I'm kinda on and off with my lifting, sometimes doing it just barely enough to keep from backsliding. My job makes it kinda difficult to keep a routine since on average it's a 10-12 hour workday, but thankfully there's a pretty decent on-site gym I can go to before (and sometimes after) shifts. Basically I hit chest and tricep the first day of the week, back and bicep the second day and depending on how I'm feeling on the third day, it's either solid chest or solid arms. I don't really have a dedicated leg day (though I probably should), I just prefer to use leg stuff to break up the upper body workouts.
If it's anything involving chest I
always start with bench press since it's a good compound move that preps other muscles and it's the most reliable indicator of progress. Worth it to note though that I don't do incline bench press at all, something about the range of motion fucks my shoulder up so I save my incline for dumbell press. The numbers are steady growing. The most defined and (sic) successful routine I've got right now is the chest/tricep day. Right now the numbers look kinda like this - -
- BP 5 sets of 8 at 205 lbs (that's higher volume, if it's a straight chest day, I do 5 sets of 5 at 225)
- Skullcrushers, 4 sets of 10 at 80 lb, sometimes 2 extra sets of 8 at 90 lb if I feel like I didn't hit it hard enough
- Dumbell Press, 4 sets of 10 (75 lbs for flat, 65 for incline)
- Cable tricep extensions with the triangle (depends on the machine, but usually 100 lb for 3 sets of 15)
- More cable tricep extensions with the rope (again, depends on the machine, but usually 35 lb for 3 sets of 12 )
- Dips till I burn out
Again, this is all being broken up with leg work-outs, usually leg press or hamstring curls and always calve raises. I love dumbell presses but I won't do them at higher weights (like, 85+) because it takes too much just to set up for them. Like, just getting into the position with 90 lb dumbells involves the effort it takes for one or two reps, so I prefer to undercut the weight on dumbell press and just do it at a higher volume (10-12 reps).
Volume is also a big thing for me when it comes to triceps. I'd been training them for the better part of a year but it was only after I started hitting extensions for sets of 15 that I started to notice real progress with it. A big pet peeve of mine is when I see people doing extensions with the rope where they lean way forward and don't bother spreading the handles out at the bottom of the lift. That completely betrays the purpose of both the rope and the lift. In fact, poor form on tricep extensions in general is kind of a sad thing to see. Pinching your shoulders just a little goes a long way in terms of recruiting the muscles in your triceps, but there are so many people that just prefer to load a fuck-ton of weight up, hunch over and crank out the set without any real understanding of what the lift is even doing.
The only sup I take is creatine, so of course I drink a shit load of water daily.
How do I do bench presses if I don't have any friends who will save me from crushing myself to death?
Roll of shame as a last resort, or if you can snag a smith machine, use that. Personally I'd rather just chance it on free-weight, but on bench I tend to push the envelope very gradually so failing isn't much of a worry for me.