The following details my chest, shoulder and triceps workout from Wednesday night at Kirkland Gold’s Gym.  Christina continues to recover from surgery, so I trained alone. Here is what I did…

 

Neutral Grip Dumbbell Press

 

Set 1 x 12 reps with 50lbs (warm-up)

Set 2 x 12 reps with 60lbs (warm-up)

Set 3 x 12 reps with 80lbs

Set 4 x 12 reps with 90lbs

Set 5 x 9 reps (failure) with 100lbs

 

*The key here is to hold the dumbbells with a neutral hand position while pressing.  Stay with higher reps, pumping them out and pressing just short of lock-out at the top.

 

Barbell Incline

 

Set 1 x 10 reps with 135lbs (feeder set)

Set 2 x 6 reps with 225lbs

Set 3 x 6 reps with 225lbs

Set 4 x 6 reps with 225lbs

Set 5 x 6 reps with 225lbs

 

*I couldn’t push to failure without a spotter, so I used lighter weight and focused on explosiveness.  The key is to pause the weight briefly on your chest and drive up hard while stopping short of lock-out.

 

Weighted Dips

 

Three sets of 7 reps with 45lbs

 

*Focus on controlling the descent and contracting your pecs hard at the top.  I hung a 45lb kettlebell around my waist.

 

Flat Dumbbell Flyes

 

Three sets of 10 reps with 35lbs

 

*The key here is focus on the stretch using lighter weight and keeping your arms slightly bent throughout each rep.

 

Machine Rear Delts

 

Set 1 x 24 reps (failure) with 110lbs

Set 2 x 15 reps (failure) with 120lbs

Set 3 x 11 reps (failure) with 130lbs

 

*The key here is to train to failure on each set.  Start light and go up in weight each time.

 

Dumbbell Side Laterals

 

Set 1 x 22 reps with 22.5lbs

Set 2 x 17 reps with 25lbs

Set 3 x 12 reps with 27.5lbs

Set 4 x 10 reps with 30lbs

 

*Approach this exercise in the same manner as you did with machine rear delts.  Start light and do as many reps as possible until your form is severely compromised.  Go up in weight each set.

 

Superset: Pad Pushdowns & Overhead Rope Extensions

 

The pad pushdowns are done on a chin/dip assist machine - FYI.

 

Pad Pushdowns x 10 reps with 75lbs

Immediately followed by…

Overhead Rope Extensions x failure with 110lbs

 

*Flare your elbows and the pushdowns and flex hard in the contracted position.  Move right to overhead rope extensions accentuating the stretch on each rep while going to failure.  Do this superset for 4 rounds.

 

Here is a video of a triceps triset from a previous workout.  The pad press is show starting at 35 seconds if you’re unfamiliar with this exercise:

 

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=god1bJ6qg8U]

 

That concluded this chest, shoulder and triceps workout.

 

Train hard!

Mark