Strength Day
Bench Press
5 x 5
General Warm Up
3-5 min of light cardio of choice, then...
3 Rounds
5 Squats with pause at the bottom
20 Jumping Jacks
Specific Warm Up
Today is a strength day! That means you want to take 3-4 sets of 3-5 reps of bench press, adding weight on each set until you get to a weight that will challenge you for 5 reps at a time.
Workout of the Day
Strength Day
5 x 5
Workout Notes
Strength Day! The goal of the day is to put everything you’ve got into your 5 sets of 5 bench presses! Putting everything you’ve got into it and resting for at least 2-3min between sets is precisely how you get strong. The key to success is that you must challenge yourself appropriately on each set! What does that mean? It means each set should be extremely difficult, yet technically sound. If it’s too heavy, your form will deteriorate towards the end and/or you’ll miss the rep count. I don’t want either of those to happen!
If you are in a gym, you can use Barbell Bench Press, Dumbbell Bench Press, Floor Press, or if you’d rather do a different type of press you can do Strict Press, Dips, or some kind of Push Up.
If you are at home and only have weights that will not challenge you for sets of 5 reps, you have a few options. First, you can always play with the rep scheme. For example, tonight (the night I’m writing this) I did the 5x5 strict press day, but I only have weights that are too light for that, so I changed it and did 5x10 reps instead. Anything between 8-12 reps is awesome! Another great option is that you can add a tempo. That means that you control the speeds of different portions of the lift. A really simple and effective way to make a set harder is to add a slow descent to your tempo. For this workout, try, on each rep, to press up fast, then take a full 4 seconds to lower the weights, squeezing with maximal tension the whole time. That will get tiring!
Optional Accessory Work
Today is a great day for some Long Slow Distance work. The goal here is to spend 10-20min keeping your heart rate up at a steady, maintainable rate. This should be very different from the spiking up and down that our heart rates usually go through in our intense workouts! Moderate and steady is the way for this piece. Use our Cardio Options page for cardio ideas!
Cool Down
1-2min of Chest Stretches on each side
1-2min of Triceps Stretches on each side
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