is it ok to work out chest/tries one day, next day=back/bis?

[yaga]

i usually work out chest and tris one day, back and bis the next day, and shoulders/legs the day after that. then i rest a day and then repeat the same cycle.

i do chest and tris on the same day bc i figure that since doing bench also works your tris out, i might as well work out tris as well, since i have been told that you shouldnt work out the same muscle group on 2 consecutive days. similarly, i found that since many back exercises worked your bis, i decided to work bis on the same day as back day. however, i noticed that a lot of people do arms on a seperate day, and they do both tris and bis together on that day. doesnt this go against the idea of not working the same muscle on consecutive days (if say, they did back or chest the day before or after)? i am confused and would like to know what the best combinations would be on a given day and why.

also, can anyone tell me how often i should work a muscle group? once a week? twice a week? thank you.

[T800]

Working tris with chest and then bis with back is a good way to start - particularly if you only work out say 3 times a week.

However, if you really work your chest or back hard, you may not be able to use the same weights on your bis and tris as if you did them on their own on another day.

Once a week is fine for a muscle group if you work it thoroughly. I've switched to the following:

Day 1 Quads & Abs
Day 2 Chest
Day 3 Back
Day 4 Hams, Calves & Abs
Day 5 Shoulders and Traps
Day 6 Arms
Day 7 Rest

Many people will tell you this is overtraining, and I suppose for some people it is. But for me, this means I get to workout a lot (which I enjoy) whilst not having consecutive days of the same body part. i.e. my routine is effectively lower body push, upperbody push, upperbody pull, lowerbody pull, upperbody push then lastly arms. If my arms are feeling overworked, I swap the rest day around.

Overall, it is what works for you, so you can only learn from others then experiment...

Good luck!

[yaga]

T800:
thanks for the info...sounds pretty obvious, but i never really thought about what you said -- that people separate the exercies bc they can lift more weights if the do them on diff days -- until you mentioned it. i guess if you space the workout right, you will at most, work your tris 2x/week, and your bis 2x/week, and you wont necessarily work the same muscle on consecutive days.

your workout schedule sounds very well thought out, and is organized in a very logical format, upperbody push, lower push, etc...

thank you for the tips. i will probably stick with my current routine for now since it sounds like its ok to do what im doing...question though -- is it bad to do the exact same workout 2x in one week, with a day of rest in between? meaning:

day 1 = chest/tris
day 2 = back/bis
day 3 = shoulders/legs
day 4 = rest
day 5 = chest/tris
day 6 = back/bis
day 7 shoulders/legs

or would this really be overworking muscles, since i am doing all muscles and all exercises 2x a week? how many reps, sets, and total exercises should the avg person do (to get bigger) per day until it is considered overworking. how long should a workout typically be?

[Bignbuff]

Originally posted by yaga
T800:
thank you for the tips. i will probably stick with my current routine for now since it sounds like its ok to do what im doing...question though -- is it bad to do the exact same workout 2x in one week, with a day of rest in between? meaning:

day 1 = chest/tris
day 2 = back/bis
day 3 = shoulders/legs
day 4 = rest
day 5 = chest/tris
day 6 = back/bis
day 7 shoulders/legs

or would this really be overworking muscles, since i am doing all muscles and all exercises 2x a week? how many reps, sets, and total exercises should the avg person do (to get bigger) per day until it is considered overworking. how long should a workout typically be?

It's fine to do back/bi's after chest/tris. However, your split is overtraining. Only work each muscle once a week. If you're training with intensity and good form you should be sore as hell in the muscle group for a while afterwards. As far as sets go you should be doing 6-9 for smaller bodyparts such as biceps, triceps, and delts and 9-12 for larger bodyparts such as legs, back, and chest. Keep the reps between 6-12 for the best hypertrophy gains. Workouts shouldn't exceed one hour. The number of excercises doesn't really matter it's the number of sets you should worry about. Here is a good split for you though.

Mon- Chest, Tri's
Tues-Rest
Wed-Legs, Shoulders,Traps
Thur-Rest
Fri-Back, Bi's
Sat-Rest
Sun-Rest

You can do abs once or twice a week. If you are bulking do cardio at low intensity once or twice a week. If you are cutting do cardio 4-6 times a week at high intensity.

Hope this helps! If you have any more questions than just ask.

Bignbuff

[yaga]

bignbuff:
thanks for the reply, and the sample split you told me. sounds good to me, i will give it a try. it sounds like a lot less lifting than i expected though. normally i would workout twice as much. my muscles would be sore normally for a few days after a workout, but by the second time in the week, it would be back to normal and would not be hurting, so i would lift again. i just feel like since my muscles feel like they recovered i should lift again, or else i am slacking off. is it wise to only lift 1x per week, even if it feels like i can lift more often bc my muscles feel fine after like 3 days?

also, i was told a long time ago to do like 4 sets of 6 reps of an exercise at the same weight, and to increase the weight slightly when i was able to complete all 4 sets with relative ease. however, most of my friends did a pyramid type training system where they would increase the weight and lower the reps on each successive set. i tried the 4 x 6 for a while, and it seemed to work, but this is deceiving since it was the first time that i lifted in my life. i sorta stopped lifting after a while, and havent started again for a long time until just recently. now that i am restarting, i would like to know what is better, the old way, or a pyramid type format? i always felt like a pyramid gives me a better burn and is more strenuous during workouts, but what is more effective?

also, you mention 6 - 12 reps. 6 is on the lower end of your scale. would you recommend then, that i increase the reps slightly, or vary the # of reps depending on the weight/set/etc? i mainly want to get bigger for now.

also, you talk about cutting vs bulking. i want to do both, but right now, i think i want to bulk. but what is the difference in workout (other than more cardio) when i decide to do cutting? i am unfamiliar with these terms.

finally, i heard a long time ago that you can do situps everyday (herschel walker does like 1000s/day or something). is this not correct info (that you can work abs everyday if you want)? thanks!

