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FITNESS EXPRESS
Superhero
Chest Instructional Photos: Ultra-Fit Images/Grant Pritchard www.grantpritchard.co.uk
Over the next nine issues Fitness Express will take you through a series of workouts each designed to target a specific area of your body. Each workout is a session in its own right but, as the series goes on, it’ll build into an invaluable exercise resource from which you can construct your own programmes. In this first instalment we target the pecs in a Super Hero Chest workout. The chest is probably the muscle group that guys in particular spend most time training. I remember at the gym I used to work at we used to have “Friday Bar Club” that consisted pretty much solely of a testosterone filled mammoth session on the bench press to pump us up before hitting bars of a different sort. The reason why the chest receives so much attention is that it’s the most visible major muscle group when you look in the mirror and, in most cases, responds quickly to training giving noticeable and highly motivating results. It’s far too easy to get carried away though and become obsessed with training the chest to the
detriment of other muscle groups. Neglect the antagonistic “pulling” muscles of the back and you’ll rapidly develop the hunched rounded shoulder posture of a bench press junkie. Not only does this look awful but can quickly result in muscular imbalances and can even lead to injury. Try to balance every specific chest session with one for the back or, within one workout, perform an equal number of sets on each. In this workout we use a combination of tried and tested movements to hit the whole chest and variations in sets, reps and tempo to shock the muscles out of any plateau they might be in.
The Workout 5-10 minutes CV warm-up. The cross trainer is really good for this as you do 30 second blasts really emphasising the “push” of the handles to get your chest firing.
1) Press-ups X10-20 reps X3 sets (30 seconds recovery). Preparing the chest for the work to come. Concentrate on perfect form and stop 3-4 reps before failure. 2) Bench Press X10 reps, X12 reps, X15 reps (90 seconds recovery). Start with your ten-rep max. For the second set drop 2-5kgs and go for 12 reps and then drop another 2-5kgs for 15 reps on the last set. 3) Single arm “Boxer Press” X10 reps, X12 reps, X15 reps. Work in the same manner as the bench press by dropping the weight as the reps go up through the three sets. Work on a slow lower and an explosive punch. One arm rests while the other works. 4) Incline Dumbbell Press (X10 reps, X12 reps, X15 reps) and Med Ball Throw X10 reps X3 sets (60
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seconds recovery) complex set. Again dropping the weight for the press through the sets. After each set on the press go straight into the med ball throw and then take your rest. 5) Dumbbell Flyes varied tempo X10 reps X3 sets (60 seconds recovery). First set work on a 2 down and 1 up tempo count. Drop the weight by 1-2kgs per hand for the second set but work 4 down, pause for 2 in the down position and then 1 up. For the final set, drop the weight again and this time work 6 down, pause for 4 in the down position and then 1 up. 6) Press-ups X1 set to failure. Back where we started and simply squeeze as many out as possible. Once you’ve maxed out on the full movement drop the knees and go to failure on 3/4’s.