I Tried Saitama's Workout: What Really Happens to my Body

The Day I Lost My Mind and Decided to Break My Limiter

Look, I'll be honest with you. When I first watched One Punch Man, I laughed at Saitama's training routine just like everyone else. 100 pushups? 100 situps? 100 squats? And a 10km run? Every single day? I thought to myself, "That's it? That's the secret to infinite power?"

Spoiler alert: I was an idiot.

Three months ago, scrolling through Reddit at 2 AM like any reasonable person questioning their life choices, I stumbled upon countless debates about whether Saitama's workout was actually doable. Some people called it basic. Others said it would destroy your body. And me? I decided to find out for myself.

This is my journey into what I'm calling the most deceptively brutal fitness challenge I've ever attempted.

The Workout That Sounds Easy (Until You Actually Try It)

Let me break down what we're dealing with here. Saitama's routine seems laughably simple on paper:

• 100 pushups
• 100 situps
• 100 squats
• 10 kilometer run (that's 6.2 miles for my fellow Americans)
• Do this EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
• No air conditioning in summer, no heat in winter
• Eat three meals a day (though Saitama claimed a banana for breakfast was fine)

When Genos heard this routine, he literally called it basic. And you know what? For a cyborg who can incinerate mountains, maybe it is. But for an average human being who considered walking to the fridge a cardio workout? This was about to become my personal hell.

Week One: Welcome to Pain You Didn't Know Existed

I remember Day One like it was yesterday, probably because my body still hasn't forgiven me. I woke up at 6 AM, pumped full of motivation and terrible decisions. I dropped down and started my pushups.

The first twenty? Not bad. I felt like a champion.

By forty, my arms started questioning their life choices.

At seventy, I discovered muscles I didn't know existed, and they were all screaming.

I finished those 100 pushups in about fifteen minutes, broken into sets of 20, 15, 15, 20, 10, 10, and 10. My form? Absolutely garbage by the end. My pride? Shattered on my living room floor along with my dignity.

The situps were somehow worse. Your abs are involved in basically every movement you make, and I was about to make them very, very angry. The squats? My legs felt like jelly-filled pool noodles.

Then came the run.

I need you to understand something: 10 kilometers is not a casual jog. That's further than most people drive to grab coffee. My lungs burned. My shins felt like someone was stabbing them with tiny knives. I had to walk at least half of it, and it took me nearly ninety minutes to complete.

When I finally collapsed on my couch, drenched in sweat and regret, I realized something crucial: Saitama wasn't joking when he called this hell.

The Real Challenge Nobody Talks About

Here's what the anime doesn't show you: recovery is where your body actually builds muscle. When you exercise, you're creating tiny tears in your muscle fibers. During rest, your body repairs these tears, making them stronger. It's basic exercise science.

Saitama's routine? Zero rest days. None. Zip. Nada.

I consulted with several fitness experts and trainers, and they all said the same thing: this workout routine is fundamentally flawed. You're essentially breaking down your muscles every single day without giving them proper time to rebuild. Add in inadequate nutrition (a banana for breakfast?!), no climate control, and the fact that Saitama was fighting city-destroying monsters between sets, and you've got a recipe for either superhuman transformation or complete physical breakdown.

Most likely the latter.

But here's the thing that fascinated me: people have actually completed this challenge. I found stories online of individuals who pushed through for months, even years. They didn't gain superpowers, obviously, but something happened to them. Something changed.

Month One: My Body Declares War

By week two, I could barely lift my arms to brush my teeth. Every morning felt like waking up after being hit by a truck. A very specific truck that only targets people stupid enough to do 100 pushups daily.

I made some modifications because, unlike Saitama, I value my knees and want to walk normally at age 40. Instead of doing everything in one brutal set, I broke it into smaller chunks throughout the day. Morning: 50 pushups and situps. Lunch: 50 squats. Evening: the remaining exercises plus the run.

The 10km run remained the absolute worst part. Your body can adapt to many things, but running 43 miles per week with zero recovery days? That's how you develop stress fractures, shin splints, and a deep, personal hatred for anyone who suggests running as "relaxing."

