Guts Calisthenics Workout: Train like The Black Swordsman of Berserk!

Last updated on January 13th, 2023 at 05:51 am

I recently posted our original Guts Inspired Workout to TikTok (again) and The SHJ Army went nuts for it.

BUT, as you guys know, we have a lot of members who are using strictly calisthenics training, so we had hundreds of requests for a calisthenics version of Guts’ workout to hit the site.

Now, sometimes I just say no.  I’ve had people ask for a calisthenics version of Yujiro Hanma or Biscuit Oliva, and the answer is just no.

I’m not going to write a routine for you guys that has a goal of a physique that is barely obtainable for any human on the planet WITH WEIGHTS, let alone entirely impossible without them. I’d be doing you a disservice.

That being said, Guts has an insane physique, but it’s actually obtainable with a lot of progressive overload in your calisthenics training.

I’ll break it down a bit more for you guys below (and also discuss his stats in the mix as well).

Guts Stats:

Real Name: Guts

Height: 6’8

Weight: 253 lbs.

Anime: Berserk

Powers: No

Guts is a behemoth within our Anime Workouts Database. That much is true.

But, if we compare him to someone like Dwayne Johnson, who stands in 4 inches shorter, they only have about ten pounds or so off in weight.

Wolverine was the shortest spot among comic characters we’ve seen at 5’3, prior to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles coming in at 5’2, (and Gimli even shorter) – but Damian Wayne (Robin) is only 5’4.  Goku isn’t that tall either, though, standing only 5’7, with Miles Morales only an inch above him.

One Punch Man falls in at 5’9 right there with Ryu, Nightwing at 5’10, and then Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Green Arrow coming in around 5’11 and Beast joining them.

We’ve had Superman and Eddie Brock’s Venom at 6’3, and Captain America, Scorpion and Batman at 6’2, and Carnage at 6’1. Thor and Cyborg are towering over them at 6’6, Thanos and King right there with them at 6’7, Bane at 6’8, and Deathstroke right below at 6’5, and Black Manta at 6’4.

Ronan and Sagat are 7’5, and Doomsday came in at 8’10, and I doubt any characters are touching that anytime soon.

But, don’t worry if you’re not the same height or weight range.

We write these routines to be utilized by anyone and everyone.

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Guts Calisthenics Diet and Nutrition

**Keep in mind: this section will be nearly identical for each hero.**

Every hero needs to still have a good diet.

Unfortunately we can train like them, but I don’t think any of us are suddenly getting their powers, or the ability to magically stop caring about nutrition.

You can’t out train your diet, so I want to still give some pillars for nutrition.

You can start by checking out The Nutrition Pillars on the site, but I’ll break down some more information for you guys as well.

Guys like Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart incorporate 80/20 dieting with big weekly cheat meals, Hugh Jackman, Tom Hopper, Benedict Cumberbatch and Terry Crews utilize intermittent fasting (something I use daily as well), Ariana Grande, Mustafa Shakir and Madelaine Petsch are vegans, Brandon Routh and Frank Grillo opt for paleo, and tons of others utilize their own variations as well.

It’s all about sustainability.

AND, there are a thousand different ways to reach your goals, so finding the most sustainable way is what’s important.

Which is why our Academy utilizes multiple different Nutrition Classes (Greek Gods, Vikings, Spartans, Hunter Gatherers, Monks, Samurais, Minimalists, SuperHumans) to allow people to choose what is right for YOU!

Curious where over a hundred celebs fall in their dietary choices ranging from High Protein and Keto to Vegetarian, Vegan and Intermittent Fasting? Want exclusive celeb meal plans? Check this out.

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Guts Calisthenics Workout Routine Research

We’ve made it to “the fun part”.

And, if you don’t know by now, I say that every single time we get to the workout routine research section for character workouts.

To learn more about Guts, although we’ve already done our research in our original weight training routine, we’ll be pulling from his Wiki Fandom page, starting with a brief bio section:

Guts, renowned as the “Black Swordsman”, is a former mercenary and branded wanderer who travels the world in a constant internal struggle between pursuing his own ends and upholding his attachments to those dear to him.

At one time driven solely by his will to survive, Guts finds purpose in life upon joining the Band of the Falcon, greatly helping in the faction’s storied successes during the Hundred-Year War as captain of the band’s raiders. He eventually becomes dissatisfied with clinging to Griffith’s dream and departs from the band in pursuit of his own. Following the horrors of the Eclipse prompted by Griffith,^[11] Guts embarks on a two-year war against the God Hand and apostles, becoming increasingly embittered on his one-track quest for retribution. He in time realizes protecting his regressed lover is more important to him,^[12] as well as something he cannot do alone, and thus puts aside his quest for revenge while fostering camaraderie with new companions.

If we then move into his abilities we can begin breaking down exactly what we’ll need to be working around to create this workout routine.

