The following details my primary chest, shoulder and triceps workout from this past Monday night at Kirkland Gold’s Gym.  The workout was designed by my coach, John Meadows, but I deviated slightly due to equipment availability issues.  My diet was also really kicking my ass on this workout and my strength suffered as I’m less than 4 weeks out to the Arctic Pro in Anchorage Alaska.  Here is the workout…

 

Neutral Grip Dumbbell Presses

 

John called for a neutral grip machine press, but the only machine which semi-mimics this movement was in use so I opted for dumbbells – FYI.

 

Set 1 x 8 reps with 65lbs

Set 2 x 8 reps with 70lbs

Set 3 x 8 reps with 75lbs

Set 4 x 8 reps with 90lbs

Set 5 x 8 reps with 100lbs

Set 6 x 7 reps with 110lbs

 

*The key here is to keep your palms in a neutral position the entire time.  Also, pause each rep at the bottom for a 1 second count before driving the dumbbells up and flexing hard in the contracted position.  I counted this as 3 working sets.

 

Incline Barbell Bench Press

 

Set 1 x 6 reps with 225lbs

Set 2 x 6 reps with 245lbs

Set 3 x 6 reps with 265lbs

Set 4 x 5 reps with 275lbs

 

*Bring the bar to an inch of touching your chest and press to ¾ lockout.  The goal was to lift more than last week, but my strength faded quickly tonight and by my fourth set I failed to get 6 reps.

 

Machine Press

 

John called for dumbbell press on a slight incline, but considering I started with dumbbells I went to a machine press – FYI.

 

Set 1 x 8 reps with 205lbs

Set 2 x 8 reps with 235lbs

Set 3 x 7 reps (failure) with 255lbs -> drop to 195lbs x 6 reps (failure) -> drop to 125lbs x 8 reps (failure)

 

*Perform 3 working sets with your last one being a double drop set.

 

Here is a video of my drop set:

 

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7kVjg8yCH8]

 

Dips

 

Set 1 x 10 reps (failure) with bodyweight

Set 2 x 8 reps (failure) with bodyweight

Set 3 x 7 reps (failure) with bodyweight

 

*Perform your reps nice and slow and work the lower portion of the movement in particular.  I was gassed and failed pretty quickly tonight.

 

Superset: Cable Pulley Rear Laterals & Face Pulls

 

This was not in John’s program – FYI.

 

Cable Pulley Rear Laterals x failure (12-15 reps) with 25lbs

Immediately followed by…

Face Pulls x 10 reps with 110lbs

 

*I did the rear laterals by grabbing opposite sides of the upper pulleys in a cable cross-over and went to failure before moving immediately to face pulls from an upper pulley with a rope attachment.  Hammer your rear delts via 3 rounds of this superset!

 

Superset: Barbell Front Raises & Dumbbell Side Laterals

 

This was not in John’s program – FYI.

 

Barbell Front Raise x 8-10 reps with 40lbs

Immediately followed by…

Dumbbell Side Laterals x 10 reps with 17.5lbs

 

*My forearm has been bothering me so I didn’t want to do heavy side laterals and inflame it more.  I opted to start with front raises, but not as they are typically performed.  I took a very wide grip and brought the bar from my thighs all the way up to above my head and contracted my delts hard at the top before reversing the motion.  These burn like crazy and were the perfect pre-exhaustion exercise whereby light dumbbells felt difficult on the side laterals.  Do the superset for 3 rounds.

 

Superset: Supinate Grip Triceps Pushdowns & Overhead Extensions

 

Supinate Grip Triceps Pushdowns x failure (12-15 reps) with 120lbs

Immediately followed by…

Overhead Extensions x failure (8-12 reps) with 120lbs

 

*Control the tempo on both exercises and really feel the triceps stretch and contract.  Go to failure and perform the superset for a total of 4 rounds.

 

Here is a video of my first set:

 

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqJC8tPHMMA]

 

That concluded this primary chest, shoulder and triceps workout.

 

Train hard!

Mark