3/22/2016 - Bench and Chest/Shoulder Accessory

Pronated DB Flies:
Warmups: 10's, 20's, 30's x 10
40's x 12
45's x 12
45's x 12, drop to 35's x 8, drop to 25's x 12
Pec cramp x 1000
Pec pump x infinity
Boobie bounce in the mirror afterwards x 50

Notes: I shared this movement on my social media pages prior to getting my log up and running here, and I got a lot of great feedback from people who tried them out for the first time as a result of my post. I cannot claim credit for "inventing" these, as I saw an athlete doing this on Youtube a while back, but I can't remember for the life of me who it was. In any case, these have quickly become my favorite pec assistance exercise. Turning the dumbbells inward hits my pecs way harder than the traditional neutral grip fly does, and allows for a much fuller contraction and stretch from start to finish. My triceps take over any assistance pressing exercise, so to really isolate my pecs, flies like these hit my pecs like nothing else can. Obviously pecs are important for raw benching, so don't be afraid to isolate in the offseason guys!

Link to exercise - https://www.instagram.com/p/BDBZfnmhNWX/?taken-by=creyes55

Buffalo Bar Bench Press (using Fat Pad)
345 x 5
355 x 5
365 x 5
375 x 5

Notes: Last offseason training cycle, floor presses were my primary bench movement to save my shoulders. This offseason I will be benching exclusively on the fat pad to accomplish the same goal. All sets felt nice and strong.

Incline Barbell Bench Press (thumbs length from smooth grip, 4 second negative)
205 for 4 sets of 8 reps

Notes: Holy crap...I can't believe how humbling tempo work is. I'm a horrible incline presser as is, but yeah, these were surprisingly tough for what little weight I was using.

Flat DB Bench Press
100's + mini band crossed over my back for 3 sets of 12
100's + mini band, same set up, for 1 set of 10

Shoulder 6 Ways
15's for 3 sets of 10

Notes: Got these from John Meadows about a year back, and they have been a staple ever since. These just crush my shoulders with minimal weight. Awesome pump too.

Link to exercise - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-cCXkSi7IQ

 

Rear Delt Cable Flies
3 sets of 20 reps, hard squeeze at the top, slow negative

Ahrens Press
30's x 10
30's x 10
35's x 8
35's x 8

Notes: Picked up this gem from my gym owner, Ryan Gleason. Seated military DB presses were in the program, but I honestly get nothing out of doing seated presses against an adjustable bench that goes to 90 degrees. I prefer using the EliteFTS Military Press Seat, where my upper back hangs off the back of the seat a little. We are waiting to get one in, so for the time being, I tried these out hoping they'd give my shoulders more of a direct workout and oh man they did. They were named after the legendary Chuck Ahrens who was one of the earliest 600 lb raw bench pressers, so he must have been doing something right. Didn't need a lot of weight on these to get an awesome and unique delt workout.

Link to exercise - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSDmvMMeMDA

The theme of my offseason approach rang true again with this session - hammer the main movement for reps, but after that, focus on muscles and not movements. On every assistance exercise I did yesterday and going forward, I focused on doing the movement as strictly as possible and feeling the tension in the targeted muscle from start to finish. This was a fun training session all around. Looking forward to deadlifts tonight!