Zarya Workout: Train like The Overwatch Russian Tank!

Last updated on September 18th, 2024 at 06:02 pm

We can’t be growing our Overwatch Inspired Workouts and not have Zarya.

There’s just no way.

I mean look at half her pictures in this article: they’re of her flexing those cannons.

So if you didn’t immediately know, I do want to make it perfectly clear for you: we’re going to be building this one revolving around weight training.

Which means if you’re a bodyweight member of our SHJ Army you’ll want to head back into the Calisthenics Workouts Database and find a different routine.

Zarya Stats:

Real Name: Zarya

Height: 6’5

Weight: 290 lbs.

Video Game: Overwatch

Powers: No

Zarya is humongous.

She comes in among what we’d consider a behemoth inside our Anime Workouts Database – which has some extremely large characters!

Supergirl and Erza Scarlet were our shortest at 5’5 before Wasp came in at 5’4 and Kale, Anna and Nina Williams matching her there. BUT, now we have Caulifla at 4’8 and Sailor Moon at 4’11!  Katana is just behind her at 5’2.

We had Wonder Woman come in standing 6’0 tall, Mockingbird and Hawkgirl at 5’9, Mystique, Miss Martian, and Sonya Blade at 5’10, and Storm 5’11.

But the average height for female celebrities on the site is generally more-so ranging from 5’4-5’6 – and our Black Widow is just above that at 5’7 with Spider-Gwen, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy at 5’8.

And, the tallest we’d seen before She-Hulk was Starfire at 6’4!

But don’t worry, either way.

Not only are these routines for all shapes and sizes – they also work for both men and women – regardless of the gender of the hero.

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Zarya Diet and Nutrition

**Keep in mind: this section will be nearly identical for each hero.**

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.

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Zarya 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.

I have known I was bringing in Zarya for the last couple of weeks, but I had to wait to revolve the timing around specific requests and other anime, video games and fandoms.

That said, I also immediately knew the type of workout we’d be building for her based on her aesthetic and background (that I know from also being an Overwatch player).

But, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, I’m going to start with research into her background by pulling right from her Wiki Fandom bio section here:

Zarya is a Tank hero in Overwatch. She is one of the 21 heroes included in the game’s release on 24 May 2016.

Deploying powerful personal barriers that convert incoming damage into energy for her massive Particle Cannon, Zarya is an invaluable asset on the front lines of any battle.

And if we pull from her Overwatch Blizzard page we can get a bit more information about her here:

Aleksandra Zaryanova is one of the world’s strongest women, a celebrated athlete who sacrificed personal glory to protect her family, friends, and country in a time of war.

This tells us a bit more of what we actually have to work around, other than just seeing her aesthetic and knowing she’s a tank.

And, just to cap it off a bit I want to add a piece of her personality here:

Zarya is very confident and never doubts her strength, often bragging about being the strongest woman in the world. She is quite competitive when it comes to strength. She praises hard work as well as perseverance and makes references to her training while on the battlefield. She also seems to enjoy making jokes about guns as well as Russia.

If you missed it above: we’re clearly training around heavy weightlifting.

That said, the goals for our Zarya Inspired Workout are:

• Zarya’s Massive Muscular Aesthetic
• Zarya’s Overwhelming Strength
• Zarya’s Overall Mass (Heavy Focus)

To accomplish this we’ll be training extremely heavy, and have a decent amount of volume as well.

If you’re a beginner I recommend starting with one of the Beginner Workouts, with The Beginner Behemoth being your best option to level up into this one.

That said, if you really want to jump into this one you can scale it down a bit by cutting down on the overall volume and lifting lighter to work your way up.

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Zarya Workout Routine

Training Volume:

4-5+ days per week

Explanation:

For this one we’re going to be using an Upper Lower Body Split that has the first half of your week starting with strength focused rep schemes and then the second half of your week working more on hypertrophy. I also added in a fun Tank Circuit Test that you can complete weekly, biweekly or monthly as you’d like.

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.

