Last updated on November 12th, 2022 at 12:06 pm

How awesome was that first episode of Watchmen on HBO?

You don’t have to answer that, I know it was amazing.

Not too long ago we saw Silk Spectre’s routine, and then last week we stepped it up a notch and saw both The Comedian AND Doctor Manhattan’s workout.

But now it’s time for Rorschach and Nite Owl!

If you saw the first episode you probably know why this is exciting.

Rorschach Stats:

Height: 5’6

Weight: 140 lbs.

Real Name: Walter Joseph Kovacs

Powers: No

I want to say “Rorschach is short”.

But I’m around that height so I don’t know if it’s appropriate to also call myself short.

Vegeta were tied Wolverine for the shortest spot among comic characters we’ve seen at 5’3, prior to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles coming in at 5’2, (and Gimli even shorter) – but Damian Wayne (Robin) is only 5’4.  Goku isn’t that tall either, though, standing only 5’7, with Miles Morales only an inch above him.

One Punch Man falls in at 5’9 right there with Ryu, Nightwing at 5’10, and then Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Green Arrow coming in around 5’11 and Beast joining them.

We’ve had Superman and Eddie Brock’s Venom at 6’3, and Captain America, Scorpion and Batman at 6’2, and Carnage at 6’1. Thor and Cyborg are towering over them at 6’6, Thanos and King right there with them at 6’7, Bane at 6’8, and Deathstroke right below at 6’5, and Black Manta at 6’4.

Ronan and Sagat are 7’5, and Doomsday came in at 8’10, and I doubt any characters are touching that anytime soon.

But, don’t worry if you’re not the same height or weight range.

We write these routines to be utilized by anyone and everyone.

Want The Unofficial DC Comics Workout Booklet?
Grab The Unofficial DC Comics Workout Booklet and Unleash Your Inner Superhero!

Rorschach Diet and Nutrition

**Keep in mind: this section will be nearly identical for each hero, unless I mentioned differently (for example someone like Hellboy may get something specifically different)**

Every hero needs to still have a good diet.

Unfortunately we can train like them, but I don’t think any of us are suddenly getting their powers, or the ability to magically stop caring about nutrition.

You can’t out train your diet, so I want to still give some pillars for nutrition.

You can start by checking out The Nutrition Pillars on the site, but I’ll break down some more information for you guys as well.

Guys like Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart incorporate 80/20 dieting with big weekly cheat meals, Hugh Jackman, Tom Hopper, Benedict Cumberbatch and Terry Crews utilize intermittent fasting (something I use daily as well), Ariana Grande, Mustafa Shakir and Madelaine Petsch are vegans, Brandon Routh and Frank Grillo opt for paleo, and tons of others utilize their own variations as well.

It’s all about sustainability.

AND, there are a thousand different ways to reach your goals, so finding the most sustainable way is what’s important.

Which is why our Academy utilizes multiple different Nutrition Classes (Greek Gods, Vikings, Spartans, Hunter Gatherers, Monks, Samurais, Minimalists, SuperHumans) to allow people to choose what is right for YOU!

Curious where over a hundred celebs fall in their dietary choices ranging from High Protein and Keto to Vegetarian, Vegan and Intermittent Fasting? Want exclusive celeb meal plans? Check this out.

Need Help Choosing The Best DC Comics Inspired Workout?
Take The DC Comics Workout Placement Quiz Now!

Rorschach Workout Routine Research

We’ve made it to “the fun part”.

And, if you don’t know by now, I say that every single time we get to the workout routine research section for character workouts.

This is where I get to break down the “how” and “why” of the workout we’re going to build based on the characters, in this case Rorschach, powers and/or abilities.

First we’re going to start off with a bit of a background on Rorschach, which I’m pulling straight from his Wiki Fandom page:

Rorschach (pronounced Roar-shack) is the vigilante name of Walter Joseph Kovacs; he was born March 21, 1940. His mother, a prostitute who resented his interference in her business, abused him viciously. His father never knew his son, and nothing is known about him other than he liked President Truman and his name was “Charlie”. At age 10, Walter attacked two bullies that had cruelly abused him, partially blinding one with the bully’s own lit cigarette. Kovacs became a ward of the state and was sent to the Lillian Charlton Home for Problem Children. In high school, he excelled in religious education and literature, as well as in boxing and gymnastics. He also wrote an essay in which he praised President Truman’s decision to use nuclear weapons against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, asserting that the bombs helped save lives by stopping the war.

And we’ll fast forward a bit to a bit of his vigilante background:

Eventually, in 1965 he teamed up with another superhero, the second Nite Owl, whose technical skills and resources complemented Kovacs’ skills as an investigator.

