what muscle groups do you workout together and why?

[JerryB]

Never understood why people do chest & tri's......your tri's are already being hit from most chest exercises....better to work another muscle group, and target tri's specifically another day.

Tho, would be happy to hear a good reasoning for working both on the same day.

The triceps are small muscles. If training them for growth is not an issue then a separate day for triceps is unnecessary. That is why I train my triceps on the same day as chest and shoulders. The triceps assist in some of the chest and shoulders exercises. The final touch for the triceps is one or two direct exercises. I treat the biceps the same way by training the biceps after back.

Works for me. Is that a good reason?

[tomsfish]

i do push and pull days,hardest one for me first.pullups on pull,dips on push.

[DaddyR]

Day 1...chest
day 2...back
day 3...shoulders and traps
day 4...legs
day 5...arms
Friday and sat off.

I do this becuase it seems to be working for adding size.
I am also wanting to add in an extra squat only day, becuase I want bigger wheels and a 405 squat for the comp.

I do this exact same routine, but with legs day 4 and arms day 5 and one of my two weekly off days being after back and one at the end of the rotation.

So it's chest, back, off, shoulders& traps, arms, legs, off

I prefer to not pre-exhaust my arm muscles. Having a separate arm day also gives them a mild workout on chest or back day and a focussed massive pummelling on arm day.

[ntrllftr]

The triceps are small muscles. If training them for growth is not an issue then a separate day for triceps is unnecessary. That is why I train my triceps on the same day as chest and shoulders. The triceps assist in some of the chest and shoulders exercises. The final touch for the triceps is one or two direct exercises. I treat the biceps the same way by training the biceps after back.

Works for me. Is that a good reason?

Yup! As I stated earlier, I do the same thing.
Proof is in da puddin......

[bodyhard]

The triceps are small muscles. If training them for growth is not an issue then a separate day for triceps is unnecessary. That is why I train my triceps on the same day as chest and shoulders. The triceps assist in some of the chest and shoulders exercises. The final touch for the triceps is one or two direct exercises. I treat the biceps the same way by training the biceps after back.

Works for me. Is that a good reason?

VVV

I do Tri's with chest, because just as you stated, Tri's get hit when doing chest and also when doing shoulders (Mil Press, DB press) so in essence if you do shoulders on one day chest on another and then triceps on another you are hitting the triceps 3 x in one week. Once directly and twice indirectly. IMO the tricep is a small muscle and does not need that much stimulation to grow.

We agree on the same!

[groink]

I don't train muscle groups, I train movements.

Tuesday: squat and deadlift
Thursday: cleans and overhead pressing
Saturday: events, i.e. yoke, farmers, log, stones, tire, sandbag,...




Because that's how the human body is designed, ie to do movements. You can't truly isolate muscle groups anyway, attempts at trying just result in a bunch of worthless exercises ( IMHO ).

All due respect Ox that's utter nonsense

[JerryB]

Yup! As I stated earlier, I do the same thing.
Proof is in da puddin......

Works for your too.
Good thickness.

[JerryB]

Because that's how the human body is designed, ie to do movements. You can't truly isolate muscle groups anyway, attempts at trying just result in a bunch of worthless exercises ( IMHO ).

Gee. You’re being hard on us that train for bodybuilding. In my opinion bodybuilding training is emphasis on aesthetics more than athletic functions.

True the human body evolved for movements. You cannot truly isolate a muscle group but you can do exercises were the prime mover is a muscle group such as the triceps in executing the triceps pressdown in strict form. It’s a great exercise to farther train the triceps after a compound exercise that includes the triceps like the close grip bench press. The triceps pressdown is to the triceps like kicking someone when they are down. That’s way I see it.

My view is if a person is training for strength for a sport or general strength, then training by muscle groups is of little use; unless a muscle group needs special attention.

[Boyd76]

I like your set up.

Reverse hypers helped my back, GHR are just awesome ( don't understand why more people don't do them)
The sled is the best conditioning work out there as far as I'm concerned, and well...squats,deads, presses and rows go without saying.

Thanks!

Its helped me to get stronger, and attack my weaknesses. Its simple and combines basically all compound movements.

Here are the results of my first cycle of 13 weeks! But I was bulking, and I'm still a beginner so results my vary.

bench- added 40 pounds on max
over head press- added 30 pounds on max
squat - added 70 pounds on max
dead - added 95 pounds on max
Barbell rows - added 40 pounds on max

[kenjen]

I train muscle groups once a week.

Day one is for quadriceps, leg biceps, and calves.

Day two is for chest, shoulders, and triceps. This is push day for the upper body muscles were their actions are mainly pushing movements. The pushing muscles are trained directly or assist in training the other pushing muscle groups. For example the bench press for the chest will engage the shoulders, in particular the anterior deltoid, and the triceps. I continue the process of training the shoulders and triceps in this workout. All three muscle groups will have week to recover for the next training session.

Day three is for back, traps, and biceps. This is the pull day for upper body muscles were their actions are mostly pulling movements. All three muscle groups will have week to recover for the next training session just as the muscle groups trained on the other days.

I will train abs once a week on any of the three days.

I normally train on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Cardio is not part of my training routine.

Hey jerry how long does your workout take you? How many sets you do for each group?

You should furthur-define your goal before you attempt to pick a program.

As a couple of suggestions, either of which would be perfect for a noob, are:

An excellent beginner bodybuilding program:
*Routine: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=4195843

An excellent beginner strength program:
*Farley's SS writeup: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=131379243 And while mass and strength aren't completely mutually-exclusive, it's better to go with a specific plan tailored to suit one goal or the other. The two paths are somewhat parallel, but you'll get where you want to go a little faster if you pick a specific path.

One thing I don't suggest is trying to piece together your own "routine." There's much more involved in making steady progress than just throwing together a few exercises. Both of the programs I linked are just that; programs, thoroughly-thought-out with all factors taken into consideration.

As far as defining my goal more. That is why I asked this question it is helping define it. Thanks for the links to the those beginner programs I looked at them and will check them out closer

Work each bodyart 2x/week, but with reduced sets. Never gotten satisfaction with once/week. Plus I like to train by days in the week, not different days each week. I followed this routine in my competing daze too, but with more sets.

Tue & Sat - torso
AB exercise - 3x20
Chest press (could be any one of various types of press) - 3x8
Chest dips - 3x8
Shoulder press - 3x8
Wide grip upright row - 3x8
Wide grip overhand pullups - 3x8
Heavy row (DL every 3 weeks or so) - 3x8

Wed & Sun - limbs
Calf raise - 3x8
Squat or leg press - 3x8
Leg extension - 3x8
Close grip bench press - 3x8
Lying tricep extensions - 3x8
Barcell curls - 3x8
Preacher curls - 3x8
Forearm curls - 2-3x10

hey Jack how long on average does this take you to do?

Wednesday - Walk funny to Italian restaurant for lunch

Sean

cracked me up lol

[JerryB]

Hey jerry how long does your workout take you? How many sets you do for each group?

My workouts are about one and half hours to two hours. I work out at home with a lot of homemade contraptions, so changing set ups for various exercises consumes a lot of time.

For large muscle groups the total sets for all exercises, which are 2 to 3, range from 7 to 9 excluding the following.

For the quadriceps, hamstrings, chest, back and Traps on my heavy day training for each muscle group I include a final light isolation exercise 7 sets x 12 reps with 30 seconds rest interval for pumping more blood into the muscle group. It may stretch the muscle’s fascia, but that broscience has already been claimed by FST-7. I end each large muscle group's routine with active isolated stretching.

The combination of the final isolation exercise and the stretching results in a great pump on a heavy training day. Normally I don’t give a significant pump when going heavy because that is not my goal. I consider the pump after the heavy training exercises a plus. The muscles are getting more blood. I have been experiencing less DOMS since I have includes the two.

