Henry Cavill - superman workout routine

Henry Cavill will be starring as Superman in the next film, Superman: Man of Steel. It is following the trend of Batman and Spiderman as yet another prequel movie telling the story of the early years, much in the way of Smallville.

He actually spent 5 months training intensively with cardiovascular workouts, bodyweight training and a lot of mixed martial arts training (MMA) which really amounts to a low of old school fitness training and boxing workouts. For a while he was working out 7 hours a day with this type of exercise. This really set him up well for the Superman training workouts which followed.

The weight training for this role sees him lifting weights for 2-3 hours a day. His workouts involve cycling through various different weight training exercises throughout that week to encourage all of his muscles to grow. Henry actually was already bulking up during the preparation for Immortals which vas also produced by the 300 team.

The 300 workout, which Cavill may or may not have done, uses a type of training called circuit training.

 Circuit training, in the simplest sense, is grouping together a bundle of challenging movements that work the entire body into a circuit. An exerciser would complete one movement, then move on to the next, and so on and so on until the circuit is complete. This circuit can then be redone a number of times, depending on how challenging a workout the exerciser wants.



In my own experience, I have found circuit training to be very effective and at the same time, very time-saving. An example of a challenging fat-loss based circuit, in my opinion, would choose an exercise for each major area of the body, and use those to circuit train.



So here's a list of common exercises:

Front Squat

Back Squat

Deadlift

Sprint

Lunge

Burpee

Bench Press

Cable Chest Press

Push Up

Shoulder Press

Dip

Row variations

Inverse Row

Pull up



From this list, I would make sure I understood proper form and could complete the movement safely, and then choose one exercise for each major muscle group. A very simple circuit could be sprints, pull ups and push ups. I would set a time or rep count (reps are harder with sprints), and complete the workout.



30 second sprint

30 seconds of pull ups

30 seconds of push ups

Repeat 5-8 times



This is just an example; there are plenty of other challenging combinations that could be useful. Remember, the most important thing when it comes to the Henry Cavill workout and every workout in general is form! Learn to do the exercise before you actually do it!

4 steps to developing a muscular back

If you want to appear as wide, thick and powerful as you possibly can, nothing will allow you to achieve this goal faster than a well developed back.



In fact, 70% of your upper body muscle mass resides in this area! Nothing can replace the upper body thickening effect of big, bulging lats and a set of wide, tall trapezius muscles.



There are 4 major movements that you must perform to properly develop your back:



1. Deadlifts

I cannot possibly stress the importance of this lift enough. There is not a single exercise out there that can even come close to matching the effectiveness of a basic, bent-legged barbell deadlift.



The deadlift will work you from finger to neck to toe and is irreplaceable in developing strong, thick back muscles. The deadlift will stimulate growth throughout the entire back complex and should be the cornerstone of your routine.



2. A vertical pulling movement

These exercises mainly target the lat muscles and will help you to attain that wide, v-tapered look from behind. Examples of vertical pulling movements are chin-ups (overhand or underhand), lat pulldowns and v-bar pulldowns.



To get the most bang for your buck I recommend a basic overhand chin-up. This is the bread and butter of vertical pulling movements and will stimulate growth in the lats like no other exercise.



3. A horizontal pulling movement

Otherwise referred to as “rows”, horizontal pulling movements place their emphasis on the upper/middle portion of the back and also stimulate the lats. There are a ton of different rowing movements to choose from: bent over barbell rows, dumbbell rows, seated machine rows and cable rows just to name a few.



For maximum results, stick to a basic freeweight rowing movement. I usually recommend bent over barbell rows, but bent over dumbbell rows are an acceptable choice as well.



4. A shrugging movement

While not quite as important as the above mentioned lifts, a shrugging movement should still be performed at the end of the workout to target the upper traps and develop that mountainous, diamond-shaped look from behind. A basic barbell or dumbbell shrug will do the trick.



The routine

The following routine is ideal for optimal gains in back size en strength:



Deadlifts – 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps

Overhand Chin-Ups – 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps

Bent Over Barbell Rows – 2 sets of 5 to 7 reps

Barbell Shrugs – 2 Sets of 10 to 12 reps



It may not seem like a lot, but as long as you take every set to muscular failure and focus on quality rather than quantity, this routine provides more than enough stimulation for maximum back growth.



Make sure to keep a written record of every workout that you perform, and focus each week on increasing either the weight that you lift or the number of reps that you perform within the given rep range. Perform this workout once per week with full effort.