Weight lifting - Combining muscle groups per workout

Jalyn77 · December 2012

Hey weight lifters,

I'm wondering if anyone knows if it really matters which muscle groups you work on the same day when weight lifting. It seems like I always see plans that combine back and biceps, and then chest and triceps. I'm asking because I mostly workout at home but am starting to use the gym 1-2 days each week because there are certain things I have not been able to do at home like an assisted pull up, lat pull down, tricep cable pushdown, etc. There's alot I can do at home with the equipment I have, and I prefer to do that for the majority of the time so I can still be at home with my kids in the evening (I work during the day).

For example for upper body, last night I worked chest and shoulders from home. On saturday I'll be going to the gym and am planning to work back, biceps, and triceps.

Is there any reason I should stick to combining certain muscle groups?

dzarello · December 2012

Hey weight lifters,

I'm wondering if anyone knows if it really matters which muscle groups you work on the same day when weight lifting. It seems like I always see plans that combine back and biceps, and then chest and triceps. I'm asking because I mostly workout at home but am starting to use the gym 1-2 days each week because there are certain things I have not been able to do at home like an assisted pull up, lat pull down, tricep cable pushdown, etc. There's alot I can do at home with the equipment I have, and I prefer to do that for the majority of the time so I can still be at home with my kids in the evening (I work during the day).

For example for upper body, last night I worked chest and shoulders from home. On saturday I'll be going to the gym and am planning to work back, biceps, and triceps.

Is there any reason I should stick to combining certain muscle groups?

You don't have to do it this way. There are Fullbody routines you could use instead of splits. Stronglifts 5x5 or Ripptoe 5x5 are great beginner routines.

waldo56 · December 2012

Unless recovery issues dictate otherwise (that is while working out and session to session) you should be working all muscles groups every time.

The only reason to switch from full body workouts is if it is taking too long just to do the basics during a workout. Switching to a split tends to decrease the workout frequency per muscle, which is also helpful if your recovery workout to workout is slowing. Both of these things happen to people as they get stronger, but that point tends to be pretty far off for people. The vast majority of people doing split programs are better off doing a full body program.

But to address your question, muscle groupings are they way because of major compound movements. It makes almost no sense to further subdivide into muscles beyond the basic push, pull, legs, and core.

Push = Chest, triceps, shoulders (bench press, overhead press, dips)
Pull = Lats, biceps (pullups, rows)
Legs = Everything below belly button (squats, deadlifts)
Core = Abs, obliques, lower back (planks, etc.., or stabilizing weights)

Everything that is not a compound exercise is an assistance exercise to a compound exercise.

A bench, pullup, squat workout works every muscle in the body. So does an overhead press, row, deadlift workout.

Leadfoot_Lewis · December 2012

FWIW - If you're just beginning to lift you'd be better off starting with a full body workout or an upper/lower body split.

But to answer your question, when you're doing a split you want to work the muscles that work together e.g. the Triceps are Synergists(or assistant) muscles to the chest when doing lifts such as a chest press. Biceps are Synergists or Stabilizers (depending on your grip) to the Back when doing lifts such as a Barbell Row. The shoulders actually assist/stabilize most lifts so you can actually throw them in either day (I personally work them with Back & Biceps). This also helps with not overtraining so you're not working the same muscles every day so they can rest...and grow.

dtf88 · December 2012

In short, you can work a muscle whenever you want as long as it doesn't get in the way of recovery.

People usually combine muscle groups based on whatever compound movement is done that day. So for example, on a day where somebody does bench press, they are hitting mostly chest, triceps, a little shoulders, so after they bench they will go continue to do tricep/chest /shoulder isolation movements since those muscles were already worked from the bench press, and they want to continue to add volume(weight x reps x sets) to their workout. The higher the volume, the longer the recovery time.

So basically, it matters to a degree in terms of how much volume you do, since you would essentially want to be fully recovered before your next workout for a muscle group to get optimum performance. For example, if you did a full body split 3 times a week, your volume for each muscle group would be quite low.

Jalyn77 · December 2012

This is all very helpful. Thank you. I'm not a total beginner with weight lifting, but am still learning. I really appreciate all this informaiton.

nml2011 · December 2012

3x full body workouts a week = hitting each body parts about 150 times a year.

5x body split workouts a week = hitting the body parts about 52 times a year.

Just a thought...

HMVOL7409 · December 2012

3x full body workouts a week = hitting each body parts about 150 times a year.

5x body split workouts a week = hitting the body parts about 52 times a year.

Just a thought...

While I see your thought; if I did full body routines I wouldn't be able to go as hard and heavy as if I split it. Think quality over quantity.

soliddreams · December 2012

www.simplyshredded.com/hst-the-complete-hypertrophy-specific-training-guide.html

There's a newbie start up guide for doing full body stuff. Like nml you can hit body parts more often if you do a full body workout, although eventually you're going to have to get so heavy that you simply wont be able to recover

nml2011 · December 2012

3x full body workouts a week = hitting each body parts about 150 times a year.

5x body split workouts a week = hitting the body parts about 52 times a year.

Just a thought...

While I see your thought; if I did full body routines I wouldn't be able to go as hard and heavy as if I split it. Think quality over quantity.

Maybe that does applies to you at present... but all my main compound lifts are equal to or above one to one and a half times my own bodyweight and I add to the bar pretty much every session.

I've done 5 days splits in the past and making much better progress since switching back to full body.

Coupled with carb backloading I can go hard every session, recover well and do other sports on my rest days.

Tricep_A_Tops · December 2012

Here is my program/split, it provides the perfect amount of rest (which is very important) between work days for every muscle group. I have seen awesome results using this program/split.

Mon: Legs & Calves
Tue: Back, Bi's & Ab's
Thur: Chest, Tri's
Sat: Shoulders, Traps & Ab's.

Weight lifting - Combining muscle groups per workout

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