programming a chest & triceps session

Muscles worked:

• Chest

• Triceps

Basic Overview when making your exercise selection:

Selection choice on exercises will ultimately be decided by the specific areas you want to focus on. For example, in a chest and tricep workout, you should always prioritise chest movements at the start of the session as the pectorals are a much larger muscle group compared to the triceps. Therefore you should structure heavy pressing movements at the beginning of the session when you have the most energy and least fatigue. Furthermore, you can then look at what areas of the pecs need improving the most. For example, if your chest is flat then you would want to have an incline pressing movement at the beginning of the session to prioritise developing the upper chest. In contrast, if the lower pec needs improving you would do this by choosing a decline pressing movement at the start of the session. Overall, it is important to train the chest across all ranges not just focusing on one.

Throughout the chest-focused pressing movements, the triceps will also be worked in the extension phase of the movements. However, it is still imperative to isolate them with 1-2 exercises later on in the session. When hitting the triceps it is important to work both the short head and long head of the muscle. Focus on squeezing in the extended part of each exercise, concentrating on the mind-muscle connection.

Tricep exercises to select from:

• Close grip tricep bench press - barbell, smith machine

• Cable tricep push down - various attachments to hit different angle/head of triceps

• Overhead tricep extension - DB, cable (single arm or both arms together)

• Skull crusher variation - DB, barbell, cable, EZ bar (lying - flat, or with a very slight incline)

Chest exercises to select from:

• Chest press - barbell or smith machine (incline/flat/decline)

• Chest press - DB (incline/flat/decline)

• Chest press - plate loaded machine (incline/flat/decline)

• Fly variation - DB, machine, cable (standing, seated, lying)

• Dips (angled forwards to target lower chest)

Blueprint:

• 4 exercises with 1-2 working sets, reps ranging from 7-10 for chest exercises.

• 2-3 exercises with 3 working sets, reps ranging 8-12 for tricep exercises.

FORM IS KING

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