I scaled it back to 5km most days, with 10km three times per week. Judge me if you want, but I'd rather make progress than end up in physical therapy explaining to a doctor why I thought I could become an anime character.

The Mental Game: Discipline Over Motivation

Around week three, something interesting happened. The initial excitement wore off completely. My motivation vanished like Saitama's hair. But I kept going.

This is where I started understanding what the workout was really about. It wasn't about the pushups or the running. It was about showing up every single day, even when everything in your body screams at you to stop. Especially then.

There were mornings I woke up sore, exhausted, with a to-do list longer than a CVS receipt. My bed felt like a cloud made of pure comfort. And I still got up and did the workout.

That's discipline. That's what breaks limiters, not the exercises themselves.

I started to understand why Saitama emphasized pushing through even when your joints made weird clicking noises (though please, for the love of all that's holy, if your joints are clicking, see a doctor). The workout wasn't superhuman because of its intensity. It was superhuman because of the relentless consistency required to maintain it.

What Actually Happens to Your Body

Let me give you the real results after three months of a modified Saitama routine:

The Good: My endurance skyrocketed. Activities that used to leave me winded became easy. I developed visible muscle definition, especially in my core and legs. My resting heart rate improved. I felt more energetic throughout the day (after the initial morning soreness wore off). Most importantly, I proved to myself that I could commit to something incredibly difficult.

The Bad: Chronic soreness became my baseline. I developed minor knee pain that required me to invest in proper running shoes and pay attention to my form. My social life suffered because I was either working out or recovering. The time commitment was massive, nearly two hours daily when you factor in warm-up, the exercises, the run, and stretching.

The Ugly: No, I didn't go bald (thank goodness). But I did notice increased hair shedding, which freaked me out more than I'd like to admit. Sleep became non-negotiable; my body demanded 8-9 hours minimum. And despite eating significantly more, I lost weight, which wasn't my goal.

The Science Behind Breaking Your Limiter

Here's something fascinating I learned: the concept of Saitama "breaking his limiter" isn't complete fiction. In exercise science, we have something called the "Repeated Bout Effect." Essentially, your body adapts to repeated stress by becoming more resistant to that specific stress.

Studies have shown that consistent training, even without progressive overload, can lead to improved neuromuscular efficiency. Your muscles don't necessarily get bigger, but your nervous system gets better at recruiting muscle fibers. You become more efficient at the specific movements you're practicing.

However, and this is crucial, you eventually plateau. Your body adapts to the stress, and without increasing the challenge (more weight, more reps, more intensity), you stop making gains. This is why serious athletes use periodization and progressive overload in their training.

Saitama's routine would make you very good at doing exactly those exercises, but it wouldn't necessarily translate to superhuman strength in other areas. You'd become incredibly efficient at 100 pushups and running 10km, but not much else would change after the initial adaptation period.

The Community That Gets It

One unexpected benefit of this journey was discovering an entire community of people attempting the same challenge. The Reddit forums were filled with warriors sharing their progress, their struggles, and their modifications.

Some people completed the full routine for years. Others, like me, made sensible modifications. A few absolute madmen actually did it exactly as described, including the no air conditioning rule (I live in Texas; I'm not a masochist).

What struck me most was how everyone emphasized the same thing: the workout itself wasn't the point. It was about proving to yourself that you could do something ridiculously difficult, day after day, regardless of how you felt.

That's real strength. Not the kind that destroys planets, but the kind that builds character.

Why This Workout Is Brilliantly Terrible

From a pure fitness perspective, Saitama's routine is poorly designed. It lacks:

• Pull exercises (your back gets neglected entirely)
• Progressive overload (the workout never gets harder)
• Rest days (absolutely crucial for muscle growth)
• Proper nutrition guidance (a banana is not a meal)
• Variation (your body adapts and stops improving)
• Injury prevention protocols (those clicking joints aren't good)

But here's the genius of it: it's achievable. With modifications and common sense, almost anyone can work up to this routine. It's not about being genetically gifted or having access to expensive equipment. It's about consistently showing up and putting in the work.

The routine also perfectly satirizes how anime training arcs work. Characters achieve god-like power through relatively simple training, and we accept it because it's fiction. ONE, the creator of One Punch Man, made this intentionally mundane to highlight the absurdity of shonen power scaling.

