WWE wrestlers are known as “Superstars” for a number of valid reasons. Not only do they bounce back like superheroes, weathering the rigors of the ring in one town only to come back stronger in the next, but they also juggle an insane out-of-ring schedule all while trying to bag a golden belt. I recently found myself being put through the type of workout that is befitting of a pro wrestler, and it soon became clear that AMRAP style circuits come about as close as you can get to training like a WWE Superstar without being on the wrong end of a punishing piledriver.
Jude Samuel, a 4th degree BJJ Black belt and lead fitness instructor at Eight Club in Shoreditch, London, was selected as coach for the day, and his mission was to take WWE’s most flamboyant tag-team “Pretty Deadly,” and the rest of us mere mortal journalists through an intense session of sweat. Pretty Deadly are former WWE NXT and WWE NXT UK tag-team champions and are currently at the top of their game.
Having spent quite a bit of time in the wrestling ring myself (you can read about some of my latest exploits here ), I came to this workout with a ton of respect for how physically fit a WWE grappler really needs to be. There’s no question that performing as a pro wrestler requires explosive speed, strength, and stamina. So, whether you want to follow in the footsteps of The Rock or John Cena, or just want to test your own mettle, here’s how to try it for yourself:
The ‘Pretty Deadly’ AMRAP Circuit Workout
Warmup
To start the blood flowing and the muscles moving ahead our 7.30am workout, we began with a warmup of banded lateral steps to get us ready for action.
The Workout
To attempt this circuit, you will perform as many reps as you can (AMRAP) for sets of 30 seconds and then take a 15 second rest. You will perform three sets with each exercise before moving on to the next. Here are the exercises:
The Finisher
Sprint as fast as you can for those three remaining sets.
The ‘Pretty Deadly’ AMRAP Circuit Workout Breakdown
To execute the inclined seated dumbbell curl, you’ll be letting your arms drop almost all the way to the ground before lifting the weight back up. This is a movement that WWE
SmackDown’s Pretty Deadly tag-team partners; Elton Prince and Kit Wilson find themselves doing dozens of times per match, as they reach down for their bulky opponents before attempting to lift them up. Here, you’ll be building your own bicep strength. By making sure that your range of motion really gets low before you raise the dumbbell back up, this will increase the tension of the curl.
If you’ve ever seen The Ultimate Warrior, Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, or more recently, Braun Strowman in action, then you will be aware that the overhead press is one of the most celebrated moves in WWE, as these beasts demonstrate their dominance over a hapless foe. Okay, so you might not be quite ready to lift a human being over your head, but make sure to work with a challenging weight on the barbell to increase upper-body strength without sacrificing form.
In the gym, and in the ring, what goes up must come down. We practiced the principle of slamming our opponents into the mat by driving a medicine ball down with authority. “Yes boy!” shouted Pretty Deadly to motivate me. “Yes boy!” I shouted back as I attempted to slam my rival… I mean medicine ball through the matted floor of Club Eight. This was followed up with some barbell rows, just to make sure that we never “back out” of an important match.
Lunges are an essential move to master in order to prevent injury, especially when it comes to marquee matches like the upcoming Royal Rumble where bodies can come at you from all directions. Side lunging is great for flexibility, while adding a medicine ball into the mix will build on your potential for explosive power, too.
The dumbbell lateral raise is great for improving shoulder mobility and will also bolster your performance in terms of lifts. As an added bonus, by executing this move you’ll be on the path to realizing that coveted pro wrestler physique as you begin to build some boulder shoulders.
As I begin my rounds of bodyweight squats, Elton Prince and Kit Wilson decide to play a prank and commandeer a nearby camera, blocking the view of my exhausted movements in favor of some of their trademark showboating. I try to carry on regardless as the two combatants demonstrate that their performances in front of a crowd are just as important as the one they must smash in each and every gym session.
“Here we can see the common man learning how to squat,” commentates Wilson with his pretty decent David Attenborough impression before recreating what looked like a scene from the movie Zoolander, gyrating in front of the camera. At this point I felt like a deer in the headlights!
In terms of sprinting, racing from rope-to-rope before crushing your opponent with a thunderous clothesline is par for the course in WWE, and gone are the days of the plodding grapplers from yesteryear. To hang with today’s crop of athletic wrestlers, you’ll need stamina as well as strength, so sprints are a great way to work on your cardiovascular conditioning. It certainly requires a great deal of heart to make it in the wild world of WWE.
Battered but not beaten, I completed the workout thanks to the eccentric encouragement of Pretty Deadly. “He put in a shift!” remarks Elton Prince, providing me with his much hoped for seal approval. All I can say is that this workout is worthy of a WWE champion, so make sure you hydrate! Pretty Deadly may have tested my endurance by making me use my lungs for laughing on several occasions, but they do say that fitness should be fun! Hats off to you guys, there’s no questioning that WWE Superstars are deadly serious athletes.
Want to stream some of the action? WWE arrived on Netflix earlier this month in the USA, with all programming available on the streaming service in the UK and other international territories, including RAW, SmackDown, NXT, Premium Live Events and WWE’s archives. To sign-up visit: Netflix.com.
You can also follow Pretty Deadly’s Elton Prince and Kit Wilson on Instagram.