Three-time reigning Classic Physique Olympia champion Chris Bumstead headed to a Revive gym in Stuart, FL, to meet with bodybuilder Vaughn Walker for an FST-7-inspired arm workout. Bumstead filmed that session on Oct. 25, 2022, and published the video on his Youtube channel on Nov. 1, 2022.
Bumstead was about six weeks out from the 2022 Olympia at the time of his upload. He’s dialing in physique improvements to bring a package worthy of a fourth consecutive Classic Physique Olympia title. The 2022 Olympia is scheduled for Dec. 16-18, 2022, in Las Vegas, NV. Check out Bumstead’s arm workout below:
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Triceps Rope Pushdowns
Bumstead and Vaughn started the workout with rope cable pushdowns to warm up their joints. Bumstead has struggled with elbow pain, a common issue for him when deeper into prep. Bumstead uses his warm-up and mindfulness for form to prevent minor injuries from getting worse.
I have to warm up my old man’s elbows.
Bumstead does not have a set number of reps or sets in mind when warming up. He goes by feel, and when his elbows feel good, he knows he has done enough.
Overhead Triceps Extensions, Dips, & Preacher Curls
Up first was one of Bumstead’s favorites for triceps development: overhead triceps extensions. These simulate the free weight variation but keep constant tension on the triceps to allow for a deeper stretch in the fully lengthened position. Bumstead and Vaughn followed those with bodyweight dips. This movement is excellent for building mass in the triceps.
Moving onto the biceps, Bumstead tapped a plate-loaded preacher curl machine, focusing on the full range of motion with a hard squeeze at the top. Both athletes tacked on several partial reps once fatigue set in. Bumstead works a top set with five 25-pound weight plates.
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Prone Incline Spider Curls
Vaughn kicks off the next biceps movement: spider curls. This strict barbell movement is a great biceps builder by adding to the biceps peak — a crucial attribute for any bodybuilder attempting to win a show.
It’s hard to curl dumbbells or anything when your arms have too much blood in them.
Both athletes focused on perfect form with a slow negative and a controlled positive, ensuring a hard squeeze of the biceps at the top of each rep.
Alternating Dumbbell Curls & Cable Tricep Push Outs
Bumstead and Vaughn performed standing alternating dumbbell curls. They performed concentric holds on their non-working arms as they switched sides, ensuring that both sides were under constant tension. Each completed hammer curls to failure as they reached failure on traditional alternating dumbbell curls at the end of their final sets.
Back over to the cable station for some additional triceps work, Bumstead performed some cable triceps pushouts. The pushout is similar to standing reverse cable flyes for the rear delts, but the load biases the triceps.
Standing Dual Cable Curls
Bumstead and Vaughn completed standing dual cable curls for their final movement, utilizing the FST-7 principle. They traded sets with minimal rest.
FST-7, or “Fascial Stretch Training” (the ‘7’ referring to the number of finisher sets at the end), is not new in bodybuilding. It has been utilized successfully to aid in building top-level athletes’ physiques, such as Men’s Physique athletes like Jeremy Buendia and Open Bodybuilding pros like Phil Heath. Coined by Hany Rambod, FST-7 is a training style that can apply to nearly any exercise or muscle group.
By applying FST-7 to bodybuilding workouts, the conscious effort is to lengthen the fascia — the “casing” that helps to connect or conceal muscles, bones, tendons, and ligaments. Think of fascia as a soft structural architecture that holds the musculature together.
By performing high-rep, high-intensity sets of any given exercise with little rest between sets, Rambod believes that FST-7 can alter the biological structure of fascia, making it more volumized and permitting more muscular expansion. This translates to a fuller, more three-dimensional muscle belly.
Chris Bumstead’s Arm Workout
Below are the exercises Bumstead performed in order during his arm workout:
- Triceps Rope Pushdowns
- Overhead Machine Triceps Extensions
- Bodyweight Dips
- Machine Preacher Curls
- Prone Incline Spider Curls
- Alternating Dumbbell Curls
- Cable Tricep Push Outs
- FST-7: Standing Dual Cable Curls
Bumstead finished his session with a post-workout shake. We’ll see what physique improvements Bumstead achieves while following his prep and cut six weeks out from the 2022 Olympia in December.
Featured image: @cbum on Instagram