In 1975, Rorschach was searching for a kidnapped child and found her captor’s vacant hideout. A cursory inspection revealed, to his horror, that the girl had been murdered, butchered, and fed to two German Shepherd dogs. In the face of this atrocity, Kovacs’ mind snapped and assumed the mental identity of Rorschach as a separate personality. He killed the dogs with a meat cleaver and waited for the kidnapper. Kovacs later mentioned, “shock of impact ran along my arm. It was Kovacs who said :mother’ then, muffled under Latex. It was Kovacs who closed his eyes. It was Rorschach who opened them again.” When the man returned, Rorschach wordlessly chained the man to a pipe, ignoring his claims of innocence (the man telling Rorschach: “Y-you can’t prove anything. I mean, wh-where’s the evidence”, suggesting that he fed the girl to the dogs to get rid of the “evidence”), then placed a hacksaw near him and set the house on fire. Finally speaking, he told the terrified man that he would not have time to cut through his restraints before the fire killed him (implying that he would have to sever his own arm to escape). Kovacs calmly watched the structure burn from across the street; the suspected kidnapper did not emerge. In an interview ten years later with psychologist Malcolm Long, Kovacs explicitly mentioned the incident as the point after which he became “Rorschach, who sometimes pretends to be Kovacs”; before that, he claims, he was only “Kovacs pretending to be Rorschach.” He no longer refers to his “mask”; now he only calls the mask his “face”.

After the 1977 Keene Act outlawed costumed vigilantes, demanding his retirement, Rorschach grew even more violent. Murdering notorious multiple rapist Harvey Charles Furniss and leaving his corpse in front of a police station with a note pinned to his chest read, “Never!” True to his word, Rorschach remained an active “adventurer” in open defiance of the law.

And although he doesn’t specifically have “powers”, but he does have a ton of “abilities”, which they list as such:

• Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced): Rorschach was a brilliant street fighter, and has since honed this skill during his years of crime-fighting and his stint in prison.
• Acrobatics: Training himself to become a gifted athlete, Rorschach has been able to jump from roof top to roof top, scale tall buildings and land on his feet without ever making a sound.
• Genius Level Intellect: Rorschach has been described by Nite Owl as “tactically brilliant”. He has excelled in religious education, political science and literature in his schooling days. He is also able to string weapons out of anything, like a cooking fat spray can and a match.
• Intimidation: Rorschach’s mental instability is well known; even without his costume or any of his friends about, he is an intimidating man and has made many people flee in his presence.
• Indomitable Will: After the events which made him take on the personality of Rorschach, in every aspect of his life, he developed a desire to make sure that all crime is punished. Even after masked adventurers became detested and banned, he continued his vigilante activities. He has also defied odds against a large number of armed police officers that surrounded him at Moloch’s home. Veidt described Rorschach as having the “tenacity of a true sociopath.”

So the main things we can work with here are his hand-to-hand combat and the acrobatics.

With even more focus on the acrobatics to build the workout portion, while I will add in some resources for your mixed martial arts training as well.

It also seems like this one might have some Parkour involved judging by the “has been able to jump from roof top to roof top, scale tall buildings and land on his feet without ever making a sound”, portion of his abilities.

What do you think?

You ready?

Ready to Transform?!
Check out all The SHJ Programs and start unleashing your inner SuperHuman.

Rorschach Workout Routine

Training Volume:

5+ days per week

Explanation:

We’re going to focus in on 5 days of bodyweight and parkour styled calisthenics training and then you have the option to do an extra day of the parkour training and some extra cardio if you’d like to work on the endurance you’ll need to really embody Rorschach.

Want To Upgrade This Workout?

The Superhero Academy now comes with an Upgrade Your Workout Tool that allows Academy members to turn any SHJ workout into a 4-8 week fully planned regime detailing exact weights to lift and including reverse & traditional pyramid training, straight sets, super sets, progressive overload and more.

Rorschach Workout: Sample Workout Schedule

Monday: Cardio, Calisthenics and Circuit A

Tuesday: Bodyweight and Parkour

Wednesday: Cardio, Calisthenics and Circuit B

Thursday: Bodyweight and Parkour

Friday: Cardio, Calisthenics and Circuit C

Saturday: OFF Day OR Bodyweight and Parkour

Sunday: OFF Day OR 5K Run

Rorschach Workout: Cardio, Calisthenics and Circuit A

**You can do cardio before or after the rest of your workout.**

Cardio:

20-30 Minutes of High Intensity Interval Training

Intervals:

• 2 Minute Jog
• 2 Minute Walk

Calisthenics:

200 Push Ups

200 Air Squats

150 Dips

150 Sit Ups

100 Pull Ups

100 Leg Raises (Lying or Hanging)

Circuit A:

3 Rounds for Time:

20 Standard Push Ups

20 Wide Push Ups

20 Close Push Ups

1 Minute Break

Rorschach Workout: Cardio, Calisthenics and Circuit B

**You can do cardio before or after the rest of your workout.**

Cardio:

20-30 Minutes of High Intensity Interval Training

Intervals:

• 2 Minute Jog
• 2 Minute Walk

Calisthenics:

200 Push Ups

200 Air Squats

150 Dips

150 Sit Ups

100 Pull Ups

100 Leg Raises (Lying or Hanging)

Circuit B:

5 Rounds for Time

10 Jump Squats

20 Shoulder Taps (10 Each Side)

10 Inch Worms

20 Donkey Kicks

10 Glute Bridges

Rorschach Workout: Cardio, Calisthenics and Circuit C

**You can do cardio before or after the rest of your workout.**

Cardio:

