Jason Statham Workout

Day 1 - Progression to 1RM
The objective of this workout is to build pure strength in one of the most effective total-body lifts: the deadlift. To accomplish this, we have Jason work his way up to his one-repetition maximum (1RM) -- the heaviest weight he can lift one time. Before he begins, though, he completes a two-part warm-up session.

Warm-up (Part 1): Rowing. For this, Jason completes 10 minutes on the Concept 2 rowing machine at a pace that's less than 20 strokes per minute (SPM). (Jason's distance on this day: 2,274 meters.)

Warm-up (Part 2): Pyramid Circuit.
Directions: Do these three exercises as a circuit, performing one set of each in succession without resting. Use a "pyramid repetition structure" to the workout. Here's how: In your first round through the circuit, do one repetition of each movement. In each subsequent round, perform an additional repetition. So you'll do two repetitions of each exercise in round 2, three repetitions in round 3, and so on. Once you've completed five rounds, continue on, but reduce the repetitions you complete each round by one. So you'll do four repetitions in round 6, three repetitions in round 7, and so on, until you've worked your way down to one repetition. At this point, your warm-up is complete.

1. Pushup
2. Ring Pullups
(These are classic pullups, but Jason uses gymnastic rings instead of the bar, and performs each repetition as quickly as possible while maintaining control and a full range of motion)

3. Bodyweight Squat
Workout: This involves just one exercise, the deadlift. Jason starts with a light weight -- about 35 percent of the amount of his 1RM -- and then slowly starts adding weight and reducing repetitions. As the weight becomes closer to his 1RM -- which, for Jason, is more than twice his bodyweight -- his rest between sets increases to 3 minutes. This allows for nearly complete recovery between lifts. Remember, these are the weights that Jason uses. They should be determined based on individual ability.



Cool-down: 10 minutes on the trampoline. Jason uses a full size 10x17 foot gymnastic trampoline for 10 minutes of freestyle aerial work. Jason has an Olympic diving background so he’s doing fairly advanced movements here. In addition to fine-tuning motor skill the trampoline is supposed to be good for your lymphatic system and flushing toxins from your cells.

Day 2 - Functional Circuit
This workout is designed to be a metabolically demanding, training the entire body with exercises that work multiple muscle groups.

Warm-up (Part 1): Rowing. Just as in Day 1, Jason completes 10 minutes on the rowing machine at a pace that's less than 20 strokes per minute (SPM). (Jason's distance: 2,238 meters.)

Warm-up (Part 2): Static Hold Circuit.
Directions: Do these four exercises as a circuit. For each exercise, you'll hold a specific position for 30 seconds, and then have 10 seconds to change stations, before starting the next exercises. Do a total of four rounds.

1. Ring Dip Hold
Hold yourself in the top position of a dip for the prescribed amount of time. Like the ring pullup, Jason performs this using gymnast rings instead of on a dip station that has parallel bars.

2. Kettlebell Farmer Hold
Grab a pair of heavy kettlebells -- dumbbells will work in a pinch -- and let them hang arm's length at your sides.

3. L-Sit on Parallettes or dips bars
Jason uses parallettes to perform this exercise but the L-sit can also be done on a dip station that has parallel bars. See these articles for a description of this device, how you can make your own, and a photos and a desription of how to perform the hold.

4. Bodyweight Squat Hold
Lower yourself to the bottom position of a squat with your thighs parallel to the ground and hold.

Workout: This routine, called the "Big Five 55 Workout," is compliments of strength coach Dan John.

Here, Jason performs a circuit of 5 exercises, which he does a total of 10 times.

There is no prescribed rest and ideally you move continuously from one exercise to the next while keeping the sets unbroken. Focus on going as fast as possible while maintaining form, full ROM, and control. The weights should be light enough to allow this.

You can run the stopwatch and race through this workout, but for better results and quality movement you should simply try to keep the momentum and flow through the exercises nonstop. He starts with 10 repetitions of each movement, and each time through, decreases the reps by 1. So he does 10 reps of all exercises in the first round, 9 in the second, 8 in the third, and so on, until he's doing just one repetition in each set. The result is that he completes a total of 55 repetitions of each exercise. Again, the weights below are the amount Jason used during this particular week.

