Ahh, the day after the Super Bowl. You can almost here America groaning — bloated and heavy from a day’s worth of nutritional gluttony. So why not start the week off by putting that overwhelming calorie surplus to some good use in the gym? Try this punishing chest and shoulders routine to start filling out your t-shirts (though the shoulders, not through the gut).
Designed and gym-tested by M&F Fitness Director Jimmy Pena, MS, CSCS, this routine is designed to hammer your pecs and delts through a range of movements and rep ranges, all in a single workout. Pena prescribes a few heavier sets for strength and size, followed by some high-rep work to fully torch the targeted muscles and provide you with an absurd pump. Since it’s higher in volume — you’ll bang out 38 total sets in this workout — you can use this as a substitute shocker routine. Or, if you’re like Pena, you could just make this your staple chest-and-shoulder go-to lineup every week.
Exercise
Sets
Reps
Chest
Flat-bench dumbbell flye
3
20
Hammer strength chest press
5
6,6,8,10,10
Hammer strength chest press
1
100*
Incline dumbbell flye
3
20
Incline dumbbell press
5
6,6,8,10,10
Incline dumbbell press
1
100*
Decline barbell press
3
12
Shoulders
Overhead dumbbell press
5
6,6,8,10,10
Seated dumbbell upright row
4
10
Superset with**
Dumbbell shrug
4
50
Seated lateral raise
4
To failure***
Superset with
Seated bent-over lateral raise
4
To failure***
* Try to complete at least 60 reps before resting. Regardless of where you take your first pause, only rest as many seconds as you are away from 100. For example, if you rest at 60 reps, rest for 40 seconds and start again. If you pause again at 80, rest for 20 seconds and so on.
** In this staggered superset, you’ll perform one upright row and follow it with five shrugs. So your cadence will be one upright row and five shrugs. Ten upright rows and fifty shrugs makes one total set.
*** Aim for a weight that brings on failure around 12 reps.
