Urs Kalecinski is paying attention to each part of his physique to tighten the loose ends before the 2022 Olympia. The event will take place from Dec. 15 to 18 in Las Vegas, NV. Kalecinski is a German professional bodybuilder who has emerged as a top contender in the Classic Physique division of the IFBB Pro League. After capping the 2021 competitive season with a respectable fourth-place finish in his 2021 Olympia debut, “The Miracle Bear” rode on the momentum in 2022. He beat former Olympia Classic Physique champion, Breon Ansley, en route to a third-place finish at the 2022 Arnold Classic. Following this, Kalecinski won the 2022 Boston Pro and the 2022 Kuwait Classic Pro, earning a direct qualification to the 2022 Olympia.
Under the guidance of famed coach Stefan Kienzl, the 24-year-old is putting together an aesthetic and proportionally perfect package to uncrown the divisional king Chris Bumstead. Kalecinski’s back was the weakest part of his physique, and he has pretty much brought it on par with the rest of his body through relentless effort and guidance. He recently traveled to the USA and trained with leading names like Chris Bumstead, Terrence Ruffin, and Nick Walker. As helpful as the experience was, the 2022 Boston Pro winner is glad to be back in Germany for the last few weeks of his prep.
Kalecinski recently went through a crushing shoulder and arm workout and shared the video on his YouTube channel. So without further delay, let’s take a closer look at the detailed account of this session.
Urs Kalecinski goes through a shoulder and arm workout
Kalecinski went grocery shopping to get the ingredients for his pre-workout meal. Following this, he prepared a meal that consisted of:
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- Rice Flakes
- Water (4 times the volume of rice flakes)
- Salt: 2 grams
- Whey Protein Isolate: 50 grams
The German bodybuilder heated the mixture in a microwave oven for two to three minutes and topped it with blueberries and cinnamon.
Kalecinski consumed his pre-workout meal with a cup of coffee. He then prepared his pre-workout and intra-workout drinks and headed for the gym. As revealed in his Olympia prep diet video, The Miracle Bear drinks the pre-workout drink 40 to 45 minutes before the workout. While explaining the nature of this particular training session, Kalecinski said:
“Shoulders can never be big enough. And I’ve got to say, I’ve not disregarded shoulders, but they simply grow like hell. But I only did shoulders on push/pull days and with the back. It’s always been at the end of the workout. Since I really want my shoulders to pop out, who doesn’t want it, right? So we’re starting with shoulders, and then we continue with arms.”
Later in the video, Kalecinski admitted that he started to enjoy a dedicated shoulder day workout since his recent trip to the USA. The workout consisted of three exercises (three sets each) for every muscle group.
Shoulder Workout
Cable Rear Delt Fly
The shoulder workout included one exercise each for the anterior, lateral, and posterior deltoid muscles. Kalecinski admitted that he realized the importance of training the more neglected muscles like hamstrings and rear delts fairly early in his bodybuilding journey. Therefore he trains these muscles at the beginning of his workouts.
“The back shoulder is responsible for the 3D look. It’s very important. So I don’t understand the guys who’re like, ‘yeah, front raises and shoulder presses!’ Because they think that’s good. But this is a wrong attempt to the shoulder.” Kalecinski added.
The 2022 Kuwait Classic Pro winner first performed the cable rear delt fly to work the posterior delts and shed light on the training method for this exercise. He said:
“I don’t do one top and one back-off set, but instead I do one set with more reps, that works nice. Then I increase the weight. So I do like a pyramid system, and the last set is going to be the heaviest.”
After doing three working sets of cable rear delt flyes with the aforementioned method, Kalecinski took to the next movement.
Lying Cuffed Cable Lateral Raise
Kalecinski worked the lateral deltoid muscles with this exercise. While standing or seated lateral raises with a cable machine or dumbbells are fairly common variations of this movement, cuffed lying lateral raises offer unique benefits. Using cuffs eliminates grip and forearm strength. Additionally, your back is pressed against the bench, which does not allow you to sway back and forth to lift the weight. The combination of both these factors isolates the lateral deltoid muscles to a greater extent and helps build strength and muscle.
