Wednesday 7/21/2010: Row and Bench

SETUP / EQUIPMENT:

- Bench press benches (incline, decline, and flat) with Olympic bar and weights

- Rowing machine with weight

WORKOUT:

1) 60x row @ 50# + 10x incline bench press @ 95#

2) 60x row @ 50# + 10x flat bench press @ 115#

3) 60x row @ 50# + 10x decline bench press @ 135#

4) 60x row @ 50# + 10x flat bench press @ 115#

5) 60x row @ 50# + 10x incline bench press @ 95#

For a TOTAL of 300x row + 50x bench press

DURATION:

- 20 minutes is a pretty good pace

COMMENTS:

Although I mostly like to do more cardio / total body type workouts, this bench press and rowing exercise is a great upper body one (it becomes more total body if you have an actual rowing machine like a Concept II because you'll use your legs far more than row exercises on a weight machine).

The bench press has always been one of my least favorite weight lifting exercises because I've never been able to bench press a lot of weight. I have long arms and smaller shoulders, and I need to be careful with how much weight I bench because whenever I try to increase the weight too quickly I tend to strain the tendons in my shoulders. In my opinion, it's always better to do more repetitions with less weight (while exercising a full ROM) than to use a lot of weight and potentially injure yourself ... if you're injured you won't be able to get any good workouts in until you recover.