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 chest and triceps together using a 6 day push / pull / legs split. If you want to learn more about Ronnie’s chest and triceps workout then this article is for you!
Introduction
- Part 1: The Ronnie Coleman Training Split
- Part 2: The Ronnie Coleman Chest And Triceps 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 chest and tricep workouts.
For example Ronnie Coleman had a “barbell chest day” and a “dumbbell chest day.”
Early in the week Ronnie Coleman had a chest workout where he performed different barbell pressing exercises like the bench press, the incline bench press and the decline bench press. Later in the week Ronnie had a chest day where he focused on dumbbell exercises like the flat dumbbell bench press, the incline dumbbell bench press and dumbbell flies.
Ronnie used a similar strategy for his triceps exercises: he used a different set of exercises on each workout.
Here is what Ronnie Coleman’s “barbell chest” workout looked like. Check it out:
Workout #1 Chest Triceps
Ronnie’s Chest Routine
- Exercise #1: Flat BB bench press, 3-5 sets of 5-15 reps
- Exercise #2: Incline BB bench press, 3-5 sets of 8-20 reps
- Exercise #3: Decline BB bench press, 3-5 sets of 8-20 reps
Ronnie’s Tricep Routine
- Exercise #4: Seated unilateral DB french press, 3-5 sets of 8-20 reps
- Exercise #5: Hammer strength machine dips, 3-5 sets of 8-20 reps
- Exercise #6: Standing cable tricep pushdown, 3-5 sets of 8-20 reps
Here is the chest training video:
Here is the tricep training video:
This is a very simple chest / triceps workout by Ronnie Coleman. For his chest routine Ronnie performs 3 different barbell pressing exercises: the bench press, the incline bench press and the decline bench press.
In this video Ronnie works up to an incredible 495 pound bench press for 5 reps! After his chest routine Ronnie moves onto the triceps. He performs 3 different triceps exercises to overload all 3 heads of the triceps. Ronnie’s second weekly chest / triceps routine was very similar.
The main difference is he used a different set of exercises for his chest and triceps. Check it out:
Workout #2 Chest Triceps
Ronnie’s Chest Routine
- Exercise #1: Flat DB press, 3-5 sets of 5-15 reps
- Exercise #2: Incline DB press, 3-5 sets of 5-15 reps
- Exercise #3: Flat DB fly, 3-5 sets of 8-20 reps
Ronnie’s Triceps Routine
- Exercise #4: Lying ez-bar extension (behind head), 3-5 sets of 8-20 reps
- Exercise #5: Two-arm seated DB french press, 3-5 sets of 8-20 reps
- Exercise #6: Two-arm bent-over DB tricep kickbacks, 3-5 sets of 8-20 reps
Here is the training video:
Here is the training video:
Once again Ronnie performs 6 total exercises: 3 exercises for his chest and 3 exercises for his triceps. In this workout Ronnie throws around the 200 pound dumbbells for reps on his first 2 chest exercises – wow!
Then he wraps up his workout with 3 completely different triceps exercises to overload the long, lateral and medial heads of the triceps.
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 chest / triceps 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!
