Training

Blow up your arms with this pump routine, straight from the training log of the M&F Fitness Director

By the M&F Staff | Photo by Michael Darter

FOCUS: Pump

In this new weekly column, we plan to take you into the fitness journal—and mind—of our very own fitness czar, the venerable Jimmy Pena, MS, CSCS. Pena a former competitive bodybuilder, is the architect of many of the programs you find on the pages of M&F. Problem is, even when he's not training himself, training others or writing about training he's still talking about it. So we figured we'd exploit that to your advantage. Today, we had him chat his way through one of his recent arm workouts with you, the reader, in mind.

"This pump-focused routine attacks the long heads of both your triceps and your biceps," said Pena. "The long head of your triceps is the meaty, inner part of your horseshoes, while the long head of your biceps is the one most responsible for that peak when you hit a back double biceps pose."

The routine includes a few free-weight moves to start with but for only eight sets. From there, you'll move into two high-rep supersets using cables.

—The cables will help you maintain constant tension, which helps you get a crazy pump, especially in this rep range," Pena says. "And it goes without saying, but even though you're aiming for 25 reps, make it a challenging 25—don't pick a weight you can do 40 reps with or you'll be limiting your gains."

What sets this program apart is how it finishes.

"Instead of finishing with descending, or drop sets, like many people do on a pump day," Pena says, enthusiastically, "you'll do an ascending set at the end, doubling the weight you used on your supersets and going to failure, even if that means 4-5 reps."

Exercise				        Sets/Reps
Lying triceps extension			        2/10
Narrow-grip barbell curl			2/10
Dumbbell overhead extension			2/10
Incline dumbbell curl				2/10
Incline lying cable triceps extension		2/25
	-superset with-	
Standing narrow-grip cable curl		
Incline lying cable triceps extension		1/To failure
Standing narrow-grip cable curl		        1/To failure

Bonus Tips

1) Make sure to do a full-body warm-up and a muscle-specific warm-up prior to your first working set.

2) Rest 1-2 minutes between all sets and exercises. The only exception is when you move from exercise to exercise in the prescribed superset.

3) Focus on achieving a peak contraction on every rep to draw as much blood to the muscles as possible.

4) Make sure you are adequately hydrated prior to this workout to maximize the pump.

Want to ask Pena a question about the routine, or let him know how it worked out for you? Visit his string on the message boards in Training Talk by clicking here.