It’s virtually 10 years since Claudio Castagnoli (then identified in WWE as Cesaro) started sharing his health suggestions with readers of Muscle & Health. Since then, we’ve all seen him develop from a scorching prospect to a WrestleMania main-eventer and little question, one among professional wrestling’s strongest and most fun athletes. Now signed with AEW, Castagnoli remains to be proving to be minimize above the remaining as a passionate athlete that’s all enterprise between the ropes. With a view to study extra about how the “Swiss Superman” is coaching in the direction of 2024, I bought within the gymnasium with the person himself, and got here away with a ton of respect for his work ethic and ingenuity; each within the ring and within the weight room.
“I don’t prepare for only one second,” explains Castagnoli. Certainly, as a professional wrestler, he doesn’t have an low season, and is positioned in entrance of tv digicam’s all 12 months spherical. His continuously ripped physique takes critical dedication, however the elite famous person feels that his dedication would possibly encourage others too. “If somebody see’s me on tv and I’m out of practice, and so they say ‘have a look at Claudio, he has let himself go,’ then that may allow them to down, and so they would possibly lose their motivation too,” he explains. “Numerous athletes don’t need the accountability of getting followers that look as much as them, however I take it significantly.”
One of many ways in which Claudio Castagnoli takes his craft significantly is thru his gymnasium routines. Having travelled to London, England, to advertise AEW’s “All In” 2024, at Wembley Stadium, the “King of Swing” headed straight into a protracted day of media duties, telling reporters of his pleasure to return to Wember after “All In” 2023 had damaged information and offered upwards of 80,000 tickets. Then, as an alternative of calling it a day and unwinding in his resort, Castagnoli jumped on the probability to get within the gymnasium and get his sweat on with M&F. It’s par for the course when you find yourself a travelling athlete. You get your exercises in wherever you possibly can.
Claudio Castagnoli shares that he will get his exercise routines from Deadboys Health, a purposeful health program created by Colby “Seth Rollins” Lopez and Josh Gallegos. When he’s on the highway, Castagnoli can fire-up his app and get going with the exercise of the day. Regardless of how loopy his schedule is, Castagnoli trains round 4 days every week. “It’s decrease physique, decrease physique, higher physique, higher physique,” says the grappler whereas lacing up his Reebok Nano X2’s, explaining that he prefers to do his 4 days of understanding all-together, adopted by three days for restoration the place doable. This session occurred to be decrease physique, so right here is the exercise, adopted by a breakdown of this epic routine.
Caludio Castagnoli Retains Issues Shifting within the Gymnasium
One other method to the gymnasium that retains his classes environment friendly is Castagnoli’s willingness to swap and alter his workout routines if a machine or rack is unavailable. “Simply preserve it transferring,” says the grasp of the Skyward-Uppercut. “Don’t waste time ready for a machine when you could possibly be doing one thing else.” As an ideal instance, we discovered that the squat racks had been too busy on this event, so the previous two-time Ring of Honor world champion discovered Bulgarian lifting bag as an alternative, and we swapped squats for Bulgarian bag weighed ‘good mornings’. When it comes to making swaps, Castagnoli believes that that is the important thing to moving into higher form with diet too. “Even for those who simply swap sugar for a sugar substitute, these small adjustments add up,” he says.
Concluding our decrease physique exercise with the step machine, I really feel impressed and energized to observe the teachings of my much-valued mentor for the day. And it’s not simply me that appreciates the abilities of Caludio Castagnoli. Throughout this session, followers would cease by to speak to their hero and he would make the time to indicate his gratitude. Castagnoli tells me that he has lots of time for his followers, and so long as he’s between units he enjoys conversing with them. However be warned, for those who ever attempt to interrupt the principle man whereas he’s cranking out a rep, you could end up on the flawed finish of Caludio’s Gian Swing! AEW have already offered greater than 30,000 tickets for AEW “All In” 2024 at Wembley Stadium.
Claudio Castagnoli ‘s Exercise Breakdown
Claudio Castagnoli is significantly sturdy and a fan of lifting heavy. In WWE, he labored out with the likes of John Cena and held his personal when he was seen to deadlift 500 kilos (227 kilograms) and squat 495 kilos (224.5 kilograms). Now hanging with the gifted athletes of All Elite Wrestling, Castagnoli is making new followers on reveals like AEW Dynamite (Dwell on Wednesday’s), Rampage (Fridays) and Collision (Saturdays) and whereas he nonetheless loves lifting heavy, he’s additionally taking care to keep up his longevity via sacrificing weight for quantity the place mandatory, so as to be match and purposeful. Throughout the exercise, we did barbell squats with no added weight. Whereas executing the reps, Castagnoli had us placing in slightly bunny hop with each toes as soon as we bought to the underside of every squat. This takes a conventional compound energy train and provides a plyometric ingredient to extend our explosive energy output.
As we undertook the elevated single leg dumbbell squats, Castagnoli opted for us to put our entrance foot on a mat relatively than a weight plate. The transferring texture of the mat made it more difficult than the relative steadiness of a plate, activating the ankle and stabilizing muscular tissues even additional. Throughout the leg press, Castagnoli lived up his “Cyborg” nickname when he maxed-out the weights and accomplished reps of 385 kilos (174.6 kilograms). As I swapped locations with the enduring professional wrestler, I couldn’t shift the press an inch at that weight. Nonetheless, Castagnoli proved that he’s not only a nice wrestler, however an superior exercise accomplice as well. “We’re all totally different,” he says. “You would possibly do one thing I can’t do, and I’d do one thing that you would be able to’t do, so there’s no level evaluating your self to anybody else,” he continues correctly. “That’s why, when individuals ask me about what numbers I carry, it doesn’t actually curiosity me, we’re not competing with one another,” he says. For me, it’s lucky that I’m not competing with this super-strong 6’ 5” Swiss man. I’m simply comfortable and impressed to be in his orbit!
Claudio Castagnoli’s Elite Decrease Physique Exercise
| Warmup | Units/Reps |
|---|---|
| Rowing Machine | 4 Minutes at a Average Tempo |
| Barbell Squats with Bunny Hops | 8 X (no added weight) |
| Exercise | Units/Reps |
|---|---|
| Elevated Single Leg Dumbbell Squats: | 4 Units x 8 Reps |
| Leg Press: | 4 Units x 5, 5, 3, 3 Reps |
| Energy Seated Leg Curl: | 3 Units x 8 Reps |
| Good Mornings (with Bulgarian Lifting Bag) | 3 Units x 12 Reps |
| Medication Ball V-Twist’s: | 3 Units x 10 Reps either side |
| Finisher | Units/Reps |
|---|---|
| Step Machine: | 10 Minutes |
Observe Claudio Castagnoli on Instagram
