If you’ve read my blog and have been following me for some time now, you would know I’m a HUGE nut when it comes to superhero’s and comics.
One of my all time favorite superhero’s has to be Batman.
Not only because he’s a complete badass, but it’s mainly due to the fact that he’s not actually a superhero at all. If you didn’t know, Batman doesn’t have any special “super-powers” that he fights crime with rather, he just has his natural abilities such as strength, power, endurance, and an unbreakable mindset.
Since he doesn’t have any super powers, it’s essential Batman remains in great physical and mental condition.
Just the other day, I posted up a question on my Facebook Fan Page in regards to me doing a post on Batman (since The Dark Knight Rises comes out in just days) as I wanted to see what type of interest there would be. Since there was quite the amount of people interested, I’m following up on my word and am delivering this blog post all about Batman for you now.
In this post, I’m going to cover exactly what makes Batman such a badasss and How I would train to become a badass like Batman.
We’re going to have a little bit of fun with this while we’re at it.
Sound good?
Ok, so in order to become a badass like Batman, you must first know what it is exactly that makes him so badass.
First off, the main thing that makes Batman such a friggin’ bad mo fo is again as I mentioned above, the fact that he’s a MAN, he’s not a super hero. He has no super powers so he must rely on his own set of skills and abilities to kickass.
Of course it is a bonus that Bruce Wayne (the unmasked Batman) is a Multi-Billionaire and has access to pretty much anything he needs, but not just any man would be able to pull off the things Batman does.
Now, this brings me to the 1st reason Batman is such a badass…
#1 – Batman’s Mind of Steel
In order to be a superhero, it’s my belief that you MUST be mentally tough as you’re going to be around a ton of negative sh*t and in order to stay strong, you can’t let that type of stuff effect you and your efforts to save the world.
What I like about Batman’s mindset is that he’s an optimist and when it comes to being a success in life, optimism is a must!
Batman’s always thinking about the good in situations and the world so if he were to ever have a negative attitude towards life or any type of situation, he would fail in a second!
Think about it, in order for Batman to fight crime, he must have an unbreakable mind.
What makes Batman such a badass is the fact that he’s the one man that has the courage to stand up against evil and fight. It’s this aggressive nature that I respect the most.
Another reason… Batman is UNAFRAID. Yeah there’s lots of things in life that scare the crap outta me as I’m sure scare you, but what makes Batman so badass is the fact that he’s not afraid to take on anything or anyone. He just go’s and what ever the turnout is, is.
So HOW can YOU build up a STRONGER MIND like Batman?
First off, stop bei
ng so afraid to take chances in life. This goes for in the gym and out. In my 11 Rules on How To Kick Ass In Life and Lifting Manual, I talk about never living your life in regret and in order to avoid doing this, you must take chances in life, even when you’re scared. Instead of thinking about all the bad things that can potentially happen, just TAKE ACTION and what ever happens, happens.
Another way you can build up a stronger mind like Batman has is to have strong goals. Batman’s goal is to save human lives and protect Gothem City by any means necessary… Your goal probably won’t be as fictional, but what makes Batman’s goals so great is that they mean a ton to him. His goals mean so much to him that he’ll go through pretty much anything and everything to make sure he accomplishes them.
This needs to hold true for YOU too. First, make sure to come up with a set of goals that truly mean a ton to you. You must do this because when you’re goals truly mean a lot to you, you’ll find that you’ll go through a lot of sh*t to make sure they get accomplished.
Finally, the way I would train to help build up a stronger mind is by making sure I’m always challenging myself within my workouts. One of the BEST ways I’ve been able to do this is by incorporating in some sort of Hardcore Finisher into the end of my workouts. I like to keep these short and sweet, but just because they’re short and sweet doesn’t mean they aren’t hard!
Besides incorporating in finishers, I would make sure to incorporate in a consistent challenge workout each and every week. The sole purpose of these types of workouts is to push you both physically and mentally. I always do a weekly challenge workout with my Thursday Throwdowns and it’s these workouts that really put me to the test and since Batman needs to be mentally tough, I would make him do these on a weekly basis as well.
#2 – Batman’s STRENGTH – It ain’t no secret that Batman has some serious strength!
Think about it… If you were a crime fighting bad mo fo, you would want to make sure your prepared for anything, especially for when it came to the strength dept. Who knows, you may have to lift a car to help someone escape from underneath it or fend of multiple villains at once.
It’s pretty evident that batman has a ton of strength, but what kind of strength?
Strength Endurance – If Batman has to fend off multiple villains at once over and over and over, he’ll need the ability to repeatedly lift heavy loads multiple times and exert massive force repeatedly without getting too burned out. If he tires out, he’ll get beat down.
To train for this, it’s best to train with heavy, but NOT maximal loads combined with short rest periods. One of my favorite methods to train for strength endurance is by utilizing something called the E.M.O.T.M. interval protocol.
To explain this method briefly, I’ll use this example:
Perform 5 Reps of Back Squat every min on the min (E.M.O.T.M.) x 10 total mins.
So in short, what you would do is set a timer and go. Every time the top of the min comes back around, you would then perform 5 more reps of squats. The remaining amount of the min would then be used for rest. You would repeat this until the 10 mins or 50 total reps are completed.
