Best Training Montage — 15 Scenes Beyond Rocky & Creed

The typical training montage is about physical preparation but that doesn't mean it can't be used for mental tasks as well. Specifically, learning how to use the Force as naive Luke Skywalker must do. This scene from The Empire Strikes Back also features one of the classic variations of the training montage — the Master/Apprentice montage.

One of the tell-tale signs of a great movie training montage is if a line is so memorable it becomes an iconic quote of motivation. Few training quotes are as iconic as Yoda in The Empire Strike Back, “Do. Or do not. There is no try.” While the production design makes the scene memorable, the writing and Yoda’s ideology is what makes it iconic. 

So far on the list, we’ve covered some pretty specific scenes with some very out-of-this-world goals. But sometimes, what makes a training montage great is how relatable it can be. The training is intense, but realistic and relatable to anyone who trains. 

In this scene from Never Back Down, we get all the classics of the best training montages — the initial struggle, the use of repetition to show progress, a driving, motivational soundtrack, and that final moment of triumph.

While it’s obvious that any training montage for bobsledding will be a ton of fun, what really sells this montage in Cool Runnings is the dynamic between team and coach. Irving Blitzer (John Candy) breaks down the craft of bobsledding and the cast nails the drills — for comedic relief that is. Bobsledding performance, not so much. 

A fair amount of losing and getting beat up by your master always makes the success of training and progress taste sweeter. This is the case for both Frank Dux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) and the audience.  And everyone knows how important "serving tea blindfolded" is when training for the Kumate. 

Not to mention the iconic final triumph of Frank pulling the ropes tight after being quite tortured by them. Van Damme movies often paid this much attention to the training montage. Kickboxer is a classic honorable mention. 

The original Karate Kid (1984) certainly has an iconic training regimen (karate disguised as chores) and a classic one-liner ("Wax on, wax off") but it lacks in the training montage department. This isn't the case with the Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith remake. 

Here Dre Parker (Smith) is put through a grueling sequence, including running in mud, high-kicking on the Great Wall and another triumphant climax involving the splits. 

As one of the best training montages in movies, this Batman Begins scene fires on all cylinders. The location, the action, the emotion, and the triumph all climax at a pivotal point in the film’s plot. Bale across Neeson is a student master combo that just makes sense on screen. 

The song quite literally tells it all. It’s called a montage. And it’s epic. The satire hits home with the addition of the not so subtle lyrics of the scene’s song. Meta? Perhaps. Hilarious? You bet. We can’t expect any less from Trey Parker and Matt Stone — creators of The Book of Mormon and South Park. 

Speaking of songs, the tune of I’ll Make a Man Out of You in the Mulan training day scene is perhaps the most iconic song on this list. It’s undoubtedly one of the more iconic scenes from the classic film. Mulan became the first to retrieve the arrow after thinking differently and creatively made the triumph hit even harder at the end of the montage. 

We know we already brought up the cliché of the classic-ness that is the original Rocky training scene, but some things are a cliche for a reason. The song itself in the scene has become an anthem for motivation. The scene has been parodied to death exercise to exercise. And of course, there’s the stairs. What better visual metaphor for triumph than the stone stairs that overlook Philadelphia — he's not just fighting for himself, he's fighting for his city.