1. Front Squat (95 pounds)
2. Pullups
3. Decline Parrallette Pushups
Directions: Hands on the parrallettes, feet on a box so that they are approximately 1 foot higher than your hands. Do the prescribed number of pushups. Typically, because you're elevated on the parrallettes you can go much deeper in the bottom position and really push the ROM, although this is dependent on shoulder flexibility.
4. Power Cleans
5. Knees to Elbows
Directions: Hanging from a pullup bar or from the rings at the half-cocked positon (elbows at a right angle) raise your knees until they touch your elbows. Lower them back down in a controlled fashion so you don't swing.

Day 3 - Interval Work
This session is performed on a Concept 2 rower.

Warm-up: Rowing. Jason completes 10 minutes on the rowing machine at a pace that's less than 20 strokes per minute (SPM). (Jason's distance: 2,102 meters.)

Workout: To mimic Jason's interval workout, you'll do six intervals of 500 meters.
Between each 500 meter "sprint," engage in active rest for 3 minutes. For this, you can get off the rower and get a drink of water but you must continue moving. Walking around will suffice.

Here's a look at Jason's times for reference:
Sprint 1. 1:40.1
Sprint 2. 1:39.7
Sprint 3. 1:43.9
Sprint 4. 1:41.6
Sprint 5. 1:38.7
Sprint 6. 1:50.3

Cool-down: To finish up, Jason performs a farmer carry for 500 meters with two 70-pound kettlebells. There is no set or time structure. Just carry the weight for 500m, get it done as quickly as possible. This tends to be a grip issue so that dictates any rest that must be taken.

Day 4 - Set Work
Here, Jason focuses on front squats, one of the best strengthening and total body conditioning exercises in existence.

Warm-up (Part 1): Rowing. Just as in Day 1, Jason completes 10 minutes on the rowing machine and at a pace that's less than 20 strokes per minute (SPM). (Jason's distance: 2,095 meters.)

Warm-up (Part 2): Jason does 20 repetitions of bodyweight squats before moving on to the primary portion of the workout.

Workout: 5 sets of 5 repetitions of the front squat. In this workout, Jason used a load that was 105 percent of his bodyweight.



Cool-down: Jason does 200 repetitions of the pushup, but he performs this workout using a "ladder" routine. We do this as partnered ladders of 1-5. So 13 ladders plus an extra 5 reps at the end. I do a pushup, he does a pushup, I do 2, he does 2, I do 3, he does 3, I do 4, he does 4, I do 5, he does 5. We've now each done 15 pushups and we immediately repeat the process starting at 1 again.

We do these quickly with the only rest being the time it takes for each other to do his pushups. If you wanted to do this alone, you could do 1 pushup and count "1 one thousand", do 2 pushups and count "1 one thousand, 2 one thousand", etc. This approach allows you to do a large volume of quality work (with small sets there is no reason the pushups aren't perfect and done explosively) without much, if any, residual muscle soreness. We also use this approach with pull-ups and knees-to-elbows. Not many folks finish their workout with 200 perfect pull-ups but this approach makes it doable


Day 5 - Cumulative Movements
This workout is designed to be a metabolically demanding, training the entire body with exercises that work multiple muscle groups. The Cumulative Movement workout consists of only one trip through as opposed to a circuit workout in which you repeatedly cycle back through the same movements.

Warm-up (Part 1): Rowing. Just as in Day 1, Jason completes 10 minutes on the rowing machine at a pace that's less than 20 strokes per minute (SPM). (Jason's distance: 2,149 meters.)

Warm-up (Part 1): The bear crawl and crab walk. Alternate back and forth between the bear crawl for a distance of 15 meters and the crab walk for a distance of 15 meters. Repeat until you've done five 15-meter increments of each.

Workout: One round through a series of exercises.
Direction: Do one set of each movement, completing all of the prescribed number of repetitions before moving on to the next exercise. Perform each exercise as quickly as possible while maintaining proper form and full range of motion. The stopwatch is running on this one so try to get through it as quickly as possible by minimizing rest.

Jason's Circuit Workout


Day 6 - Contextual Effort
This can be any activity or sport that you enjoy doing. If this is of significant duration and intensity it should be considered as part of your training. In Jason's case the goal was to get outside and maintain an activity nonstop for over an hour to build some endurance (training the aerobic energy pathway).

Workout: 1 hour plus trail run in the mountains. Jason's time: 73 minutes.

Day 7 - Rest