Chris Bumstead is all set to take his game a notch up with his personalized gym that is nearing completion. In a recent back workout video posted on his YouTube channel, CBum gave a tour of this gym and spoke about the potential benefits of having one for yourself.
Bumstead is the foremost representative of Canadian bodybuilding. He has a global appeal among bodybuilding fans due to his insanely aesthetic physique. Since winning the Classic Physique Olympia title in 2019, CBum has honed his physique further and further to defend his top spot at 2020, 2021, and 2022 Olympia.
While most champions would attempt maximum title defenses in their capacity, CBum has a very clear plan of action. He intends to win only a couple of more Classic Physique Olympia titles and move on from competing. A few other trophies like the prestigious Arnold Classic Physique would have looked good on the champion’s shelf. However, collecting Olympia trophies is the only competitive goal for the 28-year-old.
CBum is currently in the middle of his off-season and making gains before the start of his 2023 Olympia prep. Although he will be a massive favorite heading into the show, CBum will not leave any stone unturned.
Apart from his bodybuilding schedule, Bumstead is working on his new gym. He showed the progress they have made so far before the workout and gave a tour of the gym in making. So without a second’s delay, let’s see how Bumstead is achieving back growth this off-season.
Chris Bumstead shows his personal gym
At the beginning of the video, Chris Bumstead talked about the progress of his personal gym which is being built at the moment. He gave a brief tour of the place and stated that a personal space would really help him focus on training and content creation.
“Everyone has the dream to have their own gym. I didn’t think I would get one because I didn’t think I would ever want to run a gym… Coz I knew a lot of hell went into it and you don’t make a lot of money for it.”
He further stated:
“But I am super grateful right now to be in the opportunity to be able to build it for myself and literally, just like, use it for content and prepping for Olympia. So I think this is going to be something that, really like, puts me on a straight focus drive this year at the Olympia.”
Bumstead can do without the company of a lot of people when he is training. Additionally, he feels a lot more comfortable making videos and talking into a camera when there aren’t many people around. So he expects the training as well as the YouTube content to be far better when his gym becomes operational in a few weeks’ time.
“Super pumped, excited… Dreams do come true. There’s a lot of things I’ve wanted in my life but gym is one of those things where you come her, shut off, put everything away and just kill yourself in the gym,” CBum concluded.
A place customized to meet every personal requirement will definitely add more quality to Bumstead’s training sessions. So the task of dethroning the champ might be a little more difficult for the opponents as Bumstead intends to prep for the 2023 Olympia in his new personal gym. After showing the gym around, Chris Bumstead proceeded to perform the off-season back workout at the local gym.
CBum goes through a back workout
Lat Pulldown
CBum’s workout started with this lat-focused vertical pulling movement. This compound exercise primarily works the latissimus dorsi muscles in the back. It helps build a wide back and imparts that much desired ‘tapering down into the waist’ look as a result.
Bumstead used extremely heavy weights in the first set and tried to control the negative/eccentric phase of the rep as much as he could. He reduced the weight for the second set and paused at the bottom of the first five reps so as to get a good squeeze.
Another benefit of this method was that it helped him make the second set equally difficult in spite of using lighter weights. The 28-year-old felt a good pump in the muscles after ripping both sets and moved on to the second exercise.
Incline Dumbbell Rows
Bumstead next took to this free-weight horizontal pulling exercise. Incline dumbbell rows work all the major pulling muscles in the upper body like latissimus dorsi, teres major, teres minor, trapezius, and biceps brachii. Performing rows on an incline bench uses gravity to maintain focus on back muscles.
Since the person is in an inclined position with chest pressed against the bench, it is not possible to rely on momentum or sway back and forth to pull the weights when the reps get difficult. As a result, only back muscles have to be utilized to lift weights without any assistance.
CBum cranked out a few good sets of incline dumbbell rows and took to another highly effective rowing movement next.
T-Bar Rows
In a world where you were forced to incorporate only one rowing exercise in your training routine, T-bar rows would be your best bet. This compound movement is an effective back builder that enables growth in terms of muscle and strength gain as well as density.
Chris Bumstead warmed up with a couple of sets first. He then got a few heavy sets of T-bar rows under the belt and moved on to the next exercise.
Seated Rows
The Classic Physique Olympia champion took to one more rowing exercise and performed seated rows. He did the exercise on a Prime plate-loaded rows machine to add more stimulus to the back muscles. Seated rows work almost all the muscles in the middle back region and also help with improving upper body posture.
Bumstead demolished some good sets of seated rows and took to a lat pulldown variation next.
Reverse Grip Lat Pulldown
Bumstead took the next stop at the Hammer Strength plate-loaded machine and performed reverse grip lat pulldown. The reverse grip targets more of the lower lats as the upper arms are closer to the body. Additionally, this variation also engages the biceps due to a reverse grip and enables pulling heavier weights in comparison to the traditional lat pulldowns.
CBum performed this exercise maintaining a good tempo and jumped into a cable machine exercise next.
Superset – Banded Cable Lat Pullovers and Barbell Curls
Bumstead finished the back workout with this superset. He mentioned that he is working on improving mobility these days and also explained the reason for performing reverse grip lat pulldown instead of regular grip for the previous exercise.
“Underhand grip pulldown machine because sometimes the pulldown bar breaks my wrist. I am working on mobility. So I am doing 10 sets of superset – biceps curls and lat pullovers. Just going back and forth 10 reps ish… until I die. So hopefully getting a hundred reps of each and then that’s it,” CBum stated.
After pushing through all the sets within this superset in rapid succession and minimal rest periods, Chris Bumstead called it a day in the gym.
Overall, the workout included:
Chris Bumstead is all set to start the competition prep for the 2023 Olympia soon. Training in his personal gym will definitely help him maintain focus and add more wrinkles to the game. If he stays healthy and continues to increase the training intensity, we will certainly see him wear the Classic Physique Olympia crown for the fifth time.
You can watch the full workout video here, courtesy of Chris Bumstead’s personal YouTube channel: