Chris Bumstead’s Workout Routine And Favorite Exercises

We’re now going to walk you through Cbum’s entire workout routine he uses to put on mass.

Day 1: Quads and Calves 

Day one of the Chris Bumstead workout is quads and calves. This is his major leg development day of the week. 

Leg Extension:  2x20

Start by getting a good warm-up with a superset of leg extensions and the adduction machine. Bumstead feels the adduction machine is the secret to warming up for squats.After a few warmup sets, stay on leg extensions for two working sets. Then, on the second set, perform a drop set – perform the set to failure, decrease the load, and continue.  

Smith Machine Squat: 2x6-10

Next up is the main exercise of the workout: smith machine squats. Chris Bumstead first performs a few warmup sets with low reps to not waste energy. Then, going up in weight, he’ll up to the heaviest weight possible for six to ten reps. After the top set, drop the weight by about five percent for the second set. During squats, he wears a belt and a pair of knee sleeves. Interestingly, he performs the entire workout without any shoes on.

Unilateral Leg Press: 3x8-10

You’ll finish up this session with a triset including;

• Unilateral leg press
• Sissy squat
• Seated calf raise

The unilateral leg press takes some pressure off the lower back and allows you to focus on one leg at a time. It can feel a bit challenging the first time you use it but that means big gains!

Sissy Squat: 3x12-15

Sissy squats are an awesome bodyweight exercise to isolate the quads – but they’re tough! If you’ve never done these, check out our article to see how to kill your quads!

Seated Calf Raise: 3x10-12

You’ll finally finish this session with killing your calfs!

Want an easy to follow workout program to put on muscle mass like Chris Bumstead?

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Day 2: Chest (Plus Some Triceps)

The second session of the week is everyone's favorite: chest day with some tricep training mixed in!

Incline Dumbbell Press: 2X8-10

Chris Bumstead's chest workout starts with him lying prone on an incline bench and performing light dumbbell Y-raises. The workout begins with an incline dumbbell press. The goal is to work up to two heavy sets of near-maximal weight in the 8 to 10 rep range.

Incline Dumbbell Fly: 2X8-10

Next up, stay on the incline bench for two sets of dumbbell incline flies. Get a good stretch at the bottom and a hard contraction at the top – be sure you feel it!

Hammer Strength Machine Incline Press (Drop Set): 2x6-10

The third movement is the Hammer Strength machine incline press. Perform two working sets, with a drop set on both. Start the second set on the same weight as the drop set from the first set. For example;

• Set 1: 180lbs →. 160lbs
• Set 2: 160lbs → 140lbs

Pec Deck: 3x15

You’ll finish up the primary part of your chest training with some chest flys on pec dec. Use these to really isolate the pecs to get a good stretch followed by a tight squeeze.

EZ Bar Skull Crushers: 2x8-10

Time for the triceps! You’ll knock out the sets of skull crushers using the EZ-bar.

Pushups: 2xFailure

Last, Cbum likes to finish up his workout with two sets of push-ups to failure – each set is a burn out set so don’t step until you can’t do another rep!By the end of the pushups, your chest and tris should be smoked. If you're following his plan but want some push-up variations to play around with, there are plenty of options. 

Day 3: Back (Thickness, Plus Some Biceps)

Day three is the first Chris Bumstead back workout of the week. In this workout, the focus is on back thickness. In addition, the biceps are getting worked in the majority of these movements as they work to pull alongside the back. 

Close Grip Underhand Lat Pulldown: 3x10-12

With no specific warmup, Chris Bumstead jumps right into the first exercise of the day, a lat pulldown using an underhand close grip. This will be the only pulldown variation of the day. 

Chest Supported Dumbbell Row: 2x8-10

Next up is a chest-supported dumbbell row using an incline bench. This is a highly underrated exercise and often takes a backseat to bent over barbell rows and the seal row. However, the dumbbell chest-supported row is a great alternative to bent over rows.

Chest Supported T-Bar Row (Drop Set): 2x8-10

The third exercise of the day is a chest-supported t-bar row with a neutral grip. The key is getting a full scapular retraction as you pull the weight into your chest. On the second set, perform a drop set and rep em out!

Machine Chest Supported Row: 2x10-12

After that, move over to the machine chest supported row.  Each chest-supported row variation hits the back from a different angle. You change how the movement targets the muscle by changing your;

• Grip
• Angle of pull 
• Elbow position 

Cable Lat Extension: 2x10-12

You'll end this back training program with a lat extension using a Vulken cable attachment. Really focus on those lats!

