Many athletes from various sports have changed their training style and opted to train like bodybuilders, and Shannon Sharpe, a former NFL star and Hall of Fame athlete is one of them. Sharpe's Instagram feed is filled with his insane workouts, and recently he posted a video snippet of his hardcore back workout.
The NFL star kicked off his workout with a warmup set of lat pull-downs and did quite a few reps to keep the blood flowing. He then moved to the unilateral one-arm machine, rowing with his right hand, and focused on the eccentric movement, increasing the time under tension so that his lats could feel the proper tension and have exceptional growth.
Then Shannon Sharpe did a variation of the lat pull-downs, followed the same approach with the eccentric movements, and opted for pause reps. Bodybuilding coaches often advise going for pause reps, as this helps overload the muscles and results in optimal growth. The NFL also used a pair of wristbands to maintain proper grip during his reps.
After these heavy sets, Sharpe moved to unilateral reverse grip back rowing and did several reps to maintain a proper form to reduce the risk of injury. He then did a wide grip lat pulldown following the pause rep approach. After that, he did the unilateral back rowing with his left hand.
The NFL Hall of Famer ended his crazy back workout with the close grip lat pull-down following the pause reps. After having a satisfying workout, he captioned the reel:
"Crazy BACK DAY!!! We gone push it to the limit every time!!! 😮💨 I don’t wake up 2 waste it."
Shannon Sharpe trained with a well-known bodybuilding coach
After opting for a bodybuilding training style, on his 56th birthday on June 26, 2024, the NFL star athlete went to none other than Milos Sarcev, a bodybuilding legend who trained athletes like former Arnold Classic Champion Samson Dauda and many more.
The duo trained their back, shoulders, and chest together. Sarcev started their workout by hitting the back and doing back rowing and one more variation of back rowing.
Shannon Sharpe and Milos Sarcev did a few exercises to hit the chest. They did chest presses, incline flyes, and flat and incline bench presses. For their shoulders, the duo did a reverse pec dec fly, an Arnold Press, and a standing shoulder press.