How Attainable Is The Spartan Physique?
Become A Spartan Warrior!
How Attainable is the Spartan Physique?
It is the physique of any man’s dreams — sculpted shoulders, well-defined pecs, six-pack abs, and ripped arms. Yes, keep dreaming! But what if you could actually turn that dream body into reality? What if you could look like the Spartan warrior and king Leonidas as shown in the movie 300?
Actually, you could! But it would take a lot of work, loads of discipline and determination, lots of patience, a lifestyle of healthy eating and living, and perhaps some supplements here and there.
Healthy Eating
Eating healthy is a big part of the equation in as far as transforming your body into something truly Spartan. In this regard, you have to keep in mind two things:
1. Make sure your body gets all the nutrients it needs, like vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, protein, and even a little bit of fat as well. Muscular Strength already recommended 7 foods to increase strength and stamina, and they include green, leafy vegetables, eggs, peanut butter, nuts, brown rice, maca root powder, and fish. Complement your healthy diet with useful supplements such as fish oil for your cardiovascular health.
2. Avoid taking in garbage, or anything that will be a detriment to your health.
Protein, in particular, is crucial to bodybuilding, as noted by our very own Imran Ali. Muscle fibers are broken down during an intense workout, leading to the regrowth of new hypertrophied muscle mass, which in turn depends on protein intake. In other words, protein is basically the building blocks of muscle fibers.
Protein alone, however, won’t do the trick. You will also need essential amino acids, or EAAs. These EAAs trigger protein synthesis, which then facilitate muscle building. The study even points out that “the interaction of post-exercise metabolic processes and increased amino acid availability maximizes the stimulation of muscle protein synthesis and results in even greater muscle anabolism than when dietary amino acids are not present.” In layman’s terms, the more EAAs available after a training session, the better the muscle building process will be.
Intense Training Is Key
Now, if you want a Spartan body, you are going to have to train like a Spartan warrior. This simply means lots and lots of intense training and pushing the body to its limits from time to time. To this end, you will have to lift weights, of course, so you can develop your muscles and get a lean and mean frame. If you are a beginner, or one whose fitness level isn’t up to par just yet, you can start by trying out Scott Herman’s 12-week home program.
Right away, you will feel gains in strength, and you will notice muscles you didn’t know existed. WebMD explains that during the first weeks of training, new muscle fibers are “recruited,” thus giving you more strength and making muscles more visible. Things slow down considerably thereafter, and you will need to frequently employ progressive overloading to build the bigger, bulging muscles you want. To maximize your sessions, you can drink a pre-workout protein shake, consume protein bars, and take in a post-workout amino pick-me-up.
You will also have to incorporate cardiovascular training into your fitness routine, lest you want grow too big. Running, biking, and similar exercises will help in the fat burning process, and the less fat you have, the more sculpted your body will be.
Visualize Your Goal
Huffington Post shares that visualizing your goal is helpful as it allows you to see what you want to attain in the first place. As such, you will be more motivated to pursue that goal, which in this case is a Spartan-like body. Now, where better to get visual inspiration than from the media, which has long idealized the fit and fab body type. The fierce, hard-fighting Spartan warriors of King Leonidas in come to mind right away.
Even the characters in the similarly titled Frank Miller-written graphic novel that inspired the film depicted the Spartans as being lean and ripped. The chiseled physiques on FoxyBingo’s Fortunes of Sparta are an example of how the media presents these ancient warriors. Their signature rock-hard muscles serve as good reminders of your fitness goals and provide motivation to achieve them, too. And as we have mentioned earlier, everyone of us can attain that same Spartan body shown by the media. But again, attaining the Spartan physique will take lots of time, patience, hard work, discipline, and determination.
The question then is, are you ready to turn that dream body into reality?
