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. The previous day my family and I spent the time in the mountains snow skiing – my favorite winter activity! Mind you this ski excursion followed my Saturday primary leg workout. Bottom line – I was physically pretty exhausted going into this workout. Have you been there? The weight you usually push feels quite a bit heavier? That was me on this workout, but I also think this was one of the better chest sessions. That said – here is what the workout looked like…
Decline Dumbbell Press
Set 1 x 15 reps with 60lbs (warm-up)
Set 2 x 15 reps with 70lbs (warm-up)
Set 3 x 10 reps with 80lbs (warm-up)
Set 4 x 8 reps with 100lbs
Set 5 x 8 reps with 110lbs
Set 6 x 8 reps with 120lbs
*Use a slight decline on this exercise. After a few higher rep warm-up sets, perform sets of 8 reps going up in weight until you can barely get 8 reps. Only press to ¾ lockout to maintain constant tension.
Incline Bench Press
Set 1 x 10 reps with 225lbs
Set 2 x 7 reps with 245lbs
Set 3 x 5 reps with 255lbs
Set 4 x 4 reps with 260lbs
*The key here is to lower the weight with a 3 second eccentric (negative) and stop about 2-3 inches above your chin before reversing the weight and pressing up. The goal was to do sets of 10, 8, 6 and 4 reps; however I overestimated the difficulty of the 3 second eccentric reps and came up short a couple times.
Superset: Machine Fly & Pushups
Machine Fly x 10 reps with 145lbs
Then…
Pushups x failure
*The key on the machine flys is to hold and squeeze in the contracted position for a 2 second count on each rep. On the pushups simply go to failure on every set. My reps ranged from 20 to 6 – fyi. I performed the superset for a total of 6 rounds and therefore did two sets of pushups with a wide hand placement, two with a medium hand placement and the final two sets with a somewhat narrow hand placement.
Machine Rear Laterals
Set 1 x 15 reps with 130lbs
Set 2 x 15 reps with 130lbs
Set 3 x 15 reps with 130lbs
Set 4 x 15 reps with 130lbs
*The key here is to create tension in your rear delt throughout the entire range of motion. To accomplish this I did like a 4 second concentric, 2 second pause in the contracted position and 4 second eccentric on each rep. Essentially use a super-slow rep speed for all 15 reps and make them burn!
Dumbbell Side Laterals
Set 1 x 10 reps with 30lbs
Set 2 x 10 reps with 30lbs
Set 3 x 10 reps with 30lbs
Set 4 x 10 reps with 30lbs
*The key here is to take these up to 10 and 2 o’clock.
Barbell Front Raise
Set 1 x 10 reps with 40lbs
Set 2 x 10 reps with 40lbs
Set 3 x 10 reps with 40lbs
Set 4 x 10 reps with 40lbs
*This isn’t your typical front raise. I take a wider than shoulder width grip and keep a very slight bend in the elbows at the start. Bring the bar from your thighs all the way up until the bar is over your head, straightening your arms and contracting your delts and traps at the top before lowering the bar again.
Bent Over V-bar Triceps Extensions
Just an FYI, I actually alternated back-and-forth on this exercise with barbell front raises to speed up the workout – essentially letting my delts rest while performing triceps extensions and vice-versa.
Set 1 x 12 reps with 140lbs
Set 2 x 12 reps with 140lbs
Set 3 x 12 reps with 140lbs
Set 4 x 12 reps with 140lbs
*These are done by attaching the V-bar to the upper pulley, bending at the waist while facing away from the weight stack, and extending your arms out. I typically won’t start with this movement, but my elbows were already fully warmed up. Pause each rep for a 1 second count in the stretched position and stop short of locking out.
Dips Between Benches
John called for a dip machine, but Kirkland Gold’s Gym doesn’t have one so I opted for dips between benches.
Set 1 x 8 reps with 45lbs
Set 2 x 8 reps with 45lbs
Set 3 x 8 reps with 45lbs
Set 4 x 8 reps with 45lbs
*Go down slow, pause briefly and then come all the way up and sit back slightly to facilitate an intense triceps contraction. Christina was off socializing, but I needed some more weight. I was able to place a 45lb kettlebell on my lap without assistance so that’s where the 45lbs came from.
I called it a day after this exercise as I was physically drained; concluding this primary chest, shoulder and triceps workout.
Train hard!
Mark