Mike O’Hearn recently shared an unseen video of him and Rich Piana crushing an arm workout
Mike O’Hearn recently shared a video of him and the late Rich Piana crushing an arm workout in Gold’s Gym, Venice, the Mecca of Bodybuilding. The two were hitting their workout at 4 in the morning in a relatively empty gym that so many bodybuilders and influencers have trained at.
Let’s dive in.
Who is Rich Piana?
Rich Piana was a man who did not care what anyone thought, and told people how it is. He strived to be as big as possible, while being 100% honest with his fans on any fitness related topic, from training advice to what anabolic steroids he was taking. Rich was also the owner of the nutritional supplement company, 5% Nutrition. Unfortunately, he passed away back in 2017 due to health problems, but his legacy lives on.
Who is Mike O’Hearn?
Mike O’Hearn is a very well known bodybuilder and influencer in the fitness industry for a variety of reasons. He is known for a meme frenzy that took place back in the summer of 2023, as well as claiming natty when he is freakishly massive and strong. Aside from that, Mike can often be seen collaborating with plenty of other people in the fitness industry for workouts and vlogs. He also has acted in numerous shows and movies, as well as been on the cover of over 500 magazines.
Rich and Mike’s Arm Workout
Though the amount of sets and the rep ranges for each exercise is not dived into, Rich explains that he is following Mike O’Hearn. The first exercise that we see them do is the dip machine, emphasizing the triceps. The top set of that exercise is 10 hard and heavy reps.
The next exercise is performed on the cable stack with a single rope attachment. Rich is bent over and does a single arm cross body tricep extension, getting a good squeeze at the end of the movement. Mike then takes over, explaining that even though he is done competing, he still sticks to the basic exercises he used during his time as a competitor such as the squat, the bench, and deadlift.
From there, the Mike and Rich move to an incline dumbbell skull crusher variation. The trick with this movement is to stay with a comfortable but challenging weight, and flare the elbows out and the dumbbells will touch the chest. Going too heavy on a movement like this can cause an injury.
After that, the two go to a seated tricep extension on the cables. They place an incline bench in front of a cable stack, and using a bar attachment, they position themselves almost as if they are doing a skull crusher, but let the weight move behind their heads. Mike explains that there is a special type of squeeze you get with this exercise.
Finally moving onto the bicep exercises, Mike and Rich start off with a machine preacher curl, a classic exercise aimed at blowing up the bicep peaks. The preacher curl allows you to really isolate the biceps.
The second bicep exercise on the list is a lying cable curl. It is performed on the seated cable row, but instead of sitting upright, Mike and Rich lie down with a straight bar attachment. They curl the weight towards the bottom of their chins.
The next and final arm exercise is a superset. Mike and Rich take the straight bar attachment on the cable stack, doing a tricep pushdown super-setted with a single arm cable curl with a D-handle attachment. Mike chooses to do a reverse grip tricep press down, and Rich does his single arm cable curl almost like a concentration curl.
Posing
The video does not end with just Rich Piana and Mike O’Hearn’s arm workout, they go into the posing room at Gold’s Gym to get a good pump check. Mike takes his shirt off and hits a few poses, showing off an absolutely shredded physique, and Rich jokes about Mike being one day out from a contest. Rich goes on to mention a bodybuilding contest he was at the weekend prior, and how none of the guys even come close to Mike’s physique.
Rich then asks a pretty thought provoking question, “How difficult is it for you to stay like this year round?” That is something that a lot of people wonder, because staying as lean and massive as Mike O’Hearn year round can be difficult without top tier genetics, or anabolic steroids which Mike has stated he does not use. Mike’s answer to that question, however, is “It is as difficult as training”. While he continues to pose, Mike states that he loves looking the way he does, so it is really not that hard for him to stay in that shape.
After that, the two joke about Mike O’Hearns performance enhancing drug accusations, joking about Mike O’Hearns stomach being a “growth stomach”, which is another term for the bubble gut that is a known side effect associated with the usage of human growth hormone (HGH). They also crack a few jokes about people needing to make up their mind on which steroids Mike O’Hearn takes, because people are always throwing out different accusations.
The video ends after Rich states that bodybuilders should look the way Mike does, with a small waist and shredded physique, and that it takes a lot of hard work to even come close to that physique.
Mike O’Hearn and Rich Piana Arms Wrap Up
Overall, the video that Mike Shared brings both sadness and smiles with feelings of nostalgia. It is quite sad knowing that Rich Piana and his bold personality are gone for good, but seeing a new video of him training with Mike O’Hearn certainly brings back that feeling of the mid 2010s training videos. Back when it was simple, with two guys pumping some iron and having fun.
What do you think of Mike O’Hearn and Rich Piana?
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