[Sychokid]

Well, when I started off, I too thought soreness meant that my muscles were recovering and I had a good workout. This isn't always true and neither is getting that burning and pumped feeling.

You will find that most people on these boards (inluding me) only train major big muscle groups once a week, and smaller ones (arms, abs, etc.) possibly twice. As long as you hit your muscles intensly enough with a heavy weight and proper form, once a week should be fine.

I do straight sets (3 sets of 6, 2 sets of 4, etc.). I'll use things like pyramiding though when i want to switch things up. For example, if I want to do something new for chest, I might superset flat bench press with flyes and maybe pyramid incline presses. Things like that.

By 6-12, he means the reps between there are good for muscle growth. I however (and a lot of other people), respond better to lower reps like in the 4-6 range. Play around iwth botha nd find out which one you like better.

Well, you can't do both cutting and bulking (unless you are a begginner or on roids). Cutting, is when you lose all the fat (fat usually gained while bulking). Bulking is when you increase your calories and put on some solid muscle .

If you have anymore questions, feel freee to post them.

[Sychokid]

Oh yeah, liek I said before, some people train muscles liek abs and forearms twice or more a week. I would train abs maybe 3 times most a week. Also, just so you know, doing 1000 crucnhes won't get rid of the fat around your midsection (spot reduce). A healthy deit with cardio and hard work will.

[Bignbuff]

I think Sycho summed it up pretty well for you. You can try pyramiding if you like(that's what I do) or you could do straight sets with lower reps. Different things work for different people. So I would try both and see which works best for you.

[Bignbuff]

Also do not I repeat DO NOT do 1000 crunches a day. Train abs once or twice a week. This will not get you a six pack though. You must also have a good diet and do cardio during the cutting phase to get those abs to show.

[yaga]

thanks for all the tips guys!!!

[Gatorvrx]

Monday, Chest and Tris
Tusday, rest
Wednesday, Back and Bi's
Thursday, rest
Friday, Legs, shoulders
Saturday, Montain Biking (my brand of cardio)
Sunday, Racquetball (my brand of cardio)

[Biglittleman]

When I was working out last year I did the spilt you are doing right now. I found that a better spilt for me was:

Day 1 Chest/Bi's
Day 2 Legs
Day 3 Off
Day 4 Back/Tri's

This workout seems to be working good for me and you work your bi's and tri's twice a week.

[yaga]

Sychokid: about those straight sets, when you do say, 3 sets of 6, are you using the same exact weight for all 3 sets, or are you (and should I) increasing or decreasing the weight for each set? I guess I wasn't too clear, but I was just using the same weight for all 3 sets and just stopping at 6 for the first 2 sets even though obviously I could probably do more than that. However, I would be using a weight that was heavy enough so that I could barely finish my last set at that weight. Once it got easy (say in a week or two), I would increase the weight and use that same weight for all the sets all over again on my next visit...Is this wrong?

[Bignbuff]

Originally posted by yaga
Sychokid: about those straight sets, when you do say, 3 sets of 6, are you using the same exact weight for all 3 sets, or are you (and should I) increasing or decreasing the weight for each set? I guess I wasn't too clear, but I was just using the same weight for all 3 sets and just stopping at 6 for the first 2 sets even though obviously I could probably do more than that. However, I would be using a weight that was heavy enough so that I could barely finish my last set at that weight. Once it got easy (say in a week or two), I would increase the weight and use that same weight for all the sets all over again on my next visit...Is this wrong?

I think he was saying to use the same weight. However, if you can't lift it anymore for 6 with good form, I would suggest that you bump the weight down to avoid injury.

Bignbuff

[yaga]

thanks for the response bignbuff, and thanks to all for the great advice! you guys and the others on this forum are getting me psyched about working out again!

[Bignbuff]

No problem. Good luck bro.

[Sychokid]

Originally posted by yaga
Sychokid: about those straight sets, when you do say, 3 sets of 6, are you using the same exact weight for all 3 sets, or are you (and should I) increasing or decreasing the weight for each set? I guess I wasn't too clear, but I was just using the same weight for all 3 sets and just stopping at 6 for the first 2 sets even though obviously I could probably do more than that. However, I would be using a weight that was heavy enough so that I could barely finish my last set at that weight. Once it got easy (say in a week or two), I would increase the weight and use that same weight for all the sets all over again on my next visit...Is this wrong?

Well, usually I do a very quick light warmup set (this does NOT count as a set and I only use this for compound exercsies that will warm up that specific bodypart). After this, I will begin my 3 sets. I pick a weight where I fail around 4-6 reps (I like those reps best). If i find on my last set ( or anyset), that it is either too easy or i'm screwing up my form because it's too heavy, I'll increase/decrease the weight.

if you have anymore questions or problems, just post.

[Souravv]

Plzz anyone help me..I do gym for 3 hours to 3:30 hours
I do Shoulder bicep tricep in one day and next day back chest legs..I do this routine for 6days..and 7th day rest..but I'm confused its good or bad for me because I want to gain weight very fast..
..

Or I should do bicep tricep one day next day back chest and third day shoulders legs..for 6days and 7th day rest


Plzz anyone help or suggest me which routine should I follow..current or next one..

HELP HELP HELP