Michal “Križo” Križánek sent shockwaves through the bodybuilding world when he qualified for the 2022 Mr. Olympia contest via his win at the 2022 Prague Pro. His stature as a mass monster with titanic arms attached to boulder shoulders stood out when he took off his jogger’s jacket at the Olympia press conference to flex his most muscular pose.
Despite the buzz surrounding Križo’s Olympia debut, he wound up in 12th place as Hadi Choopan walked away with the title. On March 30, 2023, Križo took to his YouTube channel to share how he’s bulking his back and arms even further during his off-season. Check it out in the video below:
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Michal Križo’s Back and Arms Bulking Workout
Križo performed the following exercises in his back and arms workout. He did not specify the weight or number of reps and sets for each, but it was apparent that he was training heavy, given the size of the weight stacks moved.
- Underhand Lat Pulldowns
- Seated Cable Row
- Underhand Bent-Over Barbell Row
- Seated EZ-Curl Bar Biceps Curls
- Alternating Cable Curls
- Dumbbell Shrugs
While performing his lat pulldowns, it was conspicuous that Križo did not use any lifting straps to remove his grip as a limiting factor. Given that he was lifting nearly the entire weight stack on the cable machine, his forearms and grip were tested while he focused on contracting his lats.
Three sets of lat pulldowns were shown on camera before crossfading to seated rows. Again, Križo forewent the use of straps or a lifting belt. After performing what appeared to be four sets to failure, Križo hit bent-over barbell rows with an underhand grip before shifting to biceps movements to allow his back time to recover.
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[Read More: Our Favorite Forearm Workouts, + the Best Forearm Exercises]
The first exercise for the biceps was seated EZ-bar curls. Sitting for this movement allowed Križo to remove any tendency to sway or move in any other way that might remove stimulus from the biceps. Sitting is more stable for an isometric movement like this, which enabled Križo to maintain his biceps under tension for longer.
As the previous exercise trained his biceps in their shortened position, Križo followed it with alternating cable biceps curls to train the biceps in the lengthened position. With the cables positioned behind him, there was constant tension on the biceps to maintain their position, even at the bottom of the movement — something dumbbells cannot provide.
Dumbbell shrugs were Križo’s sixth and final exercise of the session, performed with a forward-head posture to allow for a peak contraction of the traps.
As Križo did not finish in the top three at the 2022 Olympia, he will have to win a pro show during the 2023 season to qualify for the 2023 Mr. Olympia contest scheduled for Nov. 2-5 in Orlando, FL.
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Featured image: @ifbb_pro_michalkrizokrizanek on Instagram
