climbing at a very high level for 15-20 years. At the level he pursued climbing the survival rate isn't very high, like the recent death of Tomaz Humar.
http://www.gymjones.com

[Edited on December 3, 2009 at 8:20 PM. Reason : x]

12/3/2009 8:19:48 PM

Quote :

"Has anyone tried upside down pushups?? sort of like a pullup, but you're laying on your back, holding onto a bar and you pull yourself up, maintaining a plank position, pivoting at your heels.... pretty tough to do - its almost all back muscles"

they're called body rows

and as previously stated, this workout was done ONCE at the very end of 6 months of training as a test for all those who had been working out for the movie. I think only 17 people participated.

GymJones (very similar to CrossFit, since that's where Mark Twight came from) used to have some video and information about the 300 workouts on the site. Probably still there if you search.

12/3/2009 8:43:28 PM

Quote :

"the assisted pullup/dip machine at ncsu's gym is great. i used to use it to build up the number i could do with my full BW. "

I have to use this type of equipment to do wide grip palm out pullups (narrow is fine but seems harder every week, lol ) . I gain about 1-2lbs body weight per week.



shmorri2 you need to eat like a mad man and avoid doing this cardio crap!

[Edited on December 3, 2009 at 9:06 PM. Reason : .]

12/3/2009 9:01:35 PM