Chris Bumstead Shares His Shoulder Workout Routine

Chris Bumstead, aka Cbum, is a Canadian IFBB Pro bodybuilder and three-time reigning champion of the Mr. Olympia Classic Physique (2019, 2020, 2021). After the 2021 Olympia, CBum took some much-needed time off to allow his body and mind a deserved recovery, but his battle with COVID-19 left him with a massive weight loss.

Chris Bumstead is now fit and healthy and has already started off-season training to prepare himself to retain the Mr. Olympia title in December at Las Vegas. To keep fans updated about his Olympia preparations, the 27-year-old bodybuilder recently took to YouTube channel to share his shoulder day workout.

You can watch Chris Bumstead’s complete shoulder workout video here:

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Chris Bumstead’s Mass-focused Shoulder Training session

The three-time Classic Physique Olympia champ considers his off-season to be his growing phase. He lifts as much weight as possible and consumes a massive 5,000-calorie bulking diet to build muscle.

He does the following workouts:

Side lateral raise machine

Chris Bumstead starts his shoulder training with a standing lateral raise machine to warm up his muscles. He maintains constant tension and pre-exhausts the muscles. He says that starting with a warm-up exercise at the beginning of training helps him reduce shoulder pain and discomfort.

Previously, CBum had said that he faced shoulder issues for almost three years, so he has been cautious about his shoulder workouts. So, he has started with a simple exercise to warm up the rear delts and activate his shoulder muscles.

Although the bodybuilder prefers heavy lifting, he's conscious about weights during compound exercises and makes sure not to put too much stress on the joints.

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Hammer shoulder press machine

The first compound exercise in Bumstead’s shoulder training is a plate-loaded hammer strength shoulder press.

CBum says: “I forgot how much I like this machine”.

He works up to 45-pound weight plates on each side for fiber splitting sets and make sure his reps were slow and controlled for maximum muscular stimulation.

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Standing dumbbell side laterals

He then moved on to his next exercise - standing dumbbell side laterals - which he performs with a reverse pyramid set.

He does a good 20 reps with 20 pounds, followed by 15 reps with 30 pounds, 10 reps with 35 pounds, and 40 pounds to failure with 30-second rest in between. He does the reverse pyramid set twice.

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Seated machine military press

The bodybuilder then follows up with a military press and uses a wider grip to target his delts even more.

During the workout, Bumstead pauses at the bottom and stretches for the first five reps. Since he works up to three 45-pound plates, that makes the movement more challenging.

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Cable rope front raise

Bumstead then heads towards the cable station for some good reps of front raises with a hammer grip to work on his front delts. This exercise is a great isolation workout that mainly focuses on developing the front side of the delt muscles.

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Single-arm standing reverse cable fly

Chris Bumstead then moves on to single-arm standing reverse flyes for his rear delts and does four sets on each side.

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Standing reverse dumbbell fly

He ends his shoulder training session with a heavy standing reverse dumbbell flyes to crush his rear delts.

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Takeaway

Chris Bumstead has made incredible progress during his off-season, putting up his heaviest bodyweight, consuming more bulking diet, and putting on lean muscle mass.

The bodybuilder is also very active on social media and regularly uploads Olympia prep videos on YouTube. He has previously shared his back and biceps workouts.