For the smaller muscle groups biceps and triceps the total sets range from 4 to 7 with 1 to 2 exercises respectively for the biceps and triceps. The calves the range is 8 to 10 with two exercises. The abs the total range is 8 with two exercises.

You may think that’s a lot time and not that many total sets per work out. I not a follower of 60 to 90 seconds rest between sets. I never was. The only exception was discussed above.

[flat6nut]

Gee. You’re being hard on us that train for bodybuilding. In my opinion bodybuilding training is emphasis on aesthetics more than athletic functions.

True the human body evolved for movements. You cannot truly isolate a muscle group but you can do exercises were the prime mover is a muscle group such as the triceps in executing the triceps pressdown in strict form. It’s a great exercise to farther train the triceps after a compound exercise that includes the triceps like the close grip bench press. The triceps pressdown is to the triceps like kicking someone when they are down. That’s way I see it.

My view is if a person is training for strength for a sport or general strength, then training by muscle groups is of little use; unless a muscle group needs special attention.

Yep, last time I checked this was a bodybuilding forum...with a sub forum for powerlifting.
I dont see anyone dropping into that forum and telling those guys/gals they are wrong.

[flat6nut]

The triceps are small muscles. If training them for growth is not an issue then a separate day for triceps is unnecessary. That is why I train my triceps on the same day as chest and shoulders. The triceps assist in some of the chest and shoulders exercises. The final touch for the triceps is one or two direct exercises. I treat the biceps the same way by training the biceps after back.

Works for me. Is that a good reason?

Much respect to you Jerry, I hope I can be jacked at your age.

...considering I have only been lifting for under 2 years and I have trained bis/tris on a stand alone day the whole time, and they look like that...I am not going to change routines until it does not work any longer.

[dkn215]

I've been doing the 12wk hardcore trainer. So what ever they do..... ... I do lol

[stillfit]

My routine is as follows. Three on one off day 2x per 8 days
Day 1- chest and triceps
Day 2- back and biceps
Day 3- legs and shoulders
Day 4- off day

[P2000]

As regards just weights training [cardio generally 2x daily].....


Day 1 - Quads/hamstrings/calves

Day 2 - off

Day 3 - Chest/Bi

Day 4 - off

Day 5 - Shoulders/traps/forearms/shins

Day 6 - off

Day 7- Back/Triceps

Day 8 - off

Day 9 - Quads/hamst.....

Legs trained altogether just makes sense and is neat and tidy, also gives my upper body a long rest. Biceps trained with chest, and triceps trained with back so the smaller muscles aren't fatigued from the compound movements, and/or compound movements aren't compromised by fatigued smaller muscles. Shoulders comes after chest and bi so triceps are as [relatively speaking] fresh as possible. Obviously you can't keep biceps out of the equation altogether in shrugs/up rows etc but they'd have far more involvement if it was my back workout in place of where I train shoulders.

It works for me!


Cheers

[P2000]

Hi Bigtallox

You can't truly isolate muscle groups anyway, attempts at trying just result in a bunch of worthless exercises ( IMHO ).

So if you trained biceps on preacher bench in strict fashion what other groups would you be training?

Or likewise, if you trained quads on the leg extension?

Or if you trained triceps via a strict skull crusher?

Or if.......


Cheers

[Whiskeyjack]

Ken, the workouts never take longer than an hour. There are 18 core sets per workout not including warmups and a few sit-ups. The key is to keep the intensity up. It works like a charm for me and those I've coached and trained with.

[Sheppe]

Bodybuilding broscience, that's not what's going on. It's most likely because your program lacks progression. Repetition is what makes your body get efficient at the movement and that's how you become able to move more weight, if your program has a progression. If no progression, then yeah, it's by definition a plateau ( but not because you haven't switched it up ).

Good luck.

You're probably right. I'm likely seeing this work because I have only recently switched to high-intensity workouts at the gym and I'm attributing the gains to the wrong thing. I still avoid too much of the same thing so that I avoid boredom; I figure that lifting heavy things is lifting heavy things.

