Athletic Fitness Program: Workout #2 - A Great Chest Routine

All athletes must work hard to maintain and improve upon their personal fitness if they want to excel in their particular sport. By developing a sound athletic fitness program and sticking to it, anyone can become a better athlete.

In the last article, I gave you one routine that will help you develop explosive power. In this edition of Athlete Fitness Routine, I'm going to give you a great chest routine that will help you build a strong chest.

I'm not a huge fan of doing sets of bench press, after sets of bench press... affffffter sets of bench press. That's just a BORING addition to a physical fitness program and I think there are better ways to build a strong chest. Besides, there are a lot of people out there who think that bench press is a useless lift, and, while I don't fully agree, I understand what they're saying. It's a very limited exercise. And, if you read my last Athletic Fitness Program post, you know I like to mix it up and get creative. The same is true for my chest workouts.

This great chest routine might be hard to understand just by looking at the sets and reps involved. So, I'm going to make sure I explain it in detail below so that you have a thorough understanding of how you can carry this routine out and add it to your fitness training program.

This is not an entire workout. However, this is a great superset, or circuit (whatever you want to call it) to add to any physical fitness program in order to develop a strong chest. You are going to go through the superset four times. Here is what it's going to look like:

Your four supersets are going to consist of:

• Max Rep Decline Push-Ups
• Max Rep Regular Push-Ups
• Max Rep Girl Push-Ups
• Max Reps Dumbbell Flys
• Max Reps Dumbbell Bench Press

This is how you will perform the superset/circuit:

1. You're going to start the superset with decline push-ups and you are going to do those until you cannot perform another repetition.
2. Immediately following your decline push-ups, put your feet back on the floor, so that you are back to the regular push-up position, and perform as many regular push-ups as you can. When I do these, I can usually only get 1-5 regular push-ups.
3. Once you have performed the maximum amount of regular push-ups possible, drop your knees to the ground and perform as many "girl" push-ups as you can. It is important that you transition from the regular push-ups to the "girl" push-ups as quickly as possible. For instance, if you are on the last regular push-up you are capable of doing, and you're struggling to push yourself up, simply drop your knees and continue going. You'll find that after 5-10 of these you will really feel it in your chest. However, don't stop at a certain number; do as many as you can.
4. Now, flip over, grab your dumbbells and start doing flys. You don't need to grab a bench, just do them on the floor. The reason for this is because you have already performed a ton of reps and you probably wouldn't be able to get in an effective amount by doing the full range of motion. You'll find that doing flys on the floor will restrict your motion and you will be able to perform more reps. Once again, do as many as you can.
5. After you've maxed out on your flys, switch to dumbbell press. This will work the same as the flys, as you'll range will be limited. Perform the maximum amount of reps possible.

You are going to perform four of these supersets/circuits. Rest one minute in between each set. If you add this to your fitness training program, you will be able to build a strong chest very quickly.

Right after this great chest routine, it is essential to the recovery process that you cool down with some light movements. Making sure you add cool-down time to your physical fitness program will help you return your heart rate return to a normal level and will also help you remove waste product like lactic acid. You can cool down by lightly jogging and some stretching exercises.

Another important aspect of a fitness training program, is to make sure that you are eating the right foods. Fitness nutrition is extremely important to any athlete who wishes to improve their personal fitness. If you want a list of foods that would be beneficial to your health, check out my list of the Top Ten Superfoods.