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Herschel Walker’s workout has, to some extent, become more famous than him.
He is more than just another well-known NFL player. He’s a martial artist, a bobsledder, and a sprinter. Walker has made many great achievements in his life, even despite suffering from a dissociative identity disorder.
He’s even made a few appearances on reality television shows, including Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off and Celebrity Apprentice. Walker has played for many teams in the NFL, including the Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles, and the New York Giants. His philosophy is that if you train hard you’ll be hard to beat. He’s scored 84 touchdowns in his career.
Walker’s approach to training is notoriously unorthodox. There are two reasons for this.
First, he’s stuck to the exact same routine since he was in high school and hasn’t deviated.
Second, his routine is marked by extremely high reps of bodyweight moves. His approach is in direct conflict with the belief that extremely high reps are too taxing on the joints and ligaments as well as inefficient in building muscle mass. For Walker, this is the only way to go. So confident is he in his training that he even offered to train Donald Trump.
You may or may not find Herschel Walker’s workout to be for you, but one thing can be learned from studying his approach to fitness: he’s proof that results can be achieved even when going contrary to widespread thought. Walker is a man of great self-confidence.
Herschel Walker’s Workout
Unlike most of those who have buff bodies, Walker doesn’t think that lifting weights is where it’s at. In fact, he’s of the opinion that trying to build muscle with anything other than bodyweight does more harm than good.
It isn’t that he thinks weights are all bad, but, as he put it, “too much weight can be harmful” (2). That means you won’t catch Walker doing any powerlifting. He finds lifting his own bodyweight sufficient. It is the secret to his signature edge.
Herschel Walker’s workout has stayed the same for decades and it’s all because of a bit of advice he received when he was in the seventh grade. Becoming fed up with being the unathletic chubby kid with a speech impediment and the object of his peers’ jokes, Walker wanted a change. He sought the aid of the school’s track coach who gave him this advice: do push-ups, sit-ups, and squats. Walker has been doing these three exercises religiously since that day.
Not only does Walker do push-ups, sit-ups, and squats every day, he does a lot of them.
He does thousands of repetitions of each.
In fact, he hardly does other exercises besides these when he’s not going along with his team’s workouts or practicing one of his many other sports.
In his youth, Walker would do 5000 reps each of sit-ups and push-ups.
Now that he’s gotten older he’s trimmed back on the reps, but they’re still in the thousands.
He does 750 to 1500 pushups and a solid 3000 sit-ups each and every day (3). His daily routine also includes 1000 squats, 1000 lunges, and 1500 pull-ups.
For cardio, he runs 8 miles.
Though it’s a remarkable and demanding routine, it’s what has allowed Walker to stay in amazing shape even now that he’s well over 50 years of age.
What Herschel Walker Eats
One would think that Walker eats a lot of protein to keep up his muscle mass, especially considering how active he is and how tough his daily workouts are. Most with physiques like his consume a lot of eggs, fish, and even beef, but not Walker.
He gave up eating red meat more than 20 years ago. No, he’s a vegetarian.
Moreover, he notoriously only eats one meal a day, which is another thing he started 20 years ago.
His vegetarianism is not based on a philosophy against the consumption of animals. After all, he does confess to enjoying a bit of chicken on occasion. Instead, his practice of eating just one vegetarian meal a day is part of his strategy. He claims to have been inspired by the routines of family and friends who’ve enjoyed longevity.
Walker’s one daily meal features quite a modest menu. He eats bread with either soup or a salad. It’s a very carbohydrate-rich diet that offers little protein if any.
Carbohydrates supply the fuel he needs to churn out those impressive numbers of reps when working out and impressive performances when playing football, doing MMA, bobsledding, or even practicing his latest ballet routine.
Of course, when Walker does eat, he eats a lot. For him, the point of this eating habit was to save time. Though some make time for six or more meals a day, Walker didn’t want to do that. Still, those who’ve tried to eat like Herschel Walker have found that his diet is powerful at making the pounds drop off.
Why You Should Be More Like Herschel Walker
Walker wasn’t always the 6’1”, 230-pound force that he is today. There was a time when he was a chubby, unpopular youth who had no talent at sports.
One small piece of advice forever changed Walker’s future. He held on to those words given him by the coach and devoted his life to carrying them out day after day.
Though there’s no lack of opinions on the best way to build a ripped, buff body, Walker doesn’t listen to any of them.
He goes his own way and acts according to his belief. He does what works for him – and we can all see that it’s working for him indeed.
Those who would attempt Herschel Walker’s workout and diet program should keep in mind that Walker had to build up to doing thousands of reps a day.
He was out of shape when he first started and it took him years to get to his current level. Walker never reports exactly how long it took him to be able to do 1000 squats, 3000 sit-ups, and 1000 push-ups a day, but he started out by doing as many reps as he could whenever he had the opportunity.
Conclusion:
If you enjoyed learning about Herschel Walker’s workout then be sure to check out some of our other articles to get you on your journey: