The following details my chest, shoulder and triceps workout from this past Wednesday night at Kirkland Gold’s Gym. As of this workout I’m 10 days out from competing in the IFBB Vancouver BC Pro, so I’m not really on a John Meadows program right now. My goal is to be smart about intensity to ensure I don’t get injured being this low in body fat.
If things continue on their current pace I’m going to easily exceed my conditioning from my Arctic Pro win. Think – nasty ripped in BC, lol!
Here is the workout…
Dumbbell Twist Presses
Set 1 x 10 reps with 45lbs
Set 2 x 10 reps with 55lbs
Set 3 x 10 reps with 65lbs
Set 4 x 10 reps with 75lbs
Set 5 x 7 reps with 85lbs
*Get a good stretch at the bottom with your palms pronated and then twist them to a neutral/semi-supinated position at the top. The contraction here is intense which is exactly why I selected this exercise. Work up in weight focusing on really controlling the rep tempo with perfect form until you hit a weight where 10 perfect reps are impossible.
Here is a video:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs29KMkOT0E]
Floor Presses
Set 1 x 10 reps with 225lbs
Set 2 x 10 reps with 225lbs
Set 3 x 10 reps with 225lbs
Set 4 x 10 reps with 225lbs
*I did these rest/pause style, meaning I brought the weight down until my elbows were resting on the floor, paused for a split second and then drove the weight up as hard as possible.
Machine Flyes
Set 1 x 10 reps with 140lbs
Set 2 x 10 reps with 140lbs
Set 3 x 10 reps with 140lbs
Set 4 x 10 reps with 140lbs
*The key here is to bring the handles together in front and flex as hard as possible for a 2 second count in the contracted position on each rep. Drive the blood into your pecs!
Superset: Stretch Push-ups & Cable Rear Laterals
Stretch Push-ups x failure with bodyweight
Immediately followed by…
Cable Rear Laterals x 20 reps with 20lbs
*Pause at the bottom on the pushups to really stretch out your pecs. On the rear laterals hold the contraction for a split second on the first 10 reps and then pump the last 10 reps out. Do this superset for 4 rounds.
Cable Side Laterals
Set 1 x 20 reps with 15lbs
Set 2 x 20 reps with 15lbs
Set 3 x 20 reps with 15lbs
Set 4 x 20 reps with 15lbs
*I set the pulleys to their lowest positions, grabbed the cables without any attachments, allow the cables to cross behind my back and pump through the middle 75% of the rep range to ensure constant tension. This is a feel movement, but the pump and burn is intense if you do it correctly.
Triceps Giant Set: Supinated Grip Straight Bar Push-down to Dips between Benches to Overhead V-Bar Extensions
Supinated Grip Straight Bar Push-down x 10 reps with 65lbs
Immediately followed by…
Dips between Benches x 8-10 reps with bodyweight only
Immediately followed by…
Overhead V-Bar Extensions x 6-8 reps with 125lbs
*Pin your elbows to your sides on the supinated grip straight bar pushdowns and flex hard in the contracted position. Sit back a bit at the top of the dips between benches and flex your triceps hard. Finish off the giant set with overhead extensions to really stretch out your pumped triceps. Hold the weight in the stretched position for a 15 second count at the end of each round. Perform the giant set for 4 rounds.
That concluded this chest, shoulder and triceps workout.
Train hard!
Mark