Joe Manganiello's Getting Even More Ripped for the 'Magic Mike' Sequel

When he stripped down for Magic Mike, Joe Manganiello’s chiseled body was so impressive that director Steven Soderbergh called him “walking CGI.” Now that Manganiello is getting ready to shoot the sequel, Magic Mike XXL, he’s working hard on his gym-generated special effects. On Tuesday afternoon, the actor and fitness guru tweeted a photo of himself pumping iron at the gym, noting that he’s “getting ready for #MagicMikeXXL.” His trainer Ron Matthews posted the same photo with a little more elaboration, tweeting, “I am getting @JoeManganiello ready for #magicmike2, 2 weeks until he starts dancing. How do you think he is looking?”

Joe Manganiello recently tweeted a shot of himself working out.

Presumably, the actor is sticking with something close to his punishing workout routine that he described in his fitness guide Evolution, published in December. The goal for Magic Mike, Manganiello writes in the book, was simple: “be straight-up ripped and shredded.” In addition to cutting carbs and piling on the protein, the actor writes, “I institute ‘two a days,’ six days a week. Each day includes weight training and cardio.” Since shirtless roles in particular require even more work because the camera picks up all of the muscle definition, “I focus less on increasing weight and raise the intensity by doing more reps and resting less. In other words, the philosophy is constant motion…”

Though Manganiello hasn’t hit the dance floor yet, the Magic Mike sequel has been shooting since Labor Day weekend. Screenwriter and star Channing Tatum described the film to GQ as “a road-trip movie” with a lighter tone, “less slice-of-life and less drama” than the 2012 hit. For Manganiello, who plays dancer Big Dick Richie, the sequel is a welcome reunion.

“It’s like getting the band back together,” he told Yahoo earlier this month. “We’re all great friends. Some of us go way back before Magic Mike. I stayed in contact with all they guys I shot with.”

Joe Manganiello in the original ‘Magic Mike’

This time around, the actor will be coming in with some new tips under his garter belt. Following the success of Magic Mike, Manganiello directed a documentary about the Dallas male strip club La Bare, home to one of the dancers who inspired his “fireman” routine. In addition to showing off the moves he learned making La Bare, he intends to correct a mistake he made after the first movie wrapped: not stealing the props. “I should have kept my gold thong and my penis pump, but I didn’t,” Manganiello told Variety. “When we get back into the sequel, I’m going to hunt those down for my office.”

Watch a clip of Manganiello’s fireman dance in Magic Mike: