The Spiderman Workout: How to Train and Diet Like Tom Holland, Your Friendly Neighborhood Superhero

At least one thought was probably shared by both superhero geeks and gym rats alike when watching Tom Holland as Spiderman throughout the years in Captain America: Civil War (2016), Spider-Man Homecoming (2017), Avengers Infinity War (2018), Avengers Endgame (2019), and Tom Holland’s new Spiderman movie, Spider-Man: Far From Home...and that thought was, “I wish I could be a superhero!” or maybe something a bit more realistic like, “I wish I could look like that!”

Since Tom Holland’s debut as Spider-Man, he has been celebrated not only for his acting skills but also for his ripped physique and the physicality that he brings to the role of one of our favorite superheroes. Unlike a lot of Hollywood actors, the twenty-three-year-old actor does a lot of his own stunts and has worked incredibly hard to maintain a cut and agile body.

Unfortunately for us, it is quite unlikely that we are going to get bitten by a radioactive spider that will turn our body into an athletic machine capable of running up steel beams, doing acrobatic flips and...producing webs. It might not surprise many of us to hear that Tom Holland did not have this luxury either. As Tom Holland says in an interview when he was cast as Spiderman, his world was flipped upside down. Of course, rocketing into instant fame probably had a lot to do with this world flipping, but the change in lifestyle is sure to have played its role as well. 

Although Tom was trained as a gymnast prior to his role as Spiderman, he was not nearly as ripped as he was by the time that he was being filmed in his role. A strict diet and workout regimen were necessary to transform his body from skinny and agile to ripped...and still agile. Before the filming of his new superhero movie, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Tom worked with a trainer every day with the goal of gaining 14 pounds of muscle while putting on no extra pounds of fat, and he pulled it off!

After reading this article, you may not have all the information you need to start shooting webs out of your wrists and saving the world from supervillains, but you will have a great workout routine and dieting plan to get your body looking and feeling like a superhero’s. In this article, we lay out the ultimate Spiderman workout and give you great dieting tips on how to gain muscle mass without putting on the extra weight through a combination of choosing the right foods and taking premium dietary supplements designed to optimize the effectiveness of your workout.  

The Purpose of the Spiderman Routine

The purpose of the full Spiderman routine is about more than just making your body look physically fit with great abs, lean pecks, cut shoulders and all. It is about not only looking like a superhero, but also feeling like one, which will involve both optimizing your body and optimizing your mind.

When it comes to optimizing your body, what is important is not only your strength but also your agility and flexibility, so a full Spiderman routine will involve the proper stretches, the proper diet, and the proper workouts. When it comes to optimizing your mind, the exercise and stretches will certainly help, as research shows that exercise can improve your cognitive abilities and memory, as well as improve your overall mental well being and happiness, but in addition to exercise, eating the right food and taking the right brain optimizing supplements can have great effects on your cognitive functions. 

We will start our embarkment into the full Spiderman routine with the stretches, then move onto the workouts. From there we will talk about the right diet for gaining muscle without putting on the extra fat and then finish off with a discussion of some of the ways you can get your mind feeling like a superhero’s. 

Stretching for Agility 

Stretching is extremely important for anyone engaging in regular exercise (and also for those who are not). Stretching keeps the muscles flexible, strong, and healthy, and we need that flexibility to maintain an optimal range of motion in our joints. Without flexibility and the muscular health provided by stretching, the muscles shorten and become tight. This results in the weakening of muscles and their inability to extend. Imagine if Spiderman stretched out his arm to shoot a web and his arm cramped up, or worse, imagine that mid-swing we realize that his body is lacking in the flexibility necessary to do some awesome flips and instead had to just lower himself to the ground. 

In addition to the benefits of flexibility on our agility and proper movement, stretching can actually increase your body’s potential for muscle growth. “Huh?” you might think. Stretching is certainly not the first thing that pops into your mind when you think about how you are going to get ripped, but that’s because many of us don’t know about the fascia and its role in muscle growth. 

