The first two instalments of the James Bond workout, which Daniel Craig used to build his athletic frame for Casino Royal and Quantum of Solace, focused on weight training exercises to build muscle. The plyometric circuit is more concerned with building functional athletic strength, as well as core strength. There are only four exercises. You can perform these either as a traditional circuit, with one set on each exercise, and repeating the circuit several times, or you can just perform several sets of each exercise before moving on to the next.

Bond Circuit Training

Weighted Knee Raises: For this you will need a Captain’s chair (also known as a hanging leg raise station). Position yourself on the chair with your forearms on the supports and holding that hand grips. Lifting a dumbbell with your feet, while tensing your abs, raise your knees as high as possible towards your chest. Pause and hold before returning the weight to the floor.

Clean and Press: The clean and press is the classic compound exercise. If you are performing this routine on its own, ensure that you warm up well first. Start by standing in front of a barbell, with your feet shoulder width apart. Squat down and grab the bar with a overhand grip (knuckles facing up). In one fluid motion, raise the bar to your chest while quickly standing. The “clean” means that you lift the weight to your chest without it pausing along your legs/waist on the way up. One “clean” movement. From here, press the weight overhead. Return the weight to your chest, then lower back the floor, squatting down to the start position.

Weighted Step Ups: The weighted step up is a simple but often neglected exercise. Hold a pair of dumbbells with one foot on a bench. Then, while keeping yourself upright (do not lean forward!) push up off the floor with your other leg, to quickly stand up on the bench. Return the leg to the floor and repeat. Work each leg separately, do not alternate on each rep.

To make “more plyometric” perform box jumps instead. For this a stable box is essential – do not attempt on bench. Simple stand facing a box, and then quickly squat down slightly before powering yourself up onto the box. A simple standing jump up. Extremely effective.

A Note on Combining the Workouts

Together these three James Bond workouts can be combined into one session, or they can be performed individually. It depends on how intensive you want each exercise to be. If you are planning to combine this with the Daniel Back and Leg Exercises with the Arms and Shoulders workout then you will need to modify or omit some exercises. For example you will not be able to perform the clean and press in the same session as the squats and shoulder presses. It is recommended that you follow a routine similar to this:

• Day 1: Plyometric Circuit
• Day 2: Back and Leg Exercises
• Day 3: Active Rest – gentle swimming, yoga or other activities
• Day 4: Arms and Shoulders
• Day 5: Plyometric Circuit
• Day 6/7: Active Rest