On Thursday, February 27, 2025, Sam Sulek earned his coveted IFBB Pro card on the Arnold Classic Amateur stage. Now, a year later, the social media influencer-turned-pro bodybuilder is training come back on that same stage, only professionally.

Over a year after his competitive bodybuilding debut at the NPC Legends Classic in Las Vegas on February 15, 2025, Sulek will try to win the Classic Physique division at the Arnold Classic and book his ticket to the Olympia. And here's a breakdown of his bodybuilding approach that you may find useful.

Sam Sulek’s Workout Routine for the Arnold Classic Stage

While the IFBB Pro hasn't shared his exact training routine publicly, he has posted enough workout vlogs for anyone to get an idea of how he is preparing for the Arnold Classic in March.

Chest and Shoulder: Day 1

• Incline press - For the upper chest, 8-12 reps.
• Machine press - For pushing heavy loads,
• Pec deck fly - For peak squeeze and isolation, 12-15 reps to failure.
• Cable flyes - For tiring out pecs.
• Rear delt fly - For back and shoulder balance.
• Lateral raises - For improving shoulder width, 10 or more sets of 20 or high reps.
• Overhead press - For extra power, 4 sets of 8-12 reps.

Back: Day 2

• Bent-over barbell rows - for full back size and strengthening, 4 sets of 8-12 reps.
• Lat pulldowns - for back stretch and width, 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps.
• Single-arm pulldowns - for mind-muscle connection, 2 sets of 8-10 reps.
• Cable lat pulldown with free motion -
• Seated cable rows - To strengthen the mid-back, 2 to 3 sets of 10-12 reps.

Legs: Day 3

• Seated hamstring curls - For warmup and isolating hamstring, 4 sets of 12-15 reps.
• Lying hamstring curls - For extra range, 15-20 higher reps.
• Single-leg lying hamstring curls - To target muscles from all sides, two extra sets per leg.
• Heel elevated back squats - For improving depth and making the movements quad-centric, 1 hard set of 10 reps, followed by 2 back-off sets to failure.
• Single leg extension - To put more tension on the quads till failure, 9 sets of 15-20 reps.
• Calf raise - For more growth and volume, total 11 sets.

Arms: Day 4

• Tricep pushdown - For targeting triceps from everywhere, 9 sets of 15-20 reps.
• Dips - For building chest mass and overall arm strength, 2 sets to failure.
• Rope pushdown - To target the triceps one last time, 1 set to failure.
• Dumbbell hammer curls - To activate both biceps brachialis, 2-3 sets for 6-10 reps.
• Single-arm preacher - For isolation of each bicep, 3 sets of 15-20 reps for each arm.
• Cable curls - For pumping blood into the muscles, 3 sets of 15-20 reps.

Restart: Day 5

Thankfully, Sam Sulek has a more concrete look at his leg day ahead of the Arnold Classic. He's dubbed it the 'No pain, no veins,' quad workout, which features:

• Alternating Single Leg Extension
• Warmup Set - 1x10, 1x8, 3x5, short rest, Working Set - 5 sets of 5 reps. Rest again
• Working Set - 4 sets of 5 reps, short rest. Working Set -4 sets of 5 reps. Rest.
• Seated Hip Press Machine - 3 Sets, rest and pause, final exercise, seated leg extension - 1 set to failure.

The Bulking Diet That Sam Sulek Followed

Seven months ago, Sam Sulek revealed that he wanted to continue gaining size as he got nearer to his pro debut. "I think I have been steadily gaining size, slow and steady is not a bad approach, but not in the pace that I wanna see," lamented the bodybuilder.

However, Sam Sulek had planned to gradually increase his calorie and protein intake. "You gotta get up in that seven range, actually more like eight, if you want to hit that 50-ish gram [of] protein per meal kind of mark, which I personally think is about the sweet spot," he said while talking about eating more eggs.

Unlike a more common bodybuilding diet where most competitors eat more fats and carbs, Sulek talked about eating less fat and more carbs.

"As far as I’m concerned, to be in a state of progression, and in a lifting context that’s a state of growth, that’s when you’re essentially just full (of energy)," said Sam Sulek.

With less than two months left till his pro debut, the 23-year-old has certainly made progress, as he showed off in his guest posing session during the NPC Musclecontest Challenge last weekend. So, the question is: What are your takeaways from Sulek's workout ahead of the Arnold Classic?

Written by

Ruwa Javed

Edited by

Sagnik Bagchi