Saber Workout: Train like Artoria Pendragon from Fate / Stay Night!

Next up among our Fate / Stay Night characters is none other than Saber.

So far we’ve seen Rin Tohsoka and Archer, but now it’s time for one of the all time fan favorites!

Based on the requests (and compatible with Saber’s physique and overall aesthetic) we’ll be building this one around a calisthenics workout.

Normally I don’t just adhere to the requests for bodyweight training on the first time we see a character if it doesn’t make sense for the specific character (although I will come back if the character is requested enough and make a calisthenics routine later on), but thankfully for you guys: Saber makes sense!

She’ll also be a fun bodyweight training addition to our Anime Workout Placement Quizzes as well!

Saber Stats:

Real Name: Artoria Pendragon

Height: 5’0

Weight: 92 lbs.

Anime: Fate / Stay Night

Powers: Yes

Saber is an extremely petite character.

At just 5 foot tall and under 100 pounds she is one of the shortest and lightest characters in our Anime Workouts Database.

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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Saber 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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Saber 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.

To learn more about her we’ll be pulling from her Wiki Fandom page, starting with what they write here:

Artoria Pendragon, Class Name Saber, is one of the main characters of Fate/Zeroand one of the three main heroines of Fate/stay night. She is the Saber-class Servant of Kiritsugu Emiya in the Fourth Holy Grail War and Shirou Emiya in the Fifth Holy Grail War.

She is the Servant of Norma Goodfellow (possessed by Manaka Sajyou) in the Labyrinth Holy Grail War of Fate/Labyrinth.

She is one of the Servants of Ritsuka Fujimaru of the Grand Orders conflicts of Fate/Grand Order.

We won’t go through her entire [long] appearance breakdown, but one thing I do want to share and make note of is the fact that they specifically reference the fact that:

“She is more muscular than someone like Rin…”

And the only reason I point this out is because we’ve obviously also already seen Rin among our awesome characters and we’ll need to be training specifically to tone up and build more muscle while also adhering to Saber’s slim and petite frame.

When we move into her abilities section we do learn more information that goes well with this though:

Artoria Pendragon is the legendary King of Knights, the one that ruled over the battlefields in the age of legends. In life, she commanded the Knights of the Round Table, the greatest knights to ever live and heroes that would later be sung of in legends. If summoned as a Servant, any of them would boast indisputable fame and strength, however, even among them, Artoria stands at the top. Despite Mordred being a first-class servant and possessing power worthy of the Saber class, when comparing them to her father’s, Mordred’s specs are overall lower. The difference between the two is such, that Gawain claims that he’d normally defeat Mordred without breaking a sweat, even at night, when he’s three times weaker than during midday, state in which he’s considered to be an equal to King Arthur by some. Although Lancelot is famed as the strongest Knight of the Round Table mainly due to defeating Gawain after fighting him for several hours while empowered by the Sun until wounding him at nightfall, he considered a fact that the King was invincible, and that size and appearance could not change that. While he states that Morgan le Fay, a powerful witch that rivalled Merlin, was a ruler with immense power due to having retained the supernatural power thought to have died out with King Uther, he claims that she was still nothing but a small pebble in the path of the King.

They also go on to mention this directly after:

As a Servant, Artoria is widely considered to be the strongest Heroic Spirit in the Saber class, the one considered the “Most Outstanding” among the seven classes due to its excellent ratings in all categories.”

So we need to also keep in mind that we’re training around an extremely powerful character.

Which is also what I meant when I said that this goes well with the fact that she is said to have a more muscular physique than Rin.

Here’s what we’ll be training around for Saber:

• Extremely Petite and Slim Physique
• More Muscular than Rin (Toned Muscle)
• An EXTREMELY Powerful Character

For that we’ll be training with calisthenics but stepping up the intensity at points and also increasing the volume a bit.

While we will be using endurance work in there a bit and looking to slim down you can also scale up or down very easily wherever you’d like and still make use of this one.

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Saber Workout Routine

Training Volume:

3-5 days per week

Explanation:

We’re going to be training with 4 days of calisthenics but with some intensity and endurance added in and then a final day of a Saber Circuit Test that you can add on weekly, biweekly or monthly – or sub for endurance work on weeks you’re not adding it in.

Want To Upgrade This Workout?

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Saber Workout Routine: Sample Workout Schedule

Monday: Calisthenics and Cardio A

Tuesday: Calisthenics, Core and Circuit A

Wednesday: Saber Circuit Test

Thursday: Calisthenics and Cardio B

Friday: Calisthenics, Core and Circuit B

Saturday: Active Rest

Sunday: Rest Day

Saber Workout Routine: Calisthenics and Cardio A

Warm Up: 

Complete 10-15 of Varied Cardio [if just warming up]

Cardio:

Complete 30-60 Minutes of Varied Cardio [if completing all cardio – before calisthenics; can be done after]

Workout: 

Air Squats

3×20

Push Ups

3×15

Plank to Push Ups

3×12

Lunges

3×10 each leg

Pull Ups

(Scale to Assisted, Bodyweight Rows or Pike Push Ups)

3×5-10

Saber Workout Routine: Calisthenics, Core and Circuit A

Warm Up: 

High Knees

2×25

Jumping Jacks (or Jump Rope Skips)

2×25

Workout: Complete in as many rounds and sets as needed.

75 Air Squats

50 Push Ups

30 Dips

Core Work:

Plank Hold

3×60 Seconds

Sit Ups

3×20

Lying Leg Raises

3×20

Hollow Hold

3×30 Seconds

Circuit Finisher: Complete 3 Rounds

20 Mountain Climbers

15 Planking Shoulder Taps

10 Burpees

Saber Workout Routine: Saber 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!)

Saber Circuit Test: Complete 2 Rounds for Time

Run 800M

30 Crunches

20 Box Jumps

15 Push Ups

10 Wall Climbs

Saber Workout Routine: Calisthenics and Cardio B

Warm Up: 

Complete 10-15 of Varied Cardio [if just warming up]

Cardio:

Complete 30-60 Minutes of Varied Cardio [if completing all cardio – before calisthenics; can be done after]

Workout: 

Glute Bridges

3×20

Push Ups

3×15

Dips

3×12

Bulgarian Split Squats

3×10 each leg

Chin Ups

(Scale to Assisted, Bodyweight Rows or Pike Push Ups)

3×5-10

Saber Workout Routine: Calisthenics, Core and Circuit B

Warm Up: 

High Knees

2×25

Jumping Jacks (or Jump Rope Skips)

2×25

Workout: Complete in as many rounds and sets as needed.

75 Air Squats

50 Push Ups

30 Dips

Core Work:

Plank Hold

3×60 Seconds

Sit Ups with Twist

3×20

Russian Twists

3×20

Superman Hold

3×30 Seconds

Circuit Finisher: Complete 3 Rounds

10 Half Burpees

10 Pause Push Ups

10 Inch Worms

Saber Workout Routine: Optional 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

Saber Workout: Optional Bonus 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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