Last updated on October 2nd, 2021 at 09:45 pm
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is coming.
And we’re already preparing for it.
Disney+ is finally here and with it so is our anticipation in all things Star Wars, Marvel, and all things awesome.
With that, Kevin Feige also announced that Marvel shows will intertwine with the movies; so I’m curious to see how Shang-Chi falls in there (if at all).
We’ve already made our way through characters like Falcon, Winter Soldier, She-Hulk, Moon Knight, Peggy Carter, Ms. Marvel, Kate Bishop, Scarlet Witch and Vision.
And now we’re ready for Shang-Chi.
Shang-Chi Stats:
Height: 5’10
Weight: 175 lbs.
Real Name: Shang-Chi
Powers: Yes
Shang-Chi isn’t super tall, but he’s also not nearly the shortest male character we’ve seen.
Although he would be considered below average among male celebs.
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.
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Shang-Chi 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!
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Shang-Chi 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 Shang-Chi’s, powers and/or abilities.
For that we’re going to be jumping over to his Marvel Wiki Fandom. This is what they have to tell us about his powers and abilities (starting with his “powers”):
Origin Bomb Reproduction: By successfully communing with the Origin Bomb site in Kobe, Japan, Shang-Chi turned the site to his advantage and replicated himself. Dozens of Shang-Chi copies spawned from the Origin Bomb site in Kobe, each with his mind and skills. It is unclear if a finite number of Shang-Chi duplicates have been produced, or if Shang-Chi can continue producing new copies on command.
And we’re told about his abilities as such:
Master Martial Artist: Shang Chi is one of the greatest martial artists on Earth, having been trained possibly since birth to become the ultimate warrior. Shang Chi is skilled in various martial arts with a particular specialization in the Chinese martial arts. He has been shown defeating multiple highly skilled opponents simultaneously as well as superhumans. His great strength and chi (qi) allows him to strike with inhuman force enabling him to break through barriers such as brick, concrete and iron, withstand physical impacts almost to a superhuman degree, and ease all forms of pain and discomfort. Shang has stalemated Iron Fist in single combat, with the two martial artists portrayed as equals while Black Panther stated Shang-Chi is better than Rand.
Skilled Gymnast: He has been shown to be very well versed in gymnastics.
Peak Physical Conditioning: Shang has intensively trained his body to possess the highest level of strength, speed, stamina and endurance that a human can have without artificial enhancements. His notable include the speed and stamina to endure even the most rigorous physical training exercises, reacting fast enough to dodge gunfire and even catch weapons hurled by enemies at him and throw them right back at them.
They also list about seven other bullet points which talk about his marksmanship, weapons proficiency, espionage skills and more; but for the sake of the length-of-reading I figured I’d keep it to things we can utilize to build his routine.
On top of being a skilled gymnast and at the peak physical conditioning, they also give us some information on his overall strength level (which is definitely helpful):
Shang-Chi possesses the strength level of a man his age, size and weight who engages in intensive regular exercise, Shang can lift at least twice his bodyweight, or 350 lbs. Through his use of chi however, Shang can temporarily increase his physical strength to an unknown amount.
So he is able to use chi and he is an incredible athlete at the peak condition and skills of certain aspects (such as mixed martial arts and being a gymnast), but his strength does not exceed that point as if he has super-strength.
This means you’ll need to be prepared to not only take to mixed martial arts (I’ll give you some resources to do this, but getting into a local dojo and having a partner/trainer is always better), but also add in calisthenics and parkour.
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Shang-Chi Workout Routine
Training Volume:
6 days per week
Explanation:
Shang-Chi is a master martial artist. That’s his REAL power. For that reason, if you want to come anywhere near embodying him, you’ll need to hit the dojo and find a master trainer to mold you. If you are just here for the aesthetic, and prefer it to come from the style of training we’ll utilize here (calisthenics, parkour, cardio, high intensity), then stay put and get ready. You’ll be training 6 days a week, and if you can’t hit MMA (or utilize some of the options I’ll share), I’ll also be giving you some alternative calisthenics and cardio sessions to incorporate.
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Shang-Chi Workout: Sample Workout Schedule
Monday: Calisthenics, Parkour and Cardio
Tuesday: Mixed Martial Arts OR Calisthenics and Cardio
Wednesday: Calisthenics, Parkour and Cardio
Thursday: Mixed Martial Arts OR Calisthenics and Cardio
Friday: Calisthenics, Parkour and Cardio
Saturday: Mixed Martial Arts OR Calisthenics and Cardio
Sunday: Rest Day
Shang-Chi Workout: Calisthenics, Parkour, and Cardio
Calisthenics Warm Up:
5 Minute Light Jog
100 Jumping Jacks
50 Butt Kicks
50 High Knees
100 Jump Ropes
3 Rounds of 30 Second Shadowboxing
Calisthenics Workout:
**For the main Calisthenics portion of this workout that will be paired with Parkour, you’re to complete all the designated reps in however many sets you need. This can be completed in one sitting (one workout) or throughout the course of an entire day.**
200 Air Squats
200 Push Ups
150 Lunges (75 Each Leg)
150 Sit Ups
100 Dips
100 Pull Ups
Parkour:
For Parkour training you’re going to be utilizing our Nightrunner routine that I collaborated with Academy member Felix to create.
Parkour 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..
Shang-Chi Cardio:
To embody Shang-Chi we’re also going to be adding in some extra cardio.
Since we’re training 3 days per week (utilizing this format) we’re going to swap back and forth from high intensity sprints and longer distance running (1-3 miles).
Here’s what your format might look like:
Week One:
Calisthenics, Parkour and Cardio Day One: High Intensity Sprints
Calisthenics, Parkour and Cardio Day Two: Long Distance Run
Calisthenics, Parkour and Cardio Day Three: High Intensity Sprints
Week Two:
Calisthenics, Parkour and Cardio Day One: Long Distance Run
Calisthenics, Parkour and Cardio Day Two: High Intensity Sprints
Calisthenics, Parkour and Cardio Day Three: Long Distance Run
High Intensity Sprints formatting:
Variation One:
Sprint 30 Seconds
Walk 90 Seconds
Variation Two:
Sprint 60 seconds
Walk 60 Seconds
Shang-Chi Workout: Mixed Martial Arts OR Calisthenics and Cardio
Some of your other training will hopefully come from mixed martial arts.
As I’ve mentioned earlier: the BEST way to train MMA is to hit the gym and have a trainer/partner to practice with/under.
If that’s not an option, we also have some Mixed Martial Arts based training methods (utilize the days specific to the MMA training in each workout listed):
BUT, if you can’t make it to a local gym, AND you won’t be utilizing any of these mixed martial arts styled programs, you can always add in some more calisthenics training.
We’re going to switch it up, though.
Shang-Chi Workout: 3 Round Calisthenic-Cardio-Circuit
10 Plank to Push Ups
30m Walking Lunges
15 Sit Ups
15 Push Ups (Claps if you can)
30m Spider Crawl
15 Pike Push Ups (Chin Ups if you can)
15 Jump Squats
100 Jump Ropes
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