Strength Training

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MissFit0101
MissFit0101 Posts: 2,382
in Fitness and Exercise
Okay! I have a genuine question, so please bare with me. I've only done P90X at home but now I'm going to the gym and doing some real strength training. The programs or plans I've found (mostly on bodybuilding.com), all focus on different body parts like 4 days a week. My question is, instead of doing all the upper body training on separate days, could I just do all of upper body one day, lower body the next, then just alternate? Is there any reason for me not to do that? Or is there a reason I should do back on it's own day, then biceps and triceps on a different day, then shoulders and chest on a different day and finally legs on the last day? Sorry if it's a dumb question but if I follow this sort of plan I'm only going to target each body part once a week. I would prefer twice a week.

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  • amonkey9
    amonkey9 Posts: 94
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    I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. Just switch up the actual things you do :)
  • oaker
    oaker Posts: 132 Member
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    I think you would be better of using compound movements 3 times per week rather than focus on certain bodyparts. Just my opinion, but check out Starting Strength, Stronglifts 5x5 or New Rules of Lifting. These are simpler programs that focus on the entire body each workout.
  • addisondisease
    addisondisease Posts: 664 Member
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    Is you goal to become a body builder?

    No: Why are you taking advice from body builders?

    Yes: Great, don't mess with what you were given then.
  • wmartin8
    wmartin8 Posts: 22
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    It all depends on your goals. If you want to bodybuild then 1 body-part a day is usually the way to go as you can give all of your energy to developing that particular area. For weight loss and toning however circuit training is the way to go. lots of reps hitting as many body parts as possible for maximum calorie burn.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    My only point would be that if you combined the whole workouts it is probably too much for one day. You may jsut want to eliminate a couple of exercises.
  • poustotah
    poustotah Posts: 1,121 Member
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    Focusing on one group on your strength training days enables you build muscle for that one group. In the long term, you will have a more defined tone to your muscles. This is especially helpful if you want to increase your lean muscle mass. Compound movements help to burn calories AND build muscle over a longer period of time. When I do compound movements, I burn more calories than when I focus on a particular muscle group so I've incoporated compound movements into my circuit training.
  • MinnesotaManimal
    MinnesotaManimal Posts: 642 Member
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    I think you would be better of using compound movements 3 times per week rather than focus on certain bodyparts. Just my opinion, but check out Starting Strength, Stronglifts 5x5 or New Rules of Lifting. These are simpler programs that focus on the entire body each workout.

    This is pretty solid advice, there really is no need to focus on isolating muscles out until you have maxed out gains on compound lifts. And this is not just for body builders, lifting heavy with 5-8 reps will give you a smaller tighter body.

    see



    http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/
  • MissFit0101
    MissFit0101 Posts: 2,382
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    I think you would be better of using compound movements 3 times per week rather than focus on certain bodyparts. Just my opinion, but check out Starting Strength, Stronglifts 5x5 or New Rules of Lifting. These are simpler programs that focus on the entire body each workout.

    This is pretty solid advice, there really is no need to focus on isolating muscles out until you have maxed out gains on compound lifts. And this is not just for body builders, lifting heavy with 5-8 reps will give you a smaller tighter body.

    see



    http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

    thanks to both of you!
  • tgh1914
    tgh1914 Posts: 1,036 Member
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    I think you would be better of using compound movements 3 times per week rather than focus on certain bodyparts. Just my opinion, but check out Starting Strength, Stronglifts 5x5 or New Rules of Lifting. These are simpler programs that focus on the entire body each workout.
    It kinda depends on the type of workout it is. Oaker ^^^ is referring to workouts that are designed for relatively beginning-intermediate lifters. They incorporate large compound moves that work many muscles across more than 1 muscle group, like squats. They tend to have you working out about 3-4 x a week. These are ideal for new lifters to maximize strength gains. They usually involve less total exercises because the compound moves incorporate so much anyway.

    Other workouts, though, are made more for experienced lifters that have already approached their genetic potential and now are specifically isolating muscles. They tend to hit a specific muscle group hard and allow for plenty of recovery time before hitting it again (more than 2 days). These workouts tend to have many more exercises and usually only involve one muscle group per day (and typically have you working out at least 5 x a week).

    Of course there are a TON of poorly designed workouts that blend these two things irrationally. Too many folks in the gym just kinda go through various exercises willy nilly depending on what they're in the mood for or what equipment they're familiar with.

