Assassin’s Creed Workout: Reach New Heights

One thing that could be taken for granted while playing any title from the Assassin’s Creed series is how easy it is to scale a building. We have controlled Altaïr and Ezio as they scaled vertigo inducing heights in order to make their trademark “Leap of Faith” from the nosebleed perch of some spire or historical building into a hay bale below – but many of us would lack what it takes to physically do it ourselves. A mixture of upper body strength, powerful grip (with both hands and toes) plus a highly stable core are all essentials for a good climber.

>>> Assassin’s Creed Workout: Cardio & Explosiveness

>>> Assassin’s Creed Workout: Practical Strength

>>> Assassin’s Creed Workout: Responsibility

Check out the full Live By the Creed series

The first port of call for anyone wanting to get good at climbing is to go to your local climbing centre and learn how to do it from an instructor, learning the basics and fundamentals of this entertaining but potentially dangerous pastime.  The best way to prepare your body for climbing is to condition it by climbing.

We are going to show you some workout methods that will help you build on and improve on your Upper body strength, grip and core stability – Whether you want to be a good climber or you just want to look good while being able to carry many bags of shopping without dropping them. Your Assassin’s Creed workout week starts here.

Living By the Creed: The Eagle Circuit [Day 1]

Time to hit the body hard with a circuit incorporating a selection of bodyweight based exercises that will challenge you and help you develop the sort of strength and stamina needed to scale the likes of the formidable Galata Tower  from Assassin’s Creed : Revelations or help you get lean and build a solid back and core.

The circuit is ordered in such a way that you are hitting the body in a different way with each exercise so you can keep working hard throughout meaning you get a hefty calorie burn to go with the strength you are developing. However, depending on your level of fitness or what you want to achieve from the workout we will give you some options of how to attack this blast of activity so you can cater this for your needs and abilities. But first, let’s look at the exercises in the circuit.

Lunges

Walking or static, lunges build your leg strength one leg at a time while getting several leg muscles to work in harmony to produce the movement – just like any good compound exercise! The reason we are using a lunge as opposed to a squat is because often in climbing you will be required to use one leg to “push up” the surface you are climbing with a single leg and often at off kilter angles. Consequently, the lunge will help build stability, balance and power from the toes up.

Pull up

Often regarded by many as the ultimate expression of upper body strength, the pull up requires arms and back to unleash the beast in tandem to provide upward lift while the core keeps the legs from moving erratically which could damage the spine. The Pull up is the chosen bar move for improving your upper body strength for a climbing situation as it is very rare that your palms will not be facing the object you are trying to scale.

Fingertip Push up

Arguably one of the most difficult push or press up variations in existence. This version of the standard press up is perfect for developing climbing hand strength due to the stresses it places on the tendons and musculature of the arms from the mid forearms to the fingers, as well as chiseling the upper body and helping to build its ability to stay stable. This is an advanced maneuver and as such might not be able to be executed by everyone and so can be made easier by shortening the lever length of the exercise by allowing the knees to rest on the floor in the style of a box push up.

Hanging Knee Raise

This move is the pull up bars go to core strengthening exercise and a favourite of those in search of the often elusive abdominal 6-pack.  For those with strong arms and who like a challenge you will be probably performing this move slowly with your arms nearly locked out fully straight (a slight bend at the elbow will help take the pressure off this joint). If you are still developing core and back strength you may wish to use the bar with a hammer grip and more of a bend in the arm with the bicep under isometric tension. This will prevent you from swinging as uncontrolled or using momentum to engage your reps.

Bar Dips

Hitting the Triceps and chest in a similar manner to press ups but with the added bonus of being away from the floor, meaning you have to stabilize yourself using your core. The more you lean forwards, the more your pectoral muscles are going to be engaged.

Back Raises

We want to hit and strengthen the lower back and so back raises are making an appearance here in order help injury proof the lumbar spine. Do these on the floor, or for a greater challenge – lay on a weights bench.

Towel Hangs

It is good gym etiquette to bring a towel with you to keep your sweat away from other people. Now that towel could potentially save your life too by helping you build a climbers grip. Throw your towel over the top of the bar, grab a side in each hand, grip hard and suspend yourself from the bar by the towel. You never know when you may be glad you have the ability to cling on to something for dear life!

Now we know what exercises are featuring in our circuit, let’s look at the potential ways of attacking this selection of exercises…

The 45/15 Method

This is a good starting point for any circuit. Do as many reps as you can of the selected exercise for 45 seconds at whatever pace you can manage, have a 15 second break and then tackle the next exercise. Once you have performed all the exercises have a 2 minute rest and hit the circuit again. Aim for 3 to 5 circuits depending on your fitness and how much time you have. If you hit the exercises hard in the work phase of the circuit and recover well in the rest periods, this method is great for fat burning.

Maximal Method

Do as many reps as you can of a given exercise, go to failure and then take 3 minutes rest before tackling the next exercise. Take 3 minutes rest at the end of the circuit and tackle it again. Do no more than 3 circuits. Not for the faint hearted but great for endurance.

The Marine Method

A 3 set circuit method which requires you know how many reps you can do maximally for each exercise.  Once you know the maximum number of reps for an exercise, divide that by 2 and round it to the nearest 5. This will be how many reps you do for the 1^st and 3^rd set; the 2^nd set will be that number plus 5. So if the maximum amount of press ups you can do is 32, half of that is 16, rounded to the nearest 5 is 15. You will be doing 15 reps for set 1, 20 reps for set 2, and back to 15 reps for set 3. Aim for a 2 second transition through the concentric phase and 3 seconds through the eccentric phase of all your exercises. This circuit type is great for all round fitness.

Negative Rep Method

This method is to help build the strength of individuals who may have poor performance with bodyweight exercises or strength in general. For people new to press ups, pull ups or dips for example, they may hit concentric failure before doing many reps. meaning that after a few reps on a pull up they may hit failure and can no longer “pull up”. Using the negative rep method, once concentric failure has been hit on the pull up, jump up into the pulled up position instead of lifting yourself there and lower yourself with control for 4 seconds through the eccentric part of the lift. Do this for 5 to 8 reps. This will help improve your pull up strength in the long run by working the muscles required under tension. In theory this can be applied to most exercises.  Expect some heavy delayed onset muscle soreness for your trouble with this method until your neuro-muscular system adjusts and the strength gains roll in.

Whichever way you attack this circuit the benefits are numerous.

Achieve 100% Synchronisation

In the Assassin’s Creed series you can achieve full synchronisation with your ancestor’s memories by reliving them accurately and thus unlock more achievements or gain more trophies depending on the console platform your gaming experience is happening on.  With all the workouts in this series, why not try to synchronise yourself with the characters who inspired them? Use wrist weights to simulate the being encumbered with Ezio’s twin hidden blades. How about a weighted vest to get the feel of being weighed down with armour like a chest guard or Pauldrons? You could do this with a heavy backpack in absence of a weighted vest. Don’t forget to have your hood up to maintain your anonymity and keep you focused as you fire out rep after rep.