Saturday, April 14, 2012

Batman's Training Program- The Analysis and Phase One

One of the main things that's going to strike you when you look at Batman's training is that he never seems to stop. He's running, swimming, climbing, lifting, practicing-- go, go, GO!!!  In order to even consider tackling the Batman's training menu, the first (and continuing) thing you're going to be building is "Work Capacity," which is essentially just your ability to "do work." It's the culmination of all of your physical ability.

Work Capacity is how much you can do, how long you can go, and how quickly you can do each individual task. It's the real-world application of your fitness. It's something that is built over time and, often, needs to be thought of in terms of being its own attribute, along with strength, speed, endurance, and the like.

Batman's training, then, will begin by laying the foundation all of his further training. It will build and grow and develop into the Hell that is his final training regimen. If you'll look at the original post, you'll see that there is a method to the madness. Every day has a morning run and a something following it, but the evening workouts are all centered around a goal. Here's the breakdown.

Sunday:

  • Weightlifting
  • Metabolic Conditioning
  • Flexibility
  • Martial Arts Training
  • Mind Training

Monday:

  • Rope Climbing
  • Gymnastic Work
  • Plyometrics
  • Ab Work
  • Flexibility
  • Martial Arts Training

Tuesday:

  • Yoga
  • Swimming
  • Weight Lifting
  • Martial Arts Training

Wednesday:

  • Distance Running
  • Flexibility
  • Martial Arts Skill Training- Basics, Accuracy, Grappling
Thursday:

  • Weight Lifting
  • Rock Climbing
  • Flexibility
  • Ab Work
  • Martial Arts Training

Friday:

  • Weight Lifting
  • Metabolic Conditioning
  • Flexibility 
  • Martial Arts Training
  • Mind Training

Saturday:

  • Ab Work
  • Yoga
  • Weight Lifting
  • Calisthenics
  • Gymnastics Work
  • Martial Arts Training
  • Swimming

As you can see, Batman has pretty much every aspect of fitness covered here. He's not going to get tired, he's strong as hell, and he can kick your ass. 

For Phase 1, we are going to assume a base level of physical conditioning. Not necessarily the level of an athlete, but not someone sedentary either. There is not a set time frame, either. You will advance to Phase Two only when ready. 

Batman's Training Program- Phase One


Sunday:
Morning-
  • 30 Minute Jog
  • 10 Minutes Meditation
Evening
  • Clean and Jerk- 8 Reps (45#)
  • 1/4 Mile Run
  • 21 Kettlebell Swings (Half Pood= 8kg= ~16lbs)
  • 12 Pull-ups 
Monday:
Morning
  • 30 Minute Jog
  • 30 Minutes Martial Arts- Forms or Shadowboxing
Evening
  • Climb 20ft Rope
  • 5 x 50 Crunches
  • 30 Minutes Heavy Bag
Tuesday:
Morning
  • 30 Minute Jog
  • 30 Minutes Yoga
Evening
  • Swim 1/4 Mile
  • "Heavy" Deadlift- 5 Reps (135#)
  • "Light Deadlift"- 30 Reps (45#)
  • 30 Minutes Sparring
Wednesday (Off Day):
Morning
  • 5 Mile Walk
Evening
  • 15 Minutes Hand Techniques
  • 15 Minutes Leg Techniques
  • 15 Minutes Flexibility
  • 15 Minutes Grappling Techniques
Thursday:
Morning
  • 30 Minute Jog
  • 30 Minutes Martial Arts- Forms or Shadowboxing
Evening
  • 30 Minutes Bouldering
  • 30 Minutes Flexibility
  • 5 x 50 Crunches
  • 15 Minutes Mitt Work or Throwing Weapons Practice
  • 15 Minutes Heavy Bag
Friday:
Morning
  • 30 Minute Jog
  • 10 Minutes Meditation
Evening
  • Clean and Jerk- 8 Reps (45#)
  • Run 1/4 Mile
  • 21 Kettlebell Swings (1/2 Pood)
  • 12 Pull-ups
Saturday:
Morning
  • 30 Minute Jog
  • 30 Minutes Yoga
Evening
  • 5 x 50 Crunches
  • Squats- 3 x 5 Reps (135#)
  • 10 Minutes Monkey Bars
  • 10 Minutes Heavy Bag

Notes:
  • All of the phases will not necessarily be dumbed-down versions of the original workout. However, this is just to give a base understanding of the sheer amount of work you will be doing. I realize that some of the weights in the weightlifting are not impressive, but you're trying to adapt to the workload first and the fact that you are training yourself to have very little rest. When you are training Work Capacity, everything else is going to have to suffer. 
  • When you feel as though Phase One is coming to you fairly easily, it will be time to move up to Phase Two. Phase Two will be a little looser with some of the Metabolic Conditioning and other movement based training, so that will help you in dealing with monotony, as well as shock your body by making it do new things. 
  • This is essentially 1 to 2 hours a day of varied levels of intensity. We want to train everything and, because we want to train everything, it's going to take a long time to get good at all of it. However, it's a long road to become the Dark Knight. 

That's all for today. Hopefully you guys enjoy this foray into something not entirely anime! Until next time, good luck and train hard!

4 comments:

HaHaHa dragonball said...

Absolutely love it! I'm trying to do a similar thing in my own blog. I started by making a Hanma Yujiro training program and then made programs to build up to it (and making programs to do after it)
Loving your recent dedication to the blog as well!

HaHaHa dragonball said...

Through my eagerness to prove this guy (http://www.mensfitness.com/leisure/entertainment/batman%E2%80%99s-workout-routine-revealed) wrong, i've decided to start working through the phases you make, instead of continuing my own 'Basic Training'.
I'd love to train with you some time!

Tim said...

Not to criticise anyone but i think this training needs to be more rounded there is to much repetition
in the jogging it's unneeded and dosent't make sense for batman to be jogging that much when he is out all night running around fighting crime. Instead i recommend replace some of the jogging sessions with some interval training sprinting 100m then slowing down to recover then again for about 10 times this should work on your fast twitch muscle fibres. Then for another jogging session strap on a weighted backpack and run up some hills with rough terrain and go slightly faster than jogging pace. And there is clean and jerk and dead lifting but where's the Bench press? If even for just once a week sure would help. Just my two cents cheers :)

The Anime Trainer said...

@Tim I appreciate your input. The original workout posted from the Batman book released by DC had that much jogging in it. In general, it makes sense to have it, because at the beginning levels, you are using it to build work capacity and general cardio and in later Phases, it's used like a recovery run.

There will be some sprinting in the later Phases in the metabolic conditioning section (some more Crossfit-type activities) and the bench press will come as well, but play less of a role than it's more applicable weightlifting counterparts. If you'll look at the first Batman post, you'll see the week of training this is based on.

Thanks so much for reading!

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