Gary Strydom’s Workout Routine and Diet Plan

Standing tall at a towering 6 feet 2 inches and weighing over 275 lbs, Gary Strydom is undoubtedly one of the largest bodybuilders in the world. He has carved a niche for himself in the world of professional bodybuilding by winning numerous bodybuilding titles.

Gary has a physique that is monstrously muscular and extremely aesthetic as well. And if you are here, we are sure that you must be willing to know the secrets behind his amazing physique.

So without further ado, let’s throw some light on Gary Strydom’s workout routine and diet plan. It will let you know almost everything that you will ever need to know about Gary’s fitness regime.

Gary Strydom’s Workout Principles

When it comes to exercising his body, Gary tends to be a fanatic. He subjects his body to such intense and high-volume training that can be extremely tortuous and annihilating for an average gym-goer.

Gary Strydom’s workout plan primarily consists of hardcore weight training. He also relies on performing a certain amount of cardio to keep his body lean as it enables him to burn off excess fat from his frame.

Let’s get to know more about Gary’s workout routine in the next section.

Gary Strydom’s Workout Routine

Gary Strydom’s love for bodybuilding originated after getting inspired by old-school bodybuilders, especially Arnold. This made him structure a workout routine which had numerous elements related to old-school bodybuilding training.

Even after being a pro bodybuilder, Gary still swears about the effectiveness of basic compound exercises performed with free weights such as bench presses, squats, overhead presses, barbell rows, and deadlifts.

He claims that the execution of those exercises not only involves different muscle groups but also facilitates strength gains. Getting stronger is something that is often associated with gaining size. So if you too want to get as massive as Gary, ensure to make those exercises an important part of your training routine.

Since Gary follows a high-volume training protocol, he goes up to hitting 25-30 sets for bigger muscle groups and 12-15 sets for smaller muscle groups in his training sessions.

There are two kinds of workout splits that Gary follows. In one of them, he trains just once a day whereas, in the other one, he goes up to training twice a day.

Gary Strydom’s workout split looks like the following:-

Workout Split 1

• Sunday- Legs
• Monday- Chest
• Tuesday- Back
• Wednesday- Legs
• Thursday- Shoulders
• Friday- Arms
• Saturday- Rest

Workout Split 2

• Day 1- Quads (am), Hamstrings (pm)
• Day 2- Arms (am), Calves, stationary bike (pm)
• Day 3- Deadlifts (am), Upper back (pm)
• Day 4- Chest (am), Shoulders, abs, and cardio (pm)

Now let’s have a look at the exercises that he performs for his different muscle groups:-

Chest

• Dumbbell bench press (as a warm-up)- 3-4 sets of 12 reps
• Dumbbell bench press/flys combo- 5-6 sets of 15-25 reps
• Incline machine press- 5-6 sets of 15-25 reps
• Cable crossovers- 8-12 sets of 10-30 reps
• Pullovers- 5 sets of 10-12 reps

Delts

• Presses behind the neck/Seated dumbbell press- 4 sets of 8 to 10 reps
• Dumbbell side laterals/Cable side laterals- 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps
• Dumbbell bent over laterals/Cable bent over laterals- 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps
• Close grip upright rows- 4 sets of 8 to 10 reps

Warm up and cool down

Being an experienced lifter, Gary knows the importance of warm-up and cool-down routines. Hence, before getting started with his brutal lifting sessions, he goes through a well-structured warm-up routine to prep his muscles to take up the stress of his workouts. It primarily includes performing 1-2 sets of higher reps with lighter weights.

He also ensures to stretch his muscles properly at the end of his workouts as a part of his cool-down routine. This results in relaxing his muscles well thereby saving him from any kind of training-related injuries caused due to muscle stiffening.

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Overtraining

Gary has never believed in the concept of overtraining. And that is the reason why his intense exercise routine extends for long durations. He claims that training for long hours has always worked in his favor in terms of fetching him massive muscle gains. He further adds,

“I say there is no such thing as overtraining, only under-eating, under sleeping, or under juicing.”

Gary Strydom’s Diet Plan

Gary has always been quite disciplined with his eating habits. Being a pro bodybuilder isn’t just about training intensely but also getting a clear idea about how one must feed the body to gain the most out of the training sessions. And Gary is no different in this regard.

Gary Strydom’s diet plan focuses on building and maintaining his monstrous muscle mass. Owing to this reason, it includes plenty of whole food items loaded with essential nutrients. Gary eats huge amounts of calories every day, but at the same time makes sure that they all are coming from nutritious food items only.

• Gary Strydom’s everyday diet plan consists of food items like chicken breast, eggs, broccoli, green and leafy veggies, rice, and other sources of good carbs.
• Gary eats pretty much the same food items all the time. He has never relied on going with the concepts of on-season dieting and off-season dieting.

Staying Hydrated

Apart from eating nutritiously, Gary also makes sure that his body is decently hydrated. And for that reason, he drinks plenty of water throughout the day. Doing so also assists in detoxifying his body well.

What ‘Not’ to Eat?

As we mentioned before, Gary always prefers to have the same food items day in and day out. He stays away from any kind of cheat meal(s) that could mess up his physique and fitness levels.

Hence, food items that are loaded with bad calories or those that are extremely fried or processed have no place in his diet chart whatsoever.

Gary Strydom’s Supplements

Gary always has to ensure that his nutrition plan is as perfect as it can be. After all, the maintenance of monstrous muscle gains is possible only if he fetches his body well, thus he ensures his diet plan doesn’t fall short of any vital nutrients.

To serve that purpose, he includes a few supplements into it. Gary Strydom’s supplements stack includes the following:-

• Whey protein
• BCAAs
• Multivitamin

Gary consumes whey protein shakes 2-3 times a day (one right after his training session) to increase his daily protein intake. He also likes to have BCAAs during his workout sessions to keep his body in an anabolic state which boosts muscle recovery and growth.

Gary takes a multivitamin supplement to fetch his body certain micronutrients which boosts its overall functioning. It also helps in countering any kind of nutritional deficiencies.

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The Bottom Line

Gary Strydom has been a professional bodybuilder with numerous years of training experience and expertise. Hence, we would recommend you not copy his training program and nutrition plan as it is. Ensure to make certain modifications to it that will be in accordance with your training goals and experience.

In order to get the most out of your fitness regime, we would also recommend you take the assistance of an experienced trainer or coach. This will also make sure that your body doesn’t get subjected to any kind of injuries that are a result of training with bad form or lifting extremely heavy.

Sticking to your fitness regime with consistency and dedication will surely make you earn your desired physique gradually.