So, you want to be a superhero, do ya? Unless you’re the last survivor from an alien planet who’s blessed with the ability to absorb yellow sunlight and shoot laser beams from your eyeballs, you’ll need to work yourself into reasonable shape.

Enter Neila Rey’s Batman Workout. This routine is a full-body circuit built on a set of nine basic exercises: squats, push-ups, mountain climbers, dips, cross-punch sit ups, jumping lunges, side plank crunches, leg raises, and bicycles. The workout has you plow through ten sets of the entire circuit, performing ten repetitions of each of the 9 exercises in the routine. Easy enough, right?

We gave The Batman Workout a try, so continuing reading to see what we thought of it and to view the full workout details.

As someone who’s quickly bored with workout programs, I’m always on the prowl for the next big thing. I consider myself at an Intermediate fitness level. I’m old and broken; my days of serious weightlifting are over, but I can hold my own through Insanity workouts and track work. I’m a long-time Beachbody devotee and have done all the heavy-hitters: P90X, Insanity, Insanity Asylum, and even Georges St. Pierre’s underrated Rush Fit. I’m currently finishing off the final round (Gamma) of Shaun T’s latest DVD set, Focus T25, which might be my favorite workout program to-date.

I was able to finish the Batman Workout in roughly 30 minutes. None of these moves are particularly difficult. The side plank and cross-punch sit ups were my biggest challenges, but only because I absolutely suck at ab work. The workout suggests “up to 30 second rest” between sets. Depending on your fitness level, these rest periods are completely optional. This is a full body circuit with active rest periods already built into the routine. While you work one muscle group, you are resting others, allowing you to keep your heart rate elevated through the entire set.

You can increase the difficulty and intensity of this routine by removing 30-second rest period and increasing the reps. As it is, you’re doing 900 moves in about 30 minutes. Ramping this bad boy up to 20 reps per exercise should at least provide a Robin-worthy challenge.

This routine flies by quickly — I never found myself watching the clock, begging for it to end. I loved its Spartan minimalism that requires no equipment or exotic moves. You don’t even need much space for this workout, which makes it perfect for the road. The workout could be better balanced by replacing one of the three ab exercises with more back work such as pull-ups or, dare I say, Supermans.

Beginners will definitely find the Batman Workout challenging, but Intermediate to Advanced fitness enthusiasts will want to follow this up with another similarly quick and painful workout such as Neila Rey’s Fast and Furious cardio routine. Check out Rey’s main site at neilarey.com for more pop culture-inspired workouts.

If you’re looking to don a mask and beat up bad guys, this workout is no replacement for taking a Himalayan sabbatical and training under Ra’s Al Ghul. Batman would never break a sweat with this, but if naming a workout after a superhero gets people off the couch, then that is hardly a bad thing. If nothing else, the Batman Workout is something nice to stash away on a smart phone for a great, go-to workout in a pinch. Oh, and best of all, it’s free.

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