This is our second “pressing” day on 8-Week Fat-loss Figure Trainer. Again, you’ll begin with triceps to pre-exhaust them so that you can force your larger pressing muscles to work harder when you train them immediately afterwards.
Notice how I move away from the cable apparatus a bit to perform triceps cable kickbacks. This allows more space so that I can get a good stretch and contraction in my triceps. Squeeze your triceps at the bottom of the movement, contracting your triceps. Then slowly allow the weight to return, feeling a stretch in your triceps. Too many people just let the weight go back without getting as much as possible from the triceps with every rep. The stretch or extension is just as crucial as the contraction regardless of whether you’re dieting or trying to increase overall muscle.
Next up are seated laterals, which you can also perform standing. I perform them seated, using a comfortable weight. I like to keep my back off the pad so my hips are directly under me. This also prevents me from using the back pad as leverage to lift the weights. You want to get quality reps—not momentum reps. Don’t swing the weights, and really emphasize the squeeze at the top—also, lower the weight with control, really feeling the stretch in your delts. Fight gravity as you lower the weight.
After lateral raises, you’ll perform front delts raises with a plate. If it feels comfortable you can raise the weight just a bit more than shoulder height. This will help bring in a little more detail in your front delts, but you have to perform this with excellent form. Keep your core tight and control the weight as you raise and lower it to get that last bit of oomph from this movement. Make sure you never swing the weight.
Check out my video to see how I perform dumbbell shoulder presses. Note that I don’t press the weights to full extension. That’s a rest position, and I want to keep constant tension in my shoulders throughout the full set. I only press the weight about 2/3 to ¾ to full extension.
Training your shoulder muscles is important, especially for a figure competitor. You don’t want to lose your shoulder-to-waist ratio as you diet. You’ll finish off this workout with incline dumbbell chest presses and around-the-worlds. Make sure that you perform both of these with complete control. Notice that I like to use small plates for around-the-worlds, but you can go with dumbbells if you prefer.
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Triceps cable kickbacks |
3 SETS / 25 REPS |
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Triceps Pressdowns
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3 SETS / 25 REPS |
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Dumbbell Lateral Raises |
4 SETS / 15 REPS |
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Front plate raises |
4 SETS / 15 REPS |
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Dumbbell shoulder presses |
4 SETS / 15 REPS |
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| Rear-delt flyes | 4 SETS / 15 REPS |
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| Incline dumbbell chest presses | 4 SETS / 15 REPS |
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| Around the worlds | 1 SETS / 15 REPS |
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| Twisting floor crunches | 3 SETS / 15 REPS |
| Wheel roll outs | 3 SETS / 15 REPS |
| Cardio | 20 MINUTES |
As you know, I include abs work 5 days a week. I like to incorporate a variety of crunch, leg lift and wheel moves. You can perform the abs moves that work best for you and attack your midsection weaknesses. I like to perform a total of about 6 sets for 15 reps each, but you can make shifts in the exercises, sets and reps based on your needs.
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