How to look like Guts

BERSERK: Guts from different periods — Guts from different time periods

Introduction

BERSERK is one of the most popular anime and manga. Known for its dark fantasy setting, brutal violence, and phenomenal characters it has both entertained and inspired millions of people. Guts, the protagonist of BERSERK, started as a mercenary for the Band of Eagles. For a few reasons, no spoilers here, Guts ends up leaving the Band of Eagles. Soon after he finds himself fighting against endless hordes of demons. BERSERK follows our unlucky hero’s fight against fate.

Guts is not only a badass, but he also has a remarkable physique. This battle won physique, and how to actually get it, will be the topic of this blog post. And at the end of this post I will include a few workouts to help you do just that.

Training Like Guts

As BERSERK progresses so does Gut’s physique, which is a result of both training and combat. From the start of the series Guts wields a heavy longsword. By the end of the series the size of his sword, Dragonslayer, has increased to an insane size (about 400 pounds of metal). Still, Guts is able to easily wield his sword with the dexterity and precision of a smaller weapon. This says a lot about Guts strength and should set off alarm bells towards how he built his body. However, Dragonslayer is not the only explanation for his physique. Guts also wears heavy plate armor, imagine wearing a weighted vest for most of your life. Additionally, the high intensity of combat has led to Guts having a very low bodyfat percentage. This low bodyfat aids his physique by ensuring each of his muscles are clearly defined and seperated.

As we will see next these particular influences have molded Guts’ physique into what it is.

Analyzing Guts’ Physique

Guts’ upper body is extremely well developed; his back is particularly well developed. This is likely a result of weilding Dragonslayer and wearing heavy plate armor. Of his back muscles, his traps are the largest and most well defined. This makes sense as he constantly carries and wields a 400 pound sword.

The shoulders are another essential muscle group for sword wielding. Of the shoulder muscles, his deltoids are the most well-built. Under his shoulders are his teres majors. These muscles also aid sword wielding by providing additional stability for holding the blade away from the body. Lastly, his erector spinae have been trained to the point of slabs of muscle. Surprisingly, Guts’ lats are underdeveloped, at least compared to the rest of his back. This is likely because combat does not necessarily require the activation of the lat muscles. Additionally, it also may just be a weakness of the selected picture. The one on the right shows his lats more prominently than the other.

Like his back, his traps are the highlight of his front. The front muscles of his shoulders are well developed but lack the absolute size of his deltoids. . Both his biceps and triceps are large, well developed, and visibly separated. This is once again a likely result of sword wielding.

His chest is a weakpoint, compared to the other features of his physique. This simply could be that the world of BERSERK lacks the equipment to train chest. Let’s just give him the pass on this one, he already has enough to deal with.

Another highlight of Guts’ physique is his abs. Not only are they well defined and separated but each individual ab is massive. Surprisingly, Guts forearms are less defined than one would have anticipated of a sword wielding badass.

Guts’ legs are not prominently shown throughout the series save for a few scenes. Even so, the muscularity of his legs can often be seen through the outline of his pants. Even though we may not have the best evidence, I think it’s safe to assume that Guts’ legs are also well developed.

Taking these characteristics into consideration let’s program a few Guts’ workouts.

Gut’s Workouts

The following workouts, based on Guts’ physique, can be done independently or as a mini program. Make sure that you safely and thoughtfully perform these workouts - save the danger for the battlefield.

Guts Workout: Legs and Arms

Barbell Squat: 4 x 8

Dumbbell Lunges: 4 x 12 (each leg)

Superset (Leg Extensions, Hamstring Curls): 4 x 10

Cheat Curls: 3 x 6

Alternating Dumbbell Curls: 4 x 12 (each arm)

Triceps Extensions: 4 x 12

Dips: 4 x 10

Guts Workout: Chest and Abs

Flat Bench-press: 4 x 10

Incline Bench-press: 4 x 10

Dumbbell Flyes: 3 x 8

Weighted Roman Chair Situps: 5 mins

Mountain climbers: 3 x 2 mins

Guts Workout: Back and Shoulders

Pendlay Rows: 4 x 10

Heavy Single Arm Dumbbell Rows: 4 x 12

Shrugs: 4 x 20

Giant Set (Side Lateral Raise, Front Lateral Raise, Bent Over Lat Raise): 3 x 10

Conclusion: How To Look Like Guts

It turns out that you don’t necessarily have to kill hordes of hell spawn to get a physique like Guts, going to the gym is enough. When crafting a program for a character it is important to first analyze their physique and understand how and why they have been drawn that way. As we saw here, Guts’ illustrator Kentaro Miura has paid close attention to the possible results of training and living like Guts.

If you found this article helpful and are interested in a full Guts workout program please consider checking out our Unofficial Guts Workout Programs below.