Tom Holland’s Spider-Man workout is built around two signature sessions: a 1,500-rep bodyweight ladder he does most Monday mornings, and a 20-minute CrossFit benchmark called “Cindy” that he turns to when time is short. Both were designed by trainer Duffy Gaver for Spider-Man: Brand New Day. His earlier films used a completely different, size-conscious program under a different coach. Here’s how it all fits together, and what a realistic version looks like if you don’t have a stunt double.
Two Trainers, Two Different Physiques: A Quick Timeline
If you’ve read three articles about Tom Holland’s training and come away with three different stories, that’s not you misreading anything. He’s genuinely worked with two trainers with two different goals, years apart.
George Ashwell (2016 to around 2021): For the earlier Spider-Man films, Ashwell built Holland a lean, low-bulk program using mostly bodyweight moves and a pair of dumbbells. The brief was specific: add muscle without losing the speed and mobility a teenage Peter Parker needed for stunts and choreography.
Duffy Gaver (2021 to now): Gaver, a former Navy SEAL who also built Chris Hemsworth’s Thor physique, took over during Uncharted and has run Holland’s training through No Way Home and Brand New Day. This is where CrossFit, the bodyweight ladder, and the weighted vest work come in. The goal shifted too. Holland has said he wanted to fill out the suit with real muscle instead of padding and CGI.
The two programs get merged in a lot of coverage because they’re both technically “Tom Holland’s Spider-Man workout.” They’re not the same plan, and knowing which era you’re looking at matters if you’re trying to copy it.
The Monday Morning Ladder: Holland’s Signature 1,500-Rep Workout
This is the workout that made Holland’s most recent transformation go viral, and it’s the centerpiece of his current training. He and a training partner run it most Monday mornings, using nothing but bodyweight.
The format is a ladder: you start at one rep per movement, add one rep each round, climb to round ten, then count back down to one.
Round 1:
- 1 pull-up
- 2 dips
- 3 press-ups
- 4 sit-ups
- 5 air squats
Round 10 (the top of the ladder):
- 10 pull-ups
- 20 dips
- 30 press-ups
- 40 sit-ups
- 50 air squats
You then descend back down to round 1. Add up every rep on the way up and back down, and the session totals exactly 1,500 reps across the five movements. Holland has described it plainly: “That is a monster workout.”
A session like this typically runs close to an hour, and it hits the chest, back, arms, and core without a single piece of equipment beyond a pull-up bar.
If you’re building up to this: don’t start at round 10. Most people are better off running the ladder up to round 5 or 6 first, or splitting the movements across two shorter sessions, before attempting the full climb.
Cindy: The 20-Minute Finisher Holland Uses When Time Is Short
When Holland doesn’t have an hour, he reaches for “Cindy,” a classic CrossFit benchmark workout. It’s simple to describe and genuinely hard to finish well.
Set a timer for 20 minutes and repeat this circuit for as many rounds as possible:
- 5 pull-ups
- 10 push-ups
- 15 air squats
Holland’s personal best is reportedly 27 rounds in the 20-minute window, done in a weighted vest. That works out to 135 pull-ups, 270 push-ups, and 405 squats. For context, fitness coaches generally consider 10 to 12 rounds a solid result for a newer athlete, 13 to 18 rounds intermediate, and anything above 20 strong.
Scaling this for a first attempt:
- Swap strict pull-ups for band-assisted pull-ups, inverted rows, or a lat pulldown machine
- Drop to incline or knee push-ups if your form starts to break down
- Set a pace you could hold for the full 20 minutes rather than sprinting the first five rounds
- Ten or fifteen minutes is a legitimate starting point if 20 feels like too much
The point of Cindy isn’t to hit Holland’s number. It’s a conditioning benchmark you can retest every few weeks to see your own progress.
Where It Started: The Original 2016 Spider-Man Circuit
Before the ladder and before CrossFit, Ashwell built Holland a five-round circuit to add roughly 15 pounds of lean muscle in about six weeks for the first Homecoming film. It used only bodyweight moves and a pair of dumbbells, and it’s a genuinely reasonable starting point if the current program looks intimidating.
The circuit, run for five rounds with 30 seconds of rest between exercises and two minutes between rounds:
- Bear crawls: 60 seconds
- Shoulder taps: 20 per arm
- Dumbbell thrusters: 10 to 12 reps
- Renegade rows: 10 to 12 reps per side
- Chin-ups: 10 to 12 reps
Ashwell has said the appeal of a whole-body circuit like this is that it lets you train more muscle groups in a single session without the fatigue cost of chasing size in every workout. It’s a lower-intensity entry point than anything Holland is doing now, which makes it a more realistic template for someone just getting started.
Ladder vs. Cindy vs. the Original Circuit, Compared
| Monday Ladder | Cindy | Original Circuit | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | ~45-60 minutes | 20 minutes | ~40 minutes |
| Equipment | Pull-up bar | Pull-up bar | Dumbbells |
| Total volume | 1,500 reps | Varies by rounds | Moderate |
| Best for | Strength endurance, a hard weekly anchor | Conditioning, quick sessions | Beginners building a base |
| Difficulty to start | High | Moderate, easily scaled | Low to moderate |
If you’re choosing one place to start, the original circuit or a scaled-down Cindy will get you further than jumping straight into the full ladder.
A Weekly Structure You Could Actually Try
Holland’s actual week during a training block is built around a film schedule, a personal trainer, and years of gymnastics and dance background most readers don’t have. Copying it rep for rep usually backfires. A more realistic version, spread across four days, keeps the same three building blocks (bodyweight strength, conditioning, and recovery) without requiring an hour every morning.
- Day 1: Scaled version of the ladder (up to round 5 or 6), 30 to 40 minutes
- Day 2: Rest or a walk, plus mobility work
- Day 3: Cindy, scaled to your level, 15 to 20 minutes
- Day 4: The original circuit above, at a comfortable pace
- Days 5 to 7: One more conditioning session if you have the energy, otherwise rest
This gets you the same three ingredients in Holland’s approach (a hard bodyweight anchor, a short conditioning hit, and a beginner-friendly circuit) spread across a week that doesn’t require training every day.
The Diet Holland Says Matters More Than the Gym
Holland has been consistent on this point in interviews: “It’s 80 percent diet and 20 percent fitness,” he’s said of what actually drives his results. Coming from someone doing 1,500-rep sessions, that’s a notable thing to say out loud.
His general day-to-day pattern, as he’s described it, isn’t complicated:
- Breakfast: Porridge with berries and nuts, plus a protein shake
- Lunch: Often skipped when he isn’t actively bulking for a role
- Dinner: The most flexible meal, ranging from lean protein and vegetables to the occasional In-N-Out run
- Supplements: Creatine and a protein powder, with the morning shake covering most of his vitamin and mineral needs
Two things are worth flagging here. First, Holland has been open that the 500-calorie diet he used for the film Cherry was a genuinely unhealthy approach he’s said he won’t repeat, which is a useful reminder that not every celebrity diet story is one to copy. Second, his own trainers have pointed to consistency and recovery, not extreme restriction, as the actual driver of his results.
His wife, Zendaya, factors into the day-to-day more than you’d expect. When the two of them are on the road together for press tours, they track the restaurants they’ve tried using an app called Beli, which is less a diet strategy than a small shared habit that says something about how deliberate the couple are about routine even outside the gym. If you’re curious how she structures her own days, Zendaya’s daily routine covers her approach to movement, food, and skincare.
What the Exercise List Leaves Out
Every article about this topic, including this one, can list the sets and reps. What’s easy to miss is everything happening around the workouts that actually makes them sustainable.
Holland trained as a competitive gymnast and spent two years in tap dance before he was ever cast as Spider-Man, which gives him a base level of body control and mobility that most adults starting from scratch don’t have. He’s also been open that he’s been sober since 2022, which he’s credited with better sleep and sharper focus in training. And his trainers have consistently prioritized functional movement and recovery time over pushing through fatigue, which is a large part of how he’s avoided injury through years of stunt work.
None of that shows up in a list of exercises, but it’s arguably a bigger factor in why the training works for him than any single workout on this page.
Quick Answers About Tom Holland’s Training
What is Tom Holland’s main workout? His current signature session is a 1,500-rep bodyweight ladder (pull-ups, dips, press-ups, sit-ups, and squats) done most Monday mornings, built by trainer Duffy Gaver.
Who trains Tom Holland? Duffy Gaver has trained him since Uncharted, through No Way Home and Brand New Day. George Ashwell trained him for the earlier Spider-Man films.
How many pull-ups can Tom Holland do? His reported personal best in the 20-minute “Cindy” workout is 27 rounds, which includes 135 pull-ups alongside 270 push-ups and 405 squats.
Does Tom Holland lift heavy weights? Not primarily. His training leans on high-volume bodyweight work, CrossFit-style conditioning, and a weighted vest for added load, rather than traditional heavy barbell lifting.
What does Tom Holland eat in a day? Porridge with berries and a protein shake for breakfast, often no lunch when he isn’t bulking, and a flexible dinner. He’s said his results come down to roughly 80 percent diet.
Starting This Week
You don’t need Holland’s gymnastics background, his trainer, or an hour every Monday morning to take something useful from this. Pick one piece: the scaled Cindy workout is the easiest entry point for most people, since it only takes 20 minutes and scales down cleanly. Run it once this week, write down your rounds, and try to beat that number in three weeks. That’s a more realistic transformation goal than trying to recreate someone else’s press tour in a month.
If you’re curious how another actor built a comparable physique on a very different training philosophy, Michael B. Jordan’s workout plan leans much more on structured lifting and boxing conditioning. And since Holland has credited his own turning point to training alongside Mark Wahlberg on the set of Uncharted, Wahlberg’s daily routine is worth a look for anyone curious where that comparison started.
