With a new chapter in his life coming soon, Chris Bumstead can’t wait to be a dad and a bodybuilding champion again this year. The Canadian has been taking fans on a journey through his workout schedule, exercising, and healing his body before the big show.
Recently, he went through an intense arm workout session with his partner, Courtney King. Since she is still pregnant, she performed a different routine suited to her needs. Bumstead, on the other hand, had his plan set for the day. The goal was to go intense in moderation, focusing on recovery.
He previously worked out with professional trainer Justin King, where he learned some recovery-based exercises. He began with some external rotators, trap raises, and a neck-strengthening exercise as part of his warm-up routine. Since he planned to follow King’s recommended regime, Bumstead’s focus was mostly on healing his body as much as he could.
He starts his workout with three sets of bench presses with varying weights. While he struggled to finish, he spoke about how he planned to stray slightly away from King’s recommendation since he intended to lift heavy. Despite sore and tight shoulders, he focused on working out through the pain instead of resting and lifting lighter.
“I just haven’t been training heavy at all. So, I feel like the only way for me to ever get back into it is just train through the pain… Justin’s more of the preventative rather than reactive when you hurt yourself… so, I’m combining the best of both worlds.”
He moved on to a few sets of lat pull-downs before returning to bench presses again. Alternating between the exercises was an efficient way to work parts of the upper body while completing sets. Throughout his routine, Bumstead focused on his gripping variations, alternating between supinated, semi-pronated, and even machine-assisted.
“I’m keeping the weight the same, but I’m moving my arms and grip to make it easier for myself as I go along.”
He wrapped up his routine with a couple of sets of cable rope tricep pushdowns and alternated that with bicep curls. He admitted that he skipped one exercise—the standing Arnold Press—because he previously worked on his shoulders and didn’t feel the need to do it. Tired yet satisfied, Bumstead could finally take a break for the day.
Chris Bumstead recently shared a life update
The five-time Classic Physique champion had a lot going on in his life recently. In a recent video, he spoke about the various projects he had been working on. Apart from his baby, whom he and his partner Courtney are expecting soon, he also had an Olympia to prepare for.
Amidst this, Bumstead traveled to Brazil to collaborate with his onstage rival, Ramon Dino. The duo featured on local podcasts and shot videos before the reigning champion returned home. 2024 is set to be an exciting year for the champion, and fans can’t wait to see what’s in store.