The following details my primary chest, shoulder and triceps workout from this past Monday night at Kirkland Gold’s Gym. The training session was designed by my coach, John Meadows, and I trained alongside my bride. Here is the workout…
Decline Dumbbell Press
I used a slight decline on these – FYI.
Set 1 x 8 reps with 65lbs (warm-up)
Set 2 x 8 reps with 75lbs (warm-up)
Set 3 x 8 reps with 85lbs (warm-up)
Set 4 x 8 reps with 100lbs
Set 5 x 8 reps with 110lbs
Set 6 x 10 (failure) reps with 120lbs
*Only press to ¾ lock-out on this exercise and perform 3 working sets after warming up. I didn’t want to go above 120lb dumbbells since I’m getting close to competing so I simply went to failure with them as my final set – FYI.
Incline Smith Presses
I used a slight incline here as well – FYI.
Set 1 x 8 reps with 135lbs
Set 2 x 8 reps with 225lbs
Set 3 x 8 reps with 255lbs
Set 4 x 8 reps with 275lbs
Set 5 x 6 (failure) reps with 285lbs
*The goal was to do sets of 8 reps until you can barely get 8, but I ended up failing at 6 on my final set. I counted this as 4 working sets.
Superset: Dips & Machine Rear Laterals
Dips x failure (15, 12, 11, 11 reps) with bodyweight
Immediately followed by…
Machine Rear Laterals x 15 reps with 130lbs
*Perform this superset for 4 rounds and go to failure on the dips on each round. I listed my reps on each of the 4 sets. If you exceed 15 reps then add weight. On the rear laterals ensure you hold the contraction for a 1 second count on every rep.
Superset: Machine Flyes & Cable Side Laterals
Machine Flyes x (10, 8, 7, 6 reps) with 190lbs
Immediately followed by…
Cable Side Laterals x (16, 12, 12, 10 reps) with 25lbs
*Aim for around 8 reps on the machine flyes and hold the contraction for a split second on each rep. On the cable laterals I grabbed the carabiner without an attachment from the lower pulley so the cables were crossed behind my back. I hooked my thumb on the carabiner and performed side laterals with a 1 second hold in the contracted position. These are awesome!
Triceps Reverse Grip Smith Presses
This wasn’t part of John’s program – FYI. Rather, it was a triceps training tip I read on T-Nation and decided to give it a try.
Set 1 x 12 reps with 135lbs
Set 2 x 10 reps with 185lbs
Set 3 x 10 reps with 205lbs
Set 4 x 10 reps with 210lbs
*Ideally you won’t bring the bar to touch your chest at the bottom. Also, be sure to use a Smith Machine so you don’t have to worry about balance as this exercise is a little awkward. Once you find the form these do a great job of hitting the triceps.
Here is a video:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIq_AUop5aw]
Overhead Rope Extensions
Set 1 x 10 reps with 120lbs
Set 2 x 8 reps with 120lbs
Set 3 x 7 reps with 120lbs
*Extend with your hands together and then separate your hands on the eccentric portion of the movement. Be sure to really work the stretch here and go to failure on all 3 sets.
That concluded this primary chest, shoulder and triceps workout.
Train hard!
Mark