February 14, 2012 Workout Routine- High Rep Training with Chest/Triceps/Cardio

Muscle Prodigy is committed to helping you with your fitness goals. You need to hit the gym often and hard. However, sometimes it gets overwhelming with what to do in the gym. We're here to break down a structure for you that will include a detailed script of exactly what you should be doing in the gym each day. That's right...every Monday we will post the schedule for the week, meaning that you will have advance notice of exactly what days you should be hitting the gym, which muscle groups you will be training, and which days you have off to give your body adequate rest. Every single morning, we will post the routine of the day, so you know exactly what to do while in the gym.

These routines are exactly what the founders of Muscle Prodigy do, so you know that you are in good hands. We will always stay committed to provide you with tough workouts, but we will never overtrain you like most other programs do. We also show you exactly how to perform the exercises with our before and after pictures and our instructional videos, in which we demonstrate the exercises and walk you through them. Be sure to check back every single day for your structured workout program!

Please check out our Exercise Database to learn how to do any type of workout as well. 

Schedule for the Week of February 13, 2012:

Monday:  Back/Biceps/Abs
Tuesday: Chest/Triceps/Cardio
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Legs
Friday: Shoulders/Abs
Saturday: Cardio Only
Sunday: Off

Often times, you see many people in the gym doing reps of 8-12 thinking that those reps are enough to stress the muscles to grow. While this may be true most of the time, you most likely will not see results if you continually do the same amount of reps every single workout session. Think of your body as an active organism that has a tolerance level for anything you do including lifting weights. Your body will get used to doing the same amount of reps each time and it won’t stimulate the muscles to grow properly. While switching around your workout routine may help shock the muscles to new growth, it is often the mundane rep range that will prevent true progress. This week, you are going to focus on doing high reps when you train, even doing up to 50 reps for a set at times. Doing this will inevitably get you stronger and develop more lean muscle mass. 

For Tuesday, February 14, 2012, you will do high-rep training with your chest and triceps. You only need to do two full exercises for your triceps. When you train your chest, especially doing such high reps, you triceps will be pretty exhausted by the time you start doing triceps. So, try to do less for triceps so you don't overtrain. As your reps decrease, make sure you increase the weight (and vise versa).

Chest

1) Flat Bench Barbell Press
20 reps, 40 reps, 50 reps, 20 reps

Lie down on the bench. Grab a little wider than shoulder width-grip. With your feet planted on the floor, back arched, and hips flat on the bench, drive the weight up from the rack. Bring it over your chest. In a slow, controlled movement lower the weight carefully until the bar reaches your nipples but only about half an inch above your chest. Do not touch your chest as you want to keep constant tension on the chest the whole time and not use any momentum. Explode the weight up and a little backward in a controlled manner while your feet and hips are still planted until your arms are extended outward but with a slight bend.

2) Incline Dumbbell Chest Press

3 sets of 20 reps

While seated down on a slightly inclined bench (around 30 degrees) with a dumbbell in each hand, lie back and bring the dumbbells up to position (close to your chest by your shoulder) using your knees to "kick it up" in one smooth motion (this prevents injury). Press the dumbbells in a slow, controlled manner above your chest with your palms facing forwards until both dumbbells meet each other in the center. Squeeze your pecs at the top of the movement and then bring the dumbbells back down until your arms are at or even slightly below parallel to the floor.

3 sets of 20 reps

While seated down on a slightly inclined bench (around 30 degrees) with a dumbbell in each hand, lie back and bring the dumbbells up to position (close to your chest by your shoulder but with a hammer grip) using your knees to "kick it up" in one smooth motion (this prevents injury). Press the dumbbells in a slow, controlled manner above your chest with your palms facing forwards until both dumbbells meet each other in the center the same way a dumbbell fly would do so. Squeeze your pecs at the top of the movement and then bring the dumbbells back down until the dumbbell touches your chest again.

4) Pec Deck Bent Arm Butterfly

20 reps, 30 reps, 40 reps, 50 reps, 20 reps

While seated on a Pec-deck machine set it on a level so that you feel a great pull in your chest (You should feel it in the outside of the chest) but not overly so to the point where it hurts. Grip the elbow pads with the inlet of your biceps and wrap your hands around the grippers. In an arc-like motion, pull your hands together in a slow, controlled movement and squeeze at the top. Return back in an arc-like motion to return to the original position.