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
No comments:
Post a Comment