The following details my chest, triceps, abdominal and calf workout from this past Sunday morning at Eastside Gym in Redmond. The workout was designed by John Meadows and I trained alone. Here is the workout
Dumbbell Press
Set 1 x 8 reps with 55lbs
Set 2 x 8 reps with 65lbs
Set 3 x 8 reps with 75lbs
Set 4 x 8 reps with 85lbs
Set 5 x 8 reps with 105lbs
Set 6 x 8 reps with 120lbs
Set 7 x 7 reps with 135lbs -> drop to 85lbs x 7 reps -> drop to 65lbs x 7 reps
*The key here is to work your way up in weight doing sets of 8 reps until you fail to get all 8 reps. At that point proceed with a drop set, dropping the weight twice and going to failure each time.
Flat Barbell Press
I used a fat bar here, similar to this: https://www.elitefts.com/american-fat-bar.html.
Set 1 x 5 reps with 225lbs
Set 2 x 5 reps with 225lbs
Set 3 x 5 reps with 225lbs
Set 4 x 5 reps with 225lbs
Set 5 x 5 reps with 225lbs
*The key here is to use a weight in which you can pause it on your chest at the bottom before exploding up. Do 5 sets of 5 reps with only 45 second rest breaks.
Superset: Dips & Machine Flyes
Dips x 8 reps with bodyweight
Immediately followed by…
Machine Flyes x 8 reps with 120lbs
*Focus on pausing in the stretched position at the bottom on the dips and press up and contract your pecs hard at the top. Immediately move to machine flyes and once again get a good stretch at the bottom. Perform the superset for 4 rounds.
Superset: Triceps Pushdowns & Rope Crunches
I chose to superset these exercises to save time and because the rope crunches allow for a good triceps stretch between sets of pushdowns – FYI.
Triceps Pushdowns x 10 reps with 110lbs
Immediately followed by…
Rope Crunches x 10 reps with 160lbs
*The key here is to accumulate fatigue via a total of 10 rounds of this superset! I used separate D handle attachments with long straps and a pronate hand position for the first 5 sets. I switched to a supinate hand position for the final 5 sets on the pushdowns.
Seated Calve Raises
Set 1 x 25 reps with three 45lb plates
Set 2 x 25 reps with three 45lb plates
Set 3 x 25 reps with three 45lb plates
*The key here is to sit in the stretched position at the bottom of each rep for a 4 second count. The final reps in the last two sets may become partials, but that’s ok.
That concluded this chest, triceps, abdominal and calf workout.
Train hard!
Mark