Manly Physique: Revisited & Revised

inspiringmedia

New member
This is a follow up to The "Manly Physique" Protocol that @donnessa posted about a year ago.

Before you @ me...as Roy said:

"[note: my tongue is planted firmly in my cheek in calling this "Manly Physique," but there's a reason why you clicked]

If we're really honest with ourselves, one of the big reasons we do fitness is because we want to "look good naked." Don't know whose marketing team came up with that slogan first, but they nailed it.

And research has found that women tend to find men most attractive when they have this version of a "manly physique"... A V-torso, smaller waist, bigger shoulders, and nice arms. Strong but not swole. Swimmer or crossfit body. Or, better, a kettlebell body!"

I ran a version of Roy's program for the last 10 or so weeks, and I wanted to offer some feedback, note some changes I made, and also bring it back up to the top for folks looking for programming guidance in the New Year.

First: go read the original post. Roy did a masterclass in explaining the program's layout, rationale, answering questions, etc.

As a quick overview, the basic gist was that this is a predominantly upper-body program focused on doing 5 sets of 4 exercises, three days per week for three months:
  • Ring pull-up (ladder progression)
  • Clean & press (step progression)
  • KB swing (straight sets)
  • Push-up (ladder progression)
Ladder progression: Built on the StrongFirst/Pavel idea of doing reverse ladders where you add one rep per workout. So day 1 is 5,4,3,2,1 for a total of 15 reps, day 2 is 5,4,3,2,2 for a total of 16, day 3 is 5,4,3,3,2 for 17, etc.

Step Progression: every four weeks, move weight up by 4K on one set. So if you can do 5 sets of 5 C&P at 16K, on the fifth week, you'll do:
  • Set 1: 5 reps @ 16K
  • Set 2: 5 reps @ 20K
  • Sets 3-5: 5 reps @ 16K
Straight sets: Roy kept it simple and did 5 sets of 10 swings.

Since you're doing 5 sets of four exercises, Roy said if you move with intention, you can knock this out in about 22 minutes (excluding warm up and cool down).

It's clean, easy, and logical. I loved it. But I'm a tinkerer, and changed a few things up. Since Roy was gracious enough to share all that he did, I figured I'd put my changes out there for folks too.

As a quick bit of background before I dive in to my changes, I'm 32, 5'9, 165lb, and started using kettlebells consistently about 18 months ago. Before then, I'd go to a globo gym and run something like 5/3/1. I didn't take fitness seriously until I was 25. My lower half was always stronger than my upper half on a relative basis (deadlift max was 405, bench was maybe 205), so something that focused on the upper body was really appealing to me.

In changes to the "Manly Physique", the biggest difference I made involved adding another workout that had the same basic principals as the above. It was:
  • Weighted Dips (ladder progression)
  • Gorilla Rows (ladder progression)
  • Suitcase Deadlift (ladder progression)
  • Racked March / Carry (straight set)
Since so much KB work is done in the vertical plane with clean & press and pull ups, I wanted to add in some horizontal plane work in the form of dips and rows.

I switched the swing out to a suitcase for my hinge movement because I wanted something that incorporated a little more quad action than a KB swing.

As a quick aside, I never know if I'm doing an RDL or a suitcase deadlift. Monsterquad @rabbie77 does something like the linked suitcase video above in this post and calls it a Romanian deadlift. He doesn't seem to put the KB down and the bells seem to be slightly more in front of his feet than beside them. So maybe that's the difference? Regardless, it's picking something up and putting it back down, which I really like.

Lastly, I added in a march/carry for some core work, grip work, and movement work.

So my program was 3 days per week. Days 1 and 3 were:
  • Pull-up
  • Clean & press
  • KB swing
  • Push-up
And day 2 was:
  • Weighted Dips
  • Gorilla Rows
  • Suitcase Deadlift
  • Racked March or Carry (30 seconds of marching or 20yds of carrying per side)
Another change I made was running this all circuit style. I'd warm up, then I'd set a timer for 20 minutes, then I'd do:
  • 0:00: Pull Ups
  • 1:00: C&P
  • 2:00: Swings
  • 3:00: Push-ups
  • Minutes 4:00-20:00: repeat sequence 4 more times
Then I'd do a stretch/cool down.

Including warm up and cool down, I'd be in and out in roughly 40 minutes. I work in finance and sit at a desk all day, so a good warm up and cool down are essential for me. If you think you need only 5 minutes of each of those, then you could definitely get this done in less time.

I like circuit style because it keeps me engaged and I like variety. I asked a question about circuits vs. straight sets earlier and the basic feedback was, do what works for you. If you want to do this more in straight-sets (that's what the OP called for), do it. I'm a little more constrained for time, and I like circuits, so I do that.

If I had the time for some additional work (working out on a Sunday afternoon instead of a Monday during lunch), since this is an upper body-focused program, I'd always do front-squats or goblet squats. Usually 5x5 or something like that. When I could, I'd try to throw in some TGUs every now and then too.

If I always had more time to workout, I'd just keep the four exercises above, add a squat variation for a fifth, and then just run five sets of the five exercises for 25 minutes and you'd have a pretty complete total body workout.

In terms of programming, I loved the ladders approach, but I always felt like reverse ones made my joints feel out-of-sorts on dips and pull ups. Going from sitting at my desk, doing a warm up, and then doing 5 dips with a 20K bell strapped to my waist felt like a recipe for disaster. So I did all my dips and pull up ladders conventional style. For everything else, I did reverse ladders.

Before I ran the program, I took a few days to figure out where my ladders should start based on my max reps for each exercise and if the ladder I did made sense. I had a general idea of course, but..."trust but verify." I found that 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 was great for the dips and pull ups. For Gorilla Rows, that was 8. Deadlifts was 10.

The only other change I made was the progression of the swings. Instead of keeping it constant at 10 reps per set, I added one additional rep for each set each week. So week one, I did 5 sets of 10 swings. Week two I did 5 sets of 11 swings, etc.

In the event none of this makes sense, here's a picture of my week one workouts, and my week 10 workouts:

Week 1

Week 10

Results

I didn't take any pics. Sorry fam. But I do know my wife has mentioned that I look much "wider" and "stronger" and the number of times I've taken my shirt off and she's said "daaaang" have increased. So I'll gladly take that!

In terms of strength, the progression was pretty remarkable. As you can see, for pull ups, week 1 day 1 was 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, for a total of 15 reps. By week 10, day 3, it was 5, 6, 7, 8, 8 for a total of 34 reps. I knew I was leaving something in the tank by doing just 15 reps that first workout, but it catches up remarkably fast. Same thing with push ups. 30 in week 1, day 1 was easy. 68 in week 10, day 3, was not.

Additionally, I could comfortably clean & press my 24K about 3-4 times with good form when I started this. So for the first four weeks I just did five sets of five reps at the 20K.

I was a little nervous when I first "stepped" into C&P my 24K five times on the second set on week 5, day 1, but I did it with ease. That was a great feeling. As you can see, in week 10, I was up to 3 sets of 5 with the 24K, so I'm clearly increasing in strength at a good clip.

I was a little nervous my legs would turn into skinny little twigs since I didn't have much lower body work in this program. They didn't. I didn't measure my max reps of my squat or anything before/after, but I'm confident there would be no material difference.

All in all, if you're looking for something with an upper body focus, I can't recommend this program enough. I know dips are impractical for some folks for a lot of reasons, so just run Roy's program rather than mine. It rocks.
 
@inspiringmedia Thanks for the write-up. The best judge of progress on programs like this is the mirror and the quantity and quality of “dang”s from your significant other.

If you go from one “dang” a week to two “dang”s a week, that’s improvement. If you go from one “dang” a week to one “daang” a week, that too is a sign of progress. I’m currently at “daang” twice a week, with a goal of building up to three “daaaang”s a week (which would represent an 8 “a” improvement in my physique) over the course of my current 8-week program.
 
@steffserves I like this. An 8 "a" improvement is a noble, yet attainable goal. I believe in you.

Transitioning from a's to n's is something I have yet to discern. I'll listen more carefully next time. Perhaps that'll be my goal for my next program.
 
@inspiringmedia Good stuff.

Are you going to continue to do this and if so are you going to make any changes?

The rows seemed like they made the least progress but that might be by design because you only had the one pair. Do you think you could have handled much more volume or worked in the 24kg more?
 
@gaconvn I've dropped it for now and am doing something that's more total body focused. Happy to do another write-up when that one is all said and done too.

