My main purpose in nabbing this workout routine spot was to give you an idea of what my non-leg priority workouts were last month. If you need a framework to plan your non-priority workouts for the next few months, this may work for you. For that reason, yes, Ivan - you guessed it - I'm going to cheat and give you, tada, chest and back together. It's a little variation I slid into last month after the 10x10 instructions, a draperized GVT if you will.

The workout is a superset of chest and back, moving immediately from chest to back, then to chest again with only enough time between to grab a gulp of water after the two set combination.

Warm up with:

6 minute cardio warmup to get the blood moving and raise the core body temperature. (Cardio hounds have to do your cardio later, saving energy for the weight work to come.)

5 minute shoulder warmup using rubber tubing and light dumbbells for reps

THE WORKOUT:

Incline dumbbell presses, supersetted with wide grip pulldowns
5 sets each times 10 reps, back and forth

Abdominal interim break:

Dumbbell pullovers, supersetted with hanging leg raises
3 sets times 10-15 reps

Return to:

Incline dumbbell presses, supersetted with wide grip pulldowns
1x8, 1x6, 1x4, 2x10

There you have a total of 10 sets of chest, 10 sets of back, with a breather of 3 sets of abdominals in combination with pullovers which work chest, back AND abdominals.

I did this basic routine last month for all bodyparts other than legs. I selected two different exercises each time - last week for chest and back I did Hammer presses with Hammer HiLo Lat Rows, the week before I did flat dumbbell presses with chins. This workout's a bit of a high volume plus high weight mix, including the final 2x10 which, following the 1 set of 4 reps using the heaviest weight you can handle and that will max you out at 4 reps, provides an incredible pump and burn.

Quick note on the pullovers - these are HEAVY, please. Do a set that you're comfortable with, then MOVE UP. Too many people do these too lightly in my opinion. You're fully warmed up by now, not to worry. If you're able to do them, bump up the weight a bit. I didn't begin to enjoy the movement until I got the weight up there, and now pullovers provide for better posture and remove the upper back ache caused by too much desk work. You can feel this relief instantly, if you're bold enough to grab a bigger dumbbell.

This format, 5x10, abdominal breather, 1x8, 6, 4, 10, 10 will hold you very nicely through the seasonal challenge. Plenty of hard work, not a lot of time and very little mental energy required. Totally cool.

Laree
davedraper.com

PS: Did I mention, have fun?

Click here to go back to the sample chest workout page