From Harvard Law to WWE Wrestler, David Otunga has become one of the biggest names in sports entertainment while landing himself the kind of woman most guys only dream about. And he owes it all to putting his training above everything else.
HANGING KNEE RAISE
Hang from a pull-up bar, or brace your upper arms in a pair of leg raise straps (pictured). Lift your knees towards your chest and lower them back down from three angles—straight on, pointing to the left, then pointing to the right (pictured). Complete the same number of reps from each angle.DUMBBELL ROW
With your right knee and right hand on a flat bench, hold a heavy dumbbell in your left hand. Row the dumbbell to your ribs without twisting your body or using momentum. The move should be initiated by retracting your shoulder blade. Complete the same number of reps on each side.
TRICEPS KICKBACK
Hold a dumbbell in your left hand, bend at the hips, and brace yourself with your right hand against your right knee. Your left upper arm should be parallel to the floor. Lift the weight to extend your arm until it’s straight. Slowly return to the start. Complete equal reps with both arms.
WIDE-GRIP PULL-UP
Grasp a pull-up bar with a wide grip; this will put your hands well outside shoulder width. Engage your lats to pull your body up. Don’t kip, or use momentum, as the goal is lat development, not calorie expenditure.
ARNOLD PRESS
Sit on a bench with a back support and hold a pair of dumbbells at shoulder level in front of you with your palms facing your shoulders. Press the weights straight up, rotating your arms as you go so that your palms are facing away in the finish position.
WEIGHTED DECLINE SIT-UP
Lie down on a decline bench and hold a weight plate or heavy dumbbell
(pictured) against your chest.
Engage your abs to sit all the way up without curling your spine forward. Hold it for a beat at the top, then slowly lower back to the start position, keeping your abs engaged the whole time to control the movement.
DAVID OTUNGA’S TRAINING SPLIT
How to do it: David Otunga designed his own training programme, a classic five-day body-part training split utilising techniques like strip sets and old-school training implements like the arm blaster (a supportive device that ensures strict motion on curls).
Otunga trains abs on each day of this programme before lifting weights. He picks a different exercise each time and does 5 sets of 15–20 reps. Some of his favourites are hanging leg raises, hanging knee raises, and weighted decline sit-ups.
