One Punch Man, the anime and not the manga, was a huge success when it first came out in 2015.
You may be wondering who this One Punch Man is.
He is a tough guy who can take out any opponent with just one punch. He’s not Archie Moore. It’s Saitama.
You might be wondering what his secret is.
Saitama says that he reached that level of strength because of a simple routine that was later called “The One Punch Man Workout”.
* 100 pushups
* 100 sit-ups
* 100 squats
* A 10-kilometer run (that’s about 6.2 miles) every day.
Impressive, huh?
How effective is this exercise?
To answer the question, I decided that I would test the workout routine. Actually, I am changing it slightly. I will not run the 10-kilometer distance and I will only be following the program for 30 days to see how I like it.
Just recently, I completed the 500 push-ups per day challenge. It will take me 30 days to see how effective this exercise is.
For 30 days, I did 100 pushups and 100 sit-ups. 100 squats. This is how it turned out!
Disclaimer: This workout is not new to me. It has been done by many for 100 or 300 days. I wanted to try it myself and see what happens.
Who is the Saitama Workout for?
This is not the right workout if you want to make your body explode and become bald.
Despite this, there are many health benefits that the One Punch Man Challenge can offer.
This exercise combination targets all major muscle groups. This exercise combination includes a push-motion with pushups, leg training via the squats and core training using the sit-ups.
These bodyweight exercises also target those muscles in a natural way, reducing injury risk.
Fighting is your passion
This workout is great for fighters, such as boxers or martial artists, who are looking to improve their explosiveness and muscular endurance.
High-rep exercises, as is the case in this instance, are excellent for muscular endurance. This will allow you throw a lot of punches instead of one.
This routine can also help you control your bodyweight. It becomes difficult to do a lot of pushups, sit-ups, and squats if you are starting to gain weight. This means that you will always be concerned about your weight in order to master this workout.
Are You Looking for Gains?
This workout program won’t work if you want to increase muscle strength and size.
* This is a repetitive, daily exercise that does not allow for adequate recovery. This is critical for muscle growth.
* Second, this exercise routine doesn’t promote overload. This means you won’t see significant gains and eventually plateau.
You can also avoid pulling movements, which are essential for your upper back development and biceps. It’s easy to fix this, however, by adding some pull-ups to the mix. You can turn this routine into an effective workout program!
Although I recommend neutral grip pull-ups, you have the option to choose which one is most comfortable for you. If you really want to get crazy, do upside-down pull ups.
You won’t be able to do 100 pull-ups.
Saitama Workout: Pros and Cons
Pros
* Great for building muscle endurance
* A challenging and fun workout routine
* You don’t need any equipment
* Very low risk of injury
Cons
* Not designed for muscle growth
* No pulling movement
* Does not build raw strength
* It gets boring after a while
How I got to the Workout
You might be a little excited to get started with the One Punch Man workout routine.
When I found all of the benefits, I was just as excited, and that is why I decided I would put this routine to the test.
As you might expect, this exercise is not as easy as doing 100 pushups, sit ups, and squats. It’s important to build up to this number, especially if your are a beginner. Even though I tried 100 crunches per day, I failed. Crunches are much easier than sit-ups when you do higher reps.
You can break down the 100 reps into multiple sets, and then rest for 2 to 3 minutes between each set. Instead of doing 100 pushups all at once, do five sets of 20 or ten sets each of 10, then four sets of 25, etc.
You might be wondering why you should reduce the number of sets.
The more sets you do to complete 100 reps, your muscle endurance and strength potential will increase.
Alternativly, you could spread the exercise throughout the day by doing 10 reps of each exercise per hour.
Personally, I chose the following combination of sets and reps.
* Week 1: 4×25 Push-ups; 5×20 Sit-ups; 5×20 Squats
* Week 2: 4×30 Push-ups and 4×30 Sit-ups. 4×25 Squats
* Week 3: 3×35 Push-ups, 3×35 Sit-ups and 4×30 Squats
* Week 4: 3×40 Push-ups and 3×40 Sit-ups, as well as 3×40 Squats
Although I am aware that I exceeded the 100 reps for some exercises during weeks, it was only because I wanted to add progressive overload.
For 30 days, I did 100 pushups, 100 sit-ups, and 100 squats.
I can tell you, it was difficult to keep going with the exercise routine. Throughout the month, I felt like giving up many times.
The routine was tiring and became repetitive after two weeks. I started mixing up different exercises throughout the second half, including clap pushups or diamond cutters.
Let’s now look at the actual results.
At the end of the challenge I had gained decent muscle mass in my chest and triceps, and my biceps were toned. Friends noticed a marked improvement in the definition of my abs, which was what they loved most.
Although I will admit that I would have made more progress if this was my routine, it is a great workout that I can do anywhere. The One Punch Man challenge is also simple and easy.
My Takeaway
Although the One Punch Man challenge was fun, there are important things you must focus on if you want this routine be successful and fruitful.
Progressive Overload
The routine is 100 pushups + 100 sit ups + 100 squats. This will lead to a plateau. It’s important for building muscle and strength.
You can avoid this by increasing the number of reps you do.
Progressive overload can be achieved by many methods. The main one being weight gain.
You can’t gain weight by doing bodyweight exercises. This means that you should aim for progressive overload by increasing the number and intensity of your reps each training session.
You can also get some dumbbells, kettle bells, or just a pair of cheap dumbbells that will give you more variety and help you build muscle mass rather than tone.
You must also focus on recovery if you want more reps and not lose your progress.
Recovery
I suggest that you do not do this workout every day if you want to keep up with your fitness goals. To recover, your body needs to rest. Even a full-body workout like this every other days is still quite a bit to recover from, if you’re not used to it.
These breaks are where you can build strength, endurance and health.
Your progress will be slowed down if you are constantly tired and don’t get enough rest. This is why I said that this workout routine can be tiring and why many people fail to see the benefits.
Three days of training is recommended per week. If you are really ambitious, four days may be sufficient. It is not recommended to train 7 days per week if you have a hard workout routine.
You can go longer days per week if you feel the urge, but you will quickly reach a plateau.
Remember to exercise but not burn yourself out after this workout routine.
Pulling Movement Pattern
This workout lacks the pulling movement pattern, as I have mentioned.
In the long-term, there will be an imbalance between your pulling muscles (back, biceps) and pushing muscles (chest and triceps, shoulders, chest, triceps and shoulders).
This is a simple fix: perform pull-ups in addition to the pushups and sit-ups.
You can easily mount a pull-up bar to any door frame if you are working out at home.
Pull-ups are more difficult than other exercises. Don’t expect to do 100 pull-ups in one go. Start with three sets of five to ten reps each and then work your way up.
Similar Readings:
References:
1. /wiki/One-Punch_Man
2. /wiki/Saitama