From there I’ll also be talking about his physique a bit more, and why I think a calisthenics start could move you in the right direction.

Here’s what they give us for the intro to his abilities:

Ever since he was six years of age, Guts has wielded oversized swords, culminating in his incredible strength and master swordsmanship. Despite his Herculean stature, Guts is notably dexterous and agile in the heat of battle, capable of dodging and countering even the most rapid strikes. He is a combat pragmatist and versatile improviser, capitalizing on any opportunity available to surmount opposition; on several occasions, he has used children to bait and distract enemies when overwhelmed. Even combatants known for their keen combat intellect, such as Silat and Serpico, have fallen prey to Guts’ adaptive capacity and combative wit.

From there they go on to talk about Guts’ conditioning, which they explain as follows:

Peak Human Condition: Guts has been a struggler of the battlefield since the raw age of nine, and as such, has had nearly two decades to refine himself into the formidable warrior he is. During his days as a mercenary in the Hundred-Year War, he became famed for single-handedly slaying 100 Tudor soldiers, and even garnered the respect of the legendary swordsman Nosferatu Zodd for being the first human in three centuries to wound the apostle. Following the Eclipse, his strength and reflexes improve drastically even still, honed to their peak in his constant struggle against otherworldly creatures as one branded. Guts’ combat prowess becomes so great as to rival the normal forms of the most formidable apostles, allowing him to contend with them on equal footing. On the Hill of Swords, Guts demonstrates the ability to contend with Zodd’s released form, with the match ending in a draw after Griffith orders Zodd’s retreat.

Superhuman conditioning: Donning the Berserker Armor, Guts is able to ignore the physiological safety mechanisms of his own body, and is then capable of superhuman feats of strength, speed, and agility enabling him to decisively overwhelm powerful apostles even in their released forms.

We have built workouts around far stronger characters than Guts, so we’re not worried about being able to accomplish this with calisthenics – we’ll be training for strength, speed, agility, and stamina.

What I do want to discuss a bit more is Guts’ overall stature.

He’s huge, but his mass isn’t anything outside of human potential. For example, Dwayne Johnson stands in 4 inches shorter than guts, but weighs less than ten pounds less than he does – meaning Guts’ overall muscle mass isn’t impossible to achieve.

Now, that doesn’t mean everyone is going to want to put in the years of training that will be necessary, but we can sure as hell train to achieve this goal.

Here’s what the main goals of this workout are:

• Guts’ Massive and Shredded Physique
• Guts’ Peak Human Condition
• Guts’ Strength, Speed and Stamina

We’ve already built out our original routine with weight training (click here for the original Guts Workout), which will theoretically be more efficient to achieve our goals, but if you’re part of my calisthenics crew out there in the SHJ Army we’re making this one for you.

You HAVE to increase your volume, intensity, and to harder variations of movements over time, or you will not be able to build the mass necessary to achieve this physique.

So get ready to crush it, but also be ready to step it up a notch with progressive overload.

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Guts Calisthenics Workout Routine

Training Volume:

4 days per week of calisthenics and 1-2 days a week of endurance training

Explanation:

For this one we’ll be utilizing four days of calisthenics training that will be based on hitting fatigue and using progressive overload to focus in on hypertrophy and building muscle, but the scaling up will be on you.  I won’t be there to tell you went to increase the volume/workload (as discussed above), that’s on you.  We’ll also use long distance endurance training and HIIT to build that speed and endurance Guts has as well.

Want To Upgrade This Workout?

The Superhero Academy now comes with an Upgrade Your Workout Tool that allows Academy members to turn any SHJ workout into a 4-8 week fully planned regime detailing exact weights to lift and including reverse & traditional pyramid training, straight sets, super sets, progressive overload and more.

Guts Calisthenics Workout: Sample Schedule

Monday: Upper Body Focused Calisthenics Work and Core

Tuesday: Full Body Calisthenics Work and HIIT

Wednesday: Long Distance Cardio Endurance Training

Thursday: Lower Body Focused Calisthenics Work and Core

Friday: Full Body Calisthenics Work and HIIT

Saturday: Long Distance Cardio Endurance Training

Sunday: Rest Day

Guts Calisthenics Workout: Upper Body Focused Calisthenics Work

Warm Up:

Walk 10-15 Minutes or Jog 800-1600M

Initial Work:

Your starting work is scalable but as the weeks go by it’s your responsibility to increase the volume/rep count.

