The following details my primary chest, shoulder and triceps workout from this past Monday evening at Kirkland Gold’s Gym. The workout was designed by my coach, John Meadows. I really started to feel my diet with this workout as my energy level and stamina dropped pretty quickly. Here is the workout…
Decline Smith Machine Press
Set 1 x 20 reps with 100lbs
Set 2 x 20 reps with 150lbs
Set 3 x 20 reps with 200lbs
Set 4 x 20 reps with 250lbs -> drop to 200lbs x 9 reps -> drop to 150lbs x 6 reps -> drop to 100lbs x 12 partial reps
*Use a slight decline on this exercise. The key is to bring the bar to touch your chest and pause for 1 second before driving the weight up to ¾ lock out. Do the pause on every single rep. Continue to go up in weight doing sets of 20 until you hit a weight that you can barely get all 20 reps and then proceed to do a drop set. On the final drop widen your grip and perform 12 or so partials out of the stretched position. This will blow your chest up!
Flat Dumbbell Press
Set 1 x 12 reps with 95lbs
Set 2 x 12 reps with 95lbs
Set 3 x 9 reps with 95lbs
*Select a weight in which you can barely get 12 reps and then do 3 sets with it. I lost reps on my final set. Get a good stretch at the bottom and press the dumbbells to ¾ lock out.
Incline Barbell Press
Set 1 x 6 reps with 225lbs
Set 2 x 6 reps with 245lbs
Set 3 x 6 reps with 245lbs
Set 4 x 6 reps with 245lbs
*My body was exhausted by this point so I couldn’t go as heavy, however I maintained perfect form. Bring the bar to within a couple inches of your upper chest and press up stopping short of locking out to maintain continuous tension.
Steep Incline Flyes
Set 1 x 10 reps with 40lbs
Set 2 x 10 reps with 40lbs
Set 3 x 10 reps with 40lbs
*Use a higher incline here than on the previous exercise. The idea is to engage upper pecs as well as the front delts. This was a new exercise variation for me and it felt awesome.
Here is a video:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9-QmQwCj3o]
Cable Rear Delts
Set 1 x 20 reps with 20lbs
Set 2 x 20 reps with 25lbs
Set 3 x 20 reps with 25lbs
Set 4 x 20 reps with 25lbs
*Remove the handles from the upper cable crossover and grab opposite sides with right and left hands. The movement is similar to that of a rear delt machine. Hinge at the shoulder joint and focus the tension on the rear delts.
Cable Side Laterals
Set 1 x 15 reps with 30lbs
Set 2 x 15 reps with 30lbs
Set 3 x 15 reps with 30lbs
Set 4 x 15 reps with 30lbs
*The key here is to use perfect form and muscle the weight up with your lateral delt, pause at the top and flex for a split second before lowering the weight. These will burn!
Triceps Pushdowns
I used this attachment: https://www.elitefts.com/spud-inc-short-ab-strap.html.
Set 1 x 12 reps with 120lbs
Set 2 x 12 reps with 120lbs
Set 3 x 12 reps with 120lbs
Set 4 x 12 reps with 120lbs
*Stand back a bit from the weight stack, lean down and really flex hard on the contraction. I took 45 second rest breaks between sets - FYI.
Close Grip Pushups
Set 1 x 14 reps (failure)
Set 2 x 12 reps (failure) -> pause 5 second -> 2 reps -> pause 5 seconds -> 2 reps
*Place your hands shoulder width and go to failure on every set.
That concluded this chest, shoulder and triceps workout.
Train hard!
Mark
