Strongman icon Mitchell Hooper never turns his back on a fitness challenge. This time, he took to his YouTube channel to replicate bodybuilder Sam Sulek’s intense failure-based chest workout.
“His physique is insane. Today, we are replicating Sam Sulek’s chest workout. Starting with incline bench, we are basically going to failure on everything today. Not something I’m used to but as Dr. Mike says, that is one of the pinnacles of building muscle is working to failure.”
In the world of strongman, Mitchell Hooper quickly established himself as an elite talent. He won the 2023 World’s Strongest Man and the Arnold Strongman Classic, cementing his status as an all-time great. Having defeated mainstays of the sport like the reigning 2024 WSM Tom Stoltman, Brian Shaw, and Oleksii Novikov, Hooper understands how important it is to craft a quality training routine.
Sam Sulek emerged as a bodybuilding sensation even though he has yet to compete on stage. Boasting millions of followers across social media and YouTube, he has become one of the most influential faces in fitness at only 22 years old. In a rare strongman-bodybuilding crossover, Hooper walked fans through his Sam Sulek-style workout.
Mitchel Hooper Replicates Sam Sulek’s Intense Chest Day Workout
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Check out the workout below:
- Incline Smith machine bench press — 5 sets to failure
- Chest cable flyes — 5 sets to failure
- Peck-Deck — 1 set to failure
“That’s only 11 sets but all 11 sets to failure and we should get a pretty big pump from that.”
Incline Smith machine bench press
Hooper’s first exercise saw him push 365 pounds for six reps, and he admits he wasn’t accustomed to lifting with such volume.
“Aiming to fail somewhere in the 6-8 rep range but first set I went up to 14, added a bit more weight.”
“I’m going up to 365, I reckon probably four or five or six to failure but let’s see how it goes. I’m not use to working with this much volume.”
Chest cable flyes
During chest cable flyes, Hooper adjusted the range of motion to make it more specific to strongman, relating it to picking up an Atlas stone.
“We got five sets here to failure as well. I’m going to make this more specific to strongman I don’t think it matters all that much if you’re coming straight in front of your chest or at a different angle. I’m going to hinge over, come down here like I’m picking up at Atlas stone but you very well could come straight out in front of you if you wanted.”
“We are looking for the 8-12 rep range. For me, we’re going to try 95 first,” says Mitchell Hooper.
Peck Deck
Finishing things off, Hooper maxed out the weight stack and pushed to failure with one set of peck decks.
“We are nice and juicy. Rounding out the workout, one set absolute failure with the peck deck aiming between 12-15 reps for failure. I’m just going to stack up the weight to maximum and hit as many as I can. And then, that’ll be chest day all done.”
Mitchel Hooper isn’t the only notable fitness personality taking on Sam Sulek’s workouts. As of late, former 2013 Women’s Physique Olympia Dan Linn Bailey trained like Sulek for a day and provided insight into many of the exercises he likes to perform.
Training with the likes of Hunter Labrada and Samson Dauda on separate occasions, it’s evident Sam Sulek has big plans in store for the future. He says he intends to test the waters in the IFBB Pro League Classic Physique division in a year or a year and a half.
Showing respect for his physique and strength, strongman Mitchell Hooper enjoyed training like Sulek for the day, but admits the changes in volume were noticeable. Fans look forward to seeing both men compete on the horizon!
Watch the full video from Mitchell Hooper’s YouTube channel below:
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