20-30 Minutes of High Intensity Interval Training

Intervals:

• 2 Minute Jog
• 2 Minute Walk

Calisthenics:

200 Push Ups

200 Air Squats

150 Dips

150 Sit Ups

100 Pull Ups

100 Leg Raises (Lying or Hanging)

Circuit C:

1 Round for Time:

300 Jump Ropes

60 Lunges (30 Each Leg)

50 Mountain Climbers

40 Pull Ups

30 Plank to Push Ups

20 Burpees

Rorschach Workout: Bodyweight and Parkour (Used 2X)

**This one is being pulled right from our Nightrunner Workout made by Academy member Felix and I.**

Bodyweight/Calisthenics Workout

75 Pull Ups

75 Hanging Leg Raises

100 Dips

100 Lunges

100 Sit Ups

150 Push Ups

150 Air Squats

**These can be broken down into any number of sets/reps that are needed to complete the overall count.**

Felix’s Parkour Guide/Workout

Warm up:

Dynamic stretching

10 minutes of cardio (chose between Option A and B)

Option A: Jogging or running

Option B: Quadrupedal movement such as bear crawl, crab walk, spider-man walk, backward and forward (try to mix them a bit this will help for your mobility)

5-10 Parkour Rolls (both sides)

How you should roll: (example on right shoulder) get down on your left knee, put your left hand on the ground in front of your left knee, beside your right heel, then put your right hand on the left one. DO NOT CROSS YOUR FINGERS. Put your head down and roll on your shoulder, you should roll diagonally from your shoulder to the other side of your waist.

Note: Start by doing them on soft surfaces like grass, when you feel more confident while doing it try to practice them from walking, jogging and running. Then start to practice dive rolls.

5-10 back rolls

Vaults:

Flow out/safety vault: as you come towards the obstacle, place your outside arm on the obstacle, then put your outside leg on the obstacle, pass your inside leg under your outside leg, release your outside arm as you push with your outside foot to pass the obstacle.

Speed vault: very similar to the flow out vault except that your outside foot does not touch the obstacle, instead just kick in the air with it.

Lazy vault: this one is more useful to get over a rail. Come towards the obstacle from a diagonal or parallel direction, put your inside hand on the obstacle, swing your inside leg then your outside leg in the same motion, before placing your outside hand on the obstacle.

Note: the flow out vault as well as the lazy vault are two movements that you can practice without momentum.

Kong vault: press with both of your hands on the obstacle, at the same time, tuck your legs on your chest to pass over the obstacle, don’t forget to raise your hips.

Note: this one is the most known and most used vault in Parkour, however it is a very scary and tricky vault, so here’s a few steps you can do to break it down.

Step 1: practice it on the floor, crouch and dive into a kong vault, this will get used to the movement, you could also practice with your quadrupedal movements as a warm up.

Step 2: plant plyos/monkey plant; put both hands on an obstacle and use your legs to get on it

Step 3: following the plant plyo keep your hand on the obstacle and go down into a squat position.

Bar/Rail moves:

Under bar: as you come towards a bar or rail, jump feet first and place your hands on the bar, swing under the bar and extend your body while arching your back.

Tips: one exercise that you can do to practice it and test yourself is to find a park with bars, like a calisthenic park, put and elastic band between two poles parallel to the pull up bar, grab the bar and jump trying to pass your whole body between the elastic band and the bar, raise the elastic band as you get better.

Wall moves:

Wall run: run towards a wall, when you’re at the right distance (not to close, not to far) make a small jump at the same time plant the ball of your feet on the wall, a bit higher than hips level, push upward with your leg that is on the wall then try to reach with your arms the top of the wall.

Tik Tak: Similar to the wall run, run towards the wall then jump putting your other leg (feet facing upward) then push with the leg that is on the wall, then push away from the wall transferring your momentum wherever direction you need to go.

Arm jump: this one is like a long jump but you use it to grab the edge of a wall, or a bar as you jump.

Note: when performing this jump your legs should land slightly before you grab the bar. as you might hurt your knees on the wall. just don’t over do it so you don’t drop kick the wall.

Tips: this works for precision jump as well as arm jump, when you’re not sure if you can execute the jump as the jump might be high for example, go down and practice it from the same distance, if you can cover the distance, that means you can do it, if you can’t maybe you should wait. of course there’s always the height difference between the two objects that is important.

Balance: to practice your balance, you can practice it pretty much anytime anywhere, for example you can stand on one leg as you wait for the bus then to the other leg, you can also walk on the road lines (just not in the middle of the road please) there’s literally a lot of things you can do to practice your balance.

Now that you know a few movements for parkour try to find  places where you can try them (bench, picnic tables, etc). This really depends on your surroundings, as you get better you will also be able to see more things you can do: this is called The Parkour Vision. For example where others might see a wall, you might see a wall run, etc..

Looking to step it up a notch?
Join The Superhero Academy and start unleashing your inner SuperHuman.