Shaun Clarida Reveals Pre-Workout Nutrition and Leg Training in Road to Olympia Series: Episode 1

Shaun Clarida 2022 Olympia

Men’s 212 2020 Mr. Olympia champ Shaun Clarida walks us through his diet, supplements, and leg training starting 5 weeks from Mr. Olympia. 

Shaun Clarida takes us on a journey and shows us how he’s preparing for Mr. Olympia starting 5 weeks from the show. Shaun Clarida was the Men’s 212 division 2020 champ, and this vlog reveals how he acquired that and plans to return for more titles. Five weeks out, Clarida’s Road to Olympia was documented in a video series through MUTANT TV. Today, we’ll cover Clarida’s first episode in Clarida’s 5-part Road to Olympia series, where he discloses his meal plan and supplements and crushes a leg workout.

Full Name: Shaun Clarida “The Giant Killer”
Weight Height Date Of Birth
175-185 lbs. 5’2” 09/05/1982
Division Era Nationality
Men’s 212 2010 American

Shaun Clarida’s Training and Diet MUTANT TV: Episode 1

Pre-Workout Meal 

The first episode in Shaun Clarida’s 5-part Road to Olympia series with MUTANT TV started with Clarida running through his first meal of the day, which includes rice, beef, and muffins. Clarida stated:

“So the first meal of the day for me it’s gonna be pretty much, uh, eight ounces of beef, about 250 200 grams of white rice, a little bit of fats with that as well.”

Shaun Clarida claims he’s been a hardgainer his whole life, so he needs dense calories consisting of ground beef, bison, turkey, and potatoes. 

The “Giant Killer’s” added that the day was a treat day for him, so he’s eating a muffin as part of his meal plan. He said having it as a pre-meal will give him carbs to help him get through leg day. Clarida said he puts his high-carb day around his leg workout. That’s because, ahead of Mr. Olympia 2022, he’s been doing more cardio, so his legs have flattened. 

Clarida’s Sneaker Collection 

After cooking his first meal of the day, Clarida went on to express how he keeps himself sane in bodybuilding, which he credits to shopping, specifically for sneakers, which consist of Jordan’s and Travis Scott’s. He said he doesn’t wear most of them, and it’s just for his collection. But Clarida said that besides bodybuilding, buying sneakers is a passion. 

Supplements

Next, Shaun Clarida made his pre-, intra-, and post-workout shakes. He’s mixed a scoop of MUTANT CREAKONG (creatine) and MUTANT BCAA into his MUTANT MADNESS Roadside Lemonade pre-workout. Clarida also added that he takes this about 30 minutes before his workout. He says during his warm up, he starts feeling good and gets a boost in energy. Clarida also took MUTANT PUMP to help get more blood flow to his muscles during his workout. Clarida loves MUTANT’s workout supplements compared to others he’s tried. He stated:

“One thing I hated, I hated with other products I’ve taken in the past like they don’t have the same like flavoring system. So if you have like a blueberry in one thing and like a pina colada in something and it, just you have to mix it together. It’s like, oh, so it’s like just gouthing this horrible thing that just tastes like shit.”

For Shaun Clarida’s intra-workout, he mixes MUTANT BCAA and MUTANT GEAAR (EAA), which he sips during his workout. And for his post-workout, he consumes 50g of MUTANT ISO SURGE

Leg Workout 

After consuming his pre-workout, Clarida headed to the Signature Fitness gym in New Jersey. Before undergoing an intense leg workout, Clarida described how he uses extenders, which are bar attachments, allowing him to lift more weight on machines. 

Interestingly, Clarida starts with calves instead of starting his leg workout as most lifters would with heavy compound movements such as squats or leg presses. He says it’s because calves are his weaker muscle group, and he believes you should start your workout with your lagging muscle group while you’re fresh. So he began his leg workout with machine seated calf raise

Next, Clarida targeted his adductors on the adductor machine. Clarida joked:

“Note to all the guys out there, this is not just a girly machine. All those front shots–the front relax, double bicep, front lat spread. When, when you’ve got that gap in between your legs, that means you’re missing this exercise right here. This is what fills that, that gap in the middle right through here. So when I hit that shot, if you’ve got a big space here, you need to be doing this. This is what builds that thickness all through here. So when you hit that shot, it makes your legs look a lot more fuller and a lot more complete.”

Shaun Clarida’s next movement was leg curls, then leg extensions. Even though the workout was a quad-dominant day, he said he always includes a hamstring movement in the beginning or towards the end. He noted that targeting his hamstrings and calves will ensure his quads are fully warmed for the more extensive movements. 

Now that he’s warmed up all his surrounding leg muscles, he performed the compound movement power squats. That’s because he’s trying to avoid exercises like squats that can compress his spine since Olympia is getting close. 

Shaun Clarida moved on to his favorite pressing exercise, the squat press. And he finished his workout with a smith machine lunge burnout.

Leg Exercises
Machine Seated Calf Raise
Leg Curl
Leg Extension
Power Squat
Smith Machine Lunge

Final Word

For the last 17 years, Clarida says he’s been pushing hard and pushing for weight, especially going into a show. However, contrary to many athletes reducing weight before a show to be cautious, he doesn’t let up on weight. He says this keeps his muscles dense. 

To end the first episode in the “Giant Killer’s” Road to Olympia journey, Shaun Clarida announced that he and his girlfriend are expecting a baby soon. And he mentioned that he doesn’t like training with anyone and likes working out in solitude, other than training with his girlfriend. But due to his girlfriend getting pregnant, Clarida found a training partner.

Since Shaun Clarida performs morning workouts after his first meal, he gets the rest of the day off to eat, recover, and relax. 

You can see the first episode of Shaun Clarida’s Road to Olympia series on the MUTANT TV channel below:

Stay tuned as Shaun Clarida’s Road to Olympia series releases new episodes. So you can get the full scope of what it takes to be an IFBB Pro Mr. Olympia champion.  

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Terry Ramos
As a personal trainer and writer, Terry loves changing lives through coaching and the written word. Terry has a B.S. in Kinesiology and is an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer and ISSA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. He enjoys playing music, reading, and watching films when he's not writing or training.