Michal Krizo is looking to add mass to his arms this off-season.
Michal Krizo has been lifting weights since he was a teenager. However, it wasn’t until 2017 that he joined his first bodybuilding competition. Since then, he’s gone on to compete and win IFBB Pro shows 13 times out of 14. Now he’s looking to add mass to his arms to prep for future shows.
Krizo has been successful in competitions and admires legends like Jay Cutler, Samir Bannout, and Milos Sarcev. He has a fabulous physique and trains extensively to keep his body in top-ranking shape. Krizo also closely follows a dieting program.
To compete in the 2022 Mr. Olympia, Michal Krizo won his pro card after a dominant win at the Amateur Olympia Italy of the same year. He also finished first place at the EVLS Prague Pro that year. However, his conditioning seemed a bit off during that. He attributes this and his final 12th place Mr. Olympia finish to fatigue – which can happen to bodybuilders from too much contest prep.
Krizo has returned to the gym and is preparing for more competitions. He says he’ll be much pickier about which shows he enters this year to ensure he brings his top conditioning. In a recent video, Michal Krizo shows us his intense off-season shoulder and triceps workout to bulk up his arms.
| Full Name: Michal Križo Križánek | ||
| Weight | Height | Age |
| 290 lbs | 6’1” | 32 Years Old |
| Division | Era | Nationality |
| Men’s Open | 2010s- | Slovak |
Michal Krizo Shoulder and Triceps Arm Mass Workout
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Michal Krizo’s shoulder and triceps are impressive, so we love a chance to see the work he puts into building them. So here’s an in-depth look into the off-season workout routine of this Men’s Open mass monster.
| Exercises |
| Cable Triceps Pushdowns |
| Dumbbell Lateral Raises |
| Close Grip Bench Presses |
| Bent Over Seated Delt Raises |
| Rope Triceps Pushdowns |
| Machine Shoulder Press |
Cable Triceps Pushdowns
Cable triceps pushdowns are an excellent tricep development exercise for beginner and advanced lifters. They’re done with a cable machine and work all three heads of your triceps brachii muscle.
Cable triceps pushdowns engage your core and improve your functional fitness. Your arms will also get toned as it tones the visible triceps at your upper arm’s backside. This gives your arms horseshoe triceps.
Michal Krizo starts this video with multiple sets of cable triceps pushdowns. You can see how this helps warm his elbows in preparation for other routines. Then he heads off to do his first shoulder exercise for the day — the accessory exercise dumbbell lateral raises.
Dumbbell Lateral Raises
Dumbbell lateral raises help you work your deltoids and traps, but they primarily focus on your medial delts. These are the delts that start right from your scapula, and so working them builds your shoulders. As a result, they’re one of the best routines for broad boulder shoulders — although IFBB Pro Hunter Labrada prefers cable lateral raises.
Dumbbell lateral raises enhance muscle growth, giving your torso that coveted X-frame. They’re a great strength training exercise, and doing them trains your muscles to tolerate heavier weights better. This is a good plus for your bodybuilding journey.
While doing the standing variation of dumbbell lateral raises, you can see Krizo engage his core for stabilization. Again, he pushed through sets, incrementally changing weights before finishing this routine and heading for the next tricep-engaging exercise.
Close Grip Bench Presses
A close-grip bench press is a great way to engage your triceps. It also improves your muscle hypertrophy and pushes you to get those vital strength gains that carry over to pressing movements like a shoulder press. In addition, this exercise makes building massive arms easier if you train with high volume since the triceps respond better to a higher volume than other muscle groups (1).
Athletes feeling shoulder pain might find this exercise more comfortable than the bench press since their shoulders aren’t as involved in the movement. However, it would be most effective if you didn’t aim to hit your maximum strength for this routine, as the close grip doesn’t allow you to use as much weight as the conventional barbell bench press, which is a shoulder-width grip.
As a bodybuilder at 6’1,” Michal Krizo uses the close grip bench press to improve his upper body strength. He starts with heavy weights while increasing the resistance on each set. Then he heads back to working his shoulders in the following routine.
Bent Over Seated Delt Raises
Bent over seated delt raises work on your rear delts, trapezius, and rhomboids. They help strengthen your shoulders and give them a more defined look. Bent over seated delt raises help with your stability and posture, and there are many variations to help spice up your routine.
Michal Krizo activates his posterior deltoids with the bent-over seated delt raises. He does over ten reps in one set before changing to a higher weight. For the bent-over seated delt raises, Krizo does about four sets, focusing on lighter weights and more reps.
Rope Triceps Pushdowns
Rope tricep pushdowns are a variation of the triceps pushdown like the cable triceps pushdown above. When done correctly, they improve your triceps, engage your core, and work on your overall functionality. In addition, rope triceps pushdowns are good for strength gains.
This variety, however, adds more mass to your triceps if you pause at the bottom part of the movement. With this exercise, all three heads of your triceps will be activated. This leads to more hypertrophy and mass gains in your arms.
Michal Krizo does slow reps of the rope triceps pushdown, which puts your muscles under tension for longer to stimulate more muscle growth. It’s also done with a cable machine, but you can use a resistance band for this routine at home or on the go.
Machine Shoulder Press
The machine shoulder press works on your delts, triceps, traps, and upper chest. The straight incline setting of this machine will activate your upper pecs more. This exercise also focuses on your anterior and medial deltoid muscle heads.
Machine shoulder presses are more than just lifting your arms up and down overhead. They require practice and skill to get maximum effect. Remember to take a deep breath, tighten your ab core and keep your head pinned back for the best results with your anterior and medial delts.
Michal Krizo wrapped up his workout by cranking out heavy sets on the machine to activate his shoulder muscles. He’s hoping to improve his conditioning and win big in the coming season.
Checkout Michal Krizo’s workout to bulk his arms on his YouTube video below:
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References
- Baz-Valle, E., Balsalobre-Fernández, C., Alix-Fages, C., & Santos-Concejero, J. (2022). A Systematic Review of The Effects of Different Resistance Training Volumes on Muscle Hypertrophy. Journal of human kinetics, 81, 199–210. https://doi.org/10.2478/hukin-2022-0017
