Day 37:Chest & Abs

I feel so much better two days after traveling. I’m going to shoot my workout today, and then I’ll drive to Axiom to perform another workout with a muscle-building trainer. So I have the opportunity to do two workouts today. I feel privileged that I’m able to do what I do for a living. It’s important to look at this second workout as an opportunity rather than a burden. I am fortunate to have these options.

I got my pre-workout in before my chest and abs workout. I’m still thinking about all the people I met in Columbus, Ohio, at the Arnold Expo. One guy had traveled from Saudi Arabia to meet me because he was depressed about losing someone close. Some people came up to me and they were crying and shaking when they met me, and I wondered, “Why am I on this side of the table?” I could easily be on the other side. It gives me motivation.

Today, we’ll hit chest, the antagonist muscle group to back, which we trained the day before. Now I’m in a better frame of mind. Here are my thoughts on today’s workouts:

After today, we’ll only have two chest workouts left on this 8-Week Muscle-Building Trainer. For the first chest move, you’ll perform decline barbell presses. You’ll start with DTP decline barbell presses, bringing the bar down to just below your nipples for every set. Start with high reps (25) and drop 5 reps per set for each subsequent set as you increase weight, completing 5 sets. Rest a minute or so more between your high-rep sets, but then lengthen rest periods to up to 3 minutes for your last two heaviest sets.

Next, you’ll perform Hammer Strength chest presses, starting heavy and then decreasing weight as you increase reps. Make sure you stick your chest out and retract your shoulders to emphasize building pecs. Incline dumbbell presses begin with high reps and light weights, then follow that up with cable crossovers, where you start heavy with low reps, increasing reps with short rest periods. You’ll bend over for this move to target your middle pecs. Make sure your elbows are flared up toward the ceiling.

For your last move in this workout, you’ll perform as many reps as you can for each set of crunches, resting only about 45 seconds between sets. Just bang these out with good form. Stop when your abs fail.

And then get in your RE-KAGED to help promote faster recovery for your intense leg workout tomorrow. I also add in carnitine in the form of Carnipure™ before I perform my cardio.

Decline barbell bench press Sets: 5 Reps: 25, 20, 15, 10, 5 Strategy: DTP
Hammer Strength chest press Sets: 5 Reps: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 Strategy: DTP
Incline Dumbbell Press Sets: 5 Reps: 25, 20, 15, 10, 5 Strategy: DTP
Cable Crossover Sets: 5 Reps: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 Strategy: DTP
Crunches Sets: 5 Reps: Failure Strategy: Regular
HIIT Sets: 1 Reps: 3 Strategy: 4 minutes easy/1 minute full intensity for a total of 15 minutes

TIP

A lot of our soil today is lacking in nutrients that we had years ago. When people say you can get all your nutrients through your food, that’s bunk due to overharvesting and use of chemicals to promote greater growth of crops. We believe we can get all our nutrients from food, but the modified versions of our fruits and vegetables dramatically undercut the vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients in our foods. That’s why supplementation is so crucial.