Day 1 - Chest & Triceps

Triceps assist on every chest press, so they're already warm and partially fatigued from the bench press and incline work. Training them in the same session gets the rest of their dedicated volume in without forcing a separate recovery day.

This pairing also keeps the four-day split clean: chest+triceps + back+biceps + legs+shoulders + core leaves enough recovery between matched muscle groups across the week. Splitting chest and triceps onto different days only makes sense if you're running a 5+ day split with a dedicated arm day.

If your gym doesn't have a pec-deck, the closest substitutes are:

• Cable chest fly — same movement pattern with cables, set the pulleys at chest height
• Dumbbell chest fly — lying on a flat bench, lower with control, keep a slight elbow bend
• Standing cable crossover at the chest-fly angle (different from the cable-crossover already on this day, which sets up high-to-low)

All three target the inner-chest squeeze the pec-deck is built for. The dumbbell version is the most accessible at home.

Three setup cues:

• Pull your shoulder blades down and back before you unrack — think "chest up, blades into the bench." This locks your scapula and forces the chest to drive the press.
• Slight arch in the upper back, not the lower. Keeps shoulders out of the firing line.
• Bar path — lower to mid-chest (around the nipple line), not your throat. Pressing from the throat puts more load on shoulders.

If you still feel mostly shoulders, drop the weight 20% and slow the eccentric to 3 seconds. Most lifters lose chest engagement when ego-loading past their technique.