Renowned bodybuilding coach Hany Rambod is focusing his energies on getting Chris Bumstead ready for the 2023 Olympia. He guided the champ through a leg workout 14 weeks out of the show and assessed the progress to device a further plan of action.
Chris Bumstead can largely be credited for making the Classic Physique division a mainstream attraction for the fans. The Canadian IFBB Pro bodybuilder rose to prominence with runner-up finishes at the 2017 and the 2018 Olympia. While he was enjoying stardom already at that point, winning the Olympia titles legitimized his position as a top athlete from competitive as well as popularity perspective.
CBum dethroned Breon Ansley to become the Classic Physique Olympia champion at the 2019 Olympia and has defended the title at the 2020, 2021 and 2022 Olympia. He is now steadily marching towards the fifth consecutive Olympia win with a carefully crafted training split and diet. While the 28-year-old intends to retire after a few more Olympia wins, he has not ruled out the transition to the Men’s Open division.
Bumstead is getting the guidance from his head coach Hany Rambod in his quest to become a five-time Classic Physique Olympia champion. The client-coach duo have been training together for less than a year but have built an excellent rapport.
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Hany Rambod guides Chris Bumstead through a leg workout
As the head coach, Hany Rambod is taking care of planning, strategizing and leading the mission to prepare CBum for the 2023 Olympia. As a result, Bumstead can focus solely on his training without having to worry about the way forward. Rambod is currently assessing Bumstead’s progress to determine the further plan of action and stated:
“We’re really just kind of seeing where Chris is at right now. It’s all about trying to figure out where his strength level is, versus his size, his weight. He obviously has a weight cap of 240 lbs that we have to work within. He’s way more above and we’re going to take our time to come down but we want to just assess everything right now as the start of the prep is going on.”
Chris Bumstead had an excellent off-season in spite of a busy traveling schedule. Rambod stated that they’re figuring out what needs to be done between now and Nov. 3 when the Classic Physique Olympia champion steps on the stage.
With that, Rambod headed over to the gym and guided his student through an intense leg workout. He posted the video of this session on YouTube. So without further delay, let’s see how Chris Bumstead performed under the legendary coach’s watchful eye.
Leg Extensions
Rambod instructed CBum to start with leg extensions to get a good warm-up. While this isolation movement is often criticized for putting extra stress on the knees, it can be a great addition to the leg routine if done with the right amount of weight under an experienced trainer’s guidance.
CBum pushed through a few good sets of the exercise to warm up the knee joints and lower body muscles before jumping into the main workout.
Smith Machine Squats
The Classic Physique Olympia champion next performed the Smith machine squats to work the glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps. The movement pattern on this exercise is exactly similar to the regular barbell squats. However, the Smith machine helps preserve energy and minimizes the risk of injury by eliminating the need to control the weight.
Free-weight squats are the best option if the goal is to gain functional strength. However, Smith machine squats are a great way to induce muscle hypertrophy as they focus more on the target muscles.
Hack Squats
Hack squats target the same primary muscles that barbell squats or Smith machine squats do. However, they are generally safe to perform for most people and put significantly less stress on the lower back. While they are a great addition to the lower body training routine, hack squats are definitely not a replacement to the traditional squats. Bumstead annihilated a few solid sets of hack squats under Hany Rambod’s watchful eye before taking up the next exercise.
Leg Press
Coach Rambod instructed his pupil to perform this lower body compound movement next to stimulate the lower body muscles further. Once again, leg press works the same primary muscle group that barbell squat or hack squat does. However, the back is supported firmly during the leg press, which eliminates the need to stabilize the spine and allows the erector spinae and core muscles to take a back seat.
Bumstead cranked out a few heavy sets of leg press and entered the concluding part of his leg training session.
Sissy Squats
The workout concluded with Chris Bumstead taking to sissy squats under Hany Rambod’s observation. Sissy squats target the quadriceps primarily while glutes, hamstrings and calves are the secondary muscles. But in addition to building the muscle, sissy squats are a great compound exercise to build functional strength as stabilization is needed to perform the exercise.
CBum got a few sets of this movement under his belt with slow and controlled movements and wrapped up the training session.
The leg workout composed of exercises mentioned below:
Hany Rambod watched Bumstead’s physique every step of the way and expressed satisfaction with the progress achieved during the off-season.
“I definitely think you’re [at a] better starting point than the last year,” Hany Rambod stated.
He added:
“Not only is he strong 14 weeks out but we also had great endurance, was able to get sick pump, super 3D…”
Bumstead revealed that he had been suffering from knee pain but it has reduced considerably with recovery methods like stretching, foam rolling etc.
14 weeks out, CBum has plenty of time to build a perfect package for the 2023 Olympia stage. Looking at the incrementally positive mindset the champ has displayed so far, he might be on his way to a fifth Classic Physique Olympia win.
You can watch the full workout video below, courtesy of Hany Rambod’s personal YouTube channel:
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