VinceGironda.com - Agoge Training Methods For Bodybuilding

If you ever saw the 300 movies by Zach Snyder and thought ‘I’d like to have a body like that!’ or ‘those physiques are impossible; there’s no way anyone could be that lean!’ then this is your chance to learn all about the agoge military training methods that produced the greatest soldiers in terms of physical and mental capacity and how you can use these methods to get similar results for yourself as well.

The agoge training methods helped ancient Sparta train it’s young boys to become the greatest, most physically fit, and capable soldiers in history. While there isn’t much use for some of their more intense training methods (you don’t need to spend days in the forest hunting) you can still use several of their training techniques to reach the peak of physical fitness and

Become stronger
Increase your endurance,
Build muscle,
Build better form, and
Increase your mental toughness in a way no other workout will.

In fact, the Agoge training method was so successful, that all other Greek city states lived in fear of Sparta, and even described it as being ‘walled by men.’

Brief History Of The Agoge

Back in the day when wars and invasion were pretty much the order of the day, Sparta society defended itself by investing heavily in it’s military and it’s soldiers. Boys were taken away from their mothers around the age of 7-8 to be trained to become Spartan soldiers in the agoge.

The agoge system was made to mold young boys to become the best version of themselves by preparing them both physically and mentally to protect Sparta. They were taught discipline, leadership, and educated as well as put through intense workouts that most adults in this day and age wouldn’t be able to complete.

While the end goal of all of this was to produce strong Spartan soldiers for the Spartan army, a lot of their training techniques can still be used by anyone who is already into fitness or bodybuilding and wants to take it a notch further to better improve their body and mindset.

Agoge Workouts

While agoge training is mostly a thing of the past, we can learn or adopt one or two things from it and simulate it to fit our modern way of training and still get very similar results.

Here are some things you want to know and remember before we lay on the workouts.

Prepare to be brutal with yourself: you’re aiming to take it a step further that no one else will go. This will give you an edge over 90% of people out there; on the stage or otherwise.
These workouts use very minimal equipment: Back in the day they made do with what they had and still had outstanding results regardless.
No rest means no rest: Endurance is a big part of agoge training. Think of switching to the next exercise as your rest period. These exercises are meant to massively improve your endurance, explosiveness, mental toughness, strength, and power. Keep that in mind as you power through.
It’s not for everyone: The average Spartan warrior could breeze through these workouts pretty quickly but you have to know that he’s probably done that and even more since childhood.
Some of these workouts were used by the cast of the 300 movies!