Six-time Mr. Olympia Shares Brutally Efficient ‘Blood and Guts’ Biceps Workout He Used During Legendary Run
Dorian Yates has opened up his old training journal once again, revealing the grueling “blood and guts” biceps workout he used while preparing for the 1993 Mr. Olympia.
Yates shared the routine in an Instagram post on August 11, detailing the weights, reps and intensity techniques that went into his biceps training during his second Mr. Olympia-winning season. As was typical of his famous “Blood and Guts” philosophy, the workout was surprisingly short on volume but extremely high on intensity.
| Full Name: Dorian Yates | ||
| Weight | Height | Date Of Birth |
| 240-290 lbs | 5’10” | 4/19/1962 |
| Division | Era | Nationality |
| Bodybuilder | 1980, 1990 | British |
The routine consisted of just three exercises, with Yates pushing his working sets to muscular failure and incorporating forced reps and a drop set.
For longtime bodybuilding fans, the glimpse into Yates’ journal provides another look at the meticulous approach behind one of the most dominant runs in Mr. Olympia history.
Generation Iron has extensively documented that approach over the years, including in the feature documentary Dorian Yates: The Original Mass Monster and the release of the Official Dorian Yates Training Journal ebook, which contains actual entries from Yates’ training journals between 1985 and 1990.
Dorian Yates’ 1993 Mr. Olympia Biceps Workout
Yates’ biceps session was performed after completing his chest workout. Despite the heavy weights involved, there were remarkably few working sets.
Here is the routine Yates revealed:
- Warm-up: 50 pounds for 7 reps
- Working set: 70 pounds for 6 reps + 1 forced rep
- Working set: 155 pounds for 5 reps + 1 forced rep
- Drop set: 110 pounds for 3 reps
- Working set: 40 pounds for 8 reps
Yates explained that the biceps work came after a short break following his chest training, describing the session as a “Heavy duty, Blood & Guts effort to muscular failure.”
The numbers help illustrate what separated Yates’ approach from traditional high-volume bodybuilding. Rather than performing numerous exercises and sets, Yates sought to generate maximum muscular stimulus from a very small number of brutally difficult working sets.
The ‘Blood and Guts’ Philosophy That Changed Bodybuilding
Yates’ training philosophy became nearly as influential as the physique it produced.
Instead of spending hours performing high-volume sessions, Yates became synonymous with high-intensity training. After properly warming up, he would typically perform a limited number of working sets with the goal of pushing them to genuine muscular failure.
Forced reps, drop sets and other intensity techniques could then extend a set beyond the point where Yates could complete another clean repetition on his own.
The newly revealed 1993 biceps workout is a textbook example.
There are only three movements, but virtually nothing is wasted. His 70-pound incline dumbbell curls progressed into a forced repetition, while his 155-pound barbell curls included another forced rep before immediately dropping to 110 pounds.
That philosophy helped Yates build the physique that would transform the expectations for Men’s Open bodybuilding.
Yates won six consecutive Mr. Olympia titles from 1992 through 1997. His combination of enormous muscle mass, density and conditioning helped usher bodybuilding into what became known as the mass-monster era.
His 1993 physique, in particular, remains one of the most famous transformations in bodybuilding history.
Inside Dorian Yates’ Actual Training Journals
Yates’ decision to revisit his 1993 workout also carries special significance for Generation Iron.
Long before becoming Mr. Olympia, Yates meticulously recorded his workouts. Those notes provide a rare record of how his training evolved as he went from an aspiring competitor in Birmingham, England, to the best bodybuilder in the world.
Generation Iron later released the Official Dorian Yates Training Journal ebook, featuring more than 100 pages built around Yates’ actual journal entries from 1985 through 1990.
The entries chronicle the years in which Yates experimented with his training and gradually developed the methods that would eventually become synonymous with Blood and Guts.
Download Dorian Yates Training Journal ebook here
As Generation Iron detailed with the release of the journal, Yates kept rigorous records throughout his bodybuilding career, dating back as early as his first competition. The published selections give fans a window into his training during the years before he became Mr. Olympia.
That makes his latest reveal more than simply an old workout. It is another entry from a training record that documents how one of bodybuilding’s most influential philosophies was actually applied in the gym.
‘Dorian Yates: The Original Mass Monster’
Generation Iron also explored Yates’ career and philosophy in the feature documentary Dorian Yates: The Original Mass Monster.
The film chronicles Yates’ rise to six-time Mr. Olympia champion, his rejection of the California-centered bodybuilding establishment and the relentless mindset that helped make him one of the defining competitors of his generation.
It also explores Yates’ life after bodybuilding, following the former champion into retirement and through a dramatically different chapter of his life.
Yates earned the “Original Mass Monster” moniker because of the unprecedented combination of size and conditioning he brought to the Olympia stage. His emergence changed what competitors believed was possible and helped establish the direction Men’s Open bodybuilding would take through the remainder of the 1990s and into the Ronnie Coleman era.
Behind that physique, however, was the methodical training approach documented in his journals.
Yates Proved More Training Wasn’t Always Better
One of the most interesting aspects of Yates’ 1993 biceps workout is how little work appears on paper.
Three exercises. Three primary working sets.
But looking only at the volume misses the entire point of Blood and Guts.
Yates’ system depended on making those working sets count. Failure wasn’t simply the point where a set became uncomfortable. His use of forced repetitions and drop sets was designed to continue stressing the muscle after conventional repetitions were no longer possible.
That level of intensity also required recovery, another reason Yates did not believe endless sets were necessary.
His approach remains influential decades later, particularly as a new generation of bodybuilders debates training volume, frequency and the value of taking sets to failure.
Yates may have retired following his sixth Olympia victory in 1997, but he continues to provide new insight into exactly how “The Shadow” trained during his prime.
And his newly revealed 1993 biceps workout offers a particularly fascinating snapshot: just a handful of sets, enormous intensity, and a training philosophy that helped build one of the most iconic physiques bodybuilding has ever seen.
Featured image embed via Instagram @thedorianyates
