MAY-JUNE 2026: Cimmerian
I think we've reached the point of sheer madness. This year's new workout is based around Conan the Barbarian, a sword & sorcery pulp fiction character created by Robert E Howard, later played by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jason Momoa. In the stories, Conan is born on the battlefield in Cimmeria, a wild and harsh forested country surrounded by hardships that made his people strong warriors. After some time, he garners a strong sense of wanderlust that leads him to roaming the Hyborian continent and surviving on his instincts, his immense strength and indomitable spirit, and his skills with a sword. In adventures he became a reaver, a thief, a mercenary, a soldier, a pirate, a gladiator, and in time became a king by his own hand. Cut it however you want, he's a badass.
So in putting this together I try to blend training aspects of hypertrophy, strength and power, and metabolic overload with a dash of fight training. I reread some of his stories, studied both Arnold's and Momoa's training styles, even studied the training undergone by the cast of 300 and Spartacus, as well as the USMC. The result is a brutal 5 day routine centered around mostly compound lifts and utilizing progressive overload, eccentric overload, metabolic overload, super sets, AMRAPs, Effective Rep training, and circuits. If you'll notice, the full body day utilizes a variation of Darebee's own Conan routine, the same one I made into a running gag in the early days of the Hive and made everyone annoyed! If all goes well, I won't die from this, and if the powers that are
@Damer and the team are kind, we'll walkaway with a Cimmerian Conan sword routine! (I'll even video myself performing it if you so wish). So let's crush our enemies, see them driven before us, and hear the lamentations of our sore muscles!
MONDAY CHEST & TRICEPS
- Dumbbell Bench Press (3 x 5)
- Incline Dumbbell Press 12 reps into 20 ERs
- SUPER SET: Dumbbell Floor Fly + Ground-n-Pound Crossovers (2 x 10 per side)
- Skull Crusher (2 x 5)
- Overhead Cable Extension 12 reps into 20 ERs
- SUPER SET JM Press + Bench Dips (2 x 10 and to failure)
- Weighted Dips AMRAP
TUESDAY LEGS
- Front Squat (3 x 5)
- Glute Bridge (2 x 5)
- Dumbbell Lunges 8 reps per side into 15 ERs
- Romanian Deadlift 12 reps into 20 ERs
- SUPER SET Goblet Squat + Dumbbell Side Lunges (2 x 10)
- SUPER SET Cossack Squat + Bridge Curl (2 x 10 per side and to failure)
- Hercules Chains AMRAP
- Pull-Through AMRAP
- Single Calf Raises AMRAP
WEDNESDAY BACK & BICEPS
- T-Bar Row (3 x 5)
- Parallel Pull-Down 12 reps into 20 ERs
- SUPER SET Kneeling One Arm Pull-down + Inverted Rows (2 x 10 and to failure)
- Dumbbell Curl (2 x 5 per side)
- Incline Curl 12 reps into 20 ERs
- SUPER SET Arnold Concentration Curls + Hammer Curl (2 x 10 per side)
- Weighted Pull-ups AMRAP
- Cimmerian Circuit (2 x 10 per side)
- Ab Wheel
- Levitation Crunches
- High-to-low Cable Chops
- Dragon Flag (2 x to failure)
- Hyper Extension (1 x to failure)
THURSDAY SHOULDERS
- Military Press (3 x 5)
- Hang Clean (2 x 5)
- Arnold Press 12 reps into 20 ERs
- Dumbbell High Pull 12 reps into 20 ERs
- SUPER SET Cable Lateral Raises + Reverse Cable Fly (2 x 10 per side)
- SUPER SET Dumbbell W Raises + Dumbbell Shrugs (2 x 10)
- Dumbbell Front Raises AMRAP
- Dumbbell Lateral Raises AMRAP
- Face-pull AMRAP
FRIDAY FULL BODY
- Trap Bar Deadlift (3 x 5)
- Landmine Press 12 reps into 20 ERs
- SUPER SET Sledgehammer Swings + Kettlebell Swing (2 x 10 per side)
- Conan Circuit (3 sets)
- 20+ Bulgarian Split Squats per side
- Push-ups to failure
- Chin-ups to failure
- 40+ Banded Punches
- 10+ Sprinter Lunges per side
- 15 Angels and Demons
- Weighted Carry AMRAP
- Banded Adduction Ladder AMRAP
- 10 minutes Sled Push
MONDAY: Sword training (
@Damer no pressure hehe)
TUESDAY: Meditation
WEDNESDAY: Core circuit
THURSDAY: Power Yoga or Static strength
FRIDAY: Weapons training of choice
WEEKENDS: Hiking, trail running or yard work
(
@neilarey if this picture is too violent for Darebee standards, I'll change it)
Pronouns: He/him
from
