Formal Fitness Training and Steph Grace Fitness Showdown: Chest and Back
Back just before Christmas on December 22nd, good friends and also veteran fitness professionals Michael Hartman and Stephanie Grace teamed up for what was a fun chest and back workout. Steph is a trainer in the Douglassville, PA, area, and she has a gym called Steph’s House of Gains. Michael was Stephanie’s trainer long before she ever decided to make fitness part of her career. Stephanie is also a remarkable singer and songwriter! It is always good to get together with other fitness professionals and have a great workout.
The workout:
- Incline Bench Press 1.5 rep superset with lat pulldowns with a five-second hold, 3 sets of 12 repetitions.
- 30% Incline Fly to Chest Crushers to. 5 repetition chest squeeze 10/10/10 superset Pull-ups (5 repetitions) superset lat pulldown Hold for 30 seconds. 3 sets.
- Dumbbell Incline Row (Facedown) superset Dumbbell Rear Deltoid Fly in 3 sets of 12 repetitions.
- Narrow to Wide Push Up with Rotation: 3 sets to Failure.
Notes: Superset means to go from one exercise to the next without rest. Failure means completing as many good repetitions as you can with good form before being unable to complete another quality repetition. After each set, we would take 1-2 minutes of rest.
It is important to understand that this is the type of workout that should be performed by intermediate- or advanced-weight trainers. Individuals just starting out should focus more on compound movements with basic sets and repetitions to build a solid foundation. During the video, we actually talk about the fact that building the foundation is the hardest part (it takes years). After that, you can make small, incremental progress, but you won’t lose your hard-earned muscle tissue overnight.
So if you have been working out for two or three years and have a solid foundation, give this workout a try. It was a wonderful workout among fitness professionals and friends. I’m looking forward to the next workout with Steph, where we will tackle arguably the hardest muscle group to train—LEGS.
Watch this episode on Youtube: Formal Fitness Training and Steph Grace Fitness Showdown: Chest and Back
Michael Hartman
My mission is to give personal training participants a safe and effective workout designed specifically for their goals. Dealing with many sports injuries over the years taught me how to come back stronger every time. The competition is with yourself... Strive to bring out your best self and get better every day!
