10 Exercises That Will Make You Look Like A Beast - 6x Mr Olympia Chris Bumstead
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In this high-level discussion, 6x Mr. Olympia Chris Bumstead outlines a definitive list of ten exercises he believes are essential for maximizing muscular development over time. The primary goal is to build as much muscle mass as possible while maintaining efficiency in training volume. His top selection begins with the barbell back squat and deadlifts; while squats target the quads, glutes, and overall leg growth, Bumstead notes that he sometimes incorporates machine squats for knee health during his competitive prep phase. Deadlifts are included specifically to engage hamstrings without requiring a separate isolation movement, effectively covering lower body posterior chains in one compound lift. For upper back development, pull-ups serve as the cornerstone exercise, allowing him to hit lats and biceps simultaneously using overhand, underhand, or neutral grips depending on his specific needs for that session. Moving into chest and shoulder work, Bumstead favors incline dumbbell presses over barbell variations because they allow for a greater range of motion without compromising shoulder stability, ensuring symmetrical development even when one side is weaker than the other. He also includes seated dumbbell shoulder presses to target both shoulders and triceps effectively. For arm isolation, he selects standing supinated dumbbell curls performed strictly with alternating arms rather than simultaneous movements, emphasizing control over momentum. This selection of eight exercises covers the major muscle groups efficiently: squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, incline dumbbell press, seated shoulder press, close grip flat bench for chest and triceps variation, single-arm dumbbell curl, bent-over rows for core stability and lower back support, and hanging leg raises. The final two exercises on his list address the often-neglected calves and lateral deltoids. Bumstead suggests using stairs or a specific machine to target calf growth since no other exercise fully replaces that stimulus, while he opts for lateral raises over overhead tricep extensions to build "meaty" delts without redundancy given his existing close grip press work. He highlights the hanging leg raise as an industry-standard ab builder because it specifically targets lower abs, which are crucial for preventing gut protrusion on stage; additionally, simply hanging from a bar provides significant relief and therapeutic benefits for the shoulders and spine due to their primate-like articulation structure. Beyond his exercise regimen, Bumstead discusses his future athletic ambitions, noting that despite being labeled as an athlete in bodybuilding circles, he feels constrained by sport-specific restrictions such as weight classes and repetitive movements. He expresses a strong desire to transition into CrossFit after retiring from competitive bodybuilding to regain the feeling of unrestricted athleticism where he can run, jump, and train anywhere without fear of injury or disqualification. However, his experience with high-impact activities like basketball has been mixed; playing just one hour recently caused severe inflammation that kept him out for a week, illustrating how even professional athletes are not immune to joint stress when engaging in unfamiliar sports at peak body mass levels. The conversation concludes with Bumstead reflecting on the limitations of current physical outlets and his interest in exploring new forms of athletic expression once he can no longer compete at an elite level. He acknowledges that while CrossFit offers a different type of challenge, it still carries risks regarding ACL ruptures or other injuries if not managed carefully. Throughout the interview, there is also a promotional segment for LMNT electrolytes, which Bumstead endorses as his daily hydration choice containing sodium, potassium, and magnesium to reduce cramps and fatigue without artificial ingredients, reinforcing his commitment to science-backed recovery methods alongside his rigorous training philosophy.
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if you only had 10 exercises for the
rest of time that's all you have in your
library to stay as muscular as possible
give me the list so the the goal is to
be as muscular as possible correct if I
were let's say I'm competing and I have
10 exercises sure
all right sorry I'm gonna have to count
it on my hands
um squats why
just overall leg growth they help glutes
quads like a large portion of the legs
barbell back squats okay simple if it's
my whole life I might actually do some
miss machine squats
because it'll help my knees in a little
bit be a little bit easier okay
possibility and people hate me for that
but I love squatting this machine all
right I get a lot of [ __ ] for that
um deadlifts just to get something
that'll Target the my hamstrings and so
I don't have to take out another 10 or
two something too hamstring focused and
glute and back focus
um Pull-Ups so I can hit my back and
biceps in one overhand underhand
neutral
oh neutral ground neutral probably yeah
it's a little bit more Latin biceps yep
I'm sure my arms are going
um incline dumbbell press uh-huh I find
inclines a little bit better on your
shoulders so if you're doing it's the
only except you can do you won't [ __ ] up
your shoulders as much and dumbbell
it'll just keep you a little bit more
symmetrical yeah I love that I've always
loved that exercise which is weird
because uh incline barbell press is one
of the most uncomfortable for my
shoulders really yeah yeah most people
feel better with dumbbell because you
can go in a position around a little
before you yeah okay how many is that
that's four that's four yeah six left
this is gonna be hard without like but
I'd like have to make a list of 20 and
cut out but the autism is put to one
side for now yeah they're doing this in
our heads together
um
dumbbell shoulder press uh-huh seated
seated yeah no shoulder press yeah I
think that'll help your triceps and
shoulders a lot
um
maybe a a close grip flat bench
different part of the chest and triceps
okay yeah yeah yeah yeah
full left
dumbbell curl just something
specifically I'm so glad how do you want
to live without doing fine dumbbells
physique I just need it for my mind
exactly yeah with that are you uh
supinated again this is the only one
that you're going to get he's seated
you're standing uh uh standing supinated
okay good good the the OG of dumbbell
curves yeah and it's going to be one of
them at a time it can't be both arms
together it's gonna be one at a time
yeah that's six of the basics good stuff
um I think you've got three left yeah
three left I think what parts of the
body I'm missing right now calves
probably
oh [ __ ] yourself
well you're not going to get it with
anything else
a little bit on deadlift but
maybe I'll just do stairs on the side
and I'll tell you about it okay fine
you've still got three exercises you
only needed seven so far ah there they
say bent over row no don't over row okay
it'll that'll help like stability the
core as well and then like lower back
and obviously upper back yeah because
the only back exercise that you've had
so far is the pull up deadlifts and
pull-ups yeah bent over rows yeah okay
yeah yeah
um so I got two left yeah
probably like a hanging leg raise just
to make sure your core is getting hit
you're not like
[ __ ] up your back and then
this is a tough one I think I'm trying
to like focus on either lateral raises
or like overhead tricep extension
because I haven't had a lot of like
specific triceps I would probably do
lateral raises just to get some meaty
delts over [ __ ] yeah you're just too
much well you've got that close grip and
you've got the uh incline press yeah
it's so interesting so Ryan Terry who I
know that you've trained with before I
asked him the same question and his ab
exercise as well was hanging Legos yeah
it seems to be the industry Insider
even though I'm not the perfect person
or that I just I always try and work on
my lower abs because it's harder for me
to contract with rather than upper and
that's usually when your stomach hangs
out and on bodybuilding stage you don't
want your like gut hanging out
essentially what pulls it in is the
lower part when you do a hanging leg res
or like lying leg raise it hits that
part more and also like hanging from a
bar is really good for your shoulders
and spine so you kind of hit two birds
with one stone one of my friends Alex
who basically has an unlimited budget
said that he'd been to every shoulder
specialist on the planet it's like I've
spoken to every single person all of the
most expensive specialists in the world
the best thing that I've found is
hanging from a Pokemon yeah
yeah it's wild uh I think he does it
I think he ends up like um strapping up
uh and just hanging from there for about
90 seconds a couple of times a day
I'd heard a rumor I don't know whether
you'd heard this that because we'd spent
so much time as uh primates swinging
through the trees that the way that our
shoulder still articulates like that
position yeah is still one that's very
comfortable to us and I would I'm going
to get torn apart by people who
understand biomechanics in in the
comments but
um there's supposed to be a little bit
of Truth to that and it definitely feels
nice for sure I mean even if you're
standing in a doorway and you just like
do this you're just chilling like you
just feel better what about your future
CrossFit career so we've spoken about
what you've done what you've done so far
but before we started you've said that
you want to take up CrossFit once you
finish yeah I mean I just I used to be
very athletic when I was young it's
really what got me into bodybuilding I
just loved Sports I played like six of
them when I was younger and I would like
to get back to that like form of feeling
like I can run I'm strong I can do a lot
of body weight exercises I could train
anywhere in the world and just kind of
like challenging my body in a new way
because I'm obviously not going to be
hitting any PRS in the gym or being
heavier than I've ever been than I am in
my Peak bodybuilding career so just
finding a new to focus on my dabble in
that but it's more of like an athletic
training that like you can call Crossfit
okay it's um
it's so funny to think that
the particular sport that you chose to
go after actually has a load of
restrictions on it like it's very very
consistent very repetitive by its nature
not a team sport you know there's a
bunch of different things that it
constrains you from doing you know what
do you weigh now how heavy are you about
262 right now 260. right you said you
could dunk a year ago though that could
260. I got a video of it so I'm not
lying no way do you put it online it is
online yeah [ __ ] yeah uh but yeah my
point being that a game of pickup you
know 30 minute game of pick at
basketball probably be not very good for
your knees no I I did it last year I was
telling you that yeah yeah I wouldn't
play with a bunch of the guys here we
played probably played for almost an
hour it was pretty long and I could not
walk for a week like it was just
inflammation and pain I was just sitting
so bizarre right because you think
athlete professional athlete what do you
do for a living I
like Fitness things yeah so people often
don't call bodybuilders athletes yeah
but like it's not that Fitness yeah yeah
and you also said that after your last
crossfit workout you'd had a cough for
like 10 days yeah there's a
I can't remember what they call it the
specific person they named the car yeah
yeah did you do friend is that the
workout I don't think so okay but you
got Franklin from like a really gentle
workout yeah no not that bad yeah it's
thinking about what people want to do
once they retire so to speak yeah
um
and the fact that you've had all of
these different physical Outlets that
have been like I can't do that and I
better not do that and snowboarding I
can only go twice a year in case what if
I rupture an ACL that's not going to be
very good tomorrow yeah yeah so you are
very much constrained with this we'll
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