Jason Momoa's AR-7 Workout

I recently went through a phase where I was becoming "bored" with my workouts and started looking for something "new". After going paleo I lost 60 pounds in 8 months, but without the strength training to accompany it and without the added pounds to mask my weakness I started to look saggy and "old", so I did P90X and stuck with that more or less for a few years. My body is built through strength training, however, and I just didn't like the extreme leanness of my appearance, and neither did my wife. I was 195 pounds at 6'2, but my wife thought I was too "skinny".

I shifted from P90X to the AthleanX Inferno Max Shred Program, which was more scalable and was, I had planned, leading into another Athlean program called Inferno Max Size. But those programs are a hundred bucks a piece, so for some stupid reason, still looking for something "new", I became obsessed with celebrity training programs. I started off with Dwayne Johnson's Hercules workout, and did that for six weeks. For some reason I have it in my head, and maybe this is just the way my body is, that I have to train each muscle twice a week in order to get the results I want. So after six weeks I tried Jason Momoa's AR-7 workout. Jason Momoa isn't currently a household name, though most people are becoming familiar with his roles. He was the "new" Conan the Barbarian, and later played Khal Drogo on season one of Game of Thrones. Recently he played Aquaman in Justice League.

So I did AR-7 for the prescribed six weeks and liked it a lot. It allows for adaptability because it's not a specific type or order of exercises or muscles targeted but a principle of sets, reps, and rest time. So my version of this is not identical to his, but the principle is the same. Your first "set" of a particular exercise is 7 reps times 7 sets with 7 seconds rest in between. So if I'm doing bench press, 7 reps, put the bar down for 7 seconds, 7 more reps, etc. After the first 7 sets, rest 60-90 seconds, and do 6-6-6, and then rest, and do 5-5-5. So for each exercise, 7-7-7. 6-6-6, and 5-5-5. These workouts are short and intense if you're doing one body part - typically 30-45 minutes, so I do two body parts a day, and usually superset between them. So I'll do a AR-7 set of bench press, for instance, and immediately do an AR-7 set of barbell bicep curls. The pic to the right is me on my 43rd birthday, towards the end of six weeks of AR-7.

At this point, I was thinking, okay who is next? I checked into Chris Hemsworth's Thor workout, but what I discovered was that his was just a traditional body builder's workout like I had done most of my life. I was feeling a lot stronger at that point so I decided to go back to what was tried, tested, and true: my old high school workout, which was modeled around many of the legendary body builders of my youth - Schwarzenegger, Yates, Coleman, etc. I felt my old strength returning, which was exciting, however at my age, my joints and tendons were just not cooperating. I was throwing the weight around but it was uncomfortable and often painful.

For this reason I've decided to stick with the AR-7 tactic for the foreseeable future. Because of the intensity of the workout, I cannot use anywhere close to my max weight load. My bench press, for instance, is typically what I warm up with - 135 pounds. Conventional weight lifting wisdom teaches that higher reps/low weights gives you a lean, ripped look, but somehow this approach has constructed a nice size for my frame - I'm up to 210 pounds, but I'm still around the same body fat percentage at 12-13%. If you're older or you have joint issues due to neglect or injury, this is a workout you might want to try. My specific workout is below. You can use his specific regimen or mine, or you can add your own preferences. Let me know what you think.


AR-7 Workout

Day One: Chest and Biceps

• Bench Press
• Close-grip barbell bicep curls

• Incline dumbbell press
• Incline dumbbell curls

• Reverse grip dips
• Hammer curls

• Dumbbell pull-overs
• Spider or preacher curls

Day two: Back and triceps

Disclaimer: Jason Momoa claims to do three or four different types of pull-ups using the AR-7 technique. This is literally insane. I'm not saying he doesn't, but that's 110 pull-ups per type, and like I said he does three or four different types - regular grip, chin-ups, close-grip, etc. For this reason I do pull-downs.

• Wide-grip pull downs  
• Reverse grip/gorilla bench press

• Dumbell rows (these are intense as you are doing the left arm in between sets of the right arm, etc)
• Dumbell skull crushers

• Standing cable pull-overs
• Rope tricep extentions

Day Three: Legs and Shoulders

On this workout I abandon AR-7 for some of my leg exercises because they aren't practical. For instance, it's difficult to get in and out of a barbell squat position, especially when you get down to the 6 and 5 second rest sets, and this constant in and out causes pain and discomfort in my shoulders, especially my left one. It's also impractical to do AR-7 with walking lunges, and three-way leg press calf raises. Leg press is done AR-7. All shoulder exercises are AR-7.

• Barbell squats (3 sets of 12-15)
• Dumbbell shoulder press

• Leg press
• Forward dumbbell raises

• Walking lunges (3 sets of 20)
• One-armed cross-body lateral cable raise. Same as the dumbbell rows in the back workout, do the left arm while the right arm rests, and alternate until both sides finish the requisite sets.

• Three-way leg press calf raises: 15 toes out, 15 toes parallel, 15 toes in, 3 sets
• Shoulder shrugs

Day Four: rest and recovery, start with chest and biceps for day five, and cycle through three days on, one day off, as strictly as you're able. You can throw in a core workout as often as you like. I don't do so as often as I should, but especially at my age a strong core lessens your risk of injury, especially in the lower back.

Feel free to comment with questions or criticism.