Sam Sulek is getting closer to his IFBB Pro debut after earning his card in February 2025 and recently took to YouTube to share a “Nasty Chest Pump” workout, along with his thoughts on perfecting your pump.
“The pump is your grading scale of how your workout was,” said Sulek in a video posed on August 25, 2025, for his four-million-plus followers. “Because (it will be) unapologetically affected by however your prep was for the workout. So, did you sleep? At least, did you sleep well? Were you hydrated? Did you eat enough food or at least a reasonable amount of food? And then, are you just, like, mentally there? In the zone? Like, you really wanna bring it, because if any of those things are off, your pump will suffer.”
The pump is an essential aspect of muscle growth because the increased blood flow experienced after a workout delivers more oxygen and nutrients to the effected area, and the hormonal and signaling effects experienced during a pump can encourage the muscles to grow. So, Sulek explained that priming the body for the pump should begin well before you get onto the gym floor.
“What were you doing before the workout that resulted in how the workout turned out?” he asked. “Anything that is going to affect the pump, I feel will also affect the quality of the workout and then in turn, in the longer scale of things: the quality of your gains, the quality of your progress. If you’re a guy who takes it easy in a workout, you show up (but you are) someone who constantly slacks, ugh, right? That’s gonna bleed into other things.” With his philosophy shared, Sulek got to work.
Sam Sulek’s Nasty Chest Pump Workout
- Barbell Incline Bench Press x 2 Sets
- Seated Converging Cable Press x 3 Sets
- Standing Cable Flye x 1 Set
Workout Breakdown
Sulek started with the barbell incline bench press to focus on his upper pecs and appeared to be going for max reps to really wear down his muscles. He made 15 reps in the first set and 10 in the second, with the help of a spotter who was sensibly placed to make sure that the young IFBB Pro could go all out.
Next up was the converging cable press where the angle of the press determines which part of the muscle takes the bulk of the load. Pressing downward is lower pec, horizontal is mid-chest, but Sulek opted to hammer his upper pec again by pressing in an upward direction. The popular bodybuilder came down in weight after the first set after barely making 10 reps but was humbled once again by hitting around 8 reps in the second set (including partial reps). The third set delivered similar results.
“Those sets of bench hit me harder than I thought,” acknowledged the social media star. Still, when it comes to bodybuilding, reaching failure is the measure of success, so with his muscles now mashed, the big man went into this finisher.
Sticking with the cables, Sulek had decided to take on a superset consisting of cable flyes and standing cable presses, but his go-hard-or-go-home mentality meant that his muscles were too spent after the cable flyes, so the standing cable press will have to wait for another session. Either way, the predetermined track of the cable is a great way to finish a workout because it is kinder to the stabilizing muscles such as the anterior deltoid in the shoulder, while efficiently targeting the entire chest.
Once again, Sulek chased the burn with 15 flyes, continuing with partial reps until he reached failure and the finality of this particular workout. As was evidenced by his post session pose down, Sulek really did find that “Nasty” chest pump.
To watch the full video, see below:
