Whenever you consider Tom Holland, you might image him swinging between skyscrapers or backflipping as Spider-Man, not grinding by means of CrossFit-style exercises. However throughout press for Spider-Man: No Means Residence, Holland revealed that his go-to exercise was the enduring CrossFit WOD “Cindy.” Right here’s the loopy kicker to Tom Holland’s CrossFit “Cindy” exercise numbers: His greatest is 27 rounds in 20 minutes. Let that sink in for a second.
That’s 135 pull-ups, 270 push-ups, and 405 air squats.
Cindy seems easy on paper as a result of how exhausting can body weight be? But it surely’s a traditional take a look at of grit, pacing, and full-body muscular endurance. Whether or not you’re chasing Holland’s rating or wish to stage up your conditioning, this text will assist you to construct the power, stamina, and psychological toughness to go toe-to-toe with one in every of Hollywood’s fittest stars. Let’s break all of it down with the assistance of Dr. Bo Babenko, then construct it up, and simply possibly, beat Spider-Man at his personal sport. Are you in? Then let’s go.
Why Crossfit “Cindy” Exercise Works Wonders
Cindy on paper is primary: 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 air squats, repeated for 20 minutes. However don’t mistake primary for straightforward. This exercise has humbled many CrossFit athletes and health fans.
It focuses on push, pull, and squat, three motion patterns that prepare your complete physique. You’re coaching again, chest, arms, shoulders, core, and decrease physique each spherical. Moreover, there’s no built-in relaxation; you’re additionally placing your cardiovascular system to the take a look at.
Right here’s what you’ll get if you happen to attempt it.
- It’s time-efficient: You get a full-body exercise in a brief period of time.
- It builds muscular endurance: Particularly within the higher physique, which tends to fatigue first.
- It’s a psychological take a look at: You construct psychological toughness by protecting your tempo, pushing by means of fatigue, and refusing to faucet out earlier than the clock runs out.
What It Takes To Take On Tom Holland
When you’re admiring Tom Holland’s 27-round efficiency like we’re, perceive this: You’re competing in opposition to your physique and the clock. To finish 27 rounds in 20 minutes, you could end one spherical each 44 seconds, with out fail. That’s elite-level pacing, flawless transitions, and severe muscular endurance.
It’s not simply spectacular—it’s downright freakishly environment friendly. Whereas most individuals crash and burn, Holland thrives. Why? First, he turns it into an EMOM problem, the place he completes one spherical each minute for 20 minutes. When you end a spherical in 40 seconds, congrats—you’ve earned 20 seconds of precious relaxation. Second, Holland typically wears a weighted vest to extend the depth additional. The additional resistance turns every repetition right into a problem and prepares his physique for regardless of the Spider-Man swimsuit throws at him.
Final however not least, he additionally dietary supplements Cindy’s routine with high-rep body weight ladder exercises—equivalent to a monster 1,500-rep session that includes pull-ups, dips, push-ups, sit-ups, and squats. His strategy is centered on excessive quantity, strict self-discipline, and psychological toughness.
To match Holland’s report, you want a sensible sport plan. Attempting to repeat his strategy is a certain method to burn out and get injured. Nevertheless, with this coaching technique, you possibly can construct your engine, resilience, and velocity to achieve that 27-round purpose.
Subsequent up: a progressive coaching plan that can assist you do exactly that.
The ten-Week Cindy Exercise Coaching Plan
The principle stumbling block for knocking out the Cindy WOD is your pull-up power and grip endurance. If performing 5 unbroken pull-ups is an issue, Dr. Bo has an answer.
“I’m an enormous fan of the Russian fighter pull-up program from Pavel Tsatsouline to construct pull-up power,” he says. “Moreover, bettering your general grip power and hanging capability typically enhances your means to carry out strict pull-ups. I like Ido Portal’s concept of accumulating a number of minutes of hanging every day for a constant month—his important problem is seven minutes a day.“
If that’s a problem, begin there. If not, let’s start constructing that base.
Construct the Base (Weeks 1–4)
Aim: Groove excellent type and construct consistency as much as 15 rounds.
Focus: Nail type on push-ups, pull-ups, and squats to enhance effectivity and forestall overuse accidents, and to develop into accustomed to fatigue.
