Jul
13
- The four day workout - Tuesday, abs and back
- The four day workout - Wednesday, biceps and triceps
- The four day workout - Thursday, legs
- The four day workout - Friday, chest and shoulders
- The four day workout - Finishing it up with cardio
- The four day workout - Some last tips and tricks
- The fifth day: Why rest counts as part of a workout
- Reader Q&A - Finding the right workout
This week we’re going to go over a relatively basic 4 day workout. This workout has a good general makeup that allows a person to cover all the major muscle groups. It’s not geared towards any specific goal and it uses a minimum of specialized equipment. When I do this workout, I usually do four sets of each exercise with ten reps in each set. That means a single set is ten repetitions of the same exercise without a break for rest. After those ten you rest, do another set and so on for a total of four sets. By the way, even though the article titles are going to have specific days in them, there’s no reason why you can’t change the days around. Feel free to make Tuesday your legs day put some of these workouts on a weekend day. Remember, the best schedule is the one you’re comfortable with. Now let’s take a look at today’s workout.
Chest and Shoulders
Similarly to biceps, chest and shoulders usually get too much attention from men and not enough from women. However, unlike biceps, this is one case where the men are closer to the being right. Chest and shoulders are another one of those extremely important areas like your core muscles in the abs and back. Chest and shoulders anchor and stabilize every movement we make with our arms, which is quite a bit when you think about it.
Workout Basics
I like to alternate my muscle groups as I work out. That means one exercise will work a specific area and then I’ll move on to a different area with the next exercise. For chest and shoulders day, that means one exercise will be chest and the next will be shoulders. However, these two areas are relatively hard to separate. Many chest exercises also involve the shoulders and vice versa. So I go further and separate between push and pull. You’ll see what I mean when you look at the specific exercises.
Now I tend to stay away from bench presses, even though they’re a great chest exercise. I do that because I try to design my workout to need as little gym equipment as possible. That way I can complete it even if I’m on the road and have access to a minimal set of gear. The bench press is also one of those exercises which is better done with a partner. Finally, I think the bench press intimidates many beginners. However, if you’re a bit more experiences and have access to the gym, feel free to substitute the press for some of the push chest exercises.
The exercises
Dumbbell Press - Like the standard bench press but done with dumbbells. Make your up and down movement very slow and steady. If it helps, try a slow count of three seconds on the way up and again on the way down. That will help you keep good form and movement.
Rear Fly - We pushed the weight forward with the last exercise, now we’re going to pull it back with this one. That’s what I mean by alternating push vs. pull with this workout. That way you get to rest certain muscles without stopping the workout. The rear fly is a great shoulder exercise done with a minimum of gear.
Press Up - Also known as the push up, one of the best chest exercises ever made. Doesn’t require any gear and engages your entire body as you push up and down with your chest and shoulders. Seems to be ignored by most women, I think because it’s been associated too much with over testosterone’ed men. Well, ignore those army training videos, push ups aren’t just for men. They’re a great exercise for anyone looking to get in shape.
Bent Over Row - Back to pulling with the shoulders. The bent over row can be done with either a barbell or dumbbells, depending on your preference. Make sure to keep that bent back and knees, otherwise you’re doing the standing row which is a slightly different exercise.
Dumbbell Pullover - Back to the chest with the pullover. This one does require a bench of some kind for the best possible results, but I suppose you can do it on the floor if you really have an aversion to the gym.
Arnold Press - And finish it up with the wonderfully named, Arnold press. This is a bit of a push exercise rather than a pull, but I like it because it really engages the shoulder in a different way than the rest of the exercises we’ve done so far.
Summary
That’s it, you’ve just gone through a great chest and shoulder workout. If you did these with good speed and few breaks, you could have done the entire thing in less than 30 minutes. Hope you enjoyed it. Tomorrow we finish things up with a discussion of cardio.
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