Eddie Hall Tackles A Bodybuilding Back Workout In The Gym

Although many wondered how dedicated Eddie Hall would be regarding his bodybuilding journey, he has really proved that his intentions are to be as great as he can. Hall was one of the most brilliant Strongman athlete, having won the prestigious World’s Strongest Man title in 2017. However, he also tried his hand at professional boxing upon retirement from Strongman and fought against fellow strongman Hafthor Julius Bjornsson in what was promoted as the ‘heaviest boxing match of all time’. Hall lost the contest via unanimous decision, but both men garnered widespread appreciation for the skills displayed in the boxing ring.

Before achieving these feats, Eddie Hall became the first man to deadlift 500 kg (1102.3 lbs) in 2016. His record stood for four years, but was later broken by Hafthor Bjornsson in 2020 when he deadlifted 501 kg (1104.5 lbs). With boxing and strongman sports in the past, Eddie Hall is gearing up for a new endeavor. A few months ago, the 35-year-old Brit announced that he will compete in bodybuilding in late 2024 to ‘see how far he can go’. Hall has started bodybuilding training in a bid to get the necessary body composition for the sport.

Technically, there are no similarities in strongman, boxing, and bodybuilding training. Therefore ‘The Beast’ has to build himself from the ground up to be a bodybuilder. However, he is taking guidance from more experienced figures, most notably, IFBB Pro bodybuilder Jamie Christian-Johal, to understand the finer details of bodybuilding training.

The retired strongman and his son Maximus recently went through an intense back workout as a part of Hall’s competitive bodybuilding journey. The video of this session was uploaded on Eddie Hall’s personal YouTube channel. So without further delay, let’s take a closer look at the detailed account of this training session.

Eddie Hall crushes an intense back workout

Barbell Deadlift

Eddie Hall started the back workout with arguably the most effective exercise for back and overall strength gain, the barbell deadlift. However, he performed the exercise in a way that was more suitable for bodybuilding, rather then the Strongman variation where the only goal is to lift as heavy as possible. Since competitive bodybuilding requires achieving muscle hypertrophy by keeping the muscles under tension for a longer duration, Hall did not use heavy weights on the deadlift. He also admitted to having more appreciation for the strongman workouts that focus more on heavy lifting and strength.

“I love moving weights as hard as physically possible… Well, that’s strongman – moving weights from A to B… And you win competitions, you win lots of money… In bodybuilding, you’ve got to move the weight as slow and as painfully as possible,” Hall stated.

Eddie Hall did the warm-up set using two 44-pound plates on each side to increase the blood flow into the muscles. He then did the working sets with three plates on each side of the bar.

Superset – Medium Grip Lat Pulldown and Front Lat Pulldown

Supersets are an excellent way of increasing the aerobic intensity of the workout by reducing the overall workout time and getting the most out of the time spent in the gym. Eddie Hall took to the superset next to stimulate his back muscles further. He combined the medium grip lat pulldown with front lat pulldown on a Hammer Strength plate-loaded machine. The goal of this exercise was to work the back muscles from different angles.

The Brit performed three sets of each exercise in rapid succession. He only had 20 seconds rest between two consecutive sets, while each set consisted of ten reps.

Superset – Incline Rows and Seated Rows

While vertical pulls like lat pulldowns are essential for getting a wide back, horizontal pulls are essential for giving thickness to the back. Hall next took to another superset to perform two variations of horizontal pulls/rows – incline rows and seated rows. The 35-year-old performed incline rows on the Prime plate loaded extreme rows machine and then used the Nautilus selectorized machine for the seated rows. He performed all the sets within this superset with slow and controlled motion, then shifted his focus on the biceps.

Dumbbell Hammer Curls

Eddie Hall performed the hammer curls next to work the brachialis, brachioradialis, and biceps brachii muscles in the arm. He pushed through four solid sets of this exercise and jumped into the next exercise.

Iso-Lateral Incline Biceps Curls Machine

The curls on a biceps machine served as the second and the final biceps exercise in the retired Strongman’s ‘60-minute’ workout. The incline biceps curls work the biceps brachii muscles and they are one of the most effective biceps isolation movements. The triceps press firmly against the pad while performing the movement. This positioning does not allow shoulders or triceps to compensate for the biceps, which in turn helps isolate the biceps to a greater degree. Eddie Hall cranked out some solid sets of incline biceps curls and wrapped up the training session.

Overall, the workout included:

• Deadlifts
• Superset – Medium Grip Lat Pulldown and Front Lat Pulldown
• Superset – Machine Incline Rows and Seated Rows
• Hammer Curls
• Iso-lateral Incline Biceps Curls

Eddie Hall’s short stint in boxing proves that he can achieve success in the sport of his choice. He has the commitment, discipline, and work ethic to prepare for the stage appearance. However, Eddie Hall will have a challenging two-year stretch to get the body composition necessary for competitive bodybuilding. It will be interesting to see how he progresses before it is time to step on the stage.

You can watch the full workout video here, courtesy of Eddie Hall’s personal YouTube channel:

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