When Shaun Clarida steps onstage on the 2023 Olympia Weekend in Orlando, FL on Nov. 2-5, 2023, he’ll look to win his second consecutive, and third overall, 212 Olympia title. If he does, he’ll join Kevin English and Flex Lewis because the only men to have won three titles for the reason that division began in 2008 because the 202-pound division. The Latest Jersey native has had a busy 12 months that included becoming a father and relocating to Texas, but now his sights are set on the duty at hand.

On Aug. 14, 2023, Clarida shared an arm training video he did at Destination in Dallas, TX, that gave fans a glimpse at how he’s preparing to defend his world championship in Orlando.

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This workout featured nine total exercises and he performed the workout by alternating movements for the triceps and biceps. Many lifters have trained their arms using supersets, with exercises alternated back-to-back without rest. Clarida opts to coach them individually, training multiple sets of 1 exercise before working the opposite body part, so one muscle group could partially recuperate while the opposite was working.

Rope Triceps Pushdown

Clarida began with rope triceps pushdowns, which each worked the triceps and ready his elbows for the work to come back. After warming up, he did sets of 12 to fifteen reps while keeping his upper arms braced to his sides and performing slow eccentric movements (negatives) for the reps. The ultimate set was a double drop set, where he reduced the load to maintain performing extra reps.

Cable Biceps Curl

He then switched to biceps with the EZ-curl attachment and did cable curls with a comparatively wide grip. Clarida shared that he desired to get three or 4 sets of 12-15 reps at this point within the workout. The goal for this specific exercise was to start his biceps work the identical way he used extensions to start his triceps training.

“Similar to triceps: do a superb warm-up, do a feeder [set] where it feels comfortable, feels good. Now I’m going to start out adding a little bit bit more weight to get some tougher reps.”

He added weight for every set, nevertheless it wasn’t clear about exactly how much he was lifting on the stack.

Close-Grip Triceps Pushdown

Clarida went back to triceps for his third exercise of the day. He used the EZ-curl attachment for this version of pushdowns, selecting a more in-depth grip than his previous curls. He shared that he did a feeder set (a transition between a warm-up and a working weight) with 140 kilos (63.5 kilograms) before moving as much as 170 kilos (77 kilograms) for 12 reps.

His third set was with 190 kilos (86.2 kilograms), but he acknowledged that was still “too light,” so we might tackle your entire stack for his fourth set. He said he was getting stronger, which he’s pleased with.

“I shouldn’t be getting stronger during prep. That’s a superb thing. That’s called prep done right.”

After getting eight reps with the stack, he did another set with a lighter weight.

Dumbbell Hammer Curl

The second biceps movement was a cross-body hammer curl. Clarida began with 60-pound (27.2-kilogram) dumbbells, alternating arms with each rep. His goal rep range was eight to 10 reps, but he felt that weight wasn’t difficult enough. So, he went to the 70s (31.8 kilogram) for his next set, and he got eight reps for every arm.

Single-Arm Overhead Triceps Extension

He stayed within the dumbbell rack area for overhead extensions with a dumbbell. Not all sets were shown of their entirety, but you could possibly tell he felt confident within the work he put in. Three sets for every arm were accomplished before he switched back to biceps.

Single-Arm Machine Preacher Curl

Clarida called this exercise one in every of his favorites for biceps. He performed the exercise on a machine that allowed him to make use of one arm at a time. He emphasized the importance of each the stretch and contraction with this movement. He maintained a rep range of 10 to 12 reps for all three sets. He gave himself time to rest between each arms so he could give max effort to each.

Single-Arm Triceps Pushdown and Overhead Cable Curls

The subsequent triceps exercise was one other pushdown variation, putting his wrist through a leg cuff attachment. Going across his body for these extensions allowed Clarida to get a greater stretch at the highest of the rep. Just one set was shown before Clarida said what he would do next for his biceps finisher.

The overhead cable curls were performed much like performing a front double biceps pose. Clarida said that, despite the fact that he used to consider that you could possibly change the height of a bicep, he now knows that you would be able to only make probably the most out of what you have already got.

“When you were born with flat biceps, meaning there’s no peak, you actually can’t develop that,” he said. “If you’ve got a flat biceps, you’ve got a flat biceps.”

Once he reached failure with each arms concurrently, he switched to doing all sides separately to complete the biceps off.

Triceps Machine Dips

He had five triceps movements on this workout since the triceps are typically larger than the biceps, when it comes to their anatomical location on the body. The ultimate movement for this workout was machine dips. He once more emphasized the importance of the stretch at the highest in addition to the contraction on the underside of every rep. After three sets of this exercise, he was finished for the day.

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If you would like to perform a workout like this for yourself, you’ll be able to follow the sample workout below.

Giant Killer-Style Giant Arm Workout

• Rope Triceps Extension — 3 x 12-15
• Cable Biceps Curl — 3 x 12-15
• Cable Triceps Pushdown — 3 x 8-10
• Alternating Dumbbell Hammer Curl — 3 x 8-10 per arm
• Single-Arm Overhead Triceps Extension — 3 x 10 per arm
• Machine Single-Arm Preacher Curl — 3 x 10 per arm
• Cross-Body Triceps Extension — 3 x 12 per arm
• Overhead Cable Curl — 3 x 12-15 (reach total muscular failure on last set)
• Triceps Machine Dip — 3 x 12-15

Clarida hopes to be the primary Olympia 212 champion to successfully defend his title since Lewis’ last win in 2018. Kamal Elgargni won in 2019, Clarida claimed his first in 2020, and Derek Lunsford was champion in 2021. Lunsford moved to the Men’s Open division in 2022, and Clarida managed to reclaim the title. 

Featured Image: @shaunclarida on Instagram