Every muscle in the body is enclosed in a bag of tough connective tissue know as the fascia, and this tissue is important for holding your muscles in their proper place in the body. Given the toughness of the fascia, it can actually hold your muscles back from growth, no matter how hard you work them out. It’s like filling a bag with groceries: eventually, you reach a point where no matter how hard you try, you can’t fit any more foods in the bag, and if you want to put new groceries in the bag, your only option is to take some groceries out and refill the spot. The result is stagnation. 

Imagine, though, that you could stretch the bag and expand it. If you could do that, you would be able to fit more groceries in. Its the same with your muscles. If you don’t stretch your muscles and the tissue holding them in place, you will eventually reach a point where they can grow no more. The answer is to stretch before and after you exercise. While a number of stretching routines should suffice for your spiderman routine, we will offer one option for a series of dynamic stretches to do either before or after (or both before and after) you Spiderman workout. 

Stretch Routine

The Spiderman Workout

The Tom Holland Spiderman workout is all about mixing strength training with agility training and cardio. We are trying to look like Spiderman not that bodybuilder of the Marvel Universe, Thor, so the purpose is to burn fat while building up lean flexible muscle. Of course, this is sometimes easier said than done, but we think that the best way to achieve this with the optimum results is to do a five-day workout routine with three days of weight and circuit training interspersed with two days of cardio and activity training. On the three days of strength training, you will be primarily building up lean muscle and burning calories, and on the two cardio days, you will be primarily burning calories and kicking your metabolism into high gear. So with all that said, here is your guide to getting that superhero body!

Day One

Warm-Up

1. 3 sets of Chin-Ups (3x3,5,7) with a 20-second rest in between. Start with 3 Chin-Ups for the first set, 5 Chin-Ups for the second set, and 7 Chin-Ups for the third set.

2. 3 sets of 10 Dips (3x10) with a 20-second rest in between. 

3. 3 sets of 15-25 Sit-Ups (3x15-25) with a 20-second rest in between.

Workout (2-round circuit)

The workout is a two-round circuit in which, over time, you will try to minimize the amount of time you take as a break between each exercise. Start out by giving yourself anywhere between 10 to 25 seconds in between each exercise and up to a full minute of rest between circuits. See how this works for you and adjust accordingly. 

1. 100m Sprint. 

2. 25 Box Jumps. 

3. 25 Sub Kettlebell Swings.

4. 10  Spiderman Pushups for each leg. 

5. 30 Plank Twists (15 for each leg).

6. 25 Burpees.

7. 25 Sit-Ups.

8. 10 reps on each leg for Body-Weight Sit-Through Mountain Climbers.

9. 25 Sub Kettlebell Swings. 

10. 100m sprint.  

Day Two (Cardio)

For the most effective cardio training, we recommend a High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) cardio workout. HIIT workouts include any workout that alternates between intense bursts of activity and fixed periods of less-intense activity or even complete rest.  These are optimal for burning fat and are a good addition to the workout routine of anyone trying to build lean muscle due to their efficiency, the fact that they burn more fat than typical cardio workouts, and the fact that they do a great job of kickstarting the metabolism.

Of course, the Day One workout could probably be considered a HIIT workout, but we want to stress the cardio aspects for the days in between the three strength training/ circuit workouts so that your muscles will have enough time to rest and recover. For that reason, we will focus on a beginner’s HIIT workout that revolves around the treadmill to help get you started:

1. Warm-up starting with a brisk walk and work your way up to a light jog – 10 minutes.

2. Run at 10 mph for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

3. Walk at 3.5-4 mph for 2 minutes.

4. Repeat this cycle 7 more times (8 cycles total).

5. Cool-down walk for 5 minutes.

If you do not find that this interval is challenging enough, try adding an incline to the treadmill. 

Day Three

Warm-Up

1. 3 sets of 5 Wide Grip Pull-ups (3x5).

2. 3 sets of 10 Dips (3x10).

3.  3 sets of 15-25 Sit-Ups (3x15-25).

Workout (3-round circuit)

1. Run 400m.

2. 10 Spiderman Pushups for each leg.

3. 15 reps of Clean and Presses. 

4. 12 reps on Bench Press.

5. 10 One-Arm Dumbell Snatches. 

