Separating exercises during workout days.

[fixationdarknes]

I have a question. Let's say on day-