Zarya Workout: Sample Schedule

Monday: Strongest Woman Upper Body Strength

Tuesday: Strongest Woman Lower Body Strength

Wednesday: Tank Circuit Test

Thursday: Strongest Woman Upper Body Hypertrophy

Friday: Strongest Woman Lower Body Hypertrophy

Saturday: Active Rest Day or Bonus Parkour/MMA/Endurance Work

Sunday: Rest Day

Zarya Workout: Strongest Woman Upper Body Strength

Warm Up:

20-30 Minute Elliptical Warm Up

Workout:

Dumbbell Bench Press

4×12, 10, 8, 5

Dumbbell Rows

4×12, 10, 8, 5

Overhead Press

4×12, 10, 8, 5

Laterall Pulldowns

4×12, 10, 8, 5

Plank Holds

4×60 seconds

Zarya Workout: Strongest Woman Lower Body Strength

Warm Up:

20-30 Minute Elliptical Warm Up

Workout:

Back Squats

4×12, 10, 8, 5

Deadlifts

4×12, 10, 8, 5

Weighted Lunges

4×12, 10, 8, 5

Leg Press

4×12, 10, 8, 5

Calf Raises on Leg Press

4×15-25

Glute Bridges

4×12, 10, 8, 5

Zarya Workout: Tank Circuit Test

In a perfect world our Academy members or 90 Day System members will use this day to work in our Benchmark Workouts to continue testing and improving scores and tracking them against other members; especially our SHJ Core Benchmarks (although our Hero Benchmarks are just as awesome).

If you are not an Academy member or you don’t have access to a 90 Day System, you can also sub in different circuits here from some of the HIIT resources I provide.

(Another note: You should continue coming back and re-trying to workout every so often to see how much you can improve your score!)

Tank Circuit Test: Complete 4 Rounds for Time

12 Goblet Squats

12 Push Ups

12 KB Deadlifts

12 Half Burpees

Zarya Workout: Strongest Woman Upper Body Hypertrophy

Warm Up:

20-30 Minute Elliptical Warm Up

Workout:

Incline Dumbbell Press

3×15, 12, 10

Lateral Pulldowns

3×15, 12, 10

Hammer Strength Chest Press

3×15, 12, 10

Cable Rows

3×15, 12, 10

Dumbbell Bicep Curls

3×15, 12, 10

Tricep Overhead Extensions

3×15, 12, 10

Zarya Workout: Strongest Woman Lower Body Hypertrophy

Warm Up:

20-30 Minute Elliptical Warm Up

Workout:

Goblet Squat

3×15, 12, 10

Dumbbell Deadlifts

3×15, 12, 10

Bulgarian Split Squats

3×12 each side

Hack Squats

3×15, 12, 10

Glute Bridges

3×15, 12, 10

Kettlebell Swings

3×15, 12, 10

Zarya Workout: Optional Endurance Resources

For your endurance, HIIT or MMA/Parkour days you have quite a few options.
You can utilize enforced endurance training that I will program for you based on your fitness level like we do with other workouts here at SHJ…OR you can do 45-60+ minutes of varied cardio (bike, treadmill, elliptical, stairs, row, swim, etc.)…OR you can even use the HIIT resources I’ll provide.

I’ll break it down in that order:

Option One – Run Based on Overall Fitness Level:

Beginner: 1-3 Miles

Intermediate: 3-5 Miles

Advanced: 5+ Miles

Endurance Work Resources:

• Constance Wu Workout Routine and Diet Plan
• Ewan McGregor Workout Routine and Diet Plan
• Kid Flash Workout Routine and Diet Plan
• Grant Gustin Workout Routine and Diet Plan
• How To Continue Training After Your First 5K (Workout Included)

Option Two – Varied Cardio for 45-60 Minutes:

Split your cardio up however you’d like but complete 45-60+ minutes using:

• Treadmill Walk/Run
• Rower Machine
• StairMaster
• Elliptical
• Swim
• Bike

Option Three – Complete HIIT Training Using SHJ Resources:

• The Best HIIT Workouts
• Jump Rope Workout Database
• Academy Members: Insert a Benchmark Hero Workout (Circuit) or SHJ Core Circuit Test

Zarya Workout: Optional Additional Training Resources

Parkour Training Resources:

• The Nightrunner Parkour Workout Routine
• The Assassin’s Creed Parkour Workout Routine
• The Robbie Amell Parkour Workout Routine

Main MMA Training Resources

• Anna Diop Workout Routine and Diet Plan
• Ryan Potter Workout Routine and Diet Plan
• Frank Grillo Boxing Workout

Other MMA Training Resources:

• Deathstroke Workout Routine
• Daredevil Workout Routine
• Moon Knight Workout Routine
• Sagat Workout Routine

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