[groink]

Hi Bigtallox



So if you trained biceps on preacher bench in strict fashion what other groups would you be training?

Or likewise, if you trained quads on the leg extension?

Or if you trained triceps via a strict skull crusher?

Or if.......


Cheers

Yeah I got a kick out of that too....LOL

The OP is a big bastard and seems pretty sharp....don't know where that came from

[JerryB]

Much respect to you Jerry, I hope I can be jacked at your age.

...considering I have only been lifting for under 2 years and I have trained bis/tris on a stand alone day the whole time, and they look like that...I am not going to change routines until it does not work any longer.

I think there is no one optimum approach to training for all.
But I think they all must to meet the obvious principles of progressive overload and recovery.

[Welsh76]

My split:

Mon: Day off!!!
Tue: Cardio
Wed: Chest, Triceps, Abs
Thu: Cardio
Fri: Back, Biceps
Sat: Cardio
Sun: Shoulders, Legs, Abs

[brizey]

Monday: Chest & Triceps - Triceps are worked during Chest compounding exercises, so I keep my overall Triceps sets to about 4 to 5 good working sets.

Tuesday: Back & Biceps - Biceps are worked during Back compounding exercises, so I keep my overall Biceps sets to about 6 or 7 good working sets that include 2 or 3 sets of Hammers, either with DBs or cable.

Wednesday: Legs

Thursday: Shoulders - Triceps are worked secondary, so had plenty of time to recoup from Monday and plenty of time to rest before Monday.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday: Off from weights. Might do some cardio

Why? Have tried many splits over the years and this one has given me the best results.

This is pretty much my split for similar reasons. I let it float so I can accommodate real life stuff a little better, so I swap shoulders and legs to make sure there is always at least one day between shoulders and chest. My shoulder routine only minimally involves my triceps at this point in time because I have to work around a bone spur, so I do very minimal over-head pressing.

I too have tried many splits, and I always come back to this one. It just suits my recovery pattern. Which to me, is the whole point. Splits are more about when you are not exercising than when you are.

[drudixon]

I know this thread has probably been done before. I tried to find one but didn't, sorry. I am in the process of figuring out what my workout is going to be and what my goal is going to be. I want shape but I also want strength. What I want is all points of view on which ones, when, how often and why. The only thing I am almost sure of is that I will be working out 4 days a week. Cardio is not an issue I walk 2 miles to work and most days I spend my lunch hr either walking up and down 8 flights of stairs or on the nicer days getting away from work and walking.

All of em. 3 days a week. Anabolism stops after 72 hours (says smart folks). I get better results this way. I imagine other folks may be different.

[ironwill2008]

I think there is no one optimum approach to training for all.

^^^^This. And it's never more apparent than in one of these "post your split" threads.

But I think they all must to meet the obvious principles of progressive overload and recovery.

Also ^^^^This. With these two factors, nothing else really matters. Without these two factors, nothing else really matters.

[fitter2]

dump

[flatiron]

dump

Strong dump of a year old thread. Why?

[BigOKgymNut]

1. Heavy chest / light tri's
2. Bi's / forearms / calves
3. Shoulders / back
4. Heavy tri's / light chest
5. Bi's / quads

Seems to work best for me.

[widebody195]

A tried-and-true 4 day split for me would be as follows:

Monday: Chest/Back
Tuesday: Swim
Wednesday: Legs/Shoulders/Arms
Thursday: Swim
Friday: Chest/Back
Saturday: Legs/Shoulders/Arms
Sunday: Off

I recover fast so I need to train often, but not a lot of volume at one time.

[activeseven]

Currently I am doing allpro's beginner workout which consists of:

1 ) Squats
2 ) Bench Press
3 ) Rows
4 ) Military Press
5 ) Stiff legged deadlifts
6 ) Arm curls
7 ) Calf

I do this routine 3 times a week and have great results so far.