Dauda and Sulek start their chest workout by hitting their calves.
Developing robust chest muscles enhances upper body strength and boosts confidence. Pec deck flyes are an excellent upper body routine, targeting and sculpting the chest. This post follows bodybuilder Samson Dauda as he does a chest workout with fitness influencer Sam Sulek.
Samson Dauda is a British bodybuilder born in Nigeria and dubbed “The Nigerian Lion.” He was the dark horse in the industry last year as it was his debut season for Mr. Olympia, and he shocked everyone, coming sixth. This he did while giving former two-time Mr. Olympia Mamdouh “Big Ramy” Elssbiay a tight run for fifth place.
| Full Name: Samson Dauda (The Nigerian Lion) | ||
| Weight | Height | Date of Birth |
| 275 – 330 lbs | 5’11” | 03/11/1992 |
| Division | Era | Nationality |
| Men’s Open | 2010s – Till Date | British, Nigerian |
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Samson Dauda qualified for Mr. Olympia this year by winning the coveted Arnold Classic. This training with Sam Sulek is part of his workout for the top competition. Sam Sulek is a social media bodybuilding sensation and a force to reckon with, already weighing 240 lbs at just 21.
Samson Dauda and Sam Sulek have paired up before for posing. This time, they tackled a chest and calves workout and were joined by former IFBB pro Fouad Abiad. These men use the peck deck fly and other exercises to build their chest muscles.
Samson Dauda’s & Sam Sulek’s Chest Workout
This chest workout aimed to see if Samson Dauda and Sam Sulek had complementary training styles so they could work together more in the future. To get started, Dauda took some pre-workout supplements. Both bodybuilders also did a posing session at the end of the workout.
They started by doing a superset for calves before working through four chest exercises. This chest workout was a mix of machine and free-weight movements, including dumbbells and barbells. Let’s take a look at their routines.
| Exercises |
| Standing Calf Raise |
| Seated Calf Raise |
| Machine Incline Bench Press |
| Isolateral Machine Incline Chest Press |
| Pec Deck Flyes |
| Hammer Grip Dumbbell Press |
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Superset — Standing Calf Raise & Seated Calf Raise
Dauda and Sulek started this workout with a superset of standing and seated calf raises. The standing variation was done on a selectorized machine, and then they superset it with the seated calf raise. Research shows that supersets are a great way to improve your workout efficiency and save time (1).
Standing calf raises target your calves and build the muscles at the back of your lower leg — the soleus and gastrocnemius. This exercise explicitly targets the gastrocnemius and improves your lower body performance.
Seated calf raises, on the other hand, mainly focus on your soleus. Unlike its standing counterpart, it’s an isolation exercise that allows for greater leg isolation. Both routines are essential for building your calves and strengthening your legs.
Machine Incline Bench Press
Samson Dauda and Sam Sulek did their incline bench press on the Smith machine. Samson set the machine to 45 degrees, which activated the shoulders more. However, it puts less stress on the rotator cuff, which is prone to injury.
The machine incline bench press is an exercise that targets your chest, shoulders, and triceps. Doing this exercise at an incline causes it to focus on your upper pecs.
Isolateral Machine Incline Chest Press
The isolateral machine incline chest press targets the same muscles as the incline bench press above — pecs, triceps, and anterior delts. Due to the incline, this exercise also targets and builds your upper chest.
The Nigerian Lion and Sam Sulek used an isolateral machine for this exercise. Dauda performed his sets slowly and under control to keep his muscles under tension for longer. Research shows that the more time you spend under tension when doing the chest press, the more muscle growth you’ll experience (2).
Pec Deck Flyes
The peck deck fly is an excellent exercise for adding volume to the pectoralis muscles. It’s an isolation movement that you can also use to develop your inner chest muscles, which are often neglected. They’re best done with lighter weights and towards the end of your chest workout.
While doing the pec deck fly, Samson Dauda raised his chin and put his shoulder blades down and to the back. This helps to stop your chest from caving in and shifting the focus of this routine to the anterior delts. Dauda also used slow movements with this exercise to ensure that his muscles spent considerable time under tension. He did them to failure and then used partial reps to push his chest muscles further and induce hypertrophy.
Hammer Grip Dumbbell Press
Samson Dauda and Sam Sulek do hammer grip dumbbell presses as their final move for this chest workout. While doing this exercise, they kept their elbows close to their body and squeezed the dumbbells throughout their entire range of motion for better growth. Many experts also consider this exercise safer for your shoulders because of the safety of the hammer grip.
Watch the full workout here:
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References
- Weakley, J. J. S., Till, K., Read, D. B., Roe, G. A. B., Darrall-Jones, J., Phibbs, P. J., & Jones, B. (2017). The effects of traditional, superset, and tri-set resistance training structures on perceived intensity and physiological responses. European journal of applied physiology, 117(9), 1877–1889. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-017-3680-3
- Wilk, M., Stastny, P., Golas, A., Nawrocka, M., Jelen, K., Zajac, A., & Tufano, J. J. (2018). Physiological responses to different neuromuscular movement task during eccentric bench press. Neuro endocrinology letters, 39(1), 26–32.
