Chest Day Workout

Chest day is an important workout day to ensure you work up base strength that will help you with many other movements.

This workout will act as a building block to build strength and confidence for increasing your overall bench press weight.

This workout has 2 focusses:

1. Lower reps on compound movements which will help build the overall power and strength of your chest.
2. Higher reps on isolation movements which will increase strength and help reduce muscle imbalances. These are great for the 2nd part of a workout as you can train to failure in an easier and safer manner.

With all workouts, it is important you take your time to warm-up and stretch to avoid unwanted injuries.

The Workout:

Warm up:

1. spend 5-10 minutes stretching and doing low weight accessory movements to get blood into your chest and shoulders. 

Leg workout:

• Flat barbell bench press: complete 3/4 sets of between 8-12 reps. If you are getting to 12 reps on every set, then it is time to go up weight. 

1. Lay back on the bench and position your feet as far back towards your butt whilst still keeping them flat. Plant your feet firmly as this will help generate power from he ground to your body.
2. Set your position under the bar in a way that allows you to unrack the bar easy. Make sure you are not too close so that you will hit the pegs during the movement.
3. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and keep your upper back in contact with the bench.
4. Arch your back so that your upper back and butt are touching the bench. The amount you arch will depend on your aims - if bodybuilding you can keep a shallow arch to ensure you get full range of motion. When powerlifting, a larger arch may be preferable to minimise the movement distance.
5. Set your grip - this will depend on a few elements such as the length of your arms and your aims. A standard grip will be around the barbell rings, slightly past shoulder width.
6. Unrack the bar and extend your arms out fully to begin your set. 
7. Breathe in and lower the bar down. Your elbows should go down at 45 degrees from your body - this will help engage your lats and protect your shoulders.
8. Bring the bar down fully to your chest.
9. After briefly holding, drive the bar back up whilst exhaling.

• Incline Dumbbell press: complete 3/4 sets of between 8-12 reps. If you are getting to 12 reps on every set, then it is time to go up weight. 

1. Set your bench to the your chosen height - between 30 and 45 degrees.
2. Choose your dumbbell weights and sit back on the bench with your dumbbells on your knee. Kick your knees up to help move the dumbbells over your chest one at a time. Move the dumbbells directly above your chest with your arms locked out.
3. Position your feet flat on the floor.
4. Lower the dumbbells at a 45 degree angle from your body. Lower them until your arms are at a 90 degree angle at the bottom of the movement. The dumbbells should remain at the same distance from each other throughout the movement.
5. After a quick pause, explosively drive the dumbbells up to the starting position to finish the rep.

• Cable pec flies: complete 3 sets of 12-15 reps. If you are getting to 15 reps for all sets, then consider going up weight or slowing down the movement.

1. Set the cable machine so that the cables are at shoulder height - use the single handle attachment.
2. Grip each handle and take a step away from the machine, your stance will be one foot in front of the other.
3. The starting position will be each arm out wide at shoulder height - ensure the cables are taut from this position.
4. Whilst keeping your arms extended outwards, move the handles together until they touch directly in front of your chest.
5. Slowly return your arms back to the starting position to complete the rep.

• Consider working in 'High to Low' and 'Low to High' cable flies to work on different areas of your chest.

• Leg Curls (Laying): complete 3 sets of 12-15 reps. If you are getting to 15 reps for all sets, then consider going up weight or slowing down the movement.
1. Set the machine so that your torso and legs lay comfortably on the pad when you are lying face down. The lever should be positioned just below your calf muscle when you have straight legs.
2. Pick a weight that allows your to curl your legs in a straight and controlled manner.
3. Grip the handles and brace your body to increase stability.
4. Curl your legs as high as possible in a controlled manner without letting your thighs leave the pad.
5. Hold for a second, then lower the weight slowly in a controlled manner back to the start position.

• Dips: complete 3 sets of 12-15 reps. If you are getting to 15 reps for all sets, then consider placing a dumbbell between your feet or using a chain or similar apparel to add weight.
1. Grip the bars and lift yourself up - you can jump in to the start position if easier.
2. Lack your arms vertically to start the movement.
3. Lower your body by bending your elbows - lean your body forwards as you are lowering yourself..
4. Go to parallel or slightly below.
5. Explosively drive back up to the start position to finish the rep.
• Assisted dips machine: if you are struggling to do this movement, many gyms have assisted dips machines. The movement will work the same as the above, however you move the weight up to take off body weight. 

• Push-ups: aim for 3 sets of up to 20 reps. If you struggle with this movement then you can scale by going on your knees or using pushing up against a box. If you find this easy then you can try out different hand positions or place a weight on your back.
1. Start in a high plank position with your body straight and your arms extended.
2. Slowly lower your chest to the floor by bending your elbows - keep your body tight and straight as you go down.
3. Touch your chest on the floor then push back up to the starting position to finish the rep.

Now you know this workout, give it a go and let us know how you get on!

We are excited to see how your workouts progress and don't forget to submit your bench press videos to unlock our Gamified t-shirt range 'Chest Day, Every Day' aimed at the bench press movement.

Men:

• Bronze: 50kg
• Silver: 100kg
• Gold: 150kg

Women:

• Bronze: 20kg
• Silver: 50kg
• Gold: 90kg

To unlock these items, you will need to submit a video of you completing the above bench press weights, please visit the 'how it works' page for more details.

Written by Liam Ashley. Instagram: _lacoaching_