Bodybuilder Shaun Clarida Shows Off His Extremely Pumped-Up Arms

Shaun Clarida is known in bodybuilding circles as The Giant Killer. Standing at 5' 2" and 140 pounds, Clarida is not a big man by bodybuilding standards.

However, with his rippling muscles and bold personality, he has taken down competitors twice his size at amateur shows, the New Jersey State Championships, and even at the Arnold Classic.

The New Jersey native, who hopes to compete in both the 212 and the Open class at next year's Olympia, has been training with a focus on his arms. He recently uploaded a video of his workout session on YouTube.

Watch the video here:

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Shaun Clarida's Insane Arm Workout

Clarida starts the workout with rope push-downs to warm up the triceps and elbow joints, which are used in all arm movements. It's important to warm up these joints along with the muscles before doing heavier exercises.

He switches to the camber bar cable curl to perform a few warm-up sets before doing a triple drop set of the movement.

He says about the importance of warm-up exercises:

"As I get older, I definitely don't recover the way I used to. I don't go into the gym with the intention of going heavy. I warm up. I train smart—those are the things that have enabled me to keep going for 17 years."

Dumbbell Hammer Curl: After a few sets of camber bar cable curls, Clarida moves to the triceps pushdown. He first takes the hammer curl to work the brachialis muscle that adds thickness to the side of his arm. He performs three to four sets of this exercise.

Overhead Dumbbell Tricep Extension: Turning to the overhead dumbbell triceps extensions, Clarida works his triceps.

A full elbow extension is necessary for a complete contraction of the triceps. Performing this exercise with one dumbbell and both arms allows for full elbow flexion, but unilateral extensions work better, as they allow focus on each arm individually.

Preacher curls are arguably the best isolation exercise for working the biceps. While the triceps rest against the pad, your shoulders are at rest during the movement.

As preacher curls focus on isolating the biceps, they help build muscle faster than most other biceps exercises. Shaun Clarida uses Gymleco's selectorized preacher curls machine to perform this exercise.

Shaun Clarida performs unilateral bench press repetitions and crossover cable triceps extensions, which he does till he completes three sets of eight repetitions each. He then moves on to the final exercise of his training session: seated cable rows.

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Bottom Line

It remains to be seen if Shaun Clarida regains his Olympia 212 title. However, his intense training ahead of the Superbowl of bodybuilding provides plenty of reason for optimism if he chooses to compete again in the 212 division.

The bodybuilder certainly has a shot at reclaiming his status as an Olympia champion if he continues to prepare so diligently.