Seven-time Mr. Olympia Phil Heath reunited with his coach Hany Rambod for a push day workout. Rambod coached Heath through his bodybuilding career and will help him start a new chapter in this phase of life over the next few months.
Phil Heath is one of the most decorated bodybuilders in sport’s history. He has seven Mr. Olympia wins on his resume and ruled the Men’s Open division with an iron grip from 2011 to 2017. During this time, ‘Gift’ kept several elite bodybuilders from getting the coveted trophy.
Most notable among them is Kai Greene, who came dangerously close to defeating Phil Heath on several occasions but never succeeded. Their feud is one of the most ferocious and intense competitive rivalries in bodybuilding history.
In an era where size had become a big criterion for winnability, Phil Heath dominated the competition with excellent, conditioning, proportions, aesthetics, and muscle definition. He was recently seen giving posing tips to newly crowned Mr. Olympia Derek Lunsford on neutralizing taller opponents.
Like every elite athlete, Heath’s time at the top came to an end when he lost to the Late Shawn Rhoden at the 2018 Mr. Olympia. He last competed at the 2020 Olympia and finished fourth. Although the 43-year-old has not graced the stage since then, he has not officially retired from competitive bodybuilding.
Heath’s return to the stage has been one of the most anticipated affairs over the last couple of years. However, the legendary bodybuilder has outlined the risks associated with attempting the eighth Mr. Olympia win at this stage of his life. Heath’s story will be chronicled in an upcoming documentary film set to release in early 2024.
Level Up Your Fitness: Join our 💪 strong community in Fitness Volt Newsletter. Get daily inspiration, expert-backed workouts, nutrition tips, the latest in strength sports, and the support you need to reach your goals. Subscribe for free!
Phil Heath trains hard and maintains good health nevertheless. He feels perfectly fine to stay below his competition weight and prioritizes health and longevity. Recently, he joined renowned bodybuilding coach Hany Rambod, who has coached Heath for several years.
Phil Heath and Hany Rambod go through a chest workout
Hany Rambod is one of the most accomplished bodybuilding coaches and has helped several elite bodybuilders achieve greatness. Chris Bumstead, Derek Lunsford, and Hadi Choopan are the latest in the lineage of Rambod-trained bodybuilders who won the prestigious Mr. Olympia competition.
Phil Heath joined Hany Rambod at the Evogen Gym headquarters in Irving, Texas for a push-day workout. This was their first training session together since the 2020 Olympia peak week. This session aimed to train light, catch up on life, and test how Heath’s body responds to training.
Heath went through the workout with playful enthusiasm as Coach Rambod watched carefully and guided him through the exercises. The video of this push-day workout was posted on Rambod’s personal YouTube channel. So let’s take a closer look at the detailed account of this training session and see if Heath is planning to make a comeback anytime soon!
Overall, the workout consisted of the following exercises:
- Machine Incline Chest Press
- Panatta Super Incline Chest Press
- Incline Chest Flyes Machine
- Panatta Flat Bench Press
- Decline Chest Press Machine
- Machine Overhead Triceps Extensions
- Reverse Grip Triceps Pushdowns
- Bent Over Machine Chest Flyes
- Bent Over Dumbbell Rear Delt Flyes
Machine Incline Chest Press
The workout commenced with a few sets of incline chest presses on an iso-lateral plate-loaded machine. Heath pushed through several good sets to stimulate the upper pecs, anterior delts, and triceps before jumping into the next exercise.
Panatta Super Incline Chest Press
Rambod guided the 43-year-old through the Panatta super incline chest press for stimulating the upper pecs further and explained the purpose of doing this specific exercise. He explained:
“We’re trying to focus on that upper chest. One of the things we always wanted to do with Phul is always work on that upper chest to build that shelf. Because it’s one thing to have really good shoulders and arms. But if you don’t have that chest to be able to get 3D, you’re going to have a huge gap. What it does is, it completely throws your physique completely off when you do that front relaxed pose. You’ve got to have that 3D chest so that when you hit that front relax pose, you’re banging!”
After finishing a few sets with a regular grip, Hany Rambod instructed Heath to switch the grip to neutral (palms facing each other) to emphasize more on giving a 3D look to the upper chest. The seven-time Mr. Olympia followed the instructions and executed a few good sets.