I'm thinking I'll likely land somewhere where I do the above 1X per year on a 10-12 week block, then do 3X total body programs per year.

Great question on the rows. I definitely could have worked in more volume. I think if I had to re-do it, I would've either maintained the one additional rep per workout, just would've used 24's (will likely buy one in the spring to have complete a pair), or jumped up from one additional rep per workout to 2 additional reps.
 
@inspiringmedia As soon as I have a crack at a super fast marathon this year which sadly seems antithetical with the pursuit of the v shape, I look forward to chasing the a and then the n from my wife such that she looks for the d more frequently
 
@inspiringmedia Love the work out and write up.
Question: I know rest is important but I realllllly need to get some physical activity done.

I was thinking about swimming laps or go for sets of KB swings.
Do you have any off day exercises that would complement your workout schedule?
 
@broncofan not OP, but i'm a big fan of an air bike or stationary bike. i ride mine for 30 mins - 1 hour at fairly low intensity on most of my non-KB days, and sometimes on the days when i do KB stuff too. it doesn't seem to affect my recovery much/at all, and it's definitely improved my work capacity a ton.

swimming, rowing, running could also be good forms of off day low intensity cardio.
 
@eleos2b Great question.

I'm a miserable swimmer, so I can't speak to that. But, I can walk pretty well, so that's usually my go to on off days.

Sometimes I'll ruck with my wife on weekends (bought a 30lb ruckweight and a fine backpack on Amazon for like $75 total) around our city. Can also be done solo, or with not-yet-friends through something like a GoRuck club.

I'm also trying to do some mobility once per week, but that's hit or miss.

If I do mobility, I'll do an extended version of my warm up (3x3 TGUs, 8x8 around the worlds, 10x10 one-handed swings, 8x8 halos using a 12K or 16K, plus this squat routine and this shoulder routine from squatU), and then usually follow along with either this 20 min from GMB fitness, this 15min one from Tom Merrick, or this 10 min one from squatU. That can fill up 25-40 minutes depending on which video I follow along with, get my blood moving, but not cause me to break a sweat.

If I'm feeling good and have the time, after the above, I'll also occasionally throw in something like a quick 10 minute circuit of min 1: 1 tgu per side, min 2: 10 kb swings, (repeat) at weights that are roughly 2/3's what I'd normally do. Again, may sweat slightly, but would not drop it into the "workout" bucket.

I'm also with the above that air bike, stationary bike, swimming, running, rowing are likely fine, as long as it's at an effort that gets your blood moving, but isn't taxing. That's all going to depend on age, fitness level, etc.
 
@inspiringmedia Sorry to be a nuisance, yet re-reading this program, I’ve been wondering if the two workouts are meant to be done A-B-A B-A-B or A-B-A A-B-A (i.e. do you start every other week with workout B)? The worksheet lists week one and ten which would be the same in both versions, so I’m a bit confused here. Any hint would be greatly appreciated!
 
@tyler52 Not a nuisance at all.

Good question, as there's some ambiguity. I ran it as:
  • Week 1: A, B, A
  • Week 2: A, B, A
  • etc.
So if you run it for 10 weeks, you do workout A 20 times, and workout B 10 times.

I structured it that way for a few reasons.

First, the exercises in A (pull-ups, C&P, swings, and push-ups) all seem to lend themselves to more volume progression, especially since the pull-ups and push-ups were bodyweight. I think I could've comfortably done something like 8-10 strict pull-ups when I started, so starting with 15 reps per workout and then moving up to 34 didn't seem too crazy.

Second, weighted dips are awesome, but I've heard a few times that anything above 5 reps can get risky since they can be a pretty technical (and taxing) movement.

Since the whole program runs on the idea of increasing volume, if you did A-B-A-B, and did 15 of each workout over a 10-week period, by workout 15, the dips are: 7, 7, 6, 5, 4. That just seemed like a ton of volume. I think it would've been doable if I dropped from the 20kg bell to a 16kg, but I liked the idea of working at something heavy and staying within that allocated range of about 5 reps per set.

Lastly, since the original workout just ran a style of the A workout straight for 3 months and had awesome results, I didn't want to tinker too much with what proved to be a really good setup.

Hope that helps!
 
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