The Punisher is a badass marine captain turned murderous vigilante who's devoted his life to protecting the innocent by dealing with criminals in a let's say more permanent way than more conventional heroes. This lifestyle has caused him to go head to head with many superpowered villains who have decided he's too dangerous to let live and also many superpowered heroes who disagree with his violent way of dispatching evil doers. But the thing is, The Punisher aka Frank Castle doesn't have any superpowers himself. Instead, he relies on his mastery of the martial arts, his elite level weapon skills, and his well-tuned strategic mind, all of which he developed during his training with the Marines and the Navy SEALs, to be able to stand toe-to-toe with all these super-powered individuals. So how would the Punisher have to train in the gym and eat to be able to have the physical strength, conditioning, and skill to be able to keep the streets clear of crime?
Well, in this video, I'll be answering that question by analyzing the physical demands of being the Punisher, Taking a look at how the Marines and the Navy SEALs train to be able to perform at such a high level, and by taking a look at how he'd have to structure his nutrition to be able to fuel all that crime fighting. Then I'll be providing you with your very own training plan, so you can train like the Punisher and become a badass in your own right. We'll be breaking down his gym training into four categories.
Hand-to-hand combat, weapon handling, general strength, and conditioning. The Punisher is constantly engaging in hand-to-hand combat with super-powered and non-super-powered opponents alike, so a large portion of his training routine will have to be dedicated to maintaining his fitness. and developing his fighting capabilities. But what type of fight training has the Punisher actually undergone in the first place?
Before becoming the Punisher, Frank Castle was a captain in the Marines. All Marines are trained through the Marine Corps martial arts program, also known as MCMAP. The MCMAP is an eclectic mix of different styles of martial arts melded together.
It consists of punches and kicks from Taekwondo and Karate, opponent weight transfer techniques from Jiu Jitsu, ground grappling involving joint locking techniques, and chokes from Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. and elbow strikes and kickboxing from Muay Thai. So not only has the Punisher gone through MiCMAP, but he's also spent time training with the US Army, Navy and the Navy SEALs in addition to serving time with the US Special Forces in Vietnam. After all this training, Frank Castle has become an incredibly skilled mixed martial artist who is capable of incapacitating opponents much larger and stronger than himself.
So to figure out how the Punisher would train in the gym to maintain this high level of fighting performance, we need to look at how pro MMA fighters train outside of the octagon. If you're liking the breakdown on how the Punisher would train in real life, and you want me to do one on Daredevil next, make sure to like, subscribe, and comment Daredevil down below. Because MMA is such an explosive full-body sport, MMA fighters focus most of their strength training around movements that will allow them to develop strength, power, and coordination across their entire body. So things like kettlebell swings, snatches, Turkish get-ups, landmine work, med-ball throws, and weighted carries are all mainstays in most MMA strength training programs. In addition, MMA fighters'strength programs will include more conventional compound and isolation movements, but we'll talk more about that in the general strength and conditioning section later on.
Now of course, unlike someone like Batman, the Punisher has no problems using lethal force, so he can always be seen using all kinds of different firearms. Frank Castle is highly proficient at using everything from a handgun to a minigun. To make sure the Punisher has the strength and endurance necessary to keep his gun steady and his aim on point throughout a prolonged shootout, he would need to include movements into his training, that will increase the work capacity of his grip strength, shoulders, and core.
After all, you won't be able to properly manage the recoil of your gun if your grip is fatiguing. You won't be able to aim properly if your shoulders give out, and good luck aiming while moving without proper core control. Now luckily, a lot of the MMA strength and the general strength movements, which we'll talk about in a second, will be working double time to create strong forearms, shoulders, and core muscles.
But between all the punching, aiming, and shooting the Punisher does over the course of a long, drawn-out battle, his upper body, especially his shoulders, take a real beating. So he would need to have some dedicated shoulder endurance work in addition to the work he gets from his full body movements. So that covers the strength training as it relates directly to the Punisher's combat abilities. But he would need to include some general strength work through the use of conventional compound strike movements to give him the brute strength and power to stand toe-to-toe with all those super-powered individuals.
So back squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, and bench press will all be on the menu. Since the Punisher will be doing these movements for primarily the purpose of building brute strength, he would be performing them in the 3-6 rep range, with loads that push him close to failure. He would avoid doing 1-3 rep maxes, as the fatigue would just not be worth the stimulus that he would get from these.
Because while these movements are amazing for building strength and power, those benefits come at the cost of a lot of fatigue. As those of you who've done a heavy leg day before might know, you definitely aren't physically at your best after that kind of training, and it would be the best idea to go straight out and fight some crime if you can't even walk down the stairs properly. So the Punisher would have to use these movements strategically and sparingly, making sure that he has time to recover after a highly stressful training session. Now we all know the Punisher looks like a badass.
