These sets are wonderful for utilizing several levels of muscular involvement – and keep you moving! I like to be expedient in the gym; super-setting my workouts keeps the actual weight room time minimized. I also like to keep moving around in the gym to discourage the chatting – it’s not social hour! It’s work time…
These sets are for intermediate to advanced exercisers with weight room experience – it’s assumed you know the basics. Talk to your coach, get a good book on weight training or hire a trainer if any of this doesn’t make sense to you, okay? This is serious stuff, weight training, and you don’t want to get hurt.
You’ll be weight training your chest in this workout, and further training your core and lower body with the body weight/core exercises between (do NOT add weight – we want the energy for the chest, here). It’s okay if your legs are sore from a prior leg workout – this will get the blood moving around and recover them quicker. No whining.
CHEST DAY
Four sets of every set of exercises. First set is 15-20 reps, second is 15-12 reps, following sets are 10-12 reps. Remember, that means a weight heavy enough that you can’t possibly do MORE than the recommended rep count, okay?
SET ONE:
FLAT BENCH CHEST PRESS, dumbells
REVERSE LUNGES WITH LEG LIFT: Standing in neutral stance, lift your right leg and bring it back behind you into a reverse lunge, low enough that the left thigh comes parallel to the floor. In coming out of the lunge, bring the right leg up and forward to a knee lift to the front. The right leg never rests on the floor for all the reps. THIS REQUIRES BALANCE – USE YOUR CORE! Then repeat on the left leg for reps. Move slow, strong, and balanced.
SET TWO:
FLAT BENCH FLYES, dumbells
FRONT LUNGES WITH LEG LIFT: Standing in neutral stance, lift your right leg and bring it forward into a front lunge. The right thigh comes parallel to the floor. Pushing back to nuetral, lift the right leg into a knee lift. The right foot never touches the floor for reps. Work with your balance, stay slow and strong. Repeat on the left for reps.
SET THREE:
FLAT BENCH PULLOVERS, dumbells Lie along a bench with your head at the very end, feet on the bench or flat on the floor. Grasp a heavy dumbell (heavier than you think…) in both hands and inhale the dumbell over head and toward the floor (NOT a tricep move – keep the arms unlocked but not bent) and exhaling, pull from your core and bring the dumbell over your belly. That’s one rep. Keep going.
SIDE LUNGE WITH LEG LIFT: From the neutral stance, bring right leg out to the side and body comes down into a side lunge, weight over the right leg. Push back up over the left leg, pulling the right knee up and balancing on the left leg. Pause before coming back into your side lunge (i.e. do not use momentum to accomplish this move…)
Peggi
January 5, 2010
So I thought I would try this exercise. I had been away from some good weight training for while and this one looked like it was a good one to start with. I figured with the premise that this was more focused on chest and less on the legs I would be fine. I breezed through the sets without too many issues. Had just a bit of an problem doing the reverse lunges in my toe shoes. Balance was not as good as in Tennies. I completed it and felt great.
Low and behold the next day, I could hardly walk! Sheri said the focus was on the chest, not the legs but let me tell you – my right calf and left buttock did not agree. This was definitely an intermediate to advanced work out and I think I should have gotten back into the weight training a bit more gradually.
The good news is, a few days later, I did it again and it was not as bad. Finally felt it in my chest instead of my legs. Thanks Sheri for the workout.