Machine Preacher Curls: 2x10-12

Last, you’re going to blast your biceps using machine preacher curls.

Day 4: Rest 

Note that day four is a rest day, so we aren’t including much information here. Take it easy, and let your muscles heal. Make sure you determine how much protein you need to build muscle, and keep your intake just as high on rest days. You can't go wrong with adding chocolate whey protein to your daily diet, but there are tons of great protein powders to choose from.

Day 5: Shoulders (Plus Some Chest)

Chris Bumstead's shoulders workout starts with an extensive warmup of band dislocations and internal and external rotations. 

Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 2x10

The first exercise of the day in Chris Bumstead's shoulder workout is a seated dumbbell shoulder press. Slowly work up in weight, performing multiple light warmup sets. The two working sets should be as heavy as possible. Chris puts a lot of emphasis on shoulder press strength in the offseason.

Machine Shoulder Press (Drop Set): 3x6-10

The second exercise of the day is a machine shoulder press. On the third set, do a drop set to get in some more volume and build a pump.

Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raise (Drop Set): 2x8-10

Next up is a seated dumbbell lateral raise, and you'll perform a drop set on the second set. Doing these seated helps eliminate cheating.

Machine Lateral Raise: 2x10-12

Chris Bumstead's workout concludes with two supersets of the reverse pec deck and the fly machine to hit the rear delts and chest. Really concentrate on the concentration with mind-muscle connection.

Day 6: Hamstring & Back Day

The second leg workout of the week focuses on Chris Bumstead's hamstring exercise routine with a bit of back work sprinkled in at the end. 

Lying Leg Curl: 2x8-10

Cbum is unique as he starts this session with some hamstring isolation using lying leg curls. Doing the leg curls before deadlifts act as a pre-exhaust for the hamstrings. 

Deadlift: 2x4-8

Chris loves deadlifting heavy. Plus, having quantitative goals is a great way to maintain motivation during the offseason. So work up to the heaviest weight you can handle for 4 to 8 reps. 

Seated Leg Curl: 2x8-10

After deadlifts, hit the hamstrings again with some seated leg curls.

Standing Leg Curl: 2x8-10

Your hamstrings aren’t done yet! One last exercise – standing leg curl.

Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns: 3x8-10

The first back exercise is wide grip lat pulldowns. You can rotate in wide-grip pull-ups in this spot as well. 

Cable Lat Extension: 2x10-12

Finish the workout with two quick sets of cable lat extensions using a double grip v-bar attachment. 

Day 7: Arm Day 

Last but not least: Arms. It's important to mention that his biceps and triceps were both worked earlier in his training week during his back and chest days, and on top of this, he layers on an entire session dedicated to growing these specific muscle groups.

Rope Cable Triceps Pressdown (Drop Set) 2X8-10

Begin Chris Bumstead's workout routine with rope press downs. Really focus on getting full extension at lockout.. 

Incline Dumbbell Skull Crusher: 2x8-10

You’ll then move onto incline, dumbbell skull crushers.Start these with your elbows pointing directly up at the ceiling to keep the focus on the triceps. You can drop your elbows at the end of the set to get in a few extra reps. As an alternative, you can perform one or two handed grip barbell skull crushers, ez bar skull crushers, or reverse grip barbell skull crushers. 

EZ Bar Preacher Curl (Drop Set): 3x8-10

After two triceps exercises, EZ bar preacher curls are the first biceps movement. As an alternative to using the EZ bar, you can also opt for machine preacher curls.

Dumbbell Curl: 2x10-12

Next up is good old-fashioned dumbbell biceps curls. Again, focus on rotating the wrist outward at the top. If you're following this program but want variation, hammer curls are another great option.

Cable Cross Body Triceps: 2x10-15

The last triceps exercise is a cable cross-body triceps extension. Set the cable at about head height. Using one arm at a time, extend your hand from the opposite shoulder horizontally to full extension.

Low Pulley Cable Curl With V-Bar Handle (Drop Set): 2x10-12

Finish CBums workout with a low pulley cable curl using a v-bar handle.

Day 8: Rest 

Again, here’s your reminder to hit your protein goals, get adequate rest, and let your muscles rest and repair.