Men’s Open bodybuilder Brett Wilkin is turning up his preparations for the 2025 Mr. Olympia contest. In a YouTube video aired on July 3, 2025, he focused on building his chest and shoulders with an intense push day workout.
Wilkin’s potential in the IFBB Pro League has been evident from the start. Originally starting as a Classic Physique competitor, he grew into the Open class quickly. His aesthetics, alongside impressive mass, have turned him into a top-tier threat.
He took the entire 2023 season off to improve his physique, and it paid off after he claimed gold in Reno, Nevada, at the 2024 Legion Sports Fest Pro. This victory stamped his ticket to the 2025 Mr. Olympia.
This is What Brett Wilkin’s Push Day Workout Looks Like 14 Weeks from 2025 Mr. Olympia
Find his workout below, covered in his recent YouTube video:
- Incline Cable Fly
- Incline Smith Press
- Mega Mass Flat Press Machine
- Flies into a Hex Press
- Side Lateral Raise Machine
- Side Lateral Raise Machine With Partial Holds
- Shoulder Press Machine
Incline Cable Fly
Wilkin starts with incline cable flies to warm up for a more intense pressing movement.
“I want to start with some activation here, get some blood in the muscle. Of course, as always, open up the chest,” he shared. “Probably the top 1-2 fly variations that I ever used in my life, just the simple incline cable fly. I feel the most activation that way.”
Incline Smith Press
Feeling fresh, he moved to incline Smith presses and opted for heavier weight during this exercise.
“This is going to be our main movement of the day. Still pretty fresh here, but got a lot of blood in the chest from the flies. I feel warmed up, secure, and safe. Now, we can go into the heavy incline Smith press.”
Mega Mass Flat Press Machine
Next, ‘The Butcher’ performed sets on the flat press machine for focused pec activation.
“It’s a hard pump. This is going to be another of our main presses for the day,” shares Wilkin. “You’re just seated, nothing moving, just punching through the chest. Just pure chest, and it’s a nasty, nasty good ol’ workout.”
Flies into Hex Presses
This was one of Wilkin’s more unique movements of the day. He performed flies and then quickly alternated to hex presses.
“You’re combining a fly with a pressing motion. We’re going to do what I call flies into presses.
So, he’ll lean back here, he’s going to do four traditional dumbbell flies, then on the fourth one, he’s going to keep the dumbbells together. Then, he’s going to turn those into hex presses.”
Side Lateral Raise
On the side lateral raise machine, he drives through the elbows, taking the arms out of the exercise.
“You are driving through your elbows. You’re not gripping through your hands. This takes half of your arm out of it. You’re less likely to cheat on this movement when all you have to do is raise this out of the way while seated, leaning in.”
“As heavy as you can take it,” encourages Wilkin.
Partial Holds (Side Lateral Raise Variation)
He used lighter weights for a side lateral raise variation that incorporated partial holds.
“This is an oldie, I don’t know if anyone even knows about this one,” he shared. “It’s just a mega set. It’s lighter. We’re going to do 10 regular, then we’re going to do 20 two-second holds, so it’s called partial holds.”
“Then it’s a 20-second hold at the top, it’s nasty,” he adds.
Shoulder Press
He finished off the workout with shoulder presses, aiming for volume instead of hunting down a personal record:
“The shoulders are full of blood now. We’re going directly into a shoulder press right next to us.”
“I’m not so focused on trying to hit PRs right now or beat the log book on the shoulder press as the last exercise of the day. We’re just going to throw all the weight on there and go for volume. We haven’t hit anything too directly on the anterior so this will be just directly on that and send this pump home.”
Bigger arms have also been a focal point for Wilkin heading into 2025. He recently walked fans through his superset biceps and triceps training routine, which he’s leveraging to improve his side triceps, back, and front double biceps, and front relaxed poses.
Wilkin is keeping intensity high during his off-season, leaving many curious about his next performance. The 2025 Mr. Olympia is set for October 9-12 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
RELATED: Brett Wilkin and Blessing Awodibu Go Through A Killer Quad Workout
Watch the full video from the Brett “The Butcher” Wilkin YouTube channel below:
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