The Isaac Clarke Workout

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Character Breakdown: Isaac Clarke
The Isaac Clarke Workout
The Skills of Isaac Clarke
The Ordeals of Isaac Clarke

Isaac’s a pretty physically strong guy, all things considered.  How much of this is him, and how much is his RIG, is kind of up in the air, since specifications of the various suits he wears are never really spoken of, but it can be assumed that he is reasonably strong.  He’s still a rather slender guy, though, definitely not in the realm of Duke Nukem or Donkey Kong.  As such, we’re going to go with a weight training setup with low reps and high weight, along with a solid cardio setup to keep us going through every necromorph infestation.

Remember, our body’s shape is decided way more by diet than exercise, so I would say go with The Fighter Diet on this one, and stick with basic maintenance level caloric intake.  If you go with The Big Guy diet with a caloric surplus, even with the lower reps on this set, you’d still probably get decent muscles, so feel free to go that way if you want.

As always, I strongly recommend Warming Up before your workout, and Cooling Down properly afterwards.  This will help prevent injury, and keep you nice and limber.

Equipment Needed:
Weight Bench
Pull Up Bar with Weighted Backpack/Belt OR  A Lat Pulldown Machine
Squat Rack
Barbell
Weight Plates

Strength Workout A:
5×3-5 Dead Lifts
5×3-5 Bent-Over Rows
5×3-5 Weighted Pull Ups OR Lat Pull Downs

Strength Workout B:
5×3-5 Back Squats
5×3-5 Bench Press
5×3-5 Overhead Press

These exercises should be performed with 75-85% of your one-rep max weight (your one rep max is how much weight you can lift for a single repetition of the exercise).  Start at a low weight if you need to (even just the bar by itself), and work your way up.

Cardio Workout:
Level 1(beginner):
Walk at a brisk pace for at least thirty minutes.  Pick a pace that will be strenuous for you, without completely killing you, then just do that for half an hour or more.  Vary your inclines/terrain for added challenge.
Level 2(moderate):
This is more of a general progression.  Interval running/walking.  Walk for two minutes, run for one minute.  Repeat this for at least half an hour.  When this gets easy, decrease walking time and increase running time until you’re running for the full half hour.
Level 3(advanced):
Run at an even pace for two and a half minutes, sprint as fast as you can for thirty seconds.  Repeat for half an hour or more.
Level 4(engineer):
Level 3 for at least half an hour, finish up by finding a good steep hill, sprinting up it, and walking back down it as many times as you can.

This is pretty much just our Ezio Auditore cardio workout copied and pasted.  Isaac and Ezio have very similar body types, though Ezio requires more upper body coordination and endurance for climbing, whereas Isaac needs to be able to wrestle with giant enhanced killer zombie aliens.  As such, their strength regimes differ, but their cardio remains similar due to their mutual need of the ability to get the hell out of dodge when necessary.

Schedule:
Day 1: Strength Workout A
Day 2: Cardio
Day 3: Rest
Day 4: Strength Workout B
Day 5: Cardio
Day 6: Strength Workout A
Day 7: Rest

Feel free to turn Day 5 into an extra rest day, especially when you’re first starting out.  The squats in Strength Workout B are really taxing on your legs, so you may not feel up for running the next day.  Alternatively, go for a “light cardio” day, and skip down one level on the cardio workout than you normally do (once you’ve progressed beyond cardio level one).

That’s it for today!  Tomorrow we’ll be covering The Skills of Isaac Clarke. If you haven’t joined The Champions Guild yet, head on over and sign up now so you can be kept current with what’s going on with the blog!  You’ll also get two free eBooks written by yours truly.  Check it out!

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Dan “DaRatmastah” Wallace