15/05/15
Day 47 – Triceps & Calves
Finishing
off Week 7 of this Muscle Building Programme in pure DTP fashion with
a massive session of both Triceps and Calves. Waking up this morning
my traps were well are truly screaming at me, feeling pretty tight
after a hardcore week of training, this meant I needed to have a
solid warm up and hit some mandatory mobility exercises as well. For
someone who as suffered with tennis
elbow a few times it has become even more imperative for me to warm
up the elbow joints thoroughly.
Enough
of all that! Lets get into the session:
Close
Grip Barbell Bench – 6 Sets,
1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5
SuperSet
Seated
Calf Raises – 6 Sets, 1 x
30,25,20,15,10,5
Incline
Close Grip Barbell Bench – 6
Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25,30
(For
each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)
Seated
Calf Raises– 6 Sets, 1 x
5,10,15,20,25,30
(For
each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)
Tricep
Pushdown – 6 Sets, 1 x
30,25,20,15,10,5
Overhead
Rope Tricep Extensions – 6
Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25,30
(For
each rep performed 1 sec rest is awarded, 5 reps = 5 sec rest)
Cardio
– Interval Training 15mins
Total
Starting the session as I meant to go on I jumped on the Close
Grip Barbell Bench and began with a few warn up sets. When
I felt adequately supple and mentally ready I began my working sets.
With the close grip bench the aim was to keep the elbows in tight
to the body and force my triceps to do all the work. There is a
tendency to flare the elbows out and start recruiting some of the
pectorals which although means lifting heavier is possible you won't
get the intended benefit from the exercise. As this was super setted
with the Seated Calf Raises
which did mean I was running to and from the machines and on the
occasion I did have to boot someone off the calf raise machine.
Ascending the pyramid meant I was able to get some pretty heavy sets
out in the end, which I was really happy about.
When working down the pyramid in the traditional
DTP fashion I moved from the flat bench to the Incline
Close Grip Barbell Bench, taking the emphasis more
on the belly of the triceps, as I have found all this week the short
rest periods really do take their toll pretty quick, so with
this I had to strip the bar down twice as the load was simply too
much for my muscles to cope with over such extended reps. After I had
completed the tricep work I moved on to the seated calf
raise once more, this time it wasn't going to be quite so easy.
Working in that DTP style I selected a weight I could perform around
20 reps on and began to ascend my way to gains city! Making sure I
didn't cop out on my range made the later sets a bit of a struggle,
as the muscles began to fatigue I encouraged a bit of explosive
power from the bottom of the movement, this then meant I could
squeeze out this last few reps to really get the calves fully pumped
with blood and primed for growing!
With the calf work all done for this week it was
time to move on to isolating the triceps, with the first exercise
(Tricep Pushdown) I
was working heavier with each set, working on the muscles capability
to be powerful and strong, again with the influence of fatigue
(even with 1 minutes rest) it made each set progressively harder so I
strapped up my elbows and stuck a few more plates on and made sure I
worked my triceps till they had absolutely nothing left.
Finishing off the session strong I moved onto the
cable machine for the Overhead
Rope Tricep Extensions where I attached two rope
extensions. The idea behind the double ropes means I am not limited I
my range of motion being so tall (6ft8) and having such long
limbs means that I have a range that would be way above that of the
average person and therefore need to accommodate my training as such,
if you have not used a double attachment I would really suggest
trying it, personally I find that I get a much better contraction as
well as feeling it through the whole length of the muscle. Using the
DTP style on this final exercise really showed me how incredibly worn
out my triceps had become, struggle to shift half the weights I
usually would only proved that I had worked really hard. With the
final set finished I let out a sigh of relief my, week 1 of DTP was
down, now for a weekend of light cardio to prep me for what I am sure
will be another knackering week!
Hope everyone has had an awesome day and killed
their session as hard as I did!
Happy lifting,
Matt
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