Samson Dauda Trains Chest and Calves with Basic Physique Olympia Competitor Michael Daboul 

The Nigerian Lion turned heads along with his high-volume method.

Written by Stephen Sheehan, CPT Final up to date on Sep 26, 2023

Though they compete in several divisions, Samson Dauda and Michael Daboul share the identical aim: 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 Males’s Open division of final yr’s contest and the latter trying to enhance upon a Tenth-place end on the Basic Physique Olympia, each males have ample motivation to make everybody neglect about these 2022 Olympia outcomes.

As the largest bodybuilding present of the yr inches nearer, Dauda and Daboul can’t afford to make any errors with their vitamin or coaching. Simply six weeks away from attending to pose for the judges in Orlando, FL, the dynamic duo teamed up for a demanding chest and calves exercise that left little doubt about their dedication to being stage-ready by Nov. 2.

Dauda shared highlights from an intense muscle-building session with Daboul in a coaching vlog posted on his YouTube channel on Sept. 25, 2023. The exercise begins across the 1:15 mark.

No strangers to particular person success — Dauda captured high honors on the 2023 Arnold Basic whereas Daboul gained his division on the 2023 New York Professional — the 2 IFBB professionals put in some severe work on the UK-based Manufacturing unit Gymnasium.

Don’t let the variety of workouts idiot you, both. Despite the fact that Dauda and Daboul didn’t carry out a protracted checklist of actions, the depth and construction of the exercise supplied greater than a adequate stimulus for most muscle progress.

Superset: Seated Calf Elevate with Standing Calf Elevate

Constructing bulging calves will be fairly the problem. Nevertheless, Dauda’s methodology for growing measurement and thickness clearly works. As a substitute of settling for one train at a time, the person referred to as “The Nigerian Lion” doubled-down on his calf-building efforts by using a superset-style plan of assault.

Dauda and his coaching companions began the exercise by alternating between seated calf raises and standing calf raises. The leg-oriented a part of the session included grueling units of 15 repetitions that targeted on squeezing on the high of the motion to make sure enough time below rigidity.

As if performing a number of variations of calf raises wasn’t difficult sufficient, Dauda raised the stakes with a blood-pumping finisher.

“We get to the purpose the place we’re maxing out on our heavier set,” he defined. “Then we did a drop set on the seated calf the place principally each 5 [reps] we took 10 kilos [22 pounds] off and labored our means down with out stopping.”

Incline Chest Press Machine

After exhausting their calves, Dauda and Daboul showcased their upper-body power and endurance on a plate-loaded incline chest press machine. As soon as once more, this portion of the exercise featured a high-volume, high-intensity method.

Working in a pyramid-style, the bodybuilders started with a warm-up set of 15 repetitions with a pair of 20-kilogram (44-pound) plates per facet. They progressed all the best way as much as a complete of 10 plates earlier than using a drop-set finisher through which they carried out a number of “mini-sets” of 5 reps, eradicating two plates at a time till solely 4 plates remained.

Superset: Iso-Lateral Incline Chest Press with Standing Flye Machine

Subsequent, Dauda took issues to a different stage with yet one more superset. This time, he and his coaching associate carried out units of 12 repetitions on the seated incline chest press to focus on the pecs and triceps. The “iso-lateral” design of the machine allowed every lever arm to function independently, much like dumbbells. They paired this compound motion with chest flyes on the Panatta Standing Multi-Flight machine — a singular gadget with adjustable handles that enable quite a lot of flyes and lateral raises.

Dauda particularly famous that the main target of the second train was “contracting and squeezing” to construct the thickness of the muscle and produce out the striations of the chest.

Incline Hex Press

To complete, Dauda and Daboul used a definite model of an incline dumbbell press — squeezing the weights collectively all through the motion to create an incline hex press. The Nigerian Lion began with 20-kilogram (44-pound) dumbbells whereas Daboul, “The Saharan Eagle,” labored with 16-kilogram (35-pound) weights.

They targeted on touching the dumbbells collectively, slowly decreasing the burden to chest stage earlier than extending and locking out their triceps. By the point the exercise concluded, Daboul had a brand new appreciation for his fellow Mr. Olympia contestant’s distinctive coaching fashion.

“I practice intense however not in that top quantity,” Daboul stated. “The mix that he has of excessive depth and excessive quantity — not everybody can sustain. I attempted to maintain up within the first two workouts after which I used to be exhausted.”

Superset-Centric Chest and Calves Exercise

Dauda’s thought of using high-volume coaching (units of 12-15 reps) with heavy hundreds will take a look at your power and your endurance. Right here’s a breakdown of the workouts carried out in what was clearly a taxing exercise for everybody concerned:

• Superset: Seated Calf Elevate with Standing Calf Elevate 
• Incline Chest Press Machine
• Superset: Iso-Lateral Incline Chest Press with Standing Flye Machine
• Incline Hex Press

Regardless of together with simply six workouts, this high-volume exercise will certainly ship outcomes. Using rules like supersets and drop units, together with working at such a excessive depth, ought to bolster anybody’s efforts to develop muscle and total measurement. And if Dauda and Daboul proceed to construct upon their spectacular showings this yr on the 2023 Olympia, they could have an opportunity to have fun collectively.

Featured Picture: Samson Dauda / YouTube