GoodFitFam

PRs, PB and the fun pursuit

30-Minutes to Muscle – Chest Routine

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Chest Workout

I slept late and woke up just before the sun and twins jumping on the bed.  Long day ahead. When you don’t have time meditate, throw some iron around.  If someone asks you what day it is it? You say Chest Day. I had to pare down my chest routine but despite missing the alarm. It’s never too late to hit the gym.

So, no excuses with a 30-minute workout to target the chest. Nothing like a great chest routine to power-up for all the craziness that lying ahead.

Get up and get out, here’s the workout:

4 sets not including warm-up

Incline Dumbbell Press descending reps 12,10,8, 6, increasing weight with each set.  Make sure you go heavy. If you can do more than the prescribed reps, it’s time to more.  It’s like hot sauce the more you use the more you body gets used to.  Don’t let your body ever adapt to the weight in your hands. This first set is the power set for the day so give it everything you have.

Flat Bench Straight Arm Pullover 12-15 reps.  This will undoubtedly feel a bit awkward the first time.  Make sure you give yourself some room.


Triset of cable flyes starting low to high, then mid, then high to low 12 reps each to complete one set.  By now your chest should be on fire.  The diagram below rows the cable flye for the mid point.  Make sure you keep your head raised high, even if that means staring at yourself for uncomfortable long time.

Go Strong Mamas!

 

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Better Know a Lift – The Bench Press

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Bench Press For Women

Last fall I competed in a charity powerlifting meet held at my gym. Coming out of retirement was the best thing I could do to challenge myself. Powerlifting consists of three lifts, the deadlift, the squat and the bench press.

Amongst women, squats are universally beloved, deadlifts are enjoying a CrossFit resurgence, but the bench press’ popularity is about the same as Congress. I’m here to say it’s time to take back the bench. Push-ups are not enough, you need variety to challenge the muscles including the chest.  Ignoring muscles groups is not a good idea if you want to fire up your metabolism.

Get the form down first.  Go super light, by using just the bar or even just a broomstick.  There are a variety of angles you can use by adjusting the bench from decline (hitting the lower portion of the chest) to flat to incline (hitting the upper chest) and with each, your form needs to be on point. Avoid relying too much on your secondary muscle groups – shoulders and triceps.

StrongLifts has a terrific definitive guide to the bench press. Read it here.

Again, start with light weights. Don’t add more weight until you can hit 12 reps with good form. Hitting PRs (personal records) on the bench is an incredible confidence boost because it takes a more mental focus and the numbers don’t go up as fast as the other big lifts. Keep notes on your phone to track your numbers.  PRs are motivational and it’s fun to see how far you’ve come.

It looks like I’ll be competing in July at my home gym – LiftVT. This time I come armed with experience and better resources, who said age matters?  I’ve been relying on tips from the fail-proof Charles Poliquin. Focusing on my bench, I turned to Charles and found this ditty to move past my plateau on the bench. I’ll also be working out with trainers to

As usual, we’re focusing fast productive 30-40 minutes workouts to get this done before the workday, so it’s a piece of CP’s recommended workout, not the entire routine.

5 sets, Heavy 4-6 reps Supine Reverse Grip Incline Dumbbell Press– rest 10 seconds  Decrease weight 30% for 10-12 reps
image

Dumbbell Press-rest 90 seconds

Supine Grip Chin-Ups 6-8 reps
Image result for Supine Grip Chin

5 sets,  Dips
Image result for chest dips
Kneeling Cross Cable FLYS 8-10 reps
Image result for Kneeling Cross Cable FLYS

 

Instagram is an amazing resource. Lots of folks are sharing

The Strength Sensei Himself.

Also, Powerlifting Stefi Cohen who can deadlift 500lbs worth of Owen Wilson heads!

Owen Wilson PR @snatchinsnacks

A post shared by Stefanie Cohen (@steficohen) on

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Rounding out your PECs

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You really don’t feel at home until you’ve found your home gym routine. We had just survived our move to Vermont and a big part of getting settled in was finding our new home gym. It’s a Goldilocks tale to tell.

GYM #1 was 5 minutes from our new home, a dream too good to be true. It included equipment comparable to a large, extra nice hotel gym. Hey, 5 minutes from home and I can make do with that. Then, I SAW IT!!! A mysterious separate room haloed by a golden glow with RACKS! I heard an angel choir sing and thought this is the perfect gym and only 5 minutes from the house. Then management slapped me with the extra fee to use the standard equipment used for building muscle. I bid my farewells and moved on to,

GYM # 2 This gym draws a crowd and your’re waiting in line to use mediocre equipment and when you go early enough to avoid the mad rush, you’re still waiting in line to use the basic good equipment.

GYM # 3 Compared to the others, this gym is the winner. 5 minutes from work, so I sacrifice taking a luxurious shower at home and pack everything up to make it happen at the gym. There’s a rack, a bench, a smith machine and a handful of cables, it still doesn’t have everything on my wish list but it’s working for now. I’ve been in my groove and sticking with certain routines for about 3 weeks, then switching it up. The flat bench has proven itself reliably useful for a great chest pump before starting the day but I’ve been yearning for the burn of tearing some muscle up.

Here is a recent chest switch up that has revealed itself as just that, a routine that finds the burn we yearn for building more muscle:

Incline Dumbbell Press 4 sets 8-10 reps


Flatbench Dumbbell Flyes 4 sets 10-12 reps (squeeze at the top and make sure your isolating the PECS)


Superset

  1. Wide push ups – to failure
    Push-Up Wide

    with Around the Worlds on a flat bench 8-10 reps

 

Womens Chest Workout
30-minutes to burn and build, Enjoy! Goldilocks will keep you posted on the gym search, I’ve been hearing rumors!

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30 Minutes to Muscle: How I got my Boobs Back

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10554067_1112433152117090_746592433_nWorking chest is like discovering the fountain of youth for a woman’s body, especially after breastfeeding. I have never seen such radical changes in my boobs within the past 3 years. Pregnancy gave me quite the pair to stare, which a lot of old dirty men did.

After nursing my babies they literally looked like deflated balloons. I thought people were joking when they used the deflated balloon description but THEY’RE NOT, that’s what they looked like, literally. I honestly didn’t know if there was hope at the time. I’m here to tell you that there is hope if you hit the weights ladies. After a few weeks of chest training you’ll have your original better than before boobs back. So celebrate with some new stylish but comfortable brasiers, ooh la, la. Here is one of the 30-minutes (that’s all it takes) chest workouts to achieve your goal.

Chest Day
 
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Warmup Time
Workout Time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: Muscles!
Ingredients
  • Flatbench Chest Press on Smith Machine
  • Incline Dumbbell Press with a twist
  • Hammer Strength Chest Press
  • Cable curls
Instructions
  1. Go heavier, the Smith will stabilize you and enable you to work on feeling those heavier weights.
  2. sets of descending reps ( 10,8,6,6) with increasing weight (135lbs- 190lbs)
  3. On the twist, hold for 2 seconds and squeeze the muscle to increase the burn.
  4. Use a weight where you are getting 8-10 reps each set.
  5. Set on lower cable bracket and scoop up for the squeeze. 3 sets until failure

 

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