The following details my primary chest, shoulder and triceps workout as designed by my coach, John Meadows.  Actually, I add triceps to my primary and secondary chest and shoulder workouts instead of a dedicated arm training day, so the triceps portion is my own concoction.  It was performed Monday night at Kirkland Gold’s Gym alongside my bride, Christina.  Here is the workout…

 

Incline Dumbbell Press

 

Set 1 x 8 reps with 60lbs

Set 2 x 8 reps with 75lbs

Set 3 x 8 reps with 90lbs

Set 4 x 8 reps with 100lbs

Set 5 x 8 reps with 110lbs

Set 6 x 8 reps with 110lbs -> drop to 75lbs x 6 reps -> drop to 60lbs x 6 reps

 

*The key here is to set up the incline at a very slight angle and only press to ¾ lockout.  Go up in weight until you hit a tough set of 8 reps and then do it one more time with a drop.  I was feeling the effects of my diet and decided to make some pretty big drops to ensure I got 6 reps on each.

 

Decline Barbell Press

 

John called for flat bench, but the gym was super busy and everyone was benching so I opted for decline bench – FYI.

 

Set 1 x 8 reps with 225lbs

Set 2 x 8 reps with 225lbs

Set 3 x 8 reps with 225lbs

Set 4 x 8 reps with 225lbs

 

*The key here is to pause the weight for split second once the bar touches your chest to take any momentum out of it.  So pause and then explode the weight up.

 

Here is a video:

 

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL2NyNytlwc]

 

Dips

 

I used one chain around my neck for added weight, available here: https://www.elitefts.com/eliteftstm-pair-of-5-8-chains.html.

 

Set 1 x 11 reps (failure) with chain (20lbs) added

Set 2 x 8 reps (failure) with chain

Set 3 x 7 reps (failure) with chain

 

*Perform these with a slow eccentric phase and get a good stretch at the bottom before driving back up.  Go to failure on every set and keep rest breaks to 45-60 seconds.

 

Machine Flyes

 

Set 1 x 12 reps with 145lbs

Set 2 x 12 reps with 145lbs

Set 3 x 9 reps + 4 forced reps and an isohold with 145lbs

 

*The key is flex your pecs as hard as possible in the contracted position on each rep.  Aim for three sets of 12 reps with 4 forced reps and then a mid-rep isohold for 15 seconds on just the final working set.

 

Machine Rear Laterals

 

Set 1 x 20 reps with 120lbs

Set 2 x 20 reps with 120lbs

Set 3 x 20 reps with 120lbs

Set 4 x 20 reps with 120lbs

 

*The key here is to perform rest/pause reps on all sets.  Let the weight stack hit the bottom and stop for a split second before doing another rep and flexing hard in the contracted position.  It’s okay if you can’t perform full range reps towards the end; just do partials until you get to 20 total reps/set.

 

Dumbbell Side Laterals

 

Set 1 x 15 reps with 25lbs

Set 2 x 15 reps with 30lbs

Set 3 x 15 reps with 35lbs

Set 4 x 15 reps with 40lbs

 

*The key here is to select a weight in which you can perform 15 reps with perfect form on your first set.  On each set that follows go up in weight and continue with perfect form for as many reps as you can, finishing with partials to get to the prescribed 15 per set.

 

Here is a video of my 3rd set:

 

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1meSFwXnoQ]

 

Dumbbell Front Raises

 

Set 1 x 12 reps with 20lbs

Set 2 x 12 reps with 20lbs

Set 3 x 12 reps with 20lbs

 

*I’m not a huge fan of front raises as I feel my front delts get plenty of work from pressing movements, however I did them today and they felt good.  I brought my hands to a neutral position at the bottom with the dumbbells going back to somewhat stretch the front delts before performing the rep and rotating my palm to face down at the top.

 

Lying Triceps Extensions

 

Set 1 x 12 reps with 80lbs

Set 2 x 11 reps with 80lbs

Set 3 x 9 reps with 80lbs

Set 4 x 7 reps with 80lbs

 

*I used an EZ curl bar and a flat utility bench for these and brought the bar behind my head at the bottom.  The key is to keep rest breaks to 30 seconds so expect to lose reps as you progress through 4 working sets.

 

Superset: Rope Pushdowns & Rope Overhead Extensions

 

Rope Pushdowns x 10 reps with 100lbs

Immediately followed by…

Rope Overhead Extensions x 10 reps with 10lbs

 

*Hold the flex your triceps as hard as possible in the contracted position on the pushdowns for a 2 second count.  Immediately turn around and do overhead extensions keeping your elbows high and working the stretch by pausing in the bottom position on each rep for a 1 second count.  Perform the superset for 3 rounds.

 

That concluded this primary chest, shoulder and triceps workout.

 

Train hard!

Mark