The joke is that Saitama became the strongest being in existence through what's essentially a beginner's workout routine done with inhuman consistency.

Three Months Later: Was It Worth It?

I'm writing this with arms that can actually do 50 pushups in one set now (down from the pathetic 20 I started with). My 5km run time improved from 35 minutes to 24 minutes. I've lost 12 pounds, gained visible abs, and developed legs that could probably kick through drywall (not that I've tested this).

More importantly, I learned something about discipline that I don't think I could have learned any other way. There's a special kind of strength that comes from doing something difficult when you absolutely don't want to. When you're tired, sore, busy, and every fiber of your being wants to quit, and you do it anyway.

That's the real limiter Saitama broke. Not a physical one, but a mental one. The voice in your head that says "I can't" or "maybe tomorrow" or "this is too hard." He trained that voice into submission through relentless, boring, unglamorous consistency.

Did I gain superpowers? Obviously not. Can I destroy planets with a sneeze? Sadly, no. But am I in the best shape of my life? Absolutely. Did I prove to myself that I'm capable of way more than I thought? 100%.

The Modified Routine I Actually Recommend

If you're inspired to try this (and I genuinely hope you are), here's what I suggest based on my experience:

Start Slow: Begin with 25 of each exercise and a 2km run. Build up gradually over weeks or months. Your ego will tell you to go harder; your joints will thank you for patience.

Take Rest Days: Do the routine 5 days per week, with 2 rest days. Your muscles need time to rebuild. This isn't negotiable unless you're secretly a manga character.

Add Pull Exercises: Incorporate pull-ups, rows, or any back work. Your posture will thank you, and you'll avoid the hunchback look.

Focus on Form: Terrible pushups are worse than fewer good pushups. Quality over quantity, always.

Listen to Your Body: Pain is not always gain. Sharp pain, joint clicking, or pain that doesn't go away is your body screaming for help. Listen to it.

Eat Properly: You cannot fuel this workout on a banana. Get adequate protein, carbs, and calories. Your body is doing serious work; feed it properly.

Invest in Good Shoes: Running 30+ kilometers per week in bad shoes is a fast track to injury. Spend the money; your knees are worth it.

The Real Secret to Superhuman Strength

Here's what I learned after three months of this insanity: the workout itself is almost irrelevant. You could do any challenging routine with the same consistency and determination, and you'd see similar results.

The magic isn't in the 100 pushups. It's in doing them on Day 47 when you're exhausted from work, your muscles ache, it's raining outside, and Netflix has just released a new season of your favorite show. It's in showing up on Day 73 when you're sick of the routine and want to try something new. It's in continuing on Day 89 when you can't see any progress and feel like you're wasting your time.

That's the limiter we all need to break. Not our physical limitations, but our mental ones. The stories we tell ourselves about what we're capable of, what we have time for, what's "too hard" for us.

Saitama became the strongest hero by doing something anyone could do, in theory. He just had the discipline to actually do it. Every single day. For three years. Through injury, exhaustion, and monotony.

That's not superhuman. That's human at its absolute best.

Final Thoughts: Would I Recommend This?

Would I recommend Saitama's exact workout routine? Absolutely not. It's poorly designed from a fitness perspective and has a high injury risk.

Would I recommend attempting a challenging fitness goal with ridiculous consistency? Absolutely yes.

The value isn't in this specific routine. It's in picking something difficult, committing to it completely, and refusing to quit even when it sucks. Especially when it sucks.

I haven't broken my limiter and gained infinite strength. I can't destroy mountains with a casual punch or move faster than the eye can see. But I learned that the limits I thought I had were mostly self-imposed. I learned that consistency beats intensity. I learned that discipline, not motivation, is what creates lasting change.

And honestly? That's pretty close to a superpower.

So if you're thinking about trying this workout, or any challenging fitness goal, here's my advice: Do it. But do it smart. Modify it for your current fitness level. Take rest days. Eat properly. Listen to your body. And most importantly, focus on building the habit of showing up, even on the days you don't want to.

That's the real training. Everything else is just details.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have 100 pushups to do. Even though I really, really don't want to. Especially because I don't want to.

That's the point.