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But if Frank Castle doesn't have the cardiovascular capacity to back it up, that power is all going to go to waste. So what would the Punisher do for cardio? Because simply hitting the treadmill is clearly not going to cut it. to figure out what type of conditioning is best suited for the needs of our favorite punisher, we'll look to the Navy SEALs for guidance. In the Naval Special Warfare Physical Training Guide, this is a guide geared towards those who want to up their fitness level so they can take and pass the Navy SEALs physical screening exam.
It recommends the use of one long-distance slow cardio workout, one continuous high-intensity cardio workout, and one interval-style cardio workout each week. This makes a lot of sense, seeing as Navy SEALs need to be ready for anything. One second, they might be sprinting around in a firefight or engaging in hand-to-hand combat. And the next, they could be performing a long-distance, fast-paced track across rugged terrain. And the same is true for the Punisher.
These three types of cardio were strategically chosen because each one of them works a different energy system in the body. Energy systems refer to the specific mechanisms in which energy is produced and used by your body. The human body generates energy via three energy systems.
The phosphagen system, glycolytic system, and the oxidative system. The energy for all human movement is created by the breakdown of a molecule called ATP, short for adenosine triphosphate. Each of these three energy systems uses ATP in a different way to create movement. The reason we need multiple different systems to create and use energy is because of the wide range of demands put on the human body.
Sometimes we need to sprint, so we need an incredibly large amount of energy to be available quickly. And that's where the phosphagen system comes in, to create energy using the small amount of ATP we store in our muscles. Sometimes we need to expand a moderate to high amount of energy over a slightly more prolonged period.
And that's where the anaerobic glycotic system comes in, to create ATP using carbohydrates. And then sometimes we need to run at a slow pace for hours and hours on end. And of course, that's why we have the oxidative system, to create ATP out of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates in the presence of oxygen. So you can see why the Navy SEALs training program chose these three different forms of cardio, one for each of the three major energy systems.
We won't get too into the weeds of how energy systems work, but what's important for you to understand is that you need to train each of these three energy systems if you want to be a well-rounded soldier, athlete, or gym goer. For Frank Castle, the long distance slow cardio will take care of itself because of his active lifestyle. So we'd focus on what do you want to do for the continuous high intensity cardio and for the interval cardio.
For the continuous high intensity cardio, I love a mix of heavy weighted carries and heavy sled pushing. As this will recreate the stress of carrying heavy equipment and will build a large amount of cardiovascular endurance, which will help Frank last in a drawn out hand to hand fight or a prolonged shootout. For the interval training, Frank could simply do a series of sprints, either on foot or using something like a rower or an assault bike for a lower stress option. Now before I put everything together into the full workout program that the Punisher would follow in real life.
And I give you your own version that you can follow. We need to talk about how the Punisher would eat to fuel all this criminal murdering. When you're eating for athletic performance, carbohydrates are your best friend. After you hit 1 gram of protein per pound of body mass, and around 0.3 to 0.4 grams per pound of body mass of fat, the performance benefits of those macronutrients fall off. But the higher and higher your daily carb intake gets, the better and better you're going to be performing.
So once you hit those daily amounts of protein and fats, Simply round out your calories with carbs and you'll be crushing it. Now it's time to put the program together. Because the Punisher has already gone through an insane amount of training during his time with the Marines and Navy SEALs, his program will be simply focused around helping him maintain his strength, endurance, and cardiovascular capacity.
Plus, any program that he's doing can't be so strenuous or intense that it negatively impacts his performance while in the field. So here's the program I designed to fit the physical needs of the Punisher. He would have six sessions a week split into four days. Two sessions for explosive strength and MMA fighting. one session for max strength training, one session for general strength and endurance, one session for long duration high intensity cardio, and one session for high intensity interval training cardio.
The cardio sessions and the explosive strength slash MMA sessions would be done on the same day, with the explosive strength MMA sessions in the morning and the cardio sessions done at night. I believe this program strikes the perfect balance between providing enough of a stimulus to the Punisher's body to maintain performance without putting so much fatigue on his system that it negatively impacts his vigilante work. If you're wondering what each day would look like, well you're in luck because I've created a compressed version of this program that you can follow yourself.
It combines the cardio days with the explosive strength workouts to make the program a little bit more streamlined and easier for you to follow. Day one is a heavier strength day. Day two is explosive strength and interval training. Day three general strength and day four explosive strength and the longer duration high intensity cardio.
This program is intended for people who already have a little bit of experience in the gym, so keep that in mind. So that's how the Punisher would train in real life. Now go check out my video on how Batman would train in real life, and I'll see you there.