Bard Workout and Diet [Dungeons and Dragons Inspired]

Last updated on July 20th, 2022 at 07:39 am

The next class joining our Dungeons and Dragons Inspired Workouts are our Bards!

Originally I was going to cut our DND Inspired Workouts right where we have it, feeling like we’ve hit all the classes that really warrant a workout routine, but then you guys flooded the request forms asking for Bards and more builds.

So, I’ve decided to start with our Bard College of Valor [Strength] Build.

You guys both made jokes about the Bards not being in our D&D Workouts yet, but were also even more serious about the fact that you want them there – so this seemed like the best starting point for us.

Our Workout Database has improved significantly with the addition of our Dungeons and Dragons classes coming in every week considering it was being dominated so heavily by our Anime Workouts most recently (and still will continue to be).

In our articles I have mentioned the fact that I’ve been a big MMO gamer for years (especially WoW, but I’ve hopped around to a ton), so this new endeavor into D&D is a perfect fit.

Another side note for this new character creation is that will be skipping the stat section we normally include, and switching up some of the other sections (like the nutrition section, which I’ll have a bunch more added to in order to make it a bit more fun).

Bard Information:

Inspired By: Dungeons and Dragons

Goal: Strength and Moderately Fit Physique

Introduction to the Bard Class (from RPG Bot):

The Bard is fantastically versatile. With access to every skill, expertise, full casting, and a decent set of proficiencies, the Bard can fill essentially every role in the party. Subclasses like College of Lore are more of the classic supportive Bard, with improved magical options and support abilities, while College of Swords and College of Valor can serve as front-line melee characters who can bring their spellcasting and support capabilities into the heat of battle.

Extra Notes (from Ability Scores):

The bard is heavily reliant on Charisma, but with a bit of Dexterity and Constitution the Bard can survive an occasional dip into melee combat. Most bards will start from roughly the same set of ability scores, but may differentiate themselves by increasing different abilities depending on your subclass and your role in the party. Most bards will still maximize Charisma first, but some may go for Dexterity for martial builds.

I’ll be providing additional information below, within our workout routine research section, considering we’ll be utilizing a specific build that isn’t mentioned much in the basic overview of the Bard class (which is understandable).

We’re going to build our Bards with the intention of still being a support class, but we’re going to prioritize strength knowing we want to be physically fit and be able to inflict damage as a support while not losing out on our other abilities (and knowing we’ll be more useful in the front lines with this build as well).

We’ll want to gain strength (which is also what we’ll favor in this build overall) but in the goal of a workout routine we’ll also want to mention that fact that we’re not looking to get gigantic with a ton of mass gain like some of our other classes (Barbarian, Cleric, etc.) – so this won’t be so much for mass as it is for toned muscle.

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Bard D&D Diet and Nutrition

For our new Dungeons and Dragons themed section of our Workout Database I’m going to be adding a bit of flair to the diet and nutrition section of each class to make it a bit more fun.

While I do usually add the same section for each hero to give you guys some articles and resources to utilize throughout the site, for this one I will add that secondary.

As you may have noticed, if you’re a member of The SHJ Army and using our workouts a lot (if you’re not, we have over 1,000 workouts, welcome); we also skipped the stats section being that this one is going to be very customizable, but the goal is to gain strength, and a toned physique capable of still being a support that does not lack in their abilities, but also tough enough to be in the frontline.

There will be more on this below, in the workout research section, but the important thing to note here is that we’re going to want to be in a caloric surplus due to our goals.

So let’s talk about that…

Bard Inspired Diet and Nutrition [For Fun]

For our Bards we can really just drink and inspire, but I’ll take it a step further so we can have some fun with it if we’d like.

Here’s a quote from DND Beyond when discussing The College of Valor:

Like warrior-poets and Viking skalds of old, your verses inspire your comrades towards dizzying heights of glory and martial prowess.

S0, warrior-poet and Viking skalds of old in mind, the one thing that would be a fun diet to include here would be our Nordic Diet.

The goal is to tone up and gain strength without losing our support abilities (we are a jack of all trades here, after all), so you don’t necessarily have to add the Nordic Diet to the mix, but it could make things fun.

For that reason you’re going to want to:

1. Eat in a Caloric Deficit to shred fat and keep lean muscle (or a surplus or maintenance if a bit of muscle mass is the goal).
2. Consider using the Nordic Diet to unleash your inner Viking skalds and warrior poet.
3. Adopt the 4-Tier Nutrition System we use here at SHJ to have the most effective and efficient diet planning (without sacrificing your life).

I also go much more in depth with calories and their relationship to gaining or losing weight here: SHJ Complete Guide to Calorie Counting and Macronutrients.

If you’d like to read more about the Nordic diet you can do so here: SHJ Guide on The Nordic Diet.

