The Nigerian Lion turned heads along with his high-volume approach.
Although they compete in numerous divisions, Samson Dauda and Michael Daboul share the identical goal: to construct a championship-level physique in time for the 2023 Mr. Olympia contest. With the previous coming off a sixth-place debut within the Men’s Open division of last yr’s contest and the latter seeking to improve upon a Tenth-place finish on the Classic Physique Olympia, each men have ample motivation to make everyone ignore those 2022 Olympia results.
As the most important bodybuilding show of the yr inches closer, Dauda and Daboul can’t afford to make any mistakes with their nutrition or training. Just six weeks away from attending to pose for the judges in Orlando, FL, the dynamic duo teamed up for a demanding chest and calves workout that left little doubt about their commitment to being stage-ready by Nov. 2.
Dauda shared highlights from an intense muscle-building session with Daboul in a training vlog posted on his YouTube channel on Sept. 25, 2023. The workout begins across the 1:15 mark.
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No strangers to individual success — Dauda captured top honors on the 2023 Arnold Classic while Daboul won his division on the 2023 Latest York Pro — the 2 IFBB pros put in some serious work on the UK-based Factory Gym.
Don’t let the variety of exercises idiot you, either. Though Dauda and Daboul didn’t perform an extended list of movements, the intensity and structure of the workout provided greater than a sufficient stimulus for max muscle growth.
Superset: Seated Calf Raise with Standing Calf Raise
Constructing bulging calves could be quite the challenge. Nonetheless, Dauda’s method for increasing size and thickness clearly works. As a substitute of settling for one exercise at a time, the person referred to as “The Nigerian Lion” doubled-down on his calf-building efforts by utilizing a superset-style plan of attack.
Dauda and his training partners began the workout by alternating between seated calf raises and standing calf raises. The leg-oriented a part of the session included grueling sets of 15 repetitions that focused on squeezing at the highest of the movement to make sure adequate time under tension.
As if performing multiple versions of calf raises wasn’t difficult enough, Dauda raised the stakes with a blood-pumping finisher.
“We get to the purpose where we’re maxing out on our heavier set,” he explained. “Then we did a drop set on the seated calf where mainly every five [reps] we took 10 kilos [22 pounds] off and worked our way down without stopping.”
Incline Chest Press Machine
After exhausting their calves, Dauda and Daboul showcased their upper-body strength and endurance on a plate-loaded incline chest press machine. Once more, this portion of the workout featured a high-volume, high-intensity approach.
Working in a pyramid-style, the bodybuilders began with a warm-up set of 15 repetitions with a pair of 20-kilogram (44-pound) plates per side. They progressed all the way in which as much as a complete of 10 plates before employing a drop-set finisher through which they performed multiple “mini-sets” of 5 reps, removing two plates at a time until only 4 plates remained.
Superset: Iso-Lateral Incline Chest Press with Standing Flye Machine
Next, Dauda took things to a different level with yet one more superset. This time, he and his training partner performed sets of 12 repetitions on the seated incline chest press to focus on the pecs and triceps. The “iso-lateral” design of the machine allowed each lever arm to operate independently, just like dumbbells. They paired this compound movement with chest flyes on the Panatta Standing Multi-Flight machine — a novel device with adjustable handles that allow a wide range of flyes and lateral raises.
Dauda specifically noted that the main focus of the second exercise was “contracting and squeezing” to construct the thickness of the muscle and convey out the striations of the chest.
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Incline Hex Press
To complete, Dauda and Daboul used a definite version of an incline dumbbell press — squeezing the weights together throughout the movement to create an incline hex press. The Nigerian Lion began with 20-kilogram (44-pound) dumbbells while Daboul, “The Saharan Eagle,” worked with 16-kilogram (35-pound) weights.
They focused on touching the dumbbells together, slowly lowering the load to chest level before extending and locking out their triceps. By the point the workout concluded, Daboul had a latest appreciation for his fellow Mr. Olympia contestant’s unique training style.
“I train intense but not in that top volume,” Daboul said. “The mixture that he has of high intensity and high volume — not everyone can sustain. I attempted to maintain up in the primary two exercises after which I used to be exhausted.”
Superset-Centric Chest and Calves Workout
Dauda’s idea of utilizing high-volume training (sets of 12-15 reps) with heavy loads will test your strength and your endurance. Here’s a breakdown of the exercises performed in what was clearly a taxing workout for everybody involved:
- Superset: Seated Calf Raise with Standing Calf Raise
- Incline Chest Press Machine
- Superset: Iso-Lateral Incline Chest Press with Standing Flye Machine
- Incline Hex Press
Despite including just six exercises, this high-volume workout will certainly deliver results. Utilizing principles like supersets and drop sets, together with working at such a high intensity, should bolster anyone’s efforts to grow muscle and overall size. And if Dauda and Daboul proceed to construct upon their impressive showings this yr on the 2023 Olympia, they may need a probability to have a good time together.
Featured Image: Samson Dauda / YouTube