Michal Krizo is approaching the 2023 Olympia prep with furious intensity. The rising contender is making significant improvements in his physique with each passing day and recently annihilated a back and biceps workout.
Michal ‘Krizo’ Krizanek is a Slovakian bodybuilder that shot to stardom within the blink of an eye. However, he is no longer the highly touted prospect that he was. The Slovak has worked hard over the last one year to become a serious contender in IFBB Pro League’s Men’s Open division. When he transitioned to the NPC from IFBB Elite Pro League in late 2021, Krizo’s massive size and musculature catapulted him into the status of future contender.
In spite of the hype, his conditioning stood out as the major downside at the 2022 Amateur Olympia Italy where he earned the IFBB Pro card. It was also scrutinized in his first pro show, the 2022 EVLS Prague Pro, in spite of a win. But the 33-year-old could not make meaningful progress in this area until the 2022 Olympia and a 12th place finish on the grandest stage of bodybuilding concluded the competitive season for Krizo.
But the mass monster flipped the switch to address every concern about his physique while entering 2023. He increased training volume, incorporated cardio and improved digestion to significantly improve the conditioning. This resulted in Krizo earning a direct qualification to the 2023 Olympia with a win at the 2023 Empro Classic Pro.
The Slovakian bodybuilder has increased the intensity in diet and training from the beginning of August to get ready for the 2023 Olympia. But before that, he allowed his body to recover from the stress of competition prep for Empro Classic.
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Michal Krizo Back and Biceps Workout
Krizo’s back stood out as the most improved part of his physique at the 2023 Empro Classic Pro. While the muscle definition might have been there before, improved conditioning made it visible to the naked eye.
To improve his back further and bring a complete package to the 2023 Olympia stage, Krizo is training his back twice every week at the current stage of his prep. 12 weeks out of the show, the promising bodybuilder went through a back and biceps workout to show his followers how he gets things done in the gym. So, let’s see how it’s done!
Reverse Grip Lat Pulldown
Krizo kicked off the pull day session with this lat-focused exercise. He used a reverse grip for executing the movement and performed some solid sets to stimulate his back.
Although the large fan-shaped muscle called latissimus dorsi is the primary target of lat pulldowns, employing the reverse grip engages the lower lats more as the hands are closer to the body. Biceps engagement is also relatively higher in this variation, which allows you to train with heavier weights.
Krizo started out light and worked his way up in weight, cranking out some challenging sets to set the tone for the rest of the workout.
Seated Cable Rows
After hitting the lats with the previous exercise, Krizo put in the upper and middle back work with seated cable rows. Rhomboids and trapezius are the major muscle groups in this region and rowing exercises impart thickness to them in addition to working the lats. Unlike most back exercises, seated rows are performed in a seated position. Therefore the role of stabilizing muscles is very limited and you can build the mind-muscle connection relatively easily.
Krizo pushed through some demanding sets of seated cable rows and moved on to a free weight rowing exercise.
Incline Dumbbell Rows
This upper posterior chain exercise is one of the superior options for symmetrical activation of back muscles. Incline dumbbell rows use gravity to prevent momentum or other muscles from compensating for the target muscles. As a result, incline dumbbell rows also act as an ego-checker as you have to use moderate weights to be able to pull them with the correct technique.
Krizo annihilated a few solid sets to build a 3D back and took to the final back exercise of the session next.
Close Neutral Grip Lat Pulldown
The mass monster reverted to doing a vertical pulldown movement and performed the close neutral grip lat pulldown next. This grip heavily stimulates the rhomboid muscles due to the close grip and also engages biceps and forearms to a far greater extent than most other variations.
The Slovakian bodybuilder executed heavy sets of the movement to put a cap on back training in this session. He then followed on to do bicep isolation movements.
EZ Bar Preacher Curls
Michal Krizo eliminated all the junk volume and jumped right into THE most effective bicep isolation movement. As you firmly place the arm against the pad during this exercise, your biceps lift all the weight unassisted. Krizo blitzed through sleeve-ripping sets of this exercise. He then went forward to do the final exercise of the entire training session.
One Arm Cable Curls
The 2022 Prague Pro winner added the last bit of momentum to his biceps with this cable machine movement. Following this, he concluded the pull-day training and headed back home.
The workout consisted of the following exercises:
Back
Biceps
- EZ Bar Preacher Curls
- One Arm Cable Curls
Michal Krizo will compete against a stacked Open division at the 2023 Olympia. The event will take place from Nov. 3-5 in Orlando, Florida. The pace of Krizo’s improvements so far suggests that he can upset quite a few competitors on the Olympia stage.
You can watch the full workout video below, courtesy of Michal Krizo’s personal YouTube channel:
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