To reap the benefits from this the most, you would want to follow a 3 week progression that looks like this:
Week 1 – 5 Reps x 10 mins, Week 2 – 3-4 Reps x 12-15 mins, Week 3 – 1-2 Reps x 15-20 Mins
Maximal Strength – Batman has the ability to lift some heavy stuff as when he’s out in the heat of battle fighting crime, he may encounter some situations where he’ll need it!
Max Strength is the ability to lift maximum loads (like cars, large rocks, pieces of debris in Batman’s case). For you it means lifting heavy loads for reps of less then five in order to build up more maximal strength and it should be pretty obvious that you need to lift progressively heavier loads overtime.
The major mistake many people make when training for maximal strength is that they train with a rep range that is too high, like 6 and above. Max strength should be trained with loads that you can only handle for 5 or less reps in a set. Five reps is actually kind of high for max loads.
I’ve always been huge fan of Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 set up as I follow a similar set up in that you use a rep scheme of around 5 for the first week, 4-3 for the second week, then either 2 or 1 for the 3rd week.
For example, if you want to get stronger in the deadlift, a good rep scheme that will get you maximally stronger would look like this:
Week 1 – 1 x 8, 3 x 5, Week 2 – 1 x 5, 3 x 3, Week 3 – 1 x 5, 1 x 3, 3 x 1-2
Using a set up like this for a few weeks will definitely get you stronger and if your goal is to gain some maximal strength like Batman
What I would do to get Batman strong would be to use the set up above with his main lifts (deadlifts, squats, presses, pulls) and then I would make sure to add in some assistance exercises as well that target the specific muscle groups used for the main lifts. So, for the dealift, I would use movements like RDL’s, Glute Ham Raises, kettlebell swings, ect.
# 3 – Batman’s ATHLETICISM – You know batman has some serious athleticism if he’s considered a “super hero” and he doesn’t have any actual super powers.
Batman’s able to climb buildings, sprint fast, jump high, and dodge pretty much any and everything that comes his way so in this sense, Batman is essentially the ideal athlete – Powerful, Explosive, Mobile, Hostile, and Agile!
After all, he is just a man, so in order to do what he does, he’s gotta be athletic! So let’s break down how I would train Batman to help him get more athletic.
First, I would make sure to focus in on building up more power and speed. To train for power and speed, one of my favorite ways is to include explosive jumps, skips, hops, and even sprints into my warm ups.
Here’s a sample warm up I use for athletes…
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It’s best to train power when you’re not fatigued as you want to be as explosive as possible so this is why I always like to train power first thing in my sessions. The same goes for when I train to get faster as you want to be able to train at near 100% so you can train at top speed.
Typically when I train for pure speed, I’ll do sets of ALL OUT hill sprints or regular sprints at about 30-50 yards a pop. I’ll take longer rest periods between sets so I’m fresh for each sprint.
Next, I would make sure to include in some sort of fast Agility and Quickness Training. For this, I would have Batman perform quick lateral hops or have him do short agility sprints and drills. I could easily include agility and quickness drills into his warm up or throw it end at the end of his sessions.
Here’s an old video that has a ton of different agility drill in it that can be used to help improve agility and quickness:
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#4 – Batman’s CONDITIONING – Besides being completely shredded and jacked, Batman has a motor that never quits.
Batman’s gotta be able to fight crime for hours on end so in order to do so, he’s got to have 
an insane amount of stamina.
To get Batman’s conditioning better, I would incorporate either interval training sets or the AMRAP protocol.
For interval sets, I would pick out 3-5 different movements set up in a circuit and I would have a time interval set. One of the best set ups to improve overall conditioning is to use a 45/15 or even 60/15 set up where you would work for 45 or 60 secs then rest for only 15 secs. These can get brutal, but they’ll definitely help improve your conditioning.
Here’s an example set up:
1A) Bodyweight Squat
1B) Push ups
1C) Recline Row
1D) Kettlebell Swings
1E) Sprints
Another method I would use to improve conditioning is the AMRAP protocol which stands for “As Many Rounds As Possible”. For this set up, you could actually use the same set up of movements from above, but now instead of using the time intervals, you would have a set amount of reps for each movement. What you would do is set a clock for a certain amount of time, say 20 mins and then just go at your pace and get in as many rounds as possible in that 20 min time frame.
This is a great form for conditioning that’s not only tough, but it can also serve as a great way to add in a different type of challenge.
When I use AMRAP’s, I always track how many rounds I got on a certain circuit so the next time I hit that same circuit, I can push myself to get in more rounds then before.
Here’s one of my favorite (but worst) AMRAP circuits I’ve used in the past…
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This one was good both for building up some serious conditioning and mental toughness!
Perfect for if you’re trying to become more badass like Batman!
So, there you have it! This is what makes Batman such a badass…
He’s strong, powerful, athletic, highly conditioned, and overall, is one mentally tough SOB!
Now, I mentioned HOW I would train Batman above with different types of training modalities and such and if you’re looking for a complete program that would turn you into a badass super hero like Batman, I would definitely look into my new program, The Aggressive Strength Method.
This program blends together the use of heavy strength training, power development, speed, as well as high octane conditioning methods all at the same time that will ultimately help FORGE you into a super hero.
There’s 24 total weeks worth of progressive workouts and two different templates to choose from.
The best news is that I’ve got this badass program on SALE for less then $20, but I’m only keeping it on sale until Friday, July 20th!
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Go ahead and drop your comments and thoughts on this post. What types of things would YOU add in to help Batman become even more badass?
Live and Train Aggressive!