“Get a pump. Go to failure. Enjoy,” is the Sam Sulek manifesto. It’s also the directive the YouTube superstar set for himself during a Jul. 10, 2024 training vlog.
22-year-old Sulek’s workout of the day was arms, and the man was on a mission: To measure at least 20 inches during his customary post-workout pump check. He’s currently just three weeks into his latest bulking phase, and in addition to thousands of daily calories (seriously, check out his bulking grocery list), muscle growth is on the menu.
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Spoiler alert: Sulek does, in fact, cross the coveted 20-inch mark at the end of his arm workout. We’re going to break down the six-exercise plan he put together on his drive to the gym and explain the rationale along the way. It’s growing season.
Sam Sulek 20-Inch Arm Workout for Bodybuilding
“My last arm workout had a lot of really heavy biceps curls and triceps pressdowns,” Sulek told the shotgun-seated camera on his drive to the gym. “I might make [today’s workout] a bit contradictory to that and do more light squeezing sets.”
For Sulek, “light” is a relative term — part of his rapid rise to online stardom is owed to his ironclad commitment to taking each and every set to the point of failure, and then a little bit further.
- Cable Triceps Pressdown: 3 x 10-12
- Dumbbell Curl: 3 x 8-10
- Cable Triceps Pressdown: 3 x 15-20
- Dumbbell Curl: 1 x AMRAP
- Concentration Curl: 2 x 15-20
- Cable Triceps Pressdown + Cable Curl: 2-3 x AMRAP
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You’ll find that here in spades. Take note of the commentary below, as the exercises, sets, and reps alone don’t paint a full picture.
Prior to beginning his session, Sulek mapped out his plan of attack; “seven or eight” working sets for both his biceps and triceps, plus using weights that cause him to hit failure anywhere in the eight-to-25 rep range.
- Studies show that the “hypertrophy rep range” is mostly myth. As long as you train to or near failure, you can build muscle with anywhere from five to 30 repetitions per set. (1)
Exercise 1: EZ-Bar Triceps Pressdown
Sulek kicked off his workout with a cable exercise for his triceps. He performed three sets of about 12 repetitions on the triceps pushdown with a 45-pound weight plate added to the stack. “Don’t pump out quick reps here; really control it until you get close to failure,” he advised the camera.
Crash Course: Sulek is a fan of adding weight plates to cable exercises. He took a beat to school the camera on a bit of physics, explaining that the dual-pulley system disperses the load of the plate such that it only adds 22.5 pounds of additional resistance.
Exercise 2: Dumbbell Curl
“Heavy, but within reason,” was Sulek’s M.O. for his second exercise. Sulek donned lifting straps for 60-pound alternating biceps curls and performed three sets of eight to 10 repetitions.
On his final set, Sulek threw in a cluster set to burn things out. Studies have shown that bodybuilding intensity techniques such as cluster sets or forced reps can help advanced physique athletes continue to make progress. (2)
Grip & Rip?: Sulek is a fan of using straps on many bodybuilding exercises, even when his grip isn’t necessarily a limiting factor, preferring to do forearm exercises separately. Straps secure your hand to the shaft or handle of whatever you’re holding, reducing the demand placed on your forearms to clasp the weight.
Exercise 3: EZ-Bar Triceps Pressdown
Sulek opted out of a high-variety arm workout, returning to the pushdown for his third exercise. This time, he banged out three sets of 15 to 20 repetitions, including some partial reps as well — but not by choice.
“My biceps are so pumped that my range of motion is limited,” Sulek remarked. He added a few forced reps at the end of the second set, and took the weight plate off the stack after the third set to perform drop sets.
Drop It: A 2023 meta analysis on drop set training (3) concluded that the technique does not have a more substantial effect on muscle growth than traditional “straight-set” lifting. However, drop sets increase the density of your training session and allow you to do a similarly-effective workout in less time.
[Op-Ed: Samson Dauda Thinks Sam Sulek Lifts Too Heavy. Dauda Is Wrong.]
Exercise 4: Dumbbell Curl
Sulek returned to the dumbbells once again for his fourth exercise, but put a twist on his curls: “This time, we’re going to pause halfway up on each repetition,” he said. Sulek opted for only one “AMRAP” set here, cheat reps included, before moving on.
Press Pause: By halting his motion with his elbow bent at a 90-degree angle, Sulek makes a pit stop at the point of greatest challenge to his biceps. The extra isometric, or non-moving, tension ramps up the intensity of each set without requiring Sulek use the same 60-pound dumbbells he started with.
Exercise 5: Concentration Curl
As the workout wound down, Sulek took a page out of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s playbook and hit up some concentration curls for his biceps. As his strength waned, he opted for some manually assisted forced reps over the course of two sets of 15 to 20 reps: “By assisting myself to the top, and then letting go, I can overload my biceps,” he noted.
To Failure & Beyond: Research indicates that muscles are usually stronger at resisting force than creating it. (4) As such, Sulek is able to continue squeezing his biceps for all they’re worth by helping his working arm lift the weight and then resisting it on the way down.
Exercise 6: EZ-Bar Triceps Pressdown + Cable Curl
Sulek’s arm-day finisher was a superset of pushdowns (for the third time) plus cable biceps curls. He mentioned performing two or three sets of back-to-back AMRAPs, but did not show the sets themselves on camera.
More Bodybuilding Workout Content
- Urs Kalecinski’s Top 8 Arm Exercises During 2024 Olympia Prep
- Why Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates Thinks the Barbell Row Is the Best Back Exercise
- Bodybuilder Sadik Hadzovic’s Steroid Cycle & Top Arm Training Advice
References
- Schoenfeld, B. J., Vigotsky, A. D., Grgic, J., Haun, C., Contreras, B., Delcastillo, K., Francis, A., Cote, G., & Alto, A. (2020). Do the anatomical and physiological properties of a muscle determine its adaptive response to different loading protocols?. Physiological reports, 8(9), e14427.
- Krzysztofik M, Wilk M, Wojdała G, Gołaś A. Maximizing Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review of Advanced Resistance Training Techniques and Methods. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Dec 4;16(24):4897. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16244897. PMID: 31817252; PMCID: PMC6950543.
- Sødal LK, Kristiansen E, Larsen S, van den Tillaar R. Effects of Drop Sets on Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Sports Med Open. 2023 Jul 31;9(1):66. doi: 10.1186/s40798-023-00620-5. PMID: 37523092; PMCID: PMC10390395.
- Herzog W. (2018). Why are muscles strong, and why do they require little energy in eccentric action?. Journal of sport and health science, 7(3), 255–264.
- Andersen V, Fimland MS, Iversen VM, Pedersen H, Balberg K, Gåsvær M, Rise K, Solstad TEJ, Stien N, Saeterbakken AH. A Comparison of Affective Responses Between Time Efficient and Traditional Resistance Training. Front Psychol. 2022 Jun 16;13:912368. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.912368. PMID: 35783742; PMCID: PMC9243264.
Featured Image: Sam Sulek / YouTube