Incline Chest Flyes Machine
After working with the pressing exercises, Heath dealt with the machine chest flyes next. He performed high-to-low and regular chest flyes on the incline chest flyes machine under Rambod’s watchful eye, cranking out a few good sets.
Panatta Flat Bench Press
The famed coach then advanced over to the horizontal multi-press machine by Panatta. Phil Heath performed some good sets of this exercise with slow and controlled movements. The most prominent feature of the machine is the offset in the center of the handlebar
Unlike a traditional straight handle or barbell, which limits the range of motion. However, the offset design allows the user to lower the bar to get maximum stretch in the pectoral muscles, effectively contributing to muscle hypertrophy.
Level Up Your Fitness: Join our 💪 strong community in Fitness Volt Newsletter. Get daily inspiration, expert-backed workouts, nutrition tips, the latest in strength sports, and the support you need to reach your goals. Subscribe for free!
Heath annihilated quite a few sets of the exercise with a slow and controlled motion to add more stimulus to his pectoral muscles before taking up another pressing exercise.
Decline Chest Press Machine
This served as the final chest-focused compound movement of the day as Heath carried out solid sets on the machine to target the lower pectoral muscles and shifted his focus to working the shoulder and triceps.
Machine Overhead Triceps Extensions
Heath started triceps training with machine overhead triceps extensions. Overhead triceps exercises work the muscle from a lengthened position, which makes them more effective for inducing muscle hypertrophy. The 43-year-old executed good sets of the exercise and moved on to the second triceps exercise.
Reverse Grip Triceps Pushdowns
The reverse grip variation of triceps pushdown puts more emphasis on the medial head of the tricep muscle. This is essential for creating a bulging and wide-arm appearance. Hany Rmabod stated that they worked extensively on building the medial tricep head during Heath’s competitive days and explained:
“We really worked hard on getting that outer tricep on Phil so that we can build even more width because of the fact that (Phil Heath) has been round and bubbly. But the criticism was always that he needs to be a bit wider. Well, this helps with that!”
After pushing through a few sets of reverse grip triceps pushdowns, Rambod guided Heath Through a chest isolation exercise.
Bent Over Machine Chest Flyes
Heath performed this as the final chest movement of the day. He worked on upper body adduction strength with this isolation exercise and performed a few good sets.
Bent Over Dumbbell Rear Delt Flyes
The training session concluded with this rear delt-focused exercise. Phil Heath carried out some solid sets with incrementally heavier weights to build the posterior deltoids and wrapped up the training session.
‘The Gift’ reveals the plan of action for the next few months
Phil Heath admitted to having faced struggles to come to terms with life without competition. He explained:
“The conflict that I have been dealing with over the last few years, and recognizing like, ‘Phil, you’re great at this. You’re a master of this and you’ve been holding back to almost like prove to yourself that you don’t need the gym to be your anchor in life.’”
He added:
“It doesn’t truly serve me as a human being. Now, going on stage doesn’t have to be my identity. It doesn’t have to do that. But being in the gym and actually training very, very hard means something.”
With that, Phil Heath promised to curate content and start a physical transformation journey. Coach Rambod seconded ‘Gift’s’ thoughts and clarified that Heath is not targeting a comeback. Instead, the purpose of the training journey would only be to create a unique version of Heath. The famed coach said:
“I think, now, the pendulum has swung so far the other way from after competing to now it’s starting to come back towards the middle. So again, it will be a waste not to see a different version of Phil. It doesn’t have to be a ‘get on the stage’ version but with amazing genetics and a great work ethic.”
Phil Heath and Hany Rambod will take bodybuilding fans on a mesmerizing transformation journey through a series of videos on their social media platforms. It will be great to see what Phil Heath achieves next with his phenomenal genetics, unparalleled work ethic, and expert guidance from Coach Rambod.
Watch the full workout video below, courtesy of Hany Rambod’s personal YouTube channel:
Related: Phil Heath Names the Only 10 Exercises Needed for Optimal Muscle Growth
Featured Image via @hanyrambod_FST7 on YouTube!
You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and
YouTube for even more content.
