The following details my chest, shoulder and triceps workout from this past Wednesday evening at Kirkland Gold’s Gym. I continue to work with density training methods by doing as much work in a short period of time. I went back to starting off with flat bench press, but jumped up in weight from a few weeks ago. Here is what I did...
Dumbbell Bench Press
I performed a couple warm-up sets first - FYI.
Dumbbell Bench Press x 8 sets of 8 reps with 75lbs
*The goal here is to knock out 8 sets of 8 reps with minimal rest breaks. I rested just long enough to let Christina do her set of 8 reps. I went a little light previously when we trained with this exercise using dumbbells, but today my weight was nearly perfect as I barely got 8 reps on my last set. Stop short of locking out on these to save your elbows and maintain continuous tension.
Incline Smith Press
I did one feeder set to get the bench in the proper position - FYI.
Incline Smith Press x 8 sets of 8 reps with 175lbs
*Bring the bar high on your chest. I actually bring it to my chin. Press short of locking out to save your elbows. Rest no more than 20 seconds between sets.
Alternating: Machine Flyes & Stretch Push-ups
Machine Flyes x 8 reps with 150lbs
Immediately followed by…
Stretch Push-ups x 8 reps with bodyweight
Immediately repeat…
*Pump out the reps on the machine flyes, but pause in the stretched position for a split second on the stretch pushups. The goal is to pump and then stretch the pecs. Alternate back and forth with little to no rest until you’ve done each exercise 4 times.
Alternating: Rear Laterals & Behind-the-Neck Smith Press
Dumbbell Rear Laterals x 10 reps with 30lbs
Immediately followed by…
Behind-the-Neck Smith Press x 10 reps with 95lbs
Immediately repeat…
*Weight here was light, but the cumulative fatigue will catch up with you towards the end. I did each exercise for 10 reps and 8 sets (16 total sets), alternating back-and-forth with little to no rest.
Alternating: Single Arm Triceps Pushdown & Overhead Extension
Single Arm Pushdown x 8 reps with 50lbs
Immediately followed by…
Overhead Extensions x 8 reps with 50lbs
Immediately repeat…
*The key here is to grab the upper cable pulley without an attachment and perform single arm pushdowns for 8 reps before immediately turning around (facing away from the weight stack), bending at the waist and do 8 reps of triceps extensions. Turn back around for another 8 reps of pushdowns and then back around for 8 reps of extensions. Basically you do two rounds with one arm before switching and doing two rounds with the other arm. Do this 2 rounds, switch, 2 rounds sequence until you’ve done a total of 6 sets for each arm on each exercise. Pump will be ridiculous!
That concluded this chest, shoulder and triceps workout.
Train hard!
Mark