It doesn't matter who you are, we all have that one idol that we picture as our inspiration for our fitness journey.
If you are a bodybuilder, or looking to become one, it is likely that your fitness inspiration may stem from the incredible Calum Von Moger.
Seeing as how he has won Mr. Universe 3 times (as of when this was written), it is no surprise that he is a role model for many weightlifters.
To help you get the body of your dreams, we did the research and used our findings to compile Calum’s workout routine and diet for you! But before we dive into how to get your body to look like his, let's learn more about him.
With millions of followers on Instagram and near 1 million fans on Youtube, Calum Von Moger may be one of the most famous people you have never heard of. Born June 9, 1990, Calum’s rise to fame started when he was 23 years old when he was selected to play Arnold Schwarzenegger in a YouTube video
Even though Moger does not wish to be stereotyped, his resemblance to Schwarzenegger (including his accent) and his fantastic portrayal of the actor, has earned him with the nicknames “Arnold Schwarzenegger of his generation” and “Arnold 2.0.”
Calum was born in central Victoria, Australia and lived with his five brothers and sisters. In multiple interviews, Calum has mentioned how growing up on a farm “undoubtedly helped shape his mindset on discipline and he learned to place a high value on food and nutrition.”
However, his love for lifting weights did not start until he was 14 years old when he started hitting the weights with his older brother who Calum was trying to get bigger than. In 2011, he entered his first NABBA Junior International Championship and won!
After that his career started to snowball and shortly he found himself portraying young Arnold in the Movie Bigger, in which he received rave reviews for his role of the former California Governor.
As of today, his net worth is estimated to be around $3.2 million, which includes his various endorsement deals, including being the first bodybuilder to model for Gucci, as well as his clothing line and personal supplements brand.
Having the right mindset and philosophy will take you a long way when it comes to your fitness journey. For Calum, the underlying principle of his strenuous routine is progressive resistance training. Additionally, he prefers to train by instincts, meaning he designs his workout in a way that best suits his body specifically.
With that being said, it is possible that you will not see the same results as Calum by doing his workout routine exactly like he does. Everyone is different and requires different movement and nutrition combinations to see the results they are looking for.
During his workout sessions, he focuses on lifting as much as possible to keep his physique. His workout sessions are typically 2 hours. For that reason, he eats approximately every two hours to ensure he is getting enough calories to replace what he has lost. When it comes to nutrition, Calum has admitted to using the “everything in moderation” theory.
At the end of the day, Moger has the body physique weightlifters dream about because of his extreme dedication to fitness and his diet. He is a firm believer in “quality over quantity.”
To help keep himself motivated and committed to his workout routine and nutritional diet (even the pros think about quitting every now and then), he reminds himself that Rome was not built in one day. It took patience, consistency, and time, which he then in turn applies to his workout mindset.
Whether you are going to attempt Calum’s 5-day workout routine or just getting into fitness to lose a couple pounds, your results will rely on your diet. It's not only important to eat the right foods, but it is just as important to make sure you are eating enough to support your workout sessions.
As we mentioned earlier, Calum does his best to eat every 2 hours to ensure he maintains his caloric surplus. Overall, his diet consists of lean meats, protein shakes, eggs, veggies, and grains along with lots of water to keep himself hydrated. To help you get started, here is an example of a days worth of meal from Calum’s daily diet:
For more ideas, here are some popular pairings for diets such Calum Von Moger’s:
In between his meals, he typically consumes a protein shake, for a total of 3 protein shakes per day. In addition to his protein shakes, Calum has been noted to also take the following supplements to assist with maintaining his physique:
Please note: Calum has his own line of supplements that he mostly likely uses, but has not been confirmed. The brand you use should not matter. The nutrient within the supplement itself is what matters, right?
Before you proceed to the weight room, there are some tips and factors you should consider before attempting Moger’s exercise routine.
For starters, he tends to favor pre-exhaust training drop sets, and partial reps to increase the intensity. When performing any exercise, he will begin with 1 or 2 warm-up sets before he proceeds to performing 3 working sets to help prevent overtraining.
Additionally, he understands that you have to do more than lift heavy barbells to reach and maintain a physique such as his own; therefore, performs cardio within each workout as well. Generally, he will execute two days of fast cardio exercises and three days of normal cardio exercises each week.
Since he prefers unconventional cardio methods, he will take his cardio workout outside as often as possible. If an upcoming show requires him to shred down, he will temporarily change up his routine to include fast cardio on all 5 days. Now, back to the weights.
When it comes to the gym, Moger prefers free weights over exercise machines (unless it’s a treadmill). He states, “dumbbells and barbells promote better muscle activation and overall size gains as compared to machines,” which is very true indeed. He also encourages full range movement due to the fact that it is the best way to target the whole muscle.
On that note, whenever you are using weights, or performing any exercise in general, you need to be aware of your form at all times. Improper form can lead to serious injury that can leave you bedridden and we all know it is really hard to see gains from bed.
If gains are your main concern, Calum has said himself that squats are the ultimate exercise to perform for making gains since they are a multi-joint movement. For the best gains, take your squat as deep as you can.
Phew, now that we got all of the boring, but need-to-know stuff out of the way, let’s get to the juice of this article, Calum’s workout plan! To make sure he targets different muscle groups each day, he focuses on one area of the body at a time.
You can do them in any order that you choose to make the routine work for you; however, for our purpose, the workouts are listed in the same order that Calum would execute them in:
Day 1: Chest
**a superset is when you perform the exercises back to back without stopping in between sets.
Day 3: Rest
On rest days, it is extremely important to make sure you give your muscles (and the rest of your body) the rest they need to recover. This is why there are typically 3 main elements of a fitness plan; exercise, diet, and recovery. The combination of these 3 elements is the foundation to maximize your gains and see the best results.
The hard part is finding what works best for you. Sometimes, Calum will take advantage of a nice day and turn his rest day into an active recovery, which means he may choose a low-intensity workout such as going for a walk, an easy hike, or swimming. However, if you are a beginner to lifting weights and strenuous exercise, it is highly recommended that you use your rest days to rest.
Day 4: Shoulders
Day 5: Legs
Day 7:
Rest
This is Calum’s second rest day for the week. However, for those looking for an added challenge, Calum will sometimes add a 6th day to his workout routine that focuses on his arms meaning he will only take 2 days for rest that week.
This is typical if he has a show he has to prepare for coming up. If you are serious about your gains, you can execute day 6 by performing the following exercises:
Again, we cannot stress enough how important it is to rest and recover. Overtraining is a real thing, but is terrible for long-term progress and can slow your gains.
Dang! That is one heck of a workout huh? Do you think you can handle it? We hope you will at least give it a try. You will never know if you can do it or if it will work for you if you never try it.
For those who are super dedicated to their fitness journey, Calum offers his own personal training online, which means you can learn from the pro himself! With that being said, we will leave you with Calum’s best tips for reaching your fitness goals.
First, never give up! Second, set a goal, do whatever it takes to reach it, then set a new goal and repeat. Lastly, “Don’t let day to day difficulties stop you from having an enthusiastic approach to life.”
