Working out like Gerard Butler

DAY 35

If you ignore what a stupid name 'Gerard' is and look past the slightly mental eyes, you'll notice that Gerard Butler is quite fit in a rugged, Scottish sort of way. The best example of this can of course be found in the film 300, where the combination of oily eight-pack, shark tooth necklace, cape, leather budgie smuggler and angry bludgeoning is almost too much for a pervy girl like me to handle.

Before the cast started filming, they had to train hard for four months to get the chiselled physiques you'd expect from an ancient warrior army. The routine Mr Butler and his co-stars followed has become known as the '300 rep Spartan workout' because, as you might expect, it involves doing 300 reps of varying exercises without a break.  

After four months of this, the actor's soft belly had transformed into rock hard abs, his thighs great slabs of bulging muscle and his arms convincingly the big, hairy arms of an angry Spartan King. So I figured I'd give this workout a try.

My boyfriend-turned-personal-trainer designed me a 300 workout I could do in the gym, which looked exactly like this:

10 minute cardio warm up
2 minutes of alternating sit ups and crunches
25x press ups
Start to doubt one's ability to complete another 275 reps
25x box jumps (never forget your sports bra when you attempt these babies. Even if you're a man.)
25x lat pulls
25x low row
2 minutes of sit ups, just as a nice break from the reps
1 minute plank
25x squats
Try to run off, get caught and dragged back
25x shoulder press
25x lat pulls
25x chest press
2 minutes of sit ups
That exercise where you sit on the floor, lean back a bit, lift your feet off the floor, catch a medicine ball and twist to touch it to the floor before throwing it back (don't know what it's called but it hurts.)
25x rope pulls
25x tricep extensions
25x bicep curls
25x press ups
2 minutes of sit ups
IMMINENT DEATH

It sounds difficult, but you can adjust the weights to suit your ability and it's actually quite fun. My arms are getting hairier so I think it's working.