Bodybuilder Chris Bumstead’s Insane Back and Biceps Workout

Chris Bumstead, aka CBum, is arguably one of the greatest bodybuilders in the current pro bodybuilding industry. He won the Classic Physique Olympia three consecutive times in 2019, 2020, and 2021. He will be competing again for his fourth title win at the Olympia 2022, scheduled for December 15-18 in Las Vegas.

Last year, the bodybuilder successfully fought against COVID-19 but lost a lot of weight as a result. But now, he is healthy as ever and is leaving no stone unturned in his training since Olympia is just a few months ahead. Bumstead is taking his workout routine seriously and also consuming a 5000-calorie diet to compensate for the weight loss.

As part of the Olympia's training preparations, CBum recently shared a video of his off-season back and biceps workout on his YouTube channel and guided fans through all the exercises and benefits behind doing them.

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Chris Bumstead’s intense back and biceps workout

Bumstead started the workout with a few warm-up sets of lat pulldowns and used a new bar extension. He performed this exercise with a grip narrower than shoulder width, ultimately targeting his back muscles. The grip allowed him to focus more on the mid-back muscles, which usually don’t get much attention with a wide grip. In the video, the bodybuilder can be heard saying that he reserved the wide-grip pulldown for the next back day.

For the next warm-up stretch, Chris Bumstead performed lat pulldowns and dead hangs and alternated between the two for a few sets. According to CBum, dead hangs warm up the scapula for impending exercises by gently stretching the muscles. He used a reverse shrug motion for this exercise and emphasized the importance of mind-muscle connection in developing muscle mass. After doing a few reps for both these warm-up stretch exercises, the bodybuilder quickly jumped on to the next workout.

For the next back workout, Bumstead performed bent-over barbell rows to enhance the thickness of his back. He used a shoulder-wide overhand grip for this exercise and also emphasized the significance of core stability needed for this lift.

The next exercise in Chris Bumstead’s back workout routine was an incline bench dumbbell row. He chose this exercise to get a better range of motion and also to add a variety to his overhand grip exercises.

After performing some crushing sets of chest-supported rows, Bumstead moved on to the next exercise and performed a machine prime row. This exercise is a great strength training workout that works the entire back and upper arms and helps develop massive upper body strength.

For his final back exercise, Bumstead chose a single-arm cable row and focused on controlled and slow reps to target his lats.

Chris Bumstead began his biceps workout with EZ-bar cable curls and performed a few good sets of this exercise. He did not do any warm-ups as his arms were already pumped with all the back workouts. While doing this exercise, he kept his elbows stable and focused on getting a full range of motion as it enables optimal muscle development. The bodybuilder performed a drop set in the final set to kill his biceps.

The reigning Olympia champ ended his biceps workouts with concentration curls to target the short biceps head that majorly helps develop definition and strength in the upper arm muscles.

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Wrapping up

Chris Bumstead endured several hardships the previous year. However, he is now back in full form and is taking his training to the next level. He has already started his prep for the 2022 Olympia and is training hard to defend his title. The IFBB Pro bodybuilder aims to earn his fourth consecutive Classic Physique Olympia title.

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You can watch Chris Bumstead’s back and biceps workout video here.