Day 4 (Cardio) 

1. Warm-up starting with a brisk walk and work your way up to a light jog – 10 minutes.

2. Run at 10 mph for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

3. Walk at 3.5-4 mph for 2 minutes.

4. Repeat this cycle 7 more times (8 cycles total).

5. Cool-down walk for 5 minutes.

Day 5

Warm-Up

1) 3 sets of Chin-Ups (3x3,5,7).

2) 3 sets of 10 Dips (3x10).

3) 10 Spiderman Pushups for each leg (1x10).

Workout

1. 10 reps on Bench Press. 

2. 10 Floor Wipers.

3. 10 Deadlifts. 

4. 10 Hanging Knee/ Leg Raises. 

The Spiderman Diet

So now we are all set for the stretching and workout parts of a routine that will whip your body into Spidey shape. Of course, for some people, that is the easy part. A lot of people do everything right when it comes to their workout routine but mess it up when it comes to what they eat.

Just as important as your workout routine will be your diet, so it is important that you get your diet plan figured out. Everybody’s dieting needs are a bit different so we are not laying out a full-blown plan, but know that one of the biggest factors in getting lean is to run a calorie deficit and that there are a number of foods that you will want to include in your diet which should be high in protein and also high in healthy fats.

That’s right, not all fats are bad for building lean muscle, so while you will want to avoid foods heavy in transfats and saturated fats, you will want to make sure that you are getting enough healthy fats, such as monounsaturated fat, from foods like avocados.

Here are some of the foods that you will want to make sure to include in your high-protein diet: 

1. Egg Whites: Egg whites have a great protein to fat ratio of approximately 60:1, making egg whites one of the purest forms of protein available and a great option for your breakfasts for your Spiderman diet-plan. 

2. Chicken and Turkey: These white meats are an excellent form of natural protein and are both very low in saturated and trans fats.

3. Beans and Legumes: These are an excellent source of protein, fiber, and vitamins. You are going to want to make sure that you are not only paying attention to protein content, but also to the vitamins you are intaking since the proper amount of vitamins will be essential to maintaining the energy needed for this whole process. 

4. Lean Red Meat: Lean red meat is a great mass building food source that contains great vitamins like iron, zinc and B vitamins.

5. Low Glycemic Carbs: You need carbs as energy and fuel for your muscles, and the best carbs for these purposes will be those with a low-glycemic-index. Examples of these foods are brown rice, steel-cut oats, bran flakes, pasta, whole-grain bread, and peas or leafy greens. 

6. Water: It’s easy to forget to drink enough water, but staying hydrated is an important part of the process. The more water you drink, the more your body will release retained water and contribute to your overall leanness.

7. Protein-Supplements: A great way to get the protein you need for your high-protein diet without packing on the extra calories is to take protein supplements from dependable brands selling high-quality products like Steel Supplement's Whey Pro formula which promotes lean muscle gains without any of the harmful fillers that you might find in other brands.  

Get In Tune With Your Spidey-Senses

Like we said earlier, the Spiderman routine isn’t just about looking like a superhero, it’s about feeling like one too. Would Peter Parker be nearly as good a Spiderman without his spidey-senses? I would argue not. And we won’t really be are true superhero selves if our brains aren’t working as well as they possibly could. By doing the Spiderman Workout and eating healthily, we have already done our brains a huge favor.

Those who workout regularly and eat nutritiously know that your mind is often far more clear than when you were not working out or eating healthily. 

Still, some of you might think that there are things that we could be doing to make our brains function at an even higher level, and you would be right. For those of you who want to optimize your brain for peak performance, Steel Supplements has created an incredible product called FOCUSED-AF, a mental support formula designed to help brain function, heighten the senses, sharpen the mind and encourage focus and mental clarity. Its the strongest over the counter alternative for those seeking to maximize their ability to focus, making it a great choice for the full Spiderman transformation. 

Time to Become a Real-Life Superhero 

You might not be waking up with a bite from a radioactive spider any time soon, but you can still look and feel like your favorite superhero if you put in the right work. By following the Spiderman Workout Routine, stretching regularly, eating a high protein and low-calorie diet, and taking the steps the optimizing both your body and your mind, you can be your own superhero behind your everyday clothes sooner than you might expect.