Ronnie Coleman was one of the greatest bodybuilders the world has ever seen. He won the Mr. Olympia title 8 times in a row from 1998 – 2005 and beat out many legendary bodybuilders like Flex Wheeler.
Ronnie Coleman always trained his back and biceps together using a 6 day push / pull / legs split. If you want to learn more about Ronnie’s back / biceps workout then this article is for you!
Introduction
- Part 1: The Ronnie Coleman Training Split
- Part 2: The Ronnie Coleman Back And Biceps Workouts
In this comprehensive guide I will teach you everything you need to know about Ronnie Coleman’s back and bicep workouts.
Ronnie Coleman trained 6 days per week using a push / pull / legs split. He trained his chest / triceps on one day, his back / shoulders / biceps on a second day and his entire lower body on a third day. Check it out:
The Ronnie Coleman Training Split
- Day 1: Back / Biceps / Shoulders
- Day 2: Quads / Hamstrings / Calves
- Day 3: Chest / Triceps
- Day 4: Back / Biceps / Shoulders
- Day 5: Quads / Hamstrings / Calves
- Day 6: Chest / Triceps
- Day 7: Off
This type of training split is very popular among bodybuilders.
One of the cool things about this split is you can use two completely different workouts per week to train each muscle group. This is the exact strategy that Ronnie Coleman used in his back and bicep workouts.
For example Ronnie Coleman had a “back thickness” day early in the week where he focused on deadlifts and heavy rowing movements. Then he had a “back width” day later in the week where he focused on lat pulldowns and dumbbell pullovers to make his back wider.
Here is what Ronnie Coleman’s “back thickness” workout looked like. Check it out:
Ronnie Coleman’s Back And Biceps Routine #1
Ronnie’s Back Routine
- Exercise #1: Conventional deadlift, 3-5 sets of 4-8 reps
- Exercise #2: Barbell bent-over row, 3-5 sets of 8-20 reps
- Exercise #3: T-bar row, 3-5 sets of 8-20 reps
- Exercise #4: Standing unilateral DB row, 3-5 sets of 8-20 reps
Ronnie’s Bicep Routine
- Exercise #5: Preacher DB curl (supinated grip), 3-5 sets of 8-20 reps
- Exercise #6: Ez-bar curl (wide / supinated grip), 3-5 sets of 8-20 reps
- Exercise #7: Seated alternating DB hammer curl, 3-5 sets of 8-20 reps
Here is the training video for Ronnie’s back exercises:
And here is the training video for Ronnie’s bicep exercises:
On this day Ronnie Coleman focused on heavy back exercises like deadlifts, barbell rows and one-arm dumbbell rows.
Ronnie usually performed 3 out of the 4 back thickness exercises. For example sometimes he would skip deadlifts or the one-arm dumbbell rows. It all depended on how he felt that day.
Ronnie liked to do all of his deadlifts and heavy rowing exercises together on the same training day. He says this gave his lower back a full week to rest and recover.
Next Ronnie would perform his biceps exercises. Ronnie picked 3 different biceps exercises that worked the biceps from different angles including preacher curls, ez-bar curls and dumbbell hammer curls.
Now let’s look at Ronnie Coleman’s back width workout. Check it out:
Workout #2 Back Biceps
Ronnie’s Back Routine
- Exercise #1: Lat pulldown (wide / overhand grip), 3-5 sets of 8-20 reps
- Exercise #2: Behind the neck lat pulldown (wide / overhand grip), 3-5 sets of x 8-20 reps
- Exercise #3: Seated cable row (v-handle), 3-5 sets of x 8-20 reps
- Exercise #4: Lying DB pullovers, 3-5 sets of x 8-20 reps
Ronnie’s Bicep Routine
- Exercise #5: Machine preacher curls, 3-5 sets of x 8-20 reps
- Exercise #6: Standing alternating DB curls (supinating grip), 3-5 sets of 8-20 reps
- Exercise #7: Standing cable ez-bar curl, 3-5 sets of 8-20 reps
Here is the training video for Ronnie’s back exercises:
Here is the training video for Ronnie’s bicep exercises:
Ronnie Coleman performs all of his “back width” exercises on this back / biceps workout. In other words Ronnie performs all of his pulldowns, dumbbell pullovers and other lat-focused exercises on this training day.
This is one of the nice things about Ronnie’s 6-day push / pull / legs split: you can perform 2 completely different workouts for each body part during the week.
After he is done with his back movements Ronnie moves right into his biceps exercises. Once again he performs 3 different exercises designed to target the long head of the biceps, the short head of the biceps and the brachialis.
Conclusion
Training your back and biceps together on the same training day is an excellent workout strategy. Many of the best bodybuilders of all time like Ronnie Coleman trained this way during their bodybuilding careers.
If you have superior recovery ability and are looking for a new back / biceps routine then give Ronnie Coleman’s routine a shot. It could be just what you need to take your training to the next level.
“When you love something as much as I love bodybuilding you don’t have to do much extra to push yourself, it just happens.
There were some tough times and when those came up I just used my mental strength to push through knowing that my mind controlled everything.”
Thank you for reading and I wish you the best of luck on your strength training journey!
