It’s almost showtime for Classic Physique standout Mike Sommerfeld, but he’s still pushing his limits inside the gym. On February 25, 2025, he blasted his upper body with a brutal workout made up of 24 working sets to failure ahead of the 2025 Arnold Classic.
He reflected on his training and recovery. With his sights set on his first major bodybuilding title, he and his coach aren’t taking chances with his weight, stress, sleep, or digestion. To keep his body primed for these training demands, he recently had a refeed day.
“Day by day, getting all the information, body weight, stress levels, sleep, digestion, everything is written down and I can see exactly what changes, why it changed. I can provide all this information to my coach and he will make the changes for me, like today. So we decided to do a refeed day,” Mike Sommerfeld said.
Mike Sommerfeld Pushed 24 Upper Body Sets to Failure and Sharpened His Posing for Arnold Classic 2025
Find his exercise selections below:
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- Seated Cable Chest Fly – 3 sets
- Hammer Strength Incline Press Machine – 3 sets
- Machine High Row – 3 sets
- Seated Chest Supported Row – 3 sets
- Lying Cable Rear Lateral Raise – 3 sets
- Seated Cable Rear Lateral Raise – 3 sets
- Triceps Extensions – 3 sets
- EZ Bar Curl – 3 sets
During the workout, Sommerfeld broke down how his approach to training has changed for the Arnold Classic. Initially, he was pushing weight fast with less control but now implements lighter weight with more control.
“It’s way way better training in a different style for the last two or three weeks maybe. I was really pushing weight, like I was repping great reps really fast.
Less control, but more movement, faster movement, more reps, less pause, less rest, and that will lead to more calorie output obviously.”
Instead of knocking off a few more reps when he reaches failure, he’s stopping completely for the sake of recovery.
“It’s not about burning just calories anymore, now we need to go in between burning calories and recovering properly. I try to do more controlled reps, slower, a little lighter, but as soon as I’m feeling that I’m getting weak, and we’re close to failure, we don’t push two or three more reps, we will stop the moment we hit failure.
These sets are just straight simple failure sets. Nothing special. No forced reps, no fast reps, drop sets maybe, if I feel okay but it’s more about high quality sets day by day.”
Despite being exhausted and on an empty stomach, Sommerfeld carried on with posing practice.
“Chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, we’re pumped. Now, we’re going to pose a little bit. A secret for you, but a little sneak preview to see how I’m looking approximately two and a half weeks, three weeks out. My face tells stories. We are getting ready. I’m getting ugly. I’m getting skinny. Good timing,” shared Sommerfeld.
If Sommerfeld wants to leave Columbus with the Arnold Classic title, he’ll have to defeat fellow frontrunner Wesley Vissers, the defending champion. He proved he’s done it before on the Mr. Olympia stage, and is adamant with the right balance of fullness and condition, he can do it again.
Whoever does pick up the victory at the Arnold Classic wields considerable momentum going into the next Mr. Olympia contest. The Arnold Sports Festival kicks off from February 27 to March 1 in Columbus, Ohio. Fitness Volt will have live coverage of the action.
Watch the full video from the Mike Sommerfeld YouTube channel below:
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