Urs Kalecinski has arrived in Vienna, Austria to train with coach Stefan Kienzl. He recently posted the video of a back and hamstrings training session under his longtime coach’s guidance and posted the video on his YouTube channel.
Urs Kalecinski is a proud representative of the German bodybuilding community. He is a talented professional bodybuilder that competes in the Classic Physique division of the IFBB Pro League. Although he dreamed of becoming a ski racer as a child, ‘The Miracle Bear’ has achieved remarkable competitive success in bodybuilding.
The year 2021 saw the young man build a strong resume and reach the contender’s status. Most notably, the 2021 Tampa Pro win earned him a direct qualification to the 2021 Olympia. He achieved remarkable success in his Olympia debut, securing a fourth place finish.
The momentum carried forward in 2022 as the German bodybuilder achieved a podium finish at the 2022 Arnold Classic Physique. He then went on to win the 2022 Boston Pro and the 2022 Kuwait Classic Pro to gain more experience. Kalecinski brought a tremendous overall package to the 2022 Olympia stage, placing third behind champion Chris Bumstead and Ramon Rocha Queiroz.
His most recent appearance came at the 2023 Arnold Classic. Unfortunately, Kalecinski had to be hospitalized due to a severe case of food poisoning five days before the show. However, he still managed to pull off a runner-up finish behind winner Ramon Rocha Queiroz. The 25-year-old is shooting to bring a ‘bigger and better’ physique at the 2023 Olympia. He is particularly excited to battle it out against Ramon Dino on stage.
Urs Kalecinski goes through a back and hamstrings workout
Those who have followed Urs Kalecinski’s bodybuilding career know that his back was the weakest part of his physique on the 2021 Olympia stage. The busy competitive schedule in the first half of 2022 kept ‘The Miracle Bear’ from dedicating time to improving it further.
However, he has made significant progress in developing it over the last year and the results were visible during his recent stage appearances. Kalecinski’s competition prep starts with a short training camp with Coach Kienzl. This time, he traveled to Vienna and spent three days learning, assessing and discussing things with the coach in Vienna, Austria.
On the first day, Kalecinski trained his back and hamstrings as the coach assessed the progress and guided him through movements. So let’s check out how they are planning to get better and go after the Classic Physique Olympia title this year!
Seated Leg Curls
Kalecinski embarked on the workout with youthful enthusiasm and did a few sets of seated leg curls to fire up the hamstrings. After getting a sufficient warm-up for the hamstrings and knee joints through this, he advanced to doing a posterior chain compound movement.
Barbell Romanian Deadlifts
This variation of deadlifts is an excellent exercise for activating the posterior chain of muscles. Due to the striking resemblance in the form, RDL can often be mistaken for a stiff-leg deadlift. However, the weights do not touch the ground in between reps while performing Romanian deadlifts. The primary function of it is to keep a constant tension on the posterior chain, which is a plus from a hypertrophy perspective.
Kalecinski cranked out a few heavy sets of exercises to work the posterior chain muscles like glutes and hamstrings and took to the next exercise.
Seated One Arm Rows
‘The Miracle Bear’ next tackled the upper and mid back muscles with one arm rows. For this, he used the Cybex Eagle NX Row machine. The iso-lateral design of the machine enables training one arm at a time, helping to remove strength imbalances. The German bodybuilder pushed through solid sets of rows with slow and controlled motion and jumped into another pulling movement.
Seated High Rows
Seated high row is a great alternative to the barbell and dumbbell row. It is also performed at a different angle than lat pulldowns, making it a great option to work all the upper posterior chain muscles.
Once again, ‘Miracle Bear’ performed the exercise with one arm on a plate-loaded iso-lateral machine to focus on the movement and proceeded to stimulate the back further with some more exercises.
Chest-Supported T- Bar Rows
Very few back exercises can compete with this old-school rowing movement. It works essentially all the muscles in the back and also stimulates the biceps and forearms as the secondary group. Kalecinski took to the chest-supported variation of it on a machine and cranked out arduous sets to pump the back.
Lat Pulldowns
Coach Stefan Kienzl went back to basic but effective vertical pulling exercises and instructed his pupil to perform this lat-building exercise. The Latissimus dorsi is the main target muscle of this exercise. Developing these muscles is essential for building a wide back and accentuating the narrow waist look.
Cable Lat Pulldowns with Band Attachment
This cable machine movement followed the regular lat pulldowns. Kalecinski used two separate banded attachments to do the reps. The movement resembled the front double bicep pose when the weights were pulled downwards. The German bodybuilder stated that it would help him with this pose when he steps on the stage. After dealing with some meaningful sets of this exercise, the Classic Physique competitor took to the final exercise of the day.
Standing Cable Pullovers
Most common movements to target the back are heavy compound exercises. However, cable pullover is an exception to this. It works the back muscles without having to involve other body parts. Kalecinski rounded up the training session with some sets of this exercise to add the last bit of stimulus to the back.
Overall, the workout consisted of following exercises:
- Seated Leg Curls
- Barbell Romanian Deadlifts
- One Arm Seated Rows
- Seated High Rows
- Chest-Supported T-Bar Rows
- Lat Pulldowns
- Cable Lat Pulldowns with Band Attachment
- Standing Cable Pullovers
Ramon Rocha Queiroz and Chris Bumstead have proven to be the toughest competitors for Urs Kalecinski. However, his consistent podium finishes against the Giants show that he is close behind. If ‘The Miracle Bear’ can keep growing and learning, he can close the gap and be the champion in future.
You can watch the full workout video below, courtesy of Urs Kalecinski’s personal YouTube channel:
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