The Shake Weight might not be on your wish list for Santa, but perhaps you’d like to order this DVD instead:
Tag Archive for: Chest workout
Was feeling kinda slow and tired on this Monday but pushed myself to go to my daily, lunchtime gym session. Today was Chest day. Remember folks, just grab your gear and GET THERE. Once you’re there, the change in environment, the lively atmosphere, the site of the equipment, lights, fit people, not so fit people, girls, and of course weight plates will wake you the hell up! Doesn’t hurt to have some caffeine .5 hr before or some apple or grape juice (simple carbs).
Today’s workout:
Incline Bench: 25, 45×3
Super: inverted body rows
Incline DB press: x3, + lower incline x2
Super: one handed seated cable rows x3 &
Straight-arm cable extensions on Life fitness cables
High jumps x1
Wood choppers x3
Cable crunches x1
Back to back:
Cable crossovers: high x1
Life Fitness cable press x1
Hammer incline press: x1
Squat jumps x1
Lots of free weights for the chest, but included some opposite muscle group work for balance (rows). Also, a bit of core with the choppers and crunches and some fat-burning cardio to reach my goal of 3D abs by Labor Day. : )
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Today, was Chest and Arms, with a hint of Rear Delts and Rotator Cuffs as pictured above. Have I mentioned that it’s a good idea to do some opposite sets when you’re targeting a specific body part? For example, today was Chest, but to be well balanced and not start looking all lopsided with the chest curling in, I did some light upper back and delt work. Not to mention; I don’t want a shoulder injury from too much pressing like I had before.
This is also beneficial to the targeted body part itself. Apparently, the chest will get a bigger pump and will therefore perform better when you complement it with some back work. You can easily see that on the upper arms if you’re doing my GAIN 10lbs Friday Arms workout where you follow an intense shoulder workout with super drop sets of biceps, then immediately go to triceps.
Don’t believe me? Ask Arnold. Go ahead call him.
Here’s my workout for today:
INCLINE BENCH: X3
COMPLIMENTED WITH LIGHT WEIGHT BENT-OVER REAR DELT EXTENSIONS
INCLINE HAMMER PRESS: X4
COMPLIMENTED WITH BODY ROWS ON HORIZONTAL BAR
STRAIGHT HAMMER PRESS: X4
MORE BODY ROWS/DELT EXTENSIONS
ROTATOR CUFF EXTENSIONS, SIDES: X2
ROTATOR CUFF EXTENSIONS, TOP: X2
BAR BICEP CURLS WITH BOMBER:
SUPERSET: UNILAT CABLE CURLS 16 REPS. X3
TRICEP PRESS DOWNS V-BAR WITH BOMBER
SUPERSET: UNILAT CABLE PRESS DOWNS WITH BOMBER X2
REVERSE-GRIP BICEP CURLS WITH EZ BAR. NO BOMBER. “TWENTY-ONES”: 7, 7, 7!
FOREARM CURLS BEHIND THE BACK
FOREARM REVERSE CURLS ON PREACHER
FOREARM CURLS FRONT OF BODY
I love the Bicep Bomber for really isolating the biceps. It also works great for the tri’s during press downs, both unilateral and bilateral because it makes sure your upper arms are not rotating at the shoulder. Be sure to adjust the height so your elbows are a little below the bottom edge of the Blaster, and press it to your body when curling or doing tricep-press downs.
I had a few guys ask me about it at the gym and one dude tried it, and really dug it. At $29, it’s an inexpensive new gadget to get you excited for arms day again.
THEMS Rotator Cuff Extensions are fucking-fantastic for making your rear delts explode!
You do them enough and you’ll quickly see that little bump behind your shoulder that you hadn’t noticed before. Gives your shoulders a much more massive appearance since there’s an additional muscle taking care of the rear shoulders. Since the delts and especially the rotator cuffs are pretty fragile, be sure to use light weight, high reps. I did 12 reps each set.
ALSO, don’t forget to vary your grip on barbell curls. The additional cable curls will help you out with that, but it’s still good to do 1 set of straight barbell curls, 1 set of wide grip, and one of narrow or EZ bar.