EMOM 10: You’ll rotate by means of pull-ups, push-ups, and air squats, unfold throughout a repeating 3-minute cycle. You’ll proceed this sample for 10 minutes or longer.
- Minute 1: Carry out 3 pull-ups, then relaxation the rest of the minute.
- Minute 2: Carry out 6 push-ups, then relaxation the rest of the minute.
- Minute 3: Carry out 9 air squats, then relaxation the rest of the minute.
That’s 1 spherical of the cycle. Repeat this 3-minute cycle for 3 to five complete rounds, relying in your health stage and tolerance. Do that twice per week.
Half Cindy: 10-minute AMRAP of three pull-ups, 6 push-ups, 9 air squats. Concentrate on protecting every spherical clean and regular. Contemplate including another rep to the squats and push-ups every week. Carry out this as soon as each week.
Dial Within the Engine (Weeks 5–7)
Aim: Enhance pacing, scale back transition time, construct towards 20+ rounds.
Focus: To remain in step with sub-1-minute rounds and enhance complete quantity every session.
Cindy Pacing Drills: Carry out 1 spherical each 60 seconds for 10–quarter-hour. If that’s doable, shorten relaxation to 45-50 seconds per spherical. Do that twice per week,
Triset Circuit: 3 rounds (not for time)
- 1A. 8 Push-Ups
- 1B. 13 Air Squats
- 1C. 5 Pull-ups
Relaxation 60 seconds after every Triset. Do that as soon as per week, and every week, add an additional spherical.
Go Time (Weeks 8–10)
Aim: Hit 25+ rounds in coaching and break by means of plateaus. Do every exercise solely as soon as per week, then relaxation for per week and attempt to beat Tom’s report.
Focus: Keep velocity with no drop-off in type, embrace the grind, and concentrate on clean transitions. Transferring instantly between actions saves treasured seconds.
20-Minute AMRAP Check (Cindy): Hit it contemporary as soon as per week and attempt to beat your earlier rating.
Dying By Cindy: Is a progressive, escalating exercise the place you carry out Cindy rounds on the minute, including one further spherical each minute till you possibly can now not sustain.
- Minute 1: Do 1 full spherical of Cindy (5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats)
- Minute 2: Do 2 rounds
- Minute 3: Do 3 rounds (When you ever get right here, take a bow)
Transition Pace Circuit
- 1A. 5 Pull-Ups
- 1B. 10 Push-Ups
- 1C. 15 Squats
- 1D. 10 Unilateral Dumbbell Rows per aspect
- 1E. 10 Incline Plyo Push-Ups
- 1F. 15 Squats
3–4 rounds, no relaxation between workout routines, 60 sec relaxation on the finish of every circuit
Dr. Bo Babenko Type Suggestions for Tom Holland’s CrossFit ‘Cindy’ Exercise
When time is of the essence, effectivity and type come first. Right here, Dr. Bo explains the finer particulars of the pull-up, push-up, and air squat so you possibly can take intention at Spiderman.
Pull-Ups
Approach can also be typically missed in terms of pull-ups—easy cues equivalent to wrapping your thumb across the bar, getting your knuckles up towards the ceiling to ‘rev the bar up,’ and creating exterior rotation torque to attach the palms right through the arms into the lats might help.
Push-Ups
For Cindy, hand placement will decide how shortly you fatigues. To reduce fatigue, differ your grip and hand placement repeatedly. Tempo is significant for a similar cause; we wish to keep a quick concentric tempo, in any other case it’s a signal that fatigue is taking up. When you start to struggle by means of fatigue and sacrifice type, we begin to edge nearer to the danger of harm.
Shave Seconds Off Your Air Squats
On the subject of replicating Tom Holland’s CrossFit ‘Cindy’ Exercise as a lot as doable, essentially the most simple answer is to regulate your foot placement. It is advisable to discover a method to enhance quantity and handle fatigue by sustaining your very best squat place. Nevertheless, within the quick time period, if you happen to’re making an attempt to enhance your rating, use a bounce or rebound by participating your hamstrings and hitting your calves. This system ought to be practiced and skilled for security, nevertheless it’s additionally a good way to shave seconds and enhance your general athletic capability.