When Tom Holland returned as Peter Parker in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” on July 31, fans were quick to notice that he looked especially fit. Within a few days, an interview clip of the actor discussing his workouts at an event last year resurfaced and went viral.
Holland told a reporter for Men’s Health UK that when he’s short on time, he does a CrossFit workout called the “Cindy,” which involves doing five pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 squats as many times as you can in 20 minutes.
“You don’t have to think about anything, you just count your rounds,” he said in the interview. What makes his take extra-impressive is just how many rounds he said he can complete: “If I’m feeling great,” he said, “I will, you know, just push through. … I think my record is 27 rounds,” which equates to 810 repetitions total. (Holland’s representative did not respond to a request for comment on the topic.)
While plenty of people have taken to social media to try to beat Holland’s record, you certainly don’t have to hit this many reps to get a great workout. “One of the beauties of this style of workout is that it’s very scalable to the person when done as intended,” said Natalie Ribble, a certified personal trainer at Seattle Strength and Performance.
You can rest in between rounds or move as slowly as needed. It’s also a good way to track progress, she added: If you continue to do the Cindy, over time, you’ll find that you can layer on additional rounds within the 20 minutes.
Ribble called the three exercises it includes — pull-up, push-up and squat — “meat-and-potatoes movements” because they involve flexing multiple muscles in unison, modeling how we move in day-to-day life. They’re also among the five exercises that longtime Washington Post fitness columnist Gretchen Reynolds has covered as essential for healthy aging.
Doing these moves in succession for 20 minutes is an efficient way to target several key muscle groups at once. That said, all three can be challenging for people new to strength training, so it’s okay to start with fewer reps over a shorter period or swap in an easier variation of each move instead.
Below, Ribble breaks down each exercise in Holland’s go-to quick workout, including how to do it safely, pitfalls to avoid and a modified version for beginners.
1. Pull-up
Using your arms to hike up your body will target your back muscles while also working out your core and improving your grip strength, Ribble said.
If you’re new to pull-ups or struggle to get your nose to the height of the bar, you can opt for a simple dead hang, Ribble said.
And if all moves with your arms overhead are difficult or painful, perhaps because of shoulder mobility issues, you can replace the pull-up with any rowing-style exercise (whether with dumbbells or a machine) to similarly target your back muscles, she added.
2. Push-up
With push-ups, you’ll primarily work out your chest, triceps and shoulders, Ribble said, which covers the remaining upper-body muscles. It’s best to maintain “a strong plank position, not letting the hips sag toward the floor and keeping the shoulder blades down, with elbows tucked to your sides,” she said, to avoid straining your lower back or shoulders.
If a regular push-up feels out of reach, you can do a wall push-up. Modifications that fall between a traditional push-up and a wall push-up in terms of difficulty include push-ups with your hands on, say, the back of a couch, a weight bench or a box on the floor — the closer to the ground you are, the harder it will be.
Ribble recommends these versions over a knee push-up because they involve full-body tension and greater core engagement, which will get you closer to a standard push-up with time.
3. Squat
Squatting activates the legs, mostly the quadriceps running along the front of the thighs, Ribble said. Be sure to lower down with control, versus just sinking to the bottom of your squat, to maximize the tension and steer clear of knee issues.
Also look out for the tendency to hinge your chest forward and use your back — rather than your legs — to pump yourself up to standing, Ribble added, which can ultimately cause back problems.
The simplest modification for a typical squat is a chair squat, which involves sitting for a moment during each rep and offers support at the bottom of the movement.
As you cycle through these moves á la Tom Holland, it’s important to keep in mind whether you are becoming fatigued and adjust as needed, Ribble said. For example, “maybe you start out doing the 10 push-ups in the standard format, and then by Round 5, you’re doing incline push-ups on a bench and by the last round, you’re doing wall push-ups,” Ribble said. Or perhaps you just begin with a single repetition of each move and add in more when that feels easy.
However you slice it, Holland’s quick workout checks the boxes when it comes to a simple strength routine that exercises much of your body in little time.
“So if that’s what gets you excited to move,” Ribble said, “then, by all means, do it.”
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