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I have just seen all over the internet forums and on blogs all excitement over the "300 workout program". It is supposed to be the fitness workout that got the guys 'in shape' for the Spartan war movie 300.
What a load of bollocks.
Variously I have seen the 300 workout program written as a 4 month training course or an 8 week training course. The exercises seem to vary too - hmmm.... Chinese whispers at work.
I have photographic proof that the 300 workout program is NOT responsible for King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) muscled physique. Also as a professional actor and stuntman and as a 20 year bodybuilder - I will fill you in on a few more details before you go believing the hype....
300 Workout Program - Reasons Why It Is Hype
Firstly as a professional actor when I watch a film I do not watch it the same as the movie going public - in fact my girlfriend can't understand why I do not like going to the movies to relax - it's work that's why!
So anyway when I watch a movie I also do the infuriatingly annoying thing of sitting through and reading all the credits - I am always the last to leave the cinema. The ushers would hate me if I wasn't also playing in another hit movie across the country right now.
So when I watched the 300 movie I was reading the credits and the thing that struck me as very odd, and wonderful (as a stuntman myself) - that there were 57 STUNTMEN credited in the 300 movie. Almost everyone on screen was a professional stuntman.
What exactly does that mean?
It means that these stuntmen spend most of their working time and spare time fighting, doing weights, hanging off cliffs, blowing each other up, skiing, abseiling, scuba diving, racing cars, jumping from moving vehicle to moving vehicle, parachuting, jumping off tall buildings, you name it.
They did not just suddenly start with this "Spartan" workout
These stuntmen are highly physical individuals. Of course they are going to have good physiques. You train for years and years see how your body looks. In fact dedicate your life to it like a stuntman and you'll have that chiselled look too (and probably a few scars).
300 Movie Casting Directions
Also now imagine you are the casting director for 300. Hundreds if not thousands of these fit individuals come in auditioning for the stunt roles. Who are you going to choose - the really fit warrior looking types or the more plain bodied, plain looking stunman who usually plays business men falling down stairs. What I am saying is that these guys got the job BECAUSE THEY HAD THE BODIES THAT LOOKED LIKE ANCIENT WARRIORS. They did not hire a bunch of fat guys then kill them with some ultra strict spartan workout / diet regime.
The 300 diet alone would have been harder than the supposed training program. A diet to get average guys into shape would have been a 'spartan' diet in itself, the bare essentials. Probably a diet high in protein, moderate carbs to provide enough energy for the training and low levels of natural fats diet, combined with lots of cardio that would do the trick. I doubt a high fat/ high protein diet or Zone diet would have been used as you want the stuntmen to be mentally on the ball and not "zoned out" on a low carb diet when they are performing dangerous stunts. Learn How To Eat For Muscle Gain: 
New Website Shows How. So number one against the 300 workout hype - most of the 'actors' spend thier lives in physcial training regardless of this movie.
Secondly as a bodybuilder for 20 years I KNOW there is no training program on Earth that can transform a slob into a Spartan warrior in 2 months. Heck, your body is only just getting over the neural adaption at that point, your muscles have barely had a chance to start growing.
Though amazing transformations are possible on a very strict diet and a high intensity training program over 4 months. The people who will get the best results are those who have trained before. They will quickly regain the muscle they once had, this is called muscle memory and is a well known and documented fact.
On top of that the 300 workout training program is more cardio, orientated. Burst
interval training it is called, and for fat burning I do admit that
this is a pretty good workout.
300 Workout Program Secret Helper
Thirdly and this is my evidence and I quote from Mens Health Magazine:
Butler took on extra sessions with a Venezuelan bodybuilder named Franco LiCastro in order to exaggerate the physique he was after. "I wanted to look really strong," says Butler.
Ha!
Take your 300 workout program and stop hyping it.
Doing a 2-4 month workout straight from a 1929 workout book is not going to get you a great physique, for ch*** sake who uses kettle bells anymore?
 
Build a 1920's physique with Kettle Bells
To give an example of 1920's thinking, it was only in 1920 that Cocaine was made illegal for general usage by the passing of The Dangerous Drug Act of 1920, before that it was commonly available and prescribed for most everything.
Cocaine for children and Kettle Bells for bodybuilders. Luckily things have progessed since then.
(Having said that I must clarify by saying that any free weight workout is going to be superior to a machine based workout for overall strength and conditioning due to the use and strengthening of stabilising muscles (also called core strength))
(The 300 workout program utilises a lot of very old school techniques that have long been surpassed by modern training methods and modern equipment)
Anyway I hope I have made my point, regardless of what the media, the bodybuilding wannabes and the blogging sheep think there is nothing magical about this new '300 workout program', in fact there is nothing magical about any workout program.
Consistent hard training will get you the body you want and nothing else - oh yeah and modern exercise equipment and techniques also help.
300 Workout Photo Evidence
Oh and the photographic evidence:
6 years Before the 300 workout
This is Gerard Butler in the TV Series Attila in 2001, not exactly a small or fat guy back then was he? OK, but that was 6 years ago. Well what about something more recent?
3 years before the 300 workout
This again is Gerard Butler in the movie Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. OK he is not as ripped as in the 300 movie but they are a reasonably fit pair of arms he is sporting there.
So, the lead actor already had the body, most of the other actors are full time stuntmen employed because of their good physiques.... where did the 300 workout come into it????
Despite the Hype and the marketing opportunity evolving from this movie there is no magic workout to get your body in good shape in 8 weeks, even 16 weeks is not going to transform you from coach potato into Spartan Warrior.
Hard work, determination and consistancy will though.
I am not saying that working out with this workout routine won't get you fit. What I am saying is that it is not the magic routine currently being touted and it did not create the bodies in the 300 movie.
Also it is interesting to note that the 300 workout is not a workout but a fitness test devised by Jim Jones as a one off competition for the actors/stuntmen just before the movie started - I guess it was meant to motivate the guys into training harder during the lead up by increasing the spirit of competition and in this case it would work a treat.
It is just so funny how these skinny geek blogger wannabe bodybuilders jumped on this article by a ridiculous fitness magazine and turned the idea into something it is not and was never meant to be - in short 'the 300 workout' does not even exist.
If you want the King Leonidas body then there are better ways to achieve it than this ficticious workout program, like modern training methods that won't injure your joints, and remember more important is what you put in your mouth. Bad food = bad body regardless of whether or not you do any workout or even the 300 workout.
PS
Months after writting this article I read the Gym Jones website where Mark Twight, the actual trainer of the actors for the 300 movie, and the designer of the so called "300 workout" has this to say about the program:
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
lol.
Even the actual spartan trainer himself says it is not a workout.
So you see... the 300 workout program does not even exist in the first place. P.S. To learn the other half of the muscle gain/fat loss equation - eating properly - visit www.cookingwithconan.com
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