Carlos Thomas Jr. is on track to make a statement at the second Pro show of his bodybuilding career. On January 20, 2025, he broke down how he’s emulating reigning Mr. Olympia Samson Dauda’s back training six weeks from the 2025 Arnold Classic.
Carlos Thomas Jr. is a rising threat in the Men’s Open class. Despite his newcomer status in the IFBB Pro League, he’s already proven he has the physique, posing abilities, and mindset to stand against the best in the world. In his Pro debut, he took on all challengers at the 2023 Texas Pro, where he slid into third place behind Hunter Labrada and Samson Dauda.
If he hopes to raise gold above his head at the Arnold Classic, he’ll have a daunting roster of threats to overcome on stage. In addition to ‘The Nigerian Lion,’ Thomas Jr. must use his sheer mass and exaggerated proportions to defeat Derek Lunsford, Brandon Curry, Akim Williams, James Hollingshead, Andrew Jacked, and many others on stage.
Carlos Thomas Jr. Shares Back Training Overhaul for 2025 Arnold Classic, Says He’s Emulating Samson Dauda’s Workouts
In a recent YouTube video, Carlos Thomas Jr. spoke on bringing up his back, which many believe to be his weakest body part.
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“I started splitting it [my back training] up because I really wanted to focus on, like alright, this is the day I do my rows and give all my effort to that and these are the days I do my pulls, and I give all the effort to that because mentally, sometimes I know for myself, I can get mentally spent and I feel like it takes away from the sessions.”
He explained that one of his back days is for going heavy whereas his second session during the week focuses more on squeezing and connecting with the muscle.
“Tuesdays is the day I do back, it’s mostly rows with two pull movements, pulldown movements, and that’s the day where I’m going to go all in. I’m doing my heavy barbell rows, my dumbbell rows. I do some pulldowns, but then Saturday is where I do mostly pulldowns with two rows but those rows are more cable-based, squeezing, really connecting with the muscle.”
Impressed by Dauda’s rapid back development over the years, Carlos Thomas Jr. decided to emulate the reigning Mr. Olympia’s workouts, which he credited for helping him improve the body part.
“That’s what I’ve changed a lot in the past five months. I’ve seen some growth from that. Even growing into the prep I feel like I’m seeing a lot of changes. Honestly, I like to take from people who have improved their back. So I’ve been watching Samson’s training.”
“He’s doing these pulldowns here, he’s doing a superset, you know what? Let me emulate that and see if I can feel it the same way. I know he made tremendous growth in the past few years and obviously, there’s other factors in play.”
Although he previously struggled to achieve pumps, he said the recent changes have helped him better feel the stretch and contractions during back training.
“Before I wasn’t getting pumps or feeling that stretch and contraction but now, I leave the workout and I’m pumped. I get a good pump and I feel like I actually worked it out. That’s something I would say for years I never really had,” explains Carlos Thomas Jr.
Carlos Thomas Jr. isn’t lacking confidence but has been realistic with his expectations ahead of the Arnold Classic. He gave his top six picks in the Open while speaking with Dennis James on The Menace Podcast. He predicted that Dauda would win first place, Lunsford would come in second, and he would secure bronze, ahead of Andrew Jacked.
Don’t miss Carlos Thomas Jr.’s performance at the 2025 Arnold Classic, set for February 27 to March 2 in Columbus, Ohio. Fitness Volt will have live coverage of the action.
Watch the full video from the IFBB AMA YouTube channel below:
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