Bodybuilder Mike Sommerfeld is ditching his upper-lower body training split ahead of the 2025 Arnold Classic. On January 13, 2025, he detailed his new training protocol, offering fans detailed insight into his new push day workout weeks from taking the stage.
No one saw Mike Sommerfeld coming at the 2024 Mr. Olympia, including reigning six-time Classic Physique Olympia Chris Bumstead. Ultimately, Sommerfeld gave the Canadian champion a run for his money but took second place. In the show’s aftermath, even IFBB Pro League Vice President Tyler Manion gave a few poses to Sommerfeld over Bumstead.
With ‘Cbum’ announcing his retirement from the sport, all eyes on are Sommerfeld, who many expect to take over the Classic Physique throne. His next bodybuilding contest will take place at the 2025 Arnold Classic, where he’ll take on the reigning titleholder Wesley Vissers for gold. To ensure his success, Sommerfeld has ditched his old training split and adopted a new routine.
Mike Sommerfeld Shares New Push Day Workout He’s Using to Win the 2025 Arnold Classic
Find his exercise selections below:
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- Pec Deck Fly
- Incline Chest Press
- Flat Chest Press
- Shoulder Press (turned around)
- Dips
- Overhead Triceps Extension
- Seated Side Lateral Raise
- Single Arm Rope Extension
Pec Deck Fly
Sommerfeld favors the pec deck fly as his warm-up movement to kick off his push day training.
“The very first exercise we do is of course, the pec deck fly. This specific exercise is one of the best to first warm up, secondly get a slightly pre-stretch, so we have all of the full range of motion already trained. So our brain, our muscles, our neurological system is already primed to do a full range of motion. That’s the reason I choose the pec deck fly first.”
Incline Chest Press
For his first pushing exercise, ‘Mike the Badass’ performed incline chest presses, explaining why they are integral to his routine.
“Incline chest press. You could also used dumbbells, you could also do a Smith machine but personally, I like machines the most because chest fibers, muscle fibers, getting more activated as your arm travels in the middle together, not only in front and back.”
Flat Chest Press
He believes the arms meeting together in the center spurs chest growth so he also included flat chest presses in this training split.
“The most important thing, I already said that, arms need to come in the center. They need to move from the outside to the inside. This machine does that perfect, the dumbbell does that perfect, the barbell bench no, Smith machine, no.”
Shoulder Press (turned around)
For side delt activation, he utilized shoulder presses but performed the exercise turned around on the bench.
“Personally, I’m not a big believer in shoulder presses but in order to get huge front delts, a little bit more side delt activation, and maybe sometimes higher chest fibers, it’s an absolutely amazing exercise,” he adds. “Also here, I turned around. It felt better to be honest.”
Dips
In a ‘three-in-one’ exercise, Sommerfeld explained that dips would tax his chest, front delts, and triceps.
“Dips, to be honest, is a perfect exercise for a push day because you’re going to activate chest, you’re going to activate front delts, you’re going to activate triceps, and this is what we trained today. This is basically a three-in-one exercise.”
Overhead Triceps Extension
To build the lateral head of the tricep, Sommerfeld utilized overhead tricep extensions using a cable machine.
“We are going to target different triceps heads, especially the overhead extension is for this part of the tricep, you can clearly see it from the front. All the extensions in front of the body most often will grow the outside of your tricep.”
Seated Side Lateral Raise
Shoulders will be included twice in Sommerfeld’s new training split. Before moving to his last exercise, he pushed through seated side lateral raise repetitions.
“Why not standing? Why no cables? Because we train shoulders again, don’t worry. So for here, all-out. Shoulders are able to recover incredibly fast. You can basically train them everyday and they will grow but we won’t do that. We train it like every other day.”
Single Arm Rope Extensions
Lastly, he topped off his pump with single-arm rope extensions, crediting the movement for providing an intense contraction.
“One of my favorite triceps exercises. Amazing feeling, amazing contraction, you can train each arm separately which is a huge benefit because sometimes your left arm might be a little bit bigger than the right one and you can manage that. As you train them separately, you can manage how big the left one gets and how big the right one gets.”
From comprehensive full days of eating to training with the likes of former four-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler, Sommerfeld is controlling every variable within his grasp to produce gold at the 2025 Arnold Classic. A dominant victory would further solidify his status as the number one contender at the next Mr. Olympia.
Time will tell if Sommerfeld’s new training split delivers results on stage. Don’t miss his performance at the 2025 Arnold Classic from February 27 to March 2 in Columbus, Ohio!
Watch the full video from the Mike Sommerfeld YouTube channel below:
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