In this 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 workout is great because each movement mirrors the angle of the one before it,” Pena says. “This helps you really make the most of the relationship between the opposing muscle groups.”

Focus: Strength/Mass

Exercise			Sets/Reps  Incline barbell press 		4/6-8  Hammer strength high row 	4/6-8  Barbell bench press		4/6-8  Seated row 			4/6-8  Decline dumbbell press 	        4/6-8  Hammer strength low row  	4/6-8  Pull-up				To failure ¹  Dumbbell overhead press 	1/100 ²

¹ Do one set to complete muscle failure, then rest 1-2 minutes. Complete another set to failure, then use an assisted pull-up station or place a bench beneath you to support your own weight to rep out to failure once more.
² Choose a weight that brings about muscle failure around 60-70 reps. Rest as many seconds as you have reps to complete (30 seconds rest if you reach 70 reps, for example), then start again, using similar rest periods until you reach 100.