James Hollingshead Hits Chest and Biceps at Ultimate Fitness Birmingham – Gym Review, Old School Vibes, and Max Intensity!

[James Hollingshead Feed]

IFBB Pro James Hollingshead paid a long-overdue visit to Ultimate Fitness Birmingham, Simon Fan’s legendary UK bodybuilding gym, for a full-on chest and biceps session. The gym, housed in a historic industrial building, impressed James with its vast equipment spread across two floors and an authentic, old-school vibe that’s rare these days. The session followed a low-volume, high-intensity Dorian Yates-style split — one all-out working set per movement, taken to failure.

James opened with incline dumbbell presses, moved to pec deck flyes, crushed decline hammer strength presses, and torched his lower chest with wide-grip dips AMRAP style. For arms, he hit dual dumbbell curls and Life Fitness preacher curls, emphasizing full contraction and strict form.

Beyond the iron, the video is packed with banter, hip-hop nostalgia (Blueprint, Get Rich or Die Tryin’ era), and throwbacks to the golden UKBBF/NABBA days. He also drops gems on intensity over weight, and how true failure—regardless of poundage—is what drives growth.

James wrapped up the visit with cable crunches, reflections on gym culture past vs. present, and even a shoutout to Simon Fan for being a pillar in the UK bodybuilding community. He also hinted at releasing signed posters soon and teased future content.