The Emily Kaldwin Workout

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You know, this was a fun one for me to write because I got to look up new exercises!  Whee!  It’s actually kind of rare at this point for me to be pulling new tricks out of the bag, most of the time it’s just re-arranging similar exercises in different ways but this time, we try to get some new stuff!  Thanks, Emily, this should be a blast.

Emily’s agile, sure, but she also has the grace and movement of a fencer, whereas most of the other assassins we’ve covered in the past rely on some variant of wrist blade or katana or something.  Emily’s movement and combat style are much more inspired by modern fencers…and maybe Spiderman.  Spider-fencer.  Anyway, we’re looking for quick feet, a reactive upper body, and the ability to twist a sword around faster than the eye can follow.

Part of what we’re looking for, (again similar to a fencer) is a lean, muscular build.  For the kinds of maneuvers Emily pulls, as well as her fighting style, you don’t necessarily want to aim for skinny, rather…purpose-built.  Similar to the idea of runners or rock climbers, you don’t want to be carrying anything extra around, but you want to build an engine (muscles) big enough to do what you need to do.  This means low body fat percentage, but a not insignificant amount of muscle mass.  This, of course, is mainly the domain of nutritional intake, and for that I recommend you, check out Macros and You! and The Fighter Diet.

As usual, it’s important to remember to always Warm Up before every workout, and to Cool Down AFTER every workout.  Even moreso with Emily, though, as maintaining flexibility and mobility are key!  Make sure you include them!

Now that that’s all said and done, let’s get to the workout!

Note: This workout, like most on the site, is split into four tiers in order to easily plug into the RPG Fitness workout system.

Equipment Needed:

Pull Up Bar
Small Medicine Ball
Resistance Bands

Workout type: Station – Perform all sets of one exercise before moving on to the next exercise. Rest 1-2 minutes between sets.

Strength:

Level 1 (Beginner):
3×5-10 Bodyweight Squats
3×5-10 Chair-Assisted Pull Ups
3×5-10 Resistance Band Thrusts (tie a resistance band around something solid, step into a fencer’s lunge, holding the resistance band up in a fencer’s guard with a small amount of tension already on the band, and then thrust your hand forward)
3×5-10 Side Lunges to Single Leg Balance (Each Side)
3×5-10 Kneeling Push Ups
3×5-10 Calf Raises
3×10 second Planks

Level 2 (Intermediate):
3×5-10 Bodyweight Squats
3×3-5 Pull Ups
3×5-10 Resistance Band Thrusts (use a heavier resistance band/more resistance bands)
3×5-10 Jumping Side Lunges
3×5-10 Push Ups
3×5-10 Calf Bounces
3×5-10 second One Armed Planks

Level 3 (Advanced):
5×5-10 Pistol Box/Chair Squats
5×3-10 Uneven Pull Ups
5×5-10 One Handed Medicine-Ball Passes (Lie on your back on a bench[or on the floor] holding a small medicine ball in one hand.  Throw it up above you in the air, and catch it, switching hands.  Catch it with one hand if you can, two hands if you have to, just don’t smash your face/chest.)
5×5-10 Speed Skaters
5×5-10 Push Ups
5×5-10 One-Legged Calf Bounces
5×5-10 Hanging Knee Raises

Level 4 (Empress):
5×5-10 Pistol Squats
5×5-10 Archer Pull Ups
5×5-10 One Handed Medicine-Ball Passes (use a heavier medicine ball)
5×5-10 Speed Skaters
5×5-10 Clapping Push Ups
5×5-10 One-Legged Calf Bounces (get your toes elevated on something to increase your range of motion)
5×5-10 Standing Long Jumps
5×5-10 Hanging Leg Raises OR Toes-To-Bar

Strength Notes:

Our strength workouts are designed to build a couple things.  One is rapid lateral movement.  We cover this by building explosive leg movements with lunges, long jumps, and speed skaters.  The next is hand speed and agility, we use some dynamic drills (like resistance band lunges and medicine ball throws), and some steady strength movements (push ups and pull ups.)  Finally, we build a strong base for it all with core workouts like leg raises, and posterior stability stuff like lunge-to-balances, and pistol squats.

Cardio:

Level 1 (Beginner):
20-30 minute Walk/Jog

Level 2 (Intermediate):
30 Minute Jog (look to begin to up your pace)

Level 3 (Advanced:
30 Minute Interval Run 4:1 (light jog for 4 minutes, hard run for 1, repeat for full duration)

Level 4 (Empress):
30 Minute Interval Run 3:1 (light jog for 3 minutes, hard run for 1, repeat for full duration)

Cardio Notes:

Emily spends a fair amount of time just traversing the world between targets, so running is our go-to for cardio, however there’s also a sort of flow to traversal in the world of Dishonored, specifically a “slow-fast-slow” type motion that we emulate with interval runs.  This also builds good aerobic and anaerobic conditioning for combat purposes.

Schedule:

Day 1: Strength
Day 2: Cardio
Day 3: Rest
Day 4: Strength
Day 5: Cardio
Day 6: Strength
Day 7: Rest

Schedule Notes:

Pretty straightforward schedule.  When you’re first starting out, day 6 may be a little rough, especially on your legs.  Feel free to go light on or even skip your leg exercises on that day, at least in the beginning.  Try to work your way up to full functionality on day 6, though (Corvo wouldn’t expect anything less if he was training you!)

As always, listen to your body, and take a break when you need to.  It’s better to take a little extra rest than it is to injure yourself and take a lot of extra rest.

That’s it for the Emily Kaldwin workout!  I hope you enjoy it!  I’ll see you again on Thursday!

Live boldly, change the world, and continue to be awesome!

The Best Dan Wallace