Hunter Labrada Targets Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps Throughout “Push” Exercise in 2023 Mr. Olympia Prep

The 2023 Tampa Professional champ is locked in for Orlando.

Written by Roger Lockridge Final up to date on September 1, 2023

Profitable the 2023 Tampa Pro in early August earned Hunter Labrada a qualification to compete within the 2023 Mr. Olympia contest, happening in Orlando, FL on Nov. 2-5, 2023. Will probably be Labrada’s fourth look at bodybuilding’s pinnacle contest, the place he seems to enhance on his seventh place end result from the 2022 Olympia and doubtlessly go his best-yet displaying of fourth place in 2021. He positioned a good eighth at his Olympia debut in 2020.

As he builds to a peak efficiency, Labrada shared a YouTube video of a push exercise he carried out simply days after his runner-up end to Chinedu “Andrew Jacked” Obiekea on the 2023 Texas Pro in mid-August.

Whereas utilizing a foam curler to arrange for coaching, Labrada shared that this was his first exercise at his house gymnasium following the Texas Professional. He has had an opportunity to eat more meals and expressed he was feeling good going into this session.

Seated Cable Chest Press

Labrada began the session with a high-tension chest exercise. He defined that the setup for this chest press referred to as for a dual-cable system and an upright bench. Whereas the setup takes time and requires a talented companion to assist get the cable handles into place, Labrada defined why the reward is definitely worth the effort.

“We get one thing that has nice stress all through, there’s no drop-off in stress. I actually love this train from the standpoint that, it actually accentuates the truth that we’re making an attempt to get that elbow as far-off as attainable [from the chest] after which getting it throughout out physique as a lot as attainable. Actually serious about ending biceps to pec.”

Labrada and his coaching companion each carried out a number of units, however the actual reps or weight weren’t shared.

Incline Chest Press Machine

The second train of the day was a chest press machine that targeted on the higher pecs. The machine had two handles on all sides. Labrada defined he usually used the neutral-grip deal with, which emphasizes extra triceps however decreases pressure on the shoulder joint. Nonetheless, he selected to make use of the horizontal handles throughout this exercise to coach his chest from totally different angles. Labrada had a sluggish and calculated velocity together with his reps to maximise stress. His spotter assist him full forced reps after he reached failure.

After a heavier set with a complete of 10 45-pound plates loaded onto the machine, they decreased the burden by two plates for a second set. After two working units every, Labrada and his companion moved on.

Pec Deck

The third and last chest-focused motion was a chest flye within the type of the pec-deck to isolate the pecs. Labrada didn’t do a lot speaking at this level within the video, however he may very well be seen getting a deep stretch on the backside whereas specializing in contracting his pecs as arduous as he might on the high. He ended his second working set by lowering the burden for a drop set, and he went to failure one final time earlier than shifting on.

Seated Overhead Machine Press

The primary shoulder exercise of this exercise was a seated machine press. As soon as he couldn’t carry out extra reps on his personal, his spotter assisted by serving to to lift the burden. Labrada then carried out the adverse (decreasing) portion of the reps on his personal.

This identical format was used on his second set. His reps had been carried out a bit sooner the second time round, however he was clearly doing his finest to remove momentum all through the set.

Lateral Increase Machine

The second delt motion was a seated lateral raise machine. Labrada opted to maintain his arms straight and never maintain the hooked up handles, so his facet delts needed to tackle your complete load. After his first set, he made a weight adjustment for his second set.

He saved his chest firmly in opposition to the help pad so he couldn’t swing to create momentum all through the set. He adopted his normal set with partial reps to maximise the pump. As soon as he might not carry out partials, he ended the set.

Single-Arm Triceps Pushdown

Labrada began his triceps work with a pushdown, holding a cable with a loop attachment in every hand and performing extensions throughout his physique in an “X” method. After one set, he modified to a single-arm motion, saying his elbows had been “a bit indignant” at this level within the exercise.

From set to set, he barely modified the place of his hand and arm to really feel the triceps working in a different way. As he approached failure, he noticed himself together with his non-working arm. He additionally carried out quite a lot of ab workout routines between units.

Dips

Labrada’s session concluded with dips. This was the one non-machine train he carried out on this routine, outdoors of the temporary ab training through the earlier train. The exercise was concluded after three working units. Labrada used solely his physique weight, however defined that he beforehand integrated a lot heavier weights.

“I used to dip each single push exercise, and I might do units of 10 with 135 kilos [61.2 kilograms] hanging off me. I had three plates hanging off me. Once I was training-training triceps, I’d do quite a lot of dips commonly and quite a lot of close-grip bench press commonly. I’d close-grip 315 [pounds/142.9 kilograms] for 20 [reps] three years in the past.”

After the coaching, the second-generation bodybuilder — son of bodybuilding famous person Lee Labrada who, himself, was twice the runner-up to eight-time Mr. Olympia Lee Haney — carried out a collection of poses to showcase his post-contest physique.