And you can find the full 4-Tier-Nutrition System right in our Nutrition Pillars.

But to leave you off with some more resources now that we had some fun with the nutrition, I’m also going to add in some information we always share within our character workouts..

Hero Diet and Nutrition Resources and Subsection

**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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Bard D&D 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.

The goal of our Bard Class, if you happened to miss it the last twenty seven times I’ve mentioned it, is to gain strength and a toned muscular physique, without focusing on mass that would otherwise hinder our other support abilities, but still just enough to be in the frontline.

With that, we won’t have to deal with too much volume or intensity to acquire the strength and physique needed – which makes this a great place for beginners looking to with one of our D&D routines.

If we jump into Table Top Joab they tell us this about our College of Valor Strength Bards:

When playing as a College of Valor Bard, you are much tougher than your peers from other Bardic Colleges.

You still fill an important support role, but you gain extra proficiencies that make you more formidable in combat. However, you still also have access to the Bard’s spell list to aid you and your allies both in combat and out of it.

Most Valor Bards will typically favor a Strength-based build. This allows them to stand on the frontlines with a higher Armor Class while dealing better damage with Strength weapons like longswords or halberds.

So we’re looking to get tough, but we still want to be a support class. 

We’re not suddenly looking to become the frontline tank or main damage.

The greatest drawback of being a jack of all trades is being a master of none. Though you can be a potent swordfighter and spellslinger in this subclass, you won’t ever be as powerful (or as well-armored) a warrior as a Champion fighter, nor will your spells be as explosively powerful as a wizard trained in the School of Evocation. What makes a College of Valor bard powerful is the diversity of options available to them. If you aren’t in the mood to play with all of these toys, you may find that your character is less powerful (but not necessarily less fun to play) than characters that are more singularly focused.

As we already know: we’re looking to be a jack of all trades.

We knew going into this we weren’t replacing our warrior the be the most powerful or our wizard to be the most explosive.

We want to be able to do it all for our team, while being strong and armored in the frontline.

You ready? Your team needs you.

Bard D&D Workout Routine

Training Volume:

3-5 days per week

Explanation:

For this one we’re going to be training with 3 full body days per week, which is actually what we did for our Ranger Class as well – BUT this will be far less intensity (with our Rangers we superset everything).  This is a great way to build both the strength and physique we want as a College of Valor [Strength] Bard! AND, it’s great for all fitness levels as well. I’ll also be including a fun Bard Circuit Test which is basically what you make your party do with you once per week to get them motivated and ready to crush it! On top of that I’ll also give you some weekly endurance, which is optional if you want to step it up a notch yourself.

Want To Upgrade This Workout?

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Bard D&D Workout Routine: Sample Workout Schedule

Monday: College of Valor Full Body A

Tuesday: Bard Circuit Test

Wednesday: College of Valor Full Body B

Thursday: Optional Extra Attack Endurance Work

Friday: College of Valor Full Body C

Saturday: Active Rest Day or Optional Bonus Training Resources

Sunday: Rest Day

Bard Workout: College of Valor Full Body A

Warm Up: 

10-30 Minute of Varied Cardio

(Incline Walk, Jog/Run, Bike, Elliptical, etc.)

Workout: 

Incline Dumbbell Bench Press

3×12, 10, 8

Leg Press

3×12, 10, 8

Bent Over Barbell Rows

3×12, 10, 8

DB Front Raises

3×12, 10, 8

Preacher Curls

3×15, 12, 10

Seated Overhead Extensions

3×20, 15, 10

Bard Workout: Bard 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!)

Bard Circuit Test: Complete For Time with Your Party

Run 1 Mile

Complete 4 Rounds:

20 Push Ups

15 Sit Ups

10 Dips

5 Pull Ups

Bard Workout: College of Valor Full Body B

Warm Up: 

10-30 Minute of Varied Cardio

(Incline Walk, Jog/Run, Bike, Elliptical, etc.)

Workout: 

Back Squats

3×12, 10, 8

Cable Chest Flys

3×12, 10, 8

Wide Grip Pulldowns

3×12, 10, 8

Kettlebell Swings

3×12, 10, 8

Alternating DB Hammer Curls

3×10 each arm

Tricep Cable Pushdowns

3×15, 12, 10

Bard Workout: Optional Extra Attack Endurance Work

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

Bard Workout: College of Valor Full Body C

Warm Up: 

10-30 Minute of Varied Cardio

(Incline Walk, Jog/Run, Bike, Elliptical, etc.)

Workout: 

Deadlifts

3×12, 10, 8

Seated Military Press

3×12, 10, 8

Hamstring Curls

3×12, 10, 8

Weighted Dips

3×12, 10, 8

21s with EZ Bar

3×21

Close Grip Bench Press

3×10

Bard 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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