All exercises performed today focused on pushing, in other words, primarily engaging the Chest, Triceps, and Anterior Deltoids. In the above picture, I am performing a flat dumbbell chest press with my legs straight out at an angle to engage my core suppressing my lower back into the pad. Just like any other muscle, to get stronger, it must be trained from all different angles. I completed three sets of each: flat, incline, and decline dumbbell bench press performing 9 to 12 reps increasing the load on every set. Always choose to target the bigger muscle groups before the smaller muscles that aid in the lifts. In other words, in this sequence, I focused on my chest first, triceps second, and anterior delts last. In between each set, I performed 3 different variations of 20 push ups to challenge my core along with the fatigued muscles throughout the entire session.
How does performing pushing exercises help you to Hunt Strong? Imagine you are on a stalk crawling on your hands and knees very quietly, one arm in front of the other at a very controlled (slow) pace. The muscles responsible for you to get into position before rising up and drawing back your bow are your chest, triceps, and anterior delts. Every inch closer to the game being hunted, the higher the chance at success in the backcountry.
To finalize my session, I jumped rope for ten minutes to once again increase my cardiovascular endurance to battle the thin air at 9,000 ft plus high. Train Hard, Hunt Strong!