The World’s Strongest Man puts himself through a tough rally day training session.
As if trying to follow Ronnie Coleman’s best lifts wasn’t challenging enough, Mitchell Hooper also tried to keep up with another all-time great’s iconic workouts. While the reigning World’s Strongest Man doesn’t usually focus on pumping up during training, he has no choice but to embrace the sense of satisfaction that Arnold Schwarzenegger strives for during his legendary fitness sessions.
On November 13, 2023, Hooper posted a video on his YouTube page in which he tried out the seven-time Mr. Olympia winner’s signature back and bicep exercises. Needless to say, the intense training regimen gave the Canadian strongman a deeper appreciation for Schwarzenegger’s achievements.
Always up for a challenge, Hooper tested his upper body strength and endurance with a series of back and biceps exercises that taxed his muscles to the core. Paying homage to arguably the most popular bodybuilder of all time, it didn’t take long for the talented strongman to understand the differences in how athletes in each sport benefit from their specific training regime.
Hooper started the workout with four back exercises and then completed a few curl variations. The workout begins about 40 seconds into the video.
wide grip pull-ups
Hooper, who stands about 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 320 pounds, engages his lats to lift his massive frame to the top of the assisted pull-up machine. A wide grip increases lat engagement and allows the Ontario native to better utilize his rhomboids and traps.
After completing the second set, Hooper looked at some of Schwarzenegger’s best lifts, including a 498-pound (226-kilogram) bench press and a 709.9-pound (322-kilogram) deadlift. While he’s not overly impressed by the numbers, Hooper admits that bodybuilders have a clear advantage in one key area.
“Bodybuilders have particularly good upper-body strength because their muscle mass is so high,” he explains. “I don’t know what that is. Maybe strongmen should do more upper body assistance training than we do because bodybuilders are relatively stronger.
After a short rest, Hooper completed the first part of the workout by completing three more sets of wide-grip pull-ups.
T-bar rowing
Next, Hooper performed a variation of one of Schwarzenegger’s favorite exercises: the T-bar row. Starting with three 45-pound (20.4-kilogram) plates, the big man pulled and squeezed explosively each time and noticed that his upper-body strength wasn’t on the same level as his lower body.
“Eighty percent of everything we do is targeting the quads, hamstrings and glutes,” Hooper said of Strongman. “Leg drive, if you can do that, you’re going to do well.”
The subsequent set of T-bar rows included heavier loads, which forced the Canadian athlete to use his core and legs to maintain stability throughout the movement.
One-arm dumbbell row
Hooper then headed to the dumbbell area to perform one-arm rows. This is a classic back exercise great for building muscle thickness, and he quickly used 130-pound (59-kilogram) dumbbells for the first two sets. However, just because it looks easy doesn’t mean Hooper enjoys this part of the sport.
“I think it’s probably my least favorite sport,” he explained. “The difficulty is mostly with your core, not the actual pull. So it’s like a core workout with any dumbbell movement.”
Still, Hooper continued to push (or in this case, pull) to complete another two sets with the same weight, making sure to maintain a neutral spine as he completed the heavy dumbbell row.
Narrow grip lat pulldown
The final back exercise of the workout put Hooper’s lats to the ultimate test. Having accepted that he would be “so sore as hell” the next day, he mustered up the courage to complete four sets of tight-grip lat pulldowns. Hooper leans back slightly during the movement and pulls the handle down to a position just above his chest.
Once he was done with the ropes, he moved on to the second half of the workout.
[Related: The Best Arm Workouts for Beginners, With Dumbbells, and More]
biceps circuit
With about 20 minutes left in the workout, Hooper wrapped his bicep with a blood-restricting cuff, which has been shown to help increase muscle hypertrophy. (1) Although Hooper performed fewer sets than Schwarzenegger’s regimen, he still achieved excellent muscle-building stimulation.
To hit his biceps from multiple angles, the reigning WSM completed four rounds of a four-part circuit that included the following exercises:
- permanent barbell curl — Using a 70 lb (31.8 kg) curl bar
- Barbell Preacher Curl — Using the same 70 lb (31.8 kg) curl bar
- Alternating Dumbbell Curls — Used 50 lb (22.7 kg) dumbbells
- concentration curl — Used 45 lb (20.4 kg) dumbbells
By the time he finished his last workout, the angry and vascular version of Hooper seemed satisfied with the pump he’d achieved during his quick biceps workout.
Schwarzenegger-style back and biceps exercise
Here’s a complete breakdown of Hooper’s Arnold Schwarzenegger-inspired back and biceps workout.
- wide grip pull-ups — 5×8-12
- T-bar rowing — 5×8-12
- One-arm dumbbell row — 4×8-12
- Narrow grip lat pulldown — 4×8-12
- permanent barbell curl — 4×8-12
- Barbell Preacher Curl — 4×8-12
- Alternating Dumbbell Curls — 4×8-12
- concentration curl — 4×8-12
While you shouldn’t expect Mitchell Hooper to be competing in a bodybuilding show anytime soon, the fact that he’s willing to try different training styles and share his honest feedback shows why he’s one of the most respected and popular people working today. One of the best strength athletes. He’s already a world-class strongman, and any improvements in other areas will only make him an even fiercer competitor.
Featured Image: Mitchell Hooper/YouTube
refer to
- Waterman RJ, Brown SM, Savage-Elliott I, Finlay ZJ, Mulcahy MK. Blood flow restriction training for athletes: a systematic review. American Journal of Sports Medicine. 2021 Jun;49(7):1938-1944. Number: 10.1177/0363546520964454. Epub November 16, 2020. PMID: 33196300.