First day back training hard: Rear Delts, Biceps & Forearms

Since winning the WBFF World Fitness Model Championships in canada a few months ago, I took some time away from the gym to not only give my body some time off, but to also get my motivation back. After all, during the 4 months I was training for the contest, I was in the gym pretty much every day, and when your putting your body through such an intense regime, it can start to feel less enjoyable, as it first did, and when that happens, you really have to give it everything you've got just to make it through the end of the workout! Taking some time off every now and then (just when you begin to lose that 'eye of the tiger' that we all first had when we first stepped into the gym, or started a new workout).

How do you know when it's time to get back into the gym? Well, when you find yourself getting excited again just thinking about going to the gym, then it's time. I took the best part of a month off from the gym, and because I ate fairly clean (Ok, so I had my fair share of cheat foods but that was part of my motivation when I was sweating it out in the gym for months during my pre-contest training, so I did feel like I deserved a little time off), when I did step back into the gym for a fully-focused workout (as opposed to going there because I felt as though I needed to keep some level of fitness up), my strength was still there. In many ways, I actually felt stronger because I had given my muscles adequate rest in which time they had fully recovered from all the stress they had received from months of hitting the weights hard.

I wanted to start back at the gym with a real enjoyable workout, and so decided to train rear delts (which had always given me an incredible pump in the past), Biceps (C'mon, who doesn't like working out their biceps), and Forearms (from reviewing the pictures of me on stage, I needed to work a little more on my lower legs and my forearms).

I went to my local gym in the valley close to where I live (Powerhouse). This is the workout that I did: (all weights in pounds)

SHOULDERS

Seated Military Press on Smith Machine (Behind the neck to top of ear line)

A great first exercise for warming up the shoulder complex. Good for building size too, especially if you want to work on the rear of the shoulders - which is most of us!

First two warm up sets: 15x50 / 15x70

First Workset: 8x90

Second Set: 8x100

Third Set: 7x105

Wide-Grip Cable Row (Using a Lat-Pull down bar)

Perform as you would with a seated row, except your grip is much wider, and performed with a limited range of movement. Only the 2nd half of the movement, keeping your elbows high, and pulling the bar up towards your upper chest.

First Set: 12x150

Second Set: 12x160

Third Set: 12x170

Incline-Facing Rear Flys (Dumbbells)

Set up a bench at a 35-degree incline, and keeping your knees on the lower-half of the bench with your chest on the upper part of the bench, hold a dumbbell in each hand and keeping the arms straight - raise the arms up towards the hips, rotating your knuckles outwards, pausing when the dumbbells are inline with your hips.

First Set: 12x20

Second Set: 12x20

Third Set: 12x20

Seated Rear Delt machine (Reverse Fly machine)

I only performed this exercise with a limited range of movement (the final part), thus keeping constant tension on the deltoids)

First Set: 12x120

Second Set: 10x150

Third Set: 10x165

BICEPS

Straight Bar Curl 

This is a great exercise for mass building as it places maximum stress on the muscle. If you feel a strain in the wrist, use an ez-bar, or stick with a preacher bench to isolate the bicep more. I stopped short of my thighs to keep constant train on the muscle, and squeezed hard at the top.

First Set: 12x80

Second Set: 10x90

Third Set: 10x90

Seated Preacher Curl (Alt. Arms w/Dumbbells. Single Sets)

A great exercise for peaking the bicep. I twist as I curl, rotating my thumb outwards as I curl, which places more stress on the inner part of the bicep. Great tip if your aiming to thicken out your biceps like a grapefruit!

First Set: 10x35

Second Set: 10x35

Third Set: 10x35

Seated Cable Preacher Curl (using straight bar)

Sit on a seated-row bench with your feet up on the bench, and position your elbows just below your knees. Keep this position fixed as you perform the exercise, curling the bar towards your chest.

First Set: 8x60

Second Set: 10x60

Third Set: 10x60

FOREARMS

Performed as a tri-set x3

Each exercised performed once, then moving on to the next exercise without rest. Wait two minutes before repeating the tri-set.

Reverse EZ-bar curl

Perform like a standard curl, except use an overhand grip, and keep your thumbs over as well so that its more stress on the forearms 

Set: 12x50

Dumbbell Extension

Seated on a bench with your forearms resting on your knees.

Set: 12x50

D-Grip Squeeze

This is an old-skool piece of kit that's shaped like a large 'D', and really works on your grip and forearms.

Set: 15reps

after 3 complete sets of each exercise performed as a tri-set, I finished my workout with another tri-set - one the will really show out your endurance to the test, and a great gauge for if your comparing your workout to a previous one or that of your workout partners..

Here it is:

After only allowing a few minutes to recover from your last tri-set of forearms, perform these three exercises without any rest between each one, and executing each rep with a full range of movement.

Wide-grip chin-ups: 12

Dips: 37

Push-ups: 17

Give it a go and leave a comment on how you feel after!!

Good luck!

If your interested in having a personalized workout program or nutrition plan built for you, you can contact me at training@robriches.com