Week 6 Day 5 - Chest 101

08/05/15 Day 40– Chest & Biceps

Today marks the end of Week 6 and rounded off the HIT style of training I was working on. Re-capping on the week I have to say its been a real test going in to every session knowing that my aim is to push my body to complete failure, both mentally and physically it's incredibly draining. With the added support of a training partner it tends to make it a bit easier, but none the less its not always possible to train with someone else, so then trying to get yourself out of that comfort zone needs to be the no.1 priority.

Enough of that, lets see what today had in store for me!

Incline Dumbbell Bench – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Leverage Chest Press – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Decline Dumbbell Bench Press – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Cable Cross-Over – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Dumbbell Alternating Bicep Curl – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Barbell Curl – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Preacher Curl – 2 Sets x 8-12 Reps

Cardio – Interval Training 15mins Total

Starting the session off with some really thorough rotator cuff work and some big stretches allows me not only to get into my mind what I need to achieve through the session, but it also means I am able to loosen and lubricate the joints that are going to be given a serious thrashing, such as the shoulders and elbows. For me I like to use some elbow protection when going heavy with large pressing movements as it simply gives me a bit of added support and security against injury.

Beginning my working sets on the Incline Dumbbell Bench I decided to push myself a bit harder than I usually would and bumped up my weights, normally I would be very hesitant to do this but today I was feeling pretty damn good so I went for it. Driving all my force through the elbows to punch the weights up, keeping the elbows nice and soft and squeezing the contractions I surprisingly beasted my way through both sets, reaching failure at around 10 reps, then trying to pump out any remaining ½ reps I had left in the tank.

Moving on to the Leverage Chest Press was a whole new experience for me, if you don't have a leverage press at your gym then just use a fixed bench machine, its pretty much the same thing. Due to the fact you are not laying down (therefore not working against gravity) you will find you can bench more here then you can on a flat dumbbell/barbell press, so don't be afraid to go heavy! Keeping the elbows up nice and high to recruit as many of my pectoral muscles as possible left me with a serious pump. Remember: When doing such high intensity work you must make sure you are stretching between most sets, the chances of a Pec tear are very high when working with heavy weights over long periods of time, so take care of your body.

After working the upper and middle portion of the chest all that was left was to punch out some lower pectoral work, today I did this with Decline Dumbbell Bench Press. With a smaller range of motion than the other presses you can afford to go slightly heavier with this movement, just as I did. Keeping my wits about me I made sure with a few warm up sets that I was in fact able to lift the weights (fatigue will start creeping in at this point so be careful). After asking another member to help me get the weights up I was happily off repping my way though the sets, hitting failure at around 9-11 reps. It was pretty difficult pushing myself to failure and then trying to work out any further reps, but I know what I need to do to succeed and that is what keeps me going.

To really finish off the chest I moved onto the last exercise on the list: Cable Cross-Over. With this exercise make sure the elbows and hands are pointing in the exact direction of where you want the cables to finish, by doing so it means the pectoral is working by itself, if there is even a slight mismatch you will be hitting the rotator cuffs hard, which means you will not be able to go as heavy, for as many reps because the cuff is tiny in comparison and no where near as mechanically effective.

With chest done and dusted it was time to move on to the Biceps. Starting with Dumbbell Alternating Bicep Curls is a good way to introduce the tendons in the elbow to work. Starting with something like a preacher curl puts far too much strain though this joint and massively increases the risk of an injury. So after a few heavy warm ups I jumped into my working sets, trying to make sure I was failing just after 8 Reps, then I was encouraging the movement with some momentum, this allowed me to work on the negative to finish my 12 rep sets.

With the biceps nicely pumped up I moved onto the straight Barbell Curl, the intension with this exercise is to work on a different bicep head, making sure the whole bicep develops in unison with each session. For someone going into competing you must be symmetrical so to do so you must work every single muscle as hard as its opposing muscle, this gives the even look the judges will be looking for.

To round off the whole session I finished on and old school favourite, Preacher Curls. I did this with individual dumbbells to try to keep the muscles as even in strength (and thus size) as possible. When doing this exercise you want to make sure you don't fully extend the arm, by doing so it means the elbow joint is being subjected to insane amounts of strain and can very, very easily result in injury. So keeping the contractions slow and controlled I worked to failure at around 10 reps and then aided the weight back up with the other hand to complete the 12 reps with negatives. Man that was a sick pump.

Hope every is enjoying their training today!

Yesterdays session will be up tomorrow, have been busy and didn't have chance to put it up, so bare with me!

Happy Lifting,

Matt