Newly turned IFBB Pro bodybuilder Sam Sulek won’t have to hit a public gym to get his workouts in moving forward. On April 4, 2025, he showed off his new private gym setup, equipped with state-of-the-art machines.
“This has been quite a while in the making,” he shared about his new gym. “For now, let’s just do a little MTV gym walkthrough, see what kind of stuff we’re working with.”
Sam Sulek‘s journey into bodybuilding has gone swimmingly thus far. In his first amateur contest, he won the Overall Classic Physique title at the 2025 NPC Legends Classic. The victory qualified him to compete at the Arnold Amateur weeks later.
While doubts were circulating about whether he’d earn his Pro card, Sulek put that to rest, winning gold at the Arnold Amateur. As an IFBB Pro, Sulek wants to continue his journey in the Classic Physique category and now has his own gym to further his physique progress.
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Sam Sulek’s Private Gym Tour
In the back of his gym, he showed off his cable station, lat pulldown machine, and a high row machine.
“A lot of these pieces are inspired by the World’s Gym in Cincinnati because I’d go down there and they’d have a lot of fancier stuff. We’re all used to a hammer strength row, it’s the same thing, chest pad, seat, but you’re pulling like this, the point of rotation isn’t up here [chest height], it’s down here. Even though it’s a row for upper back, it turns into a lat movement.”
He also walked through the biomechanics of a different lat pulldown machine.
“With this pulldown, same thing since it’s kind of pivoting around, you get that lat stretch at the top, but with a regular pulldown it’s like this, you’re just pulling straight down, but here it’s a little more rounded.”
Next, he shared his T-bar row setup.
“Most of these pieces are all very efficient weight-wise. The handles are here, and the weights are way over there.”
Then, he turned his attention to a rare piece of equipment: the Arsenal pullover machine.
“This is something I’ve been missing out on,” he adds. “I’ve been missing out on the pullover. I like the cable pullovers, one arm light squeezing, but it’s really not the exact same as a whole setup. Plus it’s got the seat belt.”
His low row machine stack goes up to 300 pounds, whereas most at Planet Fitness go up to 260 pounds. As with most gym setups, he has a mirror behind his dumbbell rack, with a flat bench nearby. Then, moved on to his pec deck machine, “Reasonably basic, we all know the deal here.”
“As you press up, these handles get closer together [converging], it adds a little bit of fly motion.”
The chest portion of his gym wouldn’t be complete without a classic incline barbell bench.
“Just about the right angle I’m looking for.”
His Smith machine was nearby, which he said was primarily reserved for squats, though mentioned he might use it for curling exercises sometimes.
Although he doesn’t mind dumbbell lateral raises, he’s pleased to finally have his own lateral raise machine. Alongside it was an overhead tricep extension machine, “You don’t see these. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen one of these in Ohio before.” Next to it was his standing calf raise machine.
His leg training section is full of machines, like the leg press, hack squat, and hip press. He’s still working on the complete installation of his Arsenal pendulum squat machine.
“We’ll get a bit more of the story and progress tomorrow in the install video,” he adds. “Yeah, this is what we’ll be working with. I’ll still bounce around different gyms. This won’t be the only one I go to but this will probably the only one I go to for at least a while.”
Sulek has been open about his training approach for the 2025 bodybuilding season. He’s shared intense arm and leg workouts as he continues building his body for his journey in the IFBB Pro League’s Classic Physique division. With Chris Bumstead’s absence, many believe Sulek to be the biggest star in the category.
Sulek is making the most of his time away from the stage, capitalizing on a rebound to bring a bigger look in the future. Time will tell which bodybuilding contest he returns to on the horizon.
RELATED: Lee Priest Defends Sam Sulek After ‘Dumb Fu**’ Tim Wilkins Calls Him ‘Garbage for the Sport’
Sam Sulek is a disgrace to bodybuilding. He is just another juice monkey that don’t know what bodybuilding means. He never matured his muscles before juicing. He will be dead in a few years. He should not even be on here or any other site. Makes me sick.