There’s a reason Milos Sarcev is a legendary bodybuilder and trainer. You don’t achieve that status with run-of-the-mill training sessions. The back workout he recently took JYM Athlete and IFBB Classic Physique pro Stefan Rivera-Clack through may soon become the stuff of legend, too.



It’s a good thing we captured the entire workout on video (above), otherwise you may not believe the amount of work performed by Stefan. At times, we wondered if it would ever end. Fortunately, Stefan had some nutritional assistance: throughout the session, he sipped on a prototype of Milos’s soon-to-be-released JYM intra-workout formula containing EAAs, BCAAs, creatine, glutamine, beta-alanine, citrulline, and simple fast-digesting carbs.



All told, Stefan completed 32 total sets of more than 15 different exercise variations – all of which focused on the back, mind you. And he made it through every rep, which is an impressive accomplishment. Frankly, very few people would be capable of finishing even half of this workout.



“I bombed your back in every way possible,” Milos told an exhausted Stefan after the workout.



“I pushed you to the limit with heavy weights. I pushed you to the limit with reps. I pushed you to the limit on peak contractions, on eccentric [negatives] overload, on slow eccentrics.”



Milos even went so far as to call the workout “torture” – in a good way, of course.



“Do you feel like a truck ran over you, and then came back a few times?” he asked Stefan.



“I feel like it was a mixture of lifting, running sprints, and doing CrossFit, as far as how it felt,” Stefan replied. “I felt a crazy pump, though. Lats are pumped up, forearms are pumped up.”



“The body is going to adapt,” said Milos. “The greater the shock, the greater the adaptation.”



Scan through the workout chart below. You’ll see that every one of those 32 sets consisted of 10 reps, but don’t let the simplicity on paper fool you. This routine is an unpredictable barrage of giant sets, supersets, negative reps, peak contraction holds, stretching, and loads ranging from moderate to extremely heavy.



Aside from the initial sets of pull-ups, Stefan completed only one set of each exercise before moving on to the next. (He ended up repeating most exercises later in the workout, but not on consecutive sets.) Rest between exercises was minimal (as little as 10 seconds), as Stefan is in stellar physical condition and doesn’t need as much time to recover than most.



Disclaimer: Don’t Try This At Home
Let’s be clear. Milos designed this back workout specifically for Stefan, a professional-level physique competitor with years of training experience under his belt and with ambitions to take his performance on stage to the next level.



Should the average person reading this take on the workout? Probably not. The purpose of documenting and sharing the training session is simply to provide a peak into how those at the highest level of physique competition really train, particularly those under the guidance of a legendary figure like Milos Sarcev.



The Workout
Milos Sarcev's Back Workout From Hell

Print
1
Pullups
warm-up
1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
2
Pullups
(Variable Eccentric) 10-second negative on rep #1, 9-second negative on rep #2, 8-second negative on rep #3... down to 1-second negative on rep #10
1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
3Pullups
(Variable Concentric) Hold the top of rep #1 for 10 seconds, the top of rep #2 for 9 seconds, top of rep #3 for 8 seconds... down to 1-second hold for rep #10
1 set, 10 reps (no rest)

Giant Set #1
T-Bar Row
Hold top position of each rep for 3 seconds
1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
Barbell Deadlift
Rack Pull. Set safety pins in a power rack to the top half of the rep; let the bar rest on the rack momentarily at the bottom of each rep
1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
Dumbbell bent-over row
Lean back against a solid structure.
1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
Bent-Arm Dumbbell Pull-over
Hold fully stretched position of each rep for 5 seconds.
1 set, to failure (no rest)
Incline dumbbell row
Lie facedown on an incline bench
1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
Lat pull-down

1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
Seated Row
(Variable Concentric) Hold the top of rep #1 for 1 second, the top of rep #2 for 2 seconds, top of rep #3 for 3 seconds... up to 10-second hold for rep #10
1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
Behind-the-neck pull-down

1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
Hex-bar deadlift

1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
Barbell Row
Set safety pins in a power rack to the bottom of the rep; let the bar rest on the rack momentarily at the bottom of each rep
1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
5
T-Bar Row
Drop set: Do 5 reps, remove one 45-pound plate; do 5 reps, remove another plate; do 5 more reps
1 set, 15 reps (no rest)
6
Barbell shrug

1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
7
T-Bar Row
Heavier than previous set of T-bar row
1 set, to failure (no rest)
8
Superset
Barbell Deadlift
Set safety pins in a power rack to the top half of the rep, and let the bar rest on the rack momentarily at the bottom of each rep; do two sets, going heavier on set #2
2 sets, 10 reps (no rest)
Barbell shrug
Using same weight as for Rack Pull Deadlift
2 sets, 10 reps (no rest)
9
Giant Set #2
Smith machine bent-over row
Reverse grip. Hold top position of each rep for 3 seconds
1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
Reverse-grip lat pull-down
Hold fully contracted (bottom) position of each rep for 3 seconds
1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
Bent-Arm Dumbbell Pull-over
Variable Eccentric. 10-second negative on rep #1, 9-second negative on rep #2, 8-second negative on rep #3... down to 1-second negative on rep #10
1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
Behind-the-neck pull-down

1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
Seated Cable Rows

1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
Lat pull-down
Wide grip
1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
Incline dumbbell row
Lie facedown on an incline bench
1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
Bent Over Barbell Row
Hex bar.
1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
Bent-Arm Dumbbell Pull-over

1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
Dumbbell bent-over row
Lean back against a solid structure
1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
Barbell Deadlift
Set safety pins in a power rack to the top half of the rep, and let the bar rest on the rack momentarily at the bottom of each rep
1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
Barbell Row
Set safety pins in a power rack to the bottom of the rep; let the bar rest on the rack momentarily at the bottom of each rep
1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
Pullups

1 set, 10 reps (no rest)
T-Bar Row
Variable Concentric. Hold the top of rep #1 for 10 seconds, the top of rep #2 for 9 seconds, top of rep #3 for 8 seconds... down to 1-second hold for rep #10
1 set, 10 reps (no rest)

__________________
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]