Olympia competitor Michal Krizo goes through a rigorous back workout 5 weeks before the 2022 Olympia.
2022 upcoming elite bodybuilder Michal Krizo destroyed a back workout ahead of the 2022 Olympia. Michal Krizo is a Slovakian professional bodybuilder who transitioned from the International Federation of BodyBuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Pro league to the National Physique Committee (NPC) to prepare for the 2022 Olympia.
He’s in his early 30s and new to the bodybuilding scene, but his successful season has positioned him into the bodybuilding spotlight. After running through the 2022 Amateur Olympia Italy competition, he earned his pro card. Soon after, he won the 2022 EVLS Prague League to qualify for the 2022 Olympia.
Krizo’s quick rise to fame and bodybuilding achievements have garnered him a lot of attention from fans. And he’s gotten into heated altercations with other prominent bodybuilders, like Blessing Awodibu and Ian Valliere. Unfortunately, these quarrels have done nothing but add fuel to the fire of Krizo’s already successful embarking into bodybuilding.
Olympia 2022 takes place December 15, 2022 – December 18, 2022, and Krizo’s wasting no time preparing five weeks before the most prominent bodybuilding competition of the year. He hit his back hard and uploaded his workout to his YouTube channel.
Michal Krizo’s Back Workout
Michal Krizo’s back workout included big compound (multi-joint) and accessory movements, hitting all the major back muscles–lats, rhomboids, and traps.
Pull-up
Michal Krizo started his back workout by completing a few sets of pull-ups. Pull-ups are one of the most brutal back exercises you can include in a bodybuilding plan. This movement requires you to pull your entire bodyweight up. And considering bodybuilders have immense muscle mass, Michal Krizo had to fight gravity hard to complete a pull-up.
Close-Grip Lat Pulldown
After performing pull-ups, Krizo moved on to the close-grip lat pulldown. This movement is performed on a lat pulldown machine except with a narrow V-bar grip instead of a wide bar. Compared to the standard lat pulldowns, which target more of your lats, this exercise brings attention to your rhomboids (the inner part of your upper back). In addition, the close grip activates more of your secondary pulling muscles, the biceps.
Close-Grip Seated Cable Row
Next, Krizo included some horizontal pulls to his lifts. The first two exercises were vertical pulls geared towards widening your back since they typically involve some lat involvement. But the horizontal pull’s purpose is to add more mass to your back. So Krizo performed the close-grip seated cable row after the close-grip lat pulldown. This exercise engages the middle and lower portion of your lats, rhomboids, and trapezius and helps you improve your posture. Again, the narrower grip activates your biceps more.
Prone Incline Cable Lat Pulldown
On the next exercise, Krizo did cable lat pulldowns on a bench at an angle and used a cable rope attachment. This exercise will engage multiple muscles in your back at different angles. Typically, most people perform lat pulldowns while seated upright, which causes you to lean back a little bit. However, lying down prone at an incline will force you to lean forward to engage different parts of your back muscles.
Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
Michal Krizo transitioned from performing bilateral (multi-limb) movements to unilateral (single-limb movement) towards the end of his back workout. Single-limb exercises improve your mind-muscle connection to better target each side of your body. And they help correct any muscular imbalance and challenge more of your stabilizers and core (1). This exercise targets your upper back, arms, and abs.
Dumbbell Pullover
Lastly, Krizo finished his workout with the accessory movement dumbbell pullover. Dumbbell pullovers aren’t meant for using heavy weight as the more major compound movements, such as close-grip lat pulldown. Instead, its primary purpose is to add volume to your back and help with scapular mobility. Good scapular mobility opens up your chest and helps stabilize your shoulders. So, in addition to targeting your lats, the dumbbell pullover activates your upper chest muscles and triceps (2).
Back Workout
Below are the exercises of Michal Krizo’s full back workout.
| Exercises |
| Pull-up |
| Close-Grip Lat Pulldown |
| Close-Grip Seated Cable Row |
| Prone Incline Cable Lat Pulldown |
| Single-Arm Dumbbell Row |
| Dumbbell Pullover |
Michal Krizo’s back workout was shot at Gou Gym in Prievidza, Slovakia. Michal Krizo’s back training consists of six different exercises. He mainly did compound bilateral movements such as pull-ups, close-grip lat pulldown, and close-grip seated cable row to add strength and muscle mass to his back. But he also included the unilateral exercise single-arm dumbbell row to focus on each side of his back more and to improve his core and stability.
Krizo included a mix of vertical and horizontal rows. Vertical rows tend to target more of your upper lats. In contrast, horizontal rows will engage more of your midback, like your rhomboids and trapezius, especially since Krizo incorporated closer grips, which also engaged more of his biceps.
Krizo also pushed himself extremely hard during his sets. You’ll see in his YouTube video he had his coach help assist him during some sets to allow him to do more reps with the heavy load.
You can watch Michal Krizo’s full back workout on his YouTube below:
Is Michal Krizo Ready for 2022 Olympia?
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Although Michal Krizo won the 2022 Prague Pro, some sources claim he looked shaky. And that show recently took place at the end of October. So, for starters, he showed up late to the show. Secondly, his tanning was less than ideal for a professional bodybuilder show; you could see it sweating down his body. Lastly, Krizo seemed exhausted as he was huffing and puffing on stage.
That said, Krizo isn’t an upcoming and coming rising bodybuilder for no reason. Krizo has all the tools necessary to be a top contender. And he certainly doesn’t take his back days easy. In addition, he had a little over two months to prepare his physique for Olympia after the Prague Pro.
It’ll be interesting to see if Krizo has what it takes to beat other top 2022 Olympia contenders like James Hollingshead, Hadi Choopan, and his archnemesis Ian Valliere. But former Mr. Olympia Samir Bannout believes Krizo has what it takes to place in the top six if he improves his stage presence.
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References
- Saeterbakken, A. H., & Fimland, M. S. (2012). Muscle activity of the core during bilateral, unilateral, seated and standing resistance exercise. European journal of applied physiology, 112(5), 1671–1678. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-011-2141-7
- Marchetti, P. H., & Uchida, M. C. (2011). Effects of the pullover exercise on the pectoralis major and latissimus dorsi muscles as evaluated by EMG. Journal of applied biomechanics, 27(4), 380–384. https://doi.org/10.1123/jab.27.4.380