Regular Push Ups (Can Scale on Knees)

4×25

Skull Crushers (Calisthenics)

4×20

Wide to Close Push Ups (Can Scale on Knees)

4×20

Dips (Can Scale using Chair)

4×20

Pull Ups (Can Scale to Pikes)

4×10

Fatigue Blowout:

Complete 3 Rounds Super-Set Style

• Push Ups to Failure
• Dips to Failure
• Pike Push Ups to Failure

Core Work:

Forearm Plank

3×60 Seconds

V-Ups

3×30

Leg Raises (Lying or Hanging)

3×25

L-Sit Hold

3×15 Seconds

Guts Calisthenics Workout: Full Body Focused Calisthenics Work and HIIT

For your full body calisthenics days we are going to focus on working with the most effective compound calisthenics movements and hit them HARD.

Warm Up:

Walk 10-15 Minutes or Jog 800-1600M

Initial Work:

Your starting work is scalable but as the weeks go by it’s your responsibility to increase the volume/rep count.

Explosive Push Ups

5×30

Jump Squats

5×20

Dips

5×15

Chin Ups

5×10

HIIT Endurance Work:

Instead of a finisher and core on your full body focused days you’re going to work on shredding some extra fat to show off the abs you’re building on other days.  For this you’re more then welcome to switch it up and do 20, 30 or even 60 minutes of HIIT, but I recommend choosing from our favorite HIIT workouts:

• The Best HIIT Workouts To Step Up Your Workout

Guts Calisthenics Workout: Long Distance Cardio Endurance Training

For your endurance, HIIT or MMA/Parkour days you have quite a few options.
You can utilize enforced endurance training that I will program for you based on your fitness level like we do with other workouts here at SHJ…OR you can do 45-60+ minutes of varied cardio (bike, treadmill, elliptical, stairs, row, swim, etc.)…OR you can even use the HIIT resources I’ll provide.

I’ll break it down in that order:

Option One – Run Based on Overall Fitness Level:

Beginner: 1-3 Miles

Intermediate: 3-5 Miles

Advanced: 5+ Miles

Endurance Work Resources:

• Constance Wu Workout Routine and Diet Plan
• Ewan McGregor Workout Routine and Diet Plan
• Kid Flash Workout Routine and Diet Plan
• Grant Gustin Workout Routine and Diet Plan
• How To Continue Training After Your First 5K (Workout Included)

Option Two – Varied Cardio for 45-60 Minutes:

Split your cardio up however you’d like but complete 45-60+ minutes using:

• Treadmill Walk/Run
• Rower Machine
• StairMaster
• Elliptical
• Swim
• Bike

Option Three – Complete HIIT Training Using SHJ Resources:

• The Best HIIT Workouts
• Jump Rope Workout Database
• Academy Members: Insert a Benchmark Hero Workout (Circuit) or SHJ Core Circuit Test

Guts Calisthenics Workout: Lower Body Focused Calisthenics Work

Warm Up:

Walk 10-15 Minutes or Jog 800-1600M

Initial Work:

Your starting work is scalable but as the weeks go by it’s your responsibility to increase the volume/rep count.

Air Squats (Can Scale Using Chair)

4×25

Glute Bridges

4×20

Bulgarian Split Squats

4×20 each leg

Alternating Pistol Squats (Scale Using Chair)

4×20 total

Box Jumps

4×10

Fatigue Blowout:

Complete 3 Rounds Super-Set Style

• Pause Squats to Failure
• Wall Sit to Failure
• Lying Leg Raises to Failure

Core Work:

Forearm Plank

3×60 Seconds

Sit Ups

3×30

Russian Twists

3×25

Hollow Hold

3×15 Seconds

Guts Calisthenics Workout: Full Body Focused Calisthenics Work and HIIT

For your full body calisthenics days we are going to focus on working with the most effective compound calisthenics movements and hit them HARD.

Warm Up:

Walk 10-15 Minutes or Jog 800-1600M

Initial Work:

Your starting work is scalable but as the weeks go by it’s your responsibility to increase the volume/rep count.

Explosive Push Ups

5×30

Jump Squats

5×20

Dips

5×15

Chin Ups

5×10

HIIT Endurance Work:

Instead of a finisher and core on your full body focused days you’re going to work on shredding some extra fat to show off the abs you’re building on other days.  For this you’re more then welcome to switch it up and do 20, 30 or even 60 minutes of HIIT, but I recommend choosing from our favorite HIIT workouts:

• The Best HIIT Workouts To Step Up Your Workout

Guts Calisthenics Workout: Optional Additional Training Resources

Parkour Training Resources:

• The Nightrunner Parkour Workout Routine
• The Assassin’s Creed Parkour Workout Routine
• The Robbie Amell Parkour Workout Routine

Main MMA Training Resources

• Anna Diop Workout Routine and Diet Plan
• Ryan Potter Workout Routine and Diet Plan
• Frank Grillo Boxing Workout

Other MMA Training Resources:

• Deathstroke Workout Routine
• Daredevil Workout Routine
• Moon Knight Workout Routine
• Sagat Workout Routine

Looking to step it up a notch?
Join The Superhero Academy and start unleashing your inner SuperHuman.