    If you're a relative beginner I'd def suggest the former. In which case you're probably doing large compound exercises (squats, deadlifts, presses, etc) and I wouldn't mess with the combination too much. If your workout sounds more like the isolation-type, it may not be the right kind of wo for you.

    Hope this helps.
  • rjmwx81
    rjmwx81 Posts: 259 Member
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    The problem with doing upper body/lower body/upper body is it doesn't leave much recovery time for the muscles. If you're doing heavy weight/low reps, you're going to be pretty sore. If you do upper body on Monday, you may be too sore to lift up to your full potential if you do upper body again on Wednesday, for example. This derailed my weight loss more times than I could count...I'd be too sore so I wouldn't bother with the gym at all..and a skipped day turned into a skipped week, which turned into a skipped month.

    So to combat that, I split things up each muscle group only gets hit once a week, but I hit it hard with as heavy a weight as I can manage. For example, I do back and biceps on Mondays, legs Wednesdays, and chest and triceps on Fridays, with cardio on the days in between, and for each exercise I do 4 sets: one of 10 repetitions, two of 8, and one of 6. For each set, I increase the weight, so that by the end of that last set it's nearly impossible to lift it and I'm struggling like crazy to complete it. Even though I'm doing fewer repetitions, I'm burning plenty of calories because lifting the heavy weight requires a ton of effort and gets the heart rate up pretty quickly.
  • elainecroft
    elainecroft Posts: 595 Member
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    I found it was easier for me to stick with programs like "Body Pump" which work all the muscle groups, but just alternate (i.e. quads, biceps, then hamstrings, triceps, etc). It kept me from getting discouraged when having to do the muscles I didn't like, b/c I knew it would be over soon.
  • dvredwine
    dvredwine Posts: 3
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    It really is trial and error to se what works for YOU. I started out by doing "full body" workouts and got leaner and stronger, but still only weighed 165. Not very big for a man 5'10" and 35 at the time. Months later i decided to do specific muscles on specific days for a total fo 4 days a week. It took awhile, but now i weight 185 and am very fit, not just fat.
  • JamesonsMommy
    JamesonsMommy Posts: 771 Member
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    Do whatever works best for you :) I usually workout 5 to 6 days a week alternating upper and lower body on top of my daily cardio :)
  • bahacca
    bahacca Posts: 878 Member
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    I think you would be better of using compound movements 3 times per week rather than focus on certain bodyparts. Just my opinion, but check out Starting Strength, Stronglifts 5x5 or New Rules of Lifting. These are simpler programs that focus on the entire body each workout.

    This is pretty solid advice, there really is no need to focus on isolating muscles out until you have maxed out gains on compound lifts. And this is not just for body builders, lifting heavy with 5-8 reps will give you a smaller tighter body.

    see



    http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/
    Nick-I'm going to kiss you for posting this. Staci is JUST what I needed to see. I showed it to my husband and he even said "Yeah-you can look like that. Just don't use heavy weight or you'll look like a man." I said "She dead lifts over 300 lbs!!!" I lived in the weight section in college and, for whatever reason, have been afraid to venture back there. This was the push I needed. Thanks again!
  • Cueball55
    Cueball55 Posts: 152 Member
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    I'm not sure there's a catch all answer to that question, but for me, I like to combine similar movements as to work all muscles in that general movement (meaning push or pull) and then specific isolation excersises. I know that's not very clear, but here:

    One day is pulling excersises: Back and Biceps. If you say did a pull-up, you're working not only your back, but your biceps. I typically would superset a pullup and a hammer curl. Another superset would be a bent over row, and barbell curls.

    Day two would be pushing excersises: Chest and Triceps. I would combine a bench press with a skull crusher. Another example would be a traditional chest style dip with a tricep dip (legs elevated, bench behind you dipping).

    Day three would be shoulders and legs. Not exactly complimentary but it works for a superset of squats then a shoulder press. Or a deadlift with a clean and jerk.


    The reason why I start with that is because it's a great building block for future programs which you could tailor for where you want to target. I don't know, it's hard to just type all of this out. I hope it's clear.
  • denitraross
    denitraross Posts: 325 Member
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    You can come up with whatever plan works for you in the time you have - just couple things to keep in mind..don't work same body part two days in a row (one you need a rest day for muscle to recover, two - you shouldnt be able to do it two days in a row if you worked out hard enough the first day)...and try to do small muscle with a large muscle, like chest and back are big muscles and shoulders, biceps, triceps are smaller muscles if you can..you will get better results as you will be able to push more.....

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