Week 8 Day 3 - Training To Go Saiyan

20/5/15 Day 52 – Chest & Calves

After destroying what was a humongous DTP Extreme leg session yesterday it is fair to say I am feeling incredibly sore and tight today. When I feel like tight like this I have to take special care to make sure I don't over do it when training, so a solid warm up and stretch is 100% necessary to make sure I don't pull or strain any muscles (which would be devastating). Although I push my body to it limits every day I do play it smart and listen to my body, if something doesn't feel right I will try and diagnose what this issue is and try to adapt so as to resolve the problem.

Today was a bit of a strange session, incorporating the calves that were not in yesterdays programme along with chest! So let's have a look at what my session looked like:

Incline Dumbbell Bench – 6 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5

Decline Dumbbell Flyes – 6 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25,30

Leverage Chest Press– 6 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5

SuperSet

Single Leg Calf Press– 6 Sets, 1 x 30,25,20,15,10,5

Peck Deck Flyes – 6 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25,30

Calf Press – 6 Sets, 1 x 5,10,15,20,25,30

Cardio- Interval Training 15mins Total

With a nice warm up complete I hopped onto a bench where I preformed a few sets of 15 reps on a very light weight, this was just to loosen the chest muscles in partnership with some active stretching. I also want to make sure the joints were well oiled for the session ahead, as there is once again a huge emphasis on volume with this DTP Extreme training I want to be sure in myself that my joints can keep up with the work load.

With the warm up complete it was time to launch myself into my training I began with the Incline Dumbbell Bench, with this exercise I want my core focus to be keeping tension through the chest throughout the whole set, the way I achieved this was by keeping the elbows nice and soft and not locking out at the top of the movement, when I hit the peak of my contraction I lowered the weight back down in order to flush the muscles with lots and lots of blood, which will help me to increase muscle size.

With the final heavy sets completed on the incline bench I took the bench down to the floor and chose a weight I could perform around 15-20 reps on and prepared myself for the DTP Extreme set of Decline Dumbbell Flyes. When working with such great volume on one exercise its hard to keep focused on the contraction, so here I wanted my goal to keep solid and strict form and try not to pause during the set as much a possible. The fatigue kicked in around the 15 mark and really made it difficult to push through the sets, but with a few small brakes supplementing my rest between sets, it allowed me to finish the exercise strong.

Then came the one and only super set of the session, it was a bit of a strange one as the Leverage Chest Press really hits the chest and triceps well and then the Single Leg Calf Press works purely on the calves. With the big split between upper body and lower body it meant I could afford to go really heavy with both exercises as they were not having any direct impact on each other. I hit a new PB on the leverage press which I was really happy with, starting to feel a bit of tension through the triceps at this point I tried to think about contracting my pectorals as much as possible, being a bigger muscles group it aided me with the heavier weight more than the triceps ever could.

Down to the penultimate exercise, which was performed in the DTP Extreme style of training. The Peck Deck is a old school favourite for most, for me its not a machine I enjoy much as the range in the arms do not suit for people like me who are 6 foot 8 and have over a 2 metre wing span, but none the less I toughened up and pushed forward into the sets. Selecting a weight I would usually do for around 20 reps meant I knew when passing 20 reps I would be well and truly fatigued, this means the muscle breakdown will be greater in the targeted areas and thus meaning I can build more muscle onto that area. With some tension being put through the shoulders during the final sets I wanted to really emphasise the drawing together of my pectoral muscles, this meant I could get the most out of the movement.

On to the final exercise the Calf Press, at this stage the calves had been warmed and primed for this last set of DTP Extreme work for today. When several plates on the leg press machine I extended and locked the legs out and prepared for my working sets. Making sure the heel was dropping past the foot plate with every rep meant I was able to fully elongate the muscle before each contraction, working the whole length of both the soleus and gastrocnemius, for maximal effort under a large work load. The final few sets really did sear through my calves and it felt like they would never stop burning, but after a brisk walk around the gym I managed to shun the pain and enjoy a well deserved rest, as today's session was complete!

Felt very good about the effort I put into my session today, I do feel complete smashed and could do with a lay down, but fortunately work calls and I must stay awake, I know I am going to sleep like a baby tonight!

Hope everyone is having an AWESOME Wednesday I know I am!

Happy Lifting,

Matt