Kalecinski performed three working sets of this exercise. He performed the first set with the heaviest load and slightly reduced the weight for the next two sets. After reaching the ten reps mark in the third set, the 24-year-old continued to do full and partial reps to failure and held the weights for as long as he could after the last rep.
“I recommend you to try this. Be it hamstrings or lateral raises with the cable or maybe even biceps curls with cable. Do your set, push a lot of reps, and in the end, simply hold it with tension for at least 15-20 seconds. I guarantee it’ll put a lot of stress and stimulus on the muscle group you’re working on. That’s really cool. You can really push the intensity of a workout this way,” Kalecinski explained.
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Seated Shoulder Press Machine
Kalecinski next took to this anterior deltoid focused movement on a plate-loaded machine. After performing three working sets of shoulder presses with a slow and controlled motion, the Miracle Bear wrapped up the shoulder routine and shifted his focus to his arms.
Arms Workout
Triceps Pushdown
The Miracle Bear started the arms workout with this triceps movement. In addition to working the triceps, the cable pushdowns effectively warm up the elbow joint. Hence they are an excellent starting exercise in the arm workout. After performing three sets of this movement, Kalecinski took to another triceps exercise.
EZ Bar Skullcrusher
Isolating a specific part of a muscle with different exercises is impossible. However, different movement patterns can certainly emphasize one part of the muscle over the other. Overhead movements like skull crushers focus on the long triceps head. Kalecinski did three working sets of this exercise and jumped into the next exercise.
One-Arm Cable Curl
Kalecinski performed cable curls next to target the biceps. The cable machines are excellent for inducing hypertrophy as the muscles stay under tension throughout the range of motion. The German bodybuilder did this exercise unilaterally to focus on the movement. He did three sets and took to another biceps movement.
Dumbbell Preacher Curl
Preacher curls are arguably the best biceps isolation exercise available to us. The tricep is firmly pressed against the pad, and the shoulder joint rests on the edge of the pad. This stops the shoulder and triceps from taking over the movement and the biceps are forced to do all the work. Kalecinski did this exercise unilaterally using dumbbells and performed three sets before taking to the next exercise.
Superset: Overhead Cable Triceps Extension and Cable Curl
This antagonistic superset increased the intensity of this training session and worked the biceps and triceps simultaneously. The overhead cable triceps extensions are an excellent way to target the triceps as they enable the two most important triceps activation criteria — full elbow flexion and shoulder joint stability. Kalecinski superset this exercise with cable curls to work the biceps. He did all the sets of these exercises in rapid succession with minimal rest.
Triceps Dips
Kalecinski moved away from free weights and machines for the last triceps movement of the day and did a few sets of standard triceps dips.
Chin-ups
The Miracle Bear took to this bodyweight movement for further biceps stimulation. After performing three sets of chin-ups with a slow and controlled motion, Kalecinski wound up the training session.
Urs Kalecinski 2022 Olympia Shoulder and Arm Workout
Overall, the workout included:
Shoulders workout
- Cable Rear Delt Fly
- Lying Cuffed Cable Lateral Raise
- Seated Overhead Press Machine
Arms Workout
- Triceps Pushdown
- EZ Bar Skullcrusher
- Standing One-Arm Cable Curl
- Dumbbell Preacher Curl
- Superset: Overhead Cable Triceps Extension and Cable Curl
- Triceps Dips
- Chin-Up
Kalecinski and hungry young professionals like him are the future of the Classic Physique division. With the improvements he has made in his arms and back compared to the previous year, Kalecinski is confident he will improve his standing at the 2022 Olympia. However, Bumstead has set the standard for the division at a very high level. The Miracle Bear and others will have to maintain the discipline and intensity to stake a claim at the Olympia gold. It will be one hell of a ride to witness the competition when the 2022 Olympia kicks off on Dec. 15. Until then, keep following Fitness Volt for more updates.
You can watch the full workout video below, courtesy of Urs Kalecinski’s YouTube channel:
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