Exercise Log 1.27.14 (Chest Day + Cardio)

Finally got back to the gym, the weather is still awful but the roads were fine this evening so it was time to play catchup. It wasn’t just me though, it was everyone at the gym including all the newbies with New Year’s Resolutions. Our gym is too packed to really want more people involved. On days like this at my gym you gotta simply be willing to go with what is available. As mentioned in previous posts, if I don’t say so please assume I do standard warmups prior to each exercise.

Flat Bench Press: I had a few great arm days this last month, but kind of awful chest days. Low energy, not enough rest, poor development. Last week was alright. I felt pretty good going into today. Sets 1-2) 5 reps @ 135lbs. Set 3) 5 reps @ 145lbs. Set 4) 3 reps @ 155lbs. I felt pretty confident with these presses, so I decided to rack a new weight and tried for it… and succeeded! I finished this set with 1 rep @ 165lbs. Set 5) 5 reps @ 145lbs. Set 6) 5 reps @ 135lbs. Set 7) 5 reps @ 135lbs (slower form). Set 8) 8 reps @ 125lbs (drop set).

Dumbbell Chest Press: I set out with 60 reps using a pair of 50lb dumbbells. Took about 7 sets to make this happen.

One Armed Cable Flys: Lacking the room to set about something good, I decided to do flys one armed off an open cable machine. Set at chest level, just did the “pledge of allegiance” pose with one arm over the working pec and bringing the other arm out in a fly pattern. This felt real good and felt like it worked the muscle, a lot of cable machines are focus because as mentioned before if you go too heavy on weight you wind up working too many other muscle groups. Sets 1-2) 10 reps each arm @ 30lbs. Sets 3-4) 10 reps each arm @ 40lbs. Set 5) 10 reps each arm @ 50lbs.

Declined Bench Press: Unable to find a good place to do lower angled cable flys or declined dumbbell flys, and somehow lacking the energy to do a lot of pushups (maxing out your bench press will do that to you). So I found an open declined bench press and figured my priority right now was to work the chest from a different angle. Set 1) 8 reps @ 95lbs. Sets 2-5) 5 reps @ 125lbs.

Military Press: Switching to shoulders, I did 3 sets of 8 reps @ 70lbs of military presses.

Reverse Deltoid Flys superset with Side Raises: Using a pair of 20lb dumbbells I did some supersets, 10 reps of reverse flys and 8 reps of side raises for 3 sets.

Reverse Deltoid Fly Machine: Wanting to drill in the reverse pattern movement to compliment the bench pressing, I wrapped up with 3 sets of 10 reps @ 90lbs. I was pretty beat, and felt like this was a great one.

Got a great run in with my running partner, setting out for 4 miles at a moderate to intense pace. Still training for that 10K in February, just hope the weather permits the run to happen! The big picture isn’t just that run though, it’s the half marathon in the spring!