MEGA workout: Chest, Shoulder and Triceps
This is episode 13 of Muscling In! Wow how time flies!
In episode 5 I showed you workout B, today I’m going to show you workout A, chest, shoulders and triceps. I’m following the Greek God Program.
Alright, let’s get into the workout.
Transcript:
Incline Bench Press
My main chest exercise right now is the Incline Bench press, that’s why it’s the first.
After doing a few warm-up sets, I jump straight into my heaviest set for 5 reps, Reverse Pyramid Training style.
If you want your pecs to look as good as possible, you must get strong on a type of incline bench press. The reason for that is because only by developing the upper chest, can you get that sweet line down the middle of your chest.
If you only do horizontal pushing movements or dips, you will develop your chest of course, but you’ll be hitting mostly the inferior pecs. This will make your chest look bottom heavy and will also lack width.
I personally alternate between giving priority to the flat bench press and the incline bench. I find that when I make progress on one I usually am stronger on the other one as well.
Standing Press
Your shoulders are trained when you’re doing bench presses as well so you will be slightly weaker on shoulder exercises if you do them after chest.
When I do the Standing Press fresh I can get 5 reps with 65kg but when I do them after Incline I have to take it down to 61. In this workout I actually increased both my second and third sets on incline and this affected my standing press more than usual. I was only able to hit 4 reps in my first set.
Maybe I could have gotten the 5th rep but it was going to be a grinder and I would have been useless for my second and third sets. It’s ok if you stop one rep before true failure, you’ll still get a good workout and signal the need for adaptation.
Close Grip Bench Press
Now, right of the bat you’ll see that I don’t use a very narrow grip. It’s narrow but it’s not as narrow as it should be for close grip bench press.
That’s because the very close grip felt very uncomfortable for my wrists. Especially for my left one. I need to experiment more with that and see what I’m doing wrong.
But anyway, this closer grip works very well too. I actually like that I target my pecs more, my chest responded well to the increased volume.
The first 3 exercises that I do are the key exercises, the ones that deliver the most bang for your buck. With the Greek God Program you use Reverse Pyramid Training for these exercises to build strength and for the assistance movements you do higher volume. It’s best to have your program include both strength training and pump training.
Lateral Raises
You can use any variation of lateral raises, in this workout I did side raises with external rotation, to hit the rear delts as well.
Doing more volume on side raises will increase the glycogen storage in your shoulders and that will give you that capped look. Building great shoulders as a natural is pretty difficult because it takes time. But if you get strong on shoulder presses and do a lot of volume on side raises you will get there. You’ll just need to be very lean so the fat won’t blur the muscle separation.
Rope push-downs
My favorite triceps exercise are skull crushers but I’ve been doing those for about 6 months now. I wanted to change it up a little.
Rope push-downs are better than skull crushers when it comes to high rep glycogen depletion. They don’t require much coordination and you can just work the muscle until it burns.
Remember that arms very rarely grow by themselves. If you want big arms you probably need to get strong on big compound pushing and pulling movements first. If you have a big chest and back, you will naturally have well developed arms as well.
Incline Dumbbell Flyes
Actually there was one more exercise that I was supposed to do: Incline Dumbbell Flyes. I didn’t get the chance to do them in this workout because yesterday I filmed this right before leaving to Sibiu. And I ran a little late.
It happens sometimes. I’ll show them to you next time!
At least I got made a nice video out of our trip to Sibiu. You can see it here.
Thank you for watching episode 13 of Muscling In! Feedback and questions are welcomed in the comments!
The Program that built my physique
If you’re looking for a muscle building program I recommend you check out The Greek God Program. Greg designed it to help you build proportionate mass and gain strength while staying lean. It’s based on training certain key lifts once every 4-5 days.
Check out my one year transformation with it here.
I’m now doing the MEGA workouts from the program. They still have you train with high frequency but you’re also doing slightly more volume which helps trigger sarcoplasmic growth.
Hi Radu. Good technique on the close grip bench press. Many people think they should place their hands very close togeher and all they do is put more stress on the joints and less stress on the triceps.
The correct way of doing the close grip bench press is by having a grip that is at shoulder width.
Yes I felt that too! Agreed.
I think I still need to work on keeping my elbows closer to my body
I am having trouble with that as well, especially when I’m using heavy weights.
That’s a queit-wcktid answer to a difficult question
Salut Radu! Am o intrebare: daca dupa fiecare antrenament pentru piept fac febra musculara ar trebui sa fac mai putin volum? Acum fac 3 exercitii pentru piept:
1.Impins la piept cu bara orizontal: 3 seturi,5-6 repetari, 35kg
2.Impins la piept cu bara din inclinat: 3 seturi, 5-8 repetari, 35 sau 30 kg
3.Fluturari la piept cu cabluri(nu stiu exact cum se numeste aparatul la care fac fluturarile); 3 seturi,10-15 repetari, 15kg(pentru fiecare brat)
M-am gandit sa renunt la fluturari sau sa reduc greutatea dar nu stiu daca celelalte doua exercitii sunt suficiente. tu ce imi sugerezi ?
Salut Razvan,
Daca faci piept o singura data pe saptamana de obicei e normal sa faci febra. Volumul pe care il faci e ok, nu acolo e problema.
Salut ! Am vizionat un videoclip recent dar nu inteleg unele lucruri..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKcZzGHReO0
Te poti uita peste el si sa-mi spui ce spune despre proteine, carbohidrati, grasimi , calorii in perioada de masa si de slabit te rog ? 😀
Salut,
Pot sa-ti raspund la intrebari scurte daca vrei.
Radu vreau sa iti dai o parere despre antrenamenul meu si sa spui ce trebuie sa modific sunt intermediar tip slabut 33cm in brat la rece… (in rest prea ma plang)
Luni piept: impins culcat inclinat fluturari fluturari scripete + triceps 1x + umeri 2ex (ce parere ai de declinat?)
Marti spate: helcometru spate si ramat helcometru, ramat gantera trapez si 1 ex biceps
Miercuri picioare: exetensii aparat cvatriceps, biceps femural lombar si fandari
Joi: Umeri (impins, flutariri3x si uneori ramat vertical) + piept 1ex(cu gantere aici)
Vineri: Brate (3x triceps si biceps)
Folosesc piramida inversa la miscarile de baza si ma gandesc ca e intensitate mare si volum mare.. poate ar trebuie sa mai renunt din exercitii? cele nefolositoare? Fac rutina asta cam de ceva timp oare sa mai schimb si zilele sau ordinea exerciitlor? Mersi anticipat
Pare in regula, te incadrezi in intervalul recomandat de volum. Atata timp cat faci progres in forta, ce faci faci bine 🙂
Multa bafta Vlad !
Daca am mancat 3 mere si 2 portocale dar nu am depasit caloriile si nici carbohidratii este ok? Se spune ca nu este bine sa mananci multe fructe.
E ok.
Great article! I noticed you did both Incline Bench Press and Close Grip Bench Press. Does Close Grip hit your lower pecs more? I found that Close Grip hits my upper pecs as well as Incline Press. It just seems like a lot of upper pec work with Incline Press, Standing Press and Close Grip all in the same workout.
Yes the close grip probably hits the upper pecs more than the lower pecs. That is on purpose actually. Developing the upper pecs is much more difficult than developing the lower part.
I really wish there were more areclits like this on the web.
Imi poate explica cineva de ce in unele oglinzi pari mai mari si in unele mici? De exemplu la baie si la sala arat excelent chiar placut, iar in unele oglinzi din casa arati fara progrese chiar skinny. E important un bec luminos sau care e oglinda care arata realitatea?:)) A da si cand fac poze cu telefonul par mai mic(voi incerca si cu alte telefoane al meu e samsung:))) ma vad eu mai mare decat ma vad altii?
:)) e magie ! Stiu cum e.
E din cauza luminii. Cand cade lumina de sus arati mult mai bine.
Salut Radu
Ce program de definire (cutting) recomanzi?
Salut Marian,
Oricare dintre
Programul de Definire X0
Warrior Shredding Program
Aggressive Fat Loss
Radu:
I love this video. I really enjoy your explanation of the Greek God program and strength concepts that Kinobody promotes. Your explanations and demonstrations give a different perspective. You are doing a great job. I’ll keep a lookout for more of your content.
Thank you ! Glad you found it useful !
Radu, ai putea face un videoclip despre ce exercitii de incalzire ar trebui facute la inceputul antrenamentului astfel incat sa poti da maximul la fiecare antrenament?
Salut,
Nu consider ca e necesar sa faci exercitii speciale pentru incalzire. Eu fac doar niste rotatii de brate sa verific daca umerii se simt ok, apoi fac 1-4 seturi de incalzire la exercitul la care urmeaza sa lucrez.
Nu fac incalzire decat pentru exercitiile mari.
Buna treaba faci Radu . Sa fiu sincer am 50 de ani ,am pierdut o gramada de timp prin sali si de-abia dupa ce am descoperit Think eat lift , am inceput sa realizez cu adevarat ce inseamna sa te antrenezi si sa ai o dieta ok. Impinsul de la piept cu priza ingusta banuiesc ca il faci ptr triceps nu? Deci ptr piept doar impins inclinat cu bara?
Ma bucur ca aud ca te ajuta 😀
Impinsul cu priza ingusta antreneaza si pieptul. De fapt, as spune ca lucreaza mai mult pieptul decat tricepsul.
Times are chaingng for the better if I can get this online!
Salut Radu,
Cu ce pot inlocui in antrenamentul meu presa la umeri? In sala la care merg nu exista un aparat pe presa la umeri din sezut, iar in pozitie verticala simt o presiune prea mare in zona lombara. Impinsul cu gantere din sezut e ok, sau ai alta idee?
Multumesc si succes!
Daca faci presa din picioare corect nu ar trebui sa simti presiune. Trebuie sa incorzi bine picioarele, fundul si abdomenul.
Inafara de flotari in maini nu prea ai alte optiuni cu greutati libere.
Exista multe aparate pentru umeri dar majoritatea nu sunt la fel de eficiente ca si bara.