Today's Workout: Chest and Triceps

I love lifting weights. Don’t tell my spin bike, but I even love lifting weights more than I love the heart pumping, 60-minute sweat session that I take on five or six times a week in the spin studio. And I really love spinning!

There is something about feeling STRONG that feels better than racing up hills or speeding on a flat road as fast as you can for 60-90 seconds.

One day I came across a picture of my friend Anya holding her one year old baby, and I texted her and said “daaaaaaaaamn girl. you look amazing. how do you do it?!” And that’s when she let me in on a little secret. “Lifting heavy weights makes you lean.” I kept on reading more about it and seeing more girls in the gym with rocking bodies, and they weren’t getting them by running on the treadmill. They were all lifting heavy weights. When I say “heavy weights” I am referring to weight that is heavy enough that it is HARD to complete that last rep in each set. REALLY HARD. You are struggling. As a result of lifting these heavy weights, I’ve gotten really, really strong! You can actually see my muscles, and I am more confident in my body. The scale has crept up a couple of pounds, but I am okay with that because I know that muscle weighs more than fat.

So, if you’ve been thinking about adding weight lifting to your routine, you should. If you are over 40 years old, more than HALF of your weekly workouts should be resistance-based. As we age, we lose muscle mass and bone density. When we hit 40, those two factors increase even more.

In this section I will share with you what I know about lifting weights, what my favorite muscle crushing exercises are (the kind that will leave you sore and wanting more), and some of my favorite groupings of them. Then maybe one day, you’ll have to keep the same secret I keep from your favorite piece of cardio equipment. Shhhhhh, don’t tell…

Today’s Workout – Chest and Triceps

Wide Pushups, 3 sets of 15 reps

Seated Tricep Press, 3 sets of 12 reps

*Superset:

Dumbell Bench Press, 3 sets of 12 reps

Flat Bench Cable Flys, 3 sets of 12 reps

End of Superset

Superset:

Incline Dumbell Press, 3 sets of 12 reps

Bench Dips, 3 sets of 12 reps

End of Superset

Cable Crossover, 3 sets of 12 reps

Tricep Pushdown (Rope Attachment), 3 sets of 12 reps

*A superset is when you perform both exercises back-to-back and only rest after you’ve completed the second exercise. For instance, 1 set of dumbbell bench press then immediately 1 set of flat bench cable flys. Then rest for 60 seconds. Repeat 2x.

Posted in Fitness, Resistance Training