____ SEE YA AT THE GYM _____
Get a V-shaped back! Make your pecs explode! Delts and Lats from Hell!
Are you starting to plateau? Not seeing results? Are your workouts getting boring? CHANGE SHIT UP with this KILLER BACK AND CHEST WORKOUT!
OK, that’s enough of the advertising hype talk. Promise.
It’s good to “change shit up” every 30 or 60 days, depending on how you’re doing. If you’re still seeing growth, love your workout, and want to do another month of it, then by all means, carry on. But if you’d like a change, try combining unlikely partners in your quest to keep your body guessing.
For example, today I combined Back with its nemesis; Chest. Let the bloodbath begin. What happens when you work an opposite muscle to the one you’re mainly concentrating on? You get a well balanced workout and a well balanced body. That’s why my 10 in 30 workout plan has a back and some rear delt exercises during Chest day, and some tricep work during Back day.
Today, I pushed that concept further. It was time for Back day, but instead of only doing a few chest exercises to balance shit out, I went with 100 Deep Pushups! Hell to the Yeah! Seriously, I fricken love these. Started with Pullups Madness, and then Cable Rows and in between each set, I’d do a set of 20 reps of deep pushups with my feet on a bench. All the way down, baby!
I did 5 sets for a kick-ass total of 100 deep pushups. Niiice. So that takes care of my chest, and the Pullups and Rows took care of the back. I did two sets of wide, aviator grip rows, and two sets of narrow grip rows. Both were DROP SETS! <– Yes, that warrants all caps and an exclamation point. I’d max out on the heavy weight of rows at around 6 reps, then lower that shit and max out again, this time going at a faster, non-stop pace.
After the 2 mega sets of Pullups Madness and 4 drop sets of rows, I went to the FreeMotion cable machine for some straight-arm pulldowns. I love this machine so much I wish I had one at home. That’s really all you need for your entire body. Anyway, The straight-arm pulldowns took care of the lats for that impressive wide upper, V shaped back. These really brought out some back and lat muscles I’d never seen before. I’m starting to resemble a fricken cobra—AWESOME!
Here it is in a 10 in 30 style Nutshell:
Nutshell:
Pullups Madness: Do as many pullups as you can, then immediately get on the assisted pullups machine or other assisted method and max out again, then add weight to the machine and max out one more time. Rest a minute, then do the three back to back sets all over again one time for a total of two mega sets. 2 sets.
Deep Pushups: Raise your feet on a bench or step so they’re at least parallel to your hands but preferably a bit higher and go way down to the maximum slowwwly, before pushing up in an explosive, >1 second. Do 20. If you can’t get to 20, stop and rest no more than 10 seconds and do some more. Take as many 10 second rests as you need to complete your 20 reps. 5 sets.
You’ll do these in between EVERY Back exercise ’til you get to 5 sets for 100 Deep Pushup Bad Boys.
Rows: Seated, wide grip. I used what I call a wide “aviator grip”attachment. Use any wide attachment. Max out real heavy at 6 in the 10 in 30 pace of 1 second pull 3 second return, then lower the weight and do some faster, non-stop, 1 second pull 1 second return reps to max out at 6 – 10 reps. 2 sets.
Rows: Seated, narrow grip. Same as above but the hands are almost touching. Again; drop sets. 2 sets.
Straight Arm Pulldowns: Without bending your arms, use a FreeMotion unilateral cable machine or a straight bar on a high cable and squat slightly keeping your back arched, chest out. Grab the handles or bar at the top, and pull down (without bending those arms) so that your hands end up by your thighs. SLOWLY, bring your hands back up. 3 sets.
CHEERS, and enjoy changing shit up and looking like a fricken cobra!
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Today, Monday, January 3 was Chest Day. I am doing the 10 in 30 plan again with slight modifications as necessary. Hey, I know what I’m doing, ok?? Anyway, it was a great workout and I am definitely seeing major improvement in the mirror! Even when my core is relaxed, I can see a good deal of abs, and my shoulder/rear delts are looking awesome from doing the Rotator Cuff exercises. Not to mention my Lats. They really stick out from my waist. Yes I look at myself a lot. That gym mirror is good to me. But that’s the only way to judge how you’re doing, right? Plus—don’t you love yourself? You should. Seriously. You are your best friend. So LOVE YOURSELF, DAMNIT! You’ll get more respect from others, anyway, if you really love yourself.
My workout:
Incline Press on Bench
Straight Bench Press
Crossovers (high to face level for upper pec development)
Incline DB Flies (only 20#, 12 reps)
Incline DB Press
Bent Over Rev Flies (standing, sitting)
Side Rotators
Top Rotators
ABS:
Hanging leg raises
Leg Raises on Vertical Leg Raise Bench, knee raises
The reason I said this was “modified” is because I am working on lowering my fat percentage as well. I am doing ab work after most workouts on top of doing HIIT in the morning on an empty stomach. Remember, I already did the 10 in 30 and gained 10 lbs, then I did only circuits for a while with lots of cardio, so I went down on fat a little. Unfortunately, I also lost some muscle from that plus getting sick with the flu, so that’s why I’m back in the 10 in 30 plan. The morning HIIT cardio is really paying off as far as leaning me the hell out. I also plan on running (HIIT of course) after my workout for 2 days of the week on top of the morning HIIT.
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I’m in Vegas, baby! Had a fantastic, super-hard, long, complete workout in the Trump Towers’ gym. Badass gym they have! Have you seen those “Technogym” machines? I read about them a while back and this is the second time I got to use them. They are really cool treadmills, bikes, and eliptical machines that have a computer touch-screen monitor on them. You can watch full tv and control everything from there. They do all kinds of other things like remember your stats, programs, etc. but I just used the eliptical for 10 minutes of HIIT.
Before the the cardio, I did a badass circuit of:
- Seated bench press
- Dumbbell curls drop-sets of 3 + hammers and reverse curls (palms down to work the forearms)
- Low dip pushups with feet up on bosu ball
- Tricep pushdowns narrow v-bar
- Tricep overhead extensions singular dumbbell
- Dumbell raises to arm pits trifecta with arm curls and lighter hammers
- Tricep straight bar pushdowns with 1 second hold at bottom
- pushups. flat on floor
- Seated bent over dumbbell lateral raises (strengthens rear delts to counter the heavy chest workout)
- Cable rotator cuff extensions – sides (again, must reinforce the rear delts when working out chest)
- Cable rotator cuff extensions – top
This was followed by the eliptical workout: 10 minutes on the interval setting
I immediately drank a 25g protein Muscle Milk. Chocolate, thank you very much. Plus a complimentary green apple for the simple carbs and vitamin C hit. Felt like a million bucks by the time I finished my shake and got half way through my apple.
Lunch was freaking great as well. Angus cheeseburger with fries (I’m on vacation!) from the Neiman Marcus cafe in the mall. I walked around a hell of a lot so I’m pretty sure I burned more calories than I consumed here in Vegas. Especially since my only other meal was dinner at 11:30 pm. Yes, I ate terribly as far as multiple meals go. At least, my late night supper consisted of a New York steak and 2 eggs.
IS THAT ENOUGH PROTEIN FOR YOU?!
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Yesterday, I was feeling a little tired during my mid-day workout. But at night, around 7pm, I felt great, so I went with an additional workout! It was a circuit combo of arms and chest. Since I did 5 sets of bench press during the day, this time, all I did was deep chair pushups with elevated feet for chest.
Here’s my entire 2nd workout:
70# military press: 3x, 10 reps
Pullups: 3x: wide pronated grip, narrow supinated grip, narrow parallel grip
Using Bicep Blaster:
70# EZ
Tricep bar hammer curls
Supinated Dumbbells
Tricep pushdowns V-bar
Overhead tricep ext with tricep bar: only 1x (i think i forgot these after the first set)
Deep Chair Pushups – 3x
I had virtually no rest until I was done. I even did a few burpies and high jumps, but I was too dead, so it wasn’t enough to count. You know what’s cool? My daughter saw me last night as I was preparing for my workout with no shirt on, and she says, “Wow, dad, you’re looking ripped.” <– JOY. ha, the simple things that encourage us, eh?
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