40 reviews for Bald Swordman

1 week complete

7 years of prior experience

Disclaimer: I followed the program exactly as outlined on the overview (Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday). This review reflects my personal experience only - I can absolutely see how Coach Butler or a select group of advanced trainees might benefit more from this routine. In short: This program feels more like an optimized routine designed specifically for Bald Omni-Man rather than a general advanced trainee program. One thing that confused me was the scheduling. Boostcamp lists the program as Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri, but Coach Butler also writes that you “need at least a day of rest between these sessions.” It’s unclear whether “sessions” refer to the entire A-E workout rotation or just individual workouts. Based on my experience, I’d say it’s the latter - doing Workout B right after Workout A felt overly fatiguing. To be more specific about what didn’t work for me: the triceps volume is extremely high. There are roughly 6–7 sets of triceps work in nearly every session (except Workout B). This might make perfect sense if triceps are a personal weak point for Coach Butler, but for most people, that level of volume might be excessive. I can see the logic of applying that kind of focus to neck training since it tends to recover quickly - as long as you avoid pushing it to failure (an RPE 10 on neck work wouldn’t be a great idea). On the other hand, I felt the program lacked sufficient back focus. For example, in Workout D, the back exercises felt a bit gimmicky. The towel push-up targets the forearms more than the back, and the L-sit pull-up feels like a fantastic ab exercise, but I personally struggled to engage my lats properly during it. Maybe that’s due to a weaker core on my end - possible. Still, there are other back exercises that could hit the target muscles more directly and balance out the program better. Direct rear delt work is also nearly absent, and hamstring volume feels quite low as well. All that said, I think this program could feel much better if performed every other day (EOD) with some adjustments to volume and exercise selection - especially dialing back the triceps work and adding a bit more for the back and hamstrings. Even though I’m giving this program only 2 stars, that’s purely because it didn’t click with me. It might very well click with you. I’m sure Coach Butler has more expertise than I do, and this program is likely fine-tuned for his own training preferences and recovery abilities. To end on a positive note: thanks to Bald Omni-Man for making this program publicly available. Even though it didn’t fully resonate with me, I still learned quite a lot from running it.

3 weeks complete

7 years of prior experience

As expected strength gains

As expected muscle gains

I would definitely recommend it to anyone

7 weeks complete

5 years of prior experience

More than expected strength gains

More than expected muscle gains

Changed neck work for more lightweight exercises targeting my weaknesses and changed weighted pulls for lat pulldowns. Other than that, followed the program as is. Crazy results, feels like noob gains all over again. Extremely hard, 5 years of experience and this thing pushes me to my absolute limit. Great muscle gains, but even better results in terms of work capacity.

5 weeks complete

6 years of prior experience

As expected strength gains

As expected muscle gains

Format que je connaissais déjà de thibeaudeau et de son fameux hatfield split. Programme conseillé par une connaissance. Fourmille d'idées intéressantes que ce soit les exercices accesoires en milieu de scéance pour faire une coupure ou la double progression issue de l'haltero. J'ai modifié quelque patterns ( moins de tirage verticaux et plus de tirages horizontaux dont par mal a la poulie ) mais c'est uniquement de la préférence personnelle morphologique ayant les bras longs.

10 weeks complete

8 years of prior experience

More than expected strength gains

As expected muscle gains

43 year old, lifetime natural. This is a great program for those who want to force themselves into a progressive mindset. In my case, it helped me break a 2 year plateu. Before this I was doing Jeff Nippard’s Ultimate PPL with mediocre results. With Omni Man I made excellent strength gains, and good hypertrophy results. It develooed my biceps and shoulders like nothing else. However, I would not repeat this program again without making serious modifications. For the last month the workouts have become too long (2 hours each). It is very difficult to mantain a proper intensity and you risk being less eficient in the last half hours, which can lead to uneven development. So, either you change the program to be 5 times a week or you cut the sets by 60% of their original value, which forces you to really up the weight. In my gym, I already maxed out all the machines and dumbells, so it isnt a possibility. Therefore, I am doing up to 30-45 reps on some excercises. You are also limited on some of the big 3 if you dont have a spotter. Most of these problems can be solved with a good gym. Something to keep in mind. All in all, amazing problem. Paris, you are a great trainer. Much love from Buenos Aires!

7 weeks complete

5 years of prior experience

As expected strength gains

As expected muscle gains

Great program! I ran it from half way in -1000 calories for 6 weeks. That was rought, but my physique is now quite impressive! It definetly worked!! I lost 6-7kg + about 2kg water weight in that time period. (from 102-->93-94)

3 weeks complete

8 years of prior experience

As expected strength gains

As expected muscle gains

Great program for every other day. I use the rest days for cardio. Program has helped me lean out and feel good.

3 weeks complete

7 years of prior experience

As expected strength gains

As expected muscle gains

Nice and enjoyable split, I will continue untill the end of the year to see if the strength and the size gains will come as expected. For now, great program.

5 weeks complete

8 years of prior experience

As expected strength gains

As expected muscle gains

Nice switch up from previous split of upper/lower. Liked the aspect of full body but with a more emphasis on certain muscle group for that day. Already had a pretty good base of conditioning from marathon training and 2 a day weight training sessions for a while now. Decided to split my workouts into morning before work and after work. Great strength gains and muscle gains as well thanks to the extra recovery only working out every other day.

3 weeks complete

4 years of prior experience

As expected strength gains

As expected muscle gains

Good program. Great for people with busy work schedules.