Jamie Christian and Eddie Hall Train Back and Biceps
IFBB Pro bodybuilder and Mutant athlete Jamie Christian and 2017 World’s Strongest Man Eddie Hall recently joined forces as training partners to push each other in a brutal back session, and the cameras were rolling. Hall shared a video of the workout on his YouTube channel with the title “The HARDEST Back Workout!” They also threw a couple of biceps movements in as well. You can see the video in its entirety for yourself below.
Hall had been training with several bodybuilders in recent months because he said he wants to do a bodybuilding show by the end of 2024. “The Beast” and “The Giant” have trained together before, so this is their second back session together. Hall’s son Maximus joined them too.
Close Grip Lat Pulldown and Seated Row Machine
The first movement of the day was a pulldown movement with a V-handle and a row movement with neutral grip. “This is to mobilize everything, activate the back muscles, and get everything stretched out,” Christian said in part. He led the workout and offered multiple ways to perform the motion to train the lats differently. Hall admitted that it’s taking him time to apply that because of the way his previous sport worked.
“In strongman, it’s (about) the most efficient direction.”
They did two supersets of 10 reps each followed by a superset of both movements to failure.
Bent-Over Machine Row
The second phase of the session involved another machine row, but they were lying on an incline bench to change the angle. After each man did one warm-up set, Christian performed a drop set to failure. Hall followed suit, and they called it good after that.
Deadlifts
The next exercise is a Hall signature, the deadlift. Hall was the first man to ever pull 500 kilograms in competition. So, he’s quite familiar with this one. They didn’t go anywhere near that kind of weight, but Christian was throwing bodybuilding twists into it such as starting from the top instead of the floor and pausing on the floor with each rep. They both performed two sets to failure with 140 kilograms (308 pounds) and 180 kilograms (396 pounds), respectively.
Underhand Seated Row and Overhand Standing Row
The next phase of the workout was another superset with two different machine rows. Christian explained that this was both a finisher as well to target both the middle and upper back areas. Two rounds each for both strength athletes, and they were ready to finish the workout.
Standing One Arm Row
Christian suggested a finisher to really tax the back before calling it a day. He performed one arm rows on a machine by alternating five reps per arm until he reached 25 for both sides. He then had Hall perform reps with both arms simultaneously until failure.
“By the third set of five, you should be struggling,” he told Hall.
Single Arm Cable Curl, Dumbbell Hammer Curl, and Rope Hammer Curl
Christian then came up with a triset for the biceps that he and Hall went through. They started with single arm cable curls, then shifted to a dumbbell hammer curl. They would perform both sets with one arm before switching. They then did rope hammer curls at the end, making this one a triset. One round of this for each man, and they were done for the day.
If you want to train like a former World’s Strongest Man and the star of BBC Gladiators, try this sample version for yourself next time you hit the gym:
- Close Grip Lat Pulldown and Seated Row Machine 3 supersets of 10 reps each
- Bent-Over Machine Row – 2 drop sets to failure
- Deadlifts – 1 set of 10 reps, 1 set to failure
- Underhand Seated Row and Overhand Standing Row – 2 supersets of 10 reps each
- Standing One Arm Row 5 continuous sets of 5 reps each followed by both arms to failure
- Single Arm Cable Curl, Dumbbell Hammer Curl, and Rope Hammer Curl – 1 triset of 10 reps each