After holding his own against the big guys at the 2023 Arnold Classic, Shaun Clarida is now back in the gym to progress further in his bodybuilding journey. He recently joined Hany Rambod and did an FST-7 chest workout under the famed bodybuilding coach’s guidance.
Clarida is an American professional bodybuilder that has competed in the 22 division of the IFBB Pro League. Winning the 212 Olympia crown at the 2020 Olympia was the biggest accomplishment of Clarida’s career at the time. However, he lost the title to Derek Lunsford at the 2021 Olympia and made a bold switch to the Men’s Open division. At 5ft-2in tall, Clarida was considered to be too small to compete against the big guys. However, he proved everyone wrong and won his Men’s Open debut at the 2021 Legion Sports Fest Pro to silence the critics.
The win qualified him to compete in the Men’s Open division at the 2022 Mr. Olympia. While Clarida had intended to create history by competing in both Men’s Open and the 212 division at the 2022 Olympia, he ended up competing in the 212 division. The 40-year-old reclaimed the crown at the show by defeating the likes of Kamal Elgargni and Angel Calderon Frias and became a two-time 212 Olympia champion.
He made a quick turnaround to compete in the second most prestigious bodybuilding competition – the 2023 Arnold Classic – in the Men’s Open division. This time, Clarida had to face a murderous row of opponents like Nick Walker, Samson Dauda, Andrew Jacked, and former 2-time Mr. Olympia Mamdouh ‘Big Ramy’ Elssbiay. Shaun Clarida held his own against the much bigger opponents and finished fifth at the show. He is now in the middle of his off-season training to get better for defending the 212 Olympia title at the 2023 Olympia.
Recently, Clarida trained his chest under famed bodybuilding coach Hany Rambod. The video of this workout was posted on Rambod’s personal YouTube channel. So without further delay, let’s take a closer look at the detailed account of this training session.
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Shaun Clarida goes through an FST-7 chest workout
Coach Hany Rambod planned the chest workout using the FST-7 training method. Created by Rambod, the Fascia Strength Training (FST-7) principle is designed to induce insane pump and muscle hypertrophy. The basic idea behind this training method is to do seven sets of exercises to target the body part that you want to grow.
Shaun Clarida is one of the hardest working bodybuilders. However, he has been struggling to figure out the reasons why his chest is not showing the desired results. During this session, Hany Rambod observed Clarida share a few important insights that gave Shaun the answers he needed.
Incline Panatta Press
Shaun Clarida took to the incline Panatta press or the incline chest press on the Panatta machine to get things started. This was Clarida’s first time using this machine. To increase the range of motion and stimulate the muscles more, Hany Rambod instructed:
“Focus on that stretch on the way back. You would want to take advantage of the fact that this is not a bar. So you want to be able to bring your arm back further. Because if it was a bar, you would stop but it’s not. So you want to be able to take advantage of the machine. So you have better range of motion,” Hany Rambod said.
Rambod insisted Clarida take two seconds each to finish the eccentric as well as the concentric phase of the exercise. He further stated that Clarida could slow it down more to increase the intensity of the workout.
Hany Rambod noticed that Shaun Clarida’s shoulders were locked in a forward position while doing the chest press. He explained that pulling the shoulders behind allows the pectoral muscles to get activated. Therefore Rambod advised Clarida to keep them locked to let the pectoral muscles take over the movement.
“If you stretch, it equals more separation. More stretch, more separation. You’ll get more separation between the delt and the chest and you’ll be able to get the chest to fire better separately than the delt,” Rambod concluded.
After pushing through all the sets of incline Panatta press, Shaun Clarida took to the next exercise.
Incline Dumbbell Chest Flyes
The famed bodybuilding coach instructed Shaun Clarida to move away from the presses and do the flyes next. Pressing movements improve the pushing strength of the upper body while flyes improve the ability to adduct (bring together) using the chest and arm muscles. For complete development of the chest and triceps, it is essential to incorporate both types of movements in the chest training routine.
Hany Rambod reiterated the importance of lifting the right amount of weight for the exercise – not too heavy but not too light either. He said:
“So guys. Here’s the issue when you go too light when you’re a guy that’s really really strong. It’s such an artificial feeling movement that you can’t actually can’t really get the proper range of motion because it’s so light.”
Rambod drove his point through with an example of a barbell squat. He said:
“If you try to squat with just the bar without a little bit of weight on it, it’s not going to force you right into the hole where you’re supposed to break parallel and go back up. Same thing with these flyes.”
Clarida moved weights for all the sets of incline dumbbell chest flyes under Rambod’s watchful eye and took to the next exercise.
Machine Flat Bench Press
Clarida next moved on to the machine flat bench press. Rambod introduced the reigning 212 Olympia champ to the Panatta super horizontal multi press machine for doing this exercise. The machine offers two multi-press bars – straight bar and camber bar for a supinated grip – for working the pectoral and triceps muscles.
Rambod instructed Clarida to use the straight bar and the latter cranked out solid sets of the exercise.
Chest Dip Press
Clarida performed the triceps dip press on the machine next to work the chest and triceps. Hany Rambod suggested Clarida to lean forward in order to make the movement more pectoral muscles focused. The 40-year-old annihilated good sets of the dip press as the Coach pushed him to add more volume. To address some of the strength imbalances that Clarida might have, Rambod used the iso-lateral dip press machine. He suggested Clarida to do the last few reps in the later sets unilaterally to put equal amounts of work in.
Cable Crossover
Rambod told Clarida to do the cable crossover next. People generally use this isolation movement to add the last bit of pump at the end of the workout. However, cable crossover ranks high up when it comes to pectoral muscle activation and deserves a place in the workout for more than just pump.
Shaun Clarida performed the sets of cable crossover as Rambod observed the technique and gave his inputs wherever necessary. After finishing the sets, the Coach instructed Clarida to hold the position at the end of the concentric phase. This was to keep the muscles under tension for a longer duration.
Push-Ups
Shaun Clarida cranked out push-ups next to finish the training session. He then showed the post-workout physique to Hany Rambod by posing and finishing up the workout.
Overall, the workout included:
- Incline Panatta Press
- Dumbbell Incline Flyes
- Machine Flat Bench Press
- Chest Dip Press
- Cable Crossover
Shaun Clarida will return to the stage at the 2023 Olympia. In spite of having achieved the biggest prize that the sport has to offer, Clarida is still eager to learn and grow. If he continues to nurture this mindset and act accordingly, it will be difficult for the competition to dethrone him in the foreseeable future.
You can watch the full workout video here, courtesy of Hany Rambod’s personal YouTube channel:
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