Question about training specific muscle groups

[mrs.hi-c]

I see on some of the journals people tend to train certain muscle groups certain days. Is it a personal preference or a biological advantage? Also, I am struggling with the order of muscle groups for a full body workout. I've heard that you should do large muscle groups first, then small, (or is it the other way around?) but am not sure why. BTW, this is for my really early morning class that I am teaching now :) So far, everyone seems to enjoy it--just would like to give them more detailed information about why they are training their muscles the way they are, as in why they go from bodypart A to bodypart B. Hope this makes sense.

-t-

[imperfectly_lou]

It's usually a matter of personal preference. Some people like to train their weaker body parts earlier in the week when they feel they have more energy. I switch my days around regularly to prevent boredom and also to fit in with my schedule.

You always work larger muscle groups first because smaller muscles assist you on those lifts. E.g when you do a bench press, your triceps and shoulders also are secondarily worked. If you did those smaller muscles first, your chest workout would suffer and you would quickly fatigue.

[Most Muscular]

The blind leading the blind?

People work different muscle groups on different days so the muscles have time to recover and grow again. If you work the same muscles every day when do they have time to recover? Never. It's literally a waste of time to workout if you don't give your body the time to rest and recover.

As for going from big muscles to small... Comom sense. Big muscles need more energy to do work (in the true sense, since they are bigger muscles you should be using bigger weights with them) so you need the most engergy in the beginning of your workout. As your engery levels deplete, you move onto your smaller muscles.

Legs, back, chest, shoulders, arms, abs.

[mrs.hi-c]

Thanks for the info ;)

The blind leading the blind? Not necessarily. Even though I am fairly new to weightlifting, I learned proper mechanics of different exercises, and safe vs. contraindicated movement. Unfortunately, the book work is only half of it, and even though my course covered basic muscle physiology, it didn't go into quite enough detail on this part. Guess I needed the Personal Trainer course for that information. For right now though, I'm learning everything I can through this entire website :D

-t-