Image 1 of 1
Training Split:
Day 1. Lower Body
Day 2. Vertical Push & Pull
Day 3. Hellboy Day
Day 4. Horizontal Push & Pull
Day 5. Arm Day
Day 6: Optional Hellboy Day
What’s Included:
App Access, Desktop Dashboard, & eBook
Hellboy, Gym Program
Exercise Demonstration Videos
Weight Logging & Tracking
Nutrition, Supplement, & Macro Guides
Private Group Access
No subscription or reoccurring fees for the Don Saladino app. The app is FREE. Your purchased programs will be stored & accessed within your app account.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
The official training program that transformed David Harbour into the beastly, battle-ready Hellboy. Designed for those who want to develop brute strength, resilient muscle, and unrelenting power. This 9-week gym-based training plan pulls no punches. Whether you're dragging sleds, slamming med balls, or carrying heavy iron across the gym floor, you're building the kind of body that looks like it could tear through walls.
“David brought me a photo of an Olympic shot putter and said, ‘Make me this.’”
– Don Saladino
When I started training David during Stranger Things, he wasn't looking for six-pack abs—he wanted to move like a monster and hit like a tank. At the beginning of preparing for the role, David was struggling to pull 24 kilo kettlebells off the ground due to a back injury. 9 weeks later, David pulled 400lbs off the ground for a crisp single!
🛠️ PROGRAM STRUCTURE
Day 1: Lower Body
Kick off the week by building brute lower-body strength and posterior chain resilience. This session includes explosive primers like broad jumps and slams, followed by squats, RDLs, and split squats to drive power, hypertrophy, and stability from the ground up.
Day 2: Vertical Push & Pull
Develop overhead pressing strength and vertical pulling capacity with a strategic mix of dumbbell presses, lat pulldowns, and isolation work. Dynamic warmups prepare the shoulders and spine for heavy, vertical loading without compromising mobility.
Day 3: Hellboy Day
This is the ultimate functional conditioning day focused on heavy carries, bear crawls, and slams to mimic raw, real-world power. You’ll build full-body resilience, grip strength, core stability, and mental toughness.
Day 4: Horizontal Push & Pull
Combine classic benching with deadlifts and rows for a massive upper body and strong posterior chain. Rotational work and lateral movement patterns are integrated to keep your body athletic and adaptable.
Day 5: Arm Day
Go full beast mode on the arms with curls, tricep extensions, and pump-chasing supersets. The session is paired with athletic prep work and a high intensity finisher to lock in the week’s gains.
Optional Day 6: Hellboy Day (Reloaded)
This repeatable chaos session challenges your endurance, mindset, and full body coordination. You can choose your cardio finishers based on your recovery and your grit.
🚀PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
+ Built for Brute Strength – Inspired by Hellboy’s physique: dense, powerful, and unapologetically strong.
+ Verified – The exact style used by David Harbour to transform for his role as Hellboy.
+ Power & Hypertrophy Blend – Combines explosive movements with traditional lifts and carries for maximum output and muscle density.
+ Progressive 9-Week Structure – Each phase increases intensity, volume, and complexity to keep you progressing every week.
Build unbreakable strength, power, & resilience. Start the Hellboy Gym Program today.
DAY 1 BREAKDOWN:
🔍 LOWER BODY – Strength, Power & Posterior Chain Resilience
🧨 A BLOCK: Athletic Activation & Mobility
A1: Broad Jumps – Explode through the hips to prime for power output
A2: Med Ball Slams – Engage the upper body and core for dynamic coordination
A3: Bear Crawls – Activate the full kinetic chain and improve trunk stability
🟢 Purpose: Fire up the nervous system, build mobility, and prep for heavy, explosive lifts.
🏋️ B BLOCK: Strength – Front-Loaded Squats
B1: Double Kettlebell Front Squat – Train quad dominant strength with core engagement under front load
🟢 Purpose: Build powerful legs while improving posture and trunk control.
🦵 C BLOCK: Strength – Posterior Chain
C1: Barbell RDL – Focus on controlled eccentric loading through the hamstrings and glutes
🟢 Purpose: Strengthen the posterior chain for durability, balance, and raw pulling power.
🔥 D BLOCK: Unilateral Strength Work
D1: DB Split Squat – Increase unilateral leg strength and hip stability
🟢 Purpose: Correct imbalances and enhance single-leg coordination and strength.
🦵 E BLOCK: Isolation – Hamstrings
E1: Seated Leg Curl – Isolate the hamstrings in a safe, supported range of motion
🟢 Purpose: Add targeted volume for muscle growth and joint support.
🏁 F BLOCK: Finisher – Conditioning & Grit
Choose one:
F1: Battle Ropes Short Wave – Total-body metabolic finisher to spike intensity
F2: Pick Your Poison Cardio – Rower, sled, bike, or treadmill sprints. Your call, just move
🟢 Purpose: Cap off leg day with heart-pounding conditioning and mental toughness.
Build unbreakable strength, power, & resilience. Start the Hellboy Gym Program today!
To get familiar with the app, check out the How to Use the App video in the sidebar and the How to Use the App guide in the Resources section, located in the footer.
While logging your workout, tap the History Button ↺ (second icon in the footer), a pop-up screen will appear with your logging history for the exercise, tap Close in the upper left corner to return to logging.
You can change from pounds to kilograms by tapping Settings in the lower right of the footer, toggling the slider on for Metric, and tapping Save in the upper right corner.
Don’s Interview with David Harbour at Drive 495
Muscle & Fitness Interview with Don Saladino
HELLBOY FAQs
-
Don started training David Harbour back in 2015, during the filming of Stranger Things Season 1. Funny enough, it wasn’t a role that required him to look ripped. He was playing a small-town police chief who lived on doughnuts and coffee, not protein shakes and deadlifts.
-
David brought Don a photo of an Olympic shot putter. Someone big, fierce, and powerful-looking. The goal was to build a physique that looked like it could pick up a house. Strong, imposing, and absolutely ferocious.
-
The three main goals are:
1. Resiliency
2. Strength
3. Power
When Don started training David for Hellboy, David was recovering from a back injury and struggled to pull 24kg kettlebells off the ground. Just 9 weeks later, he pulled a clean 400-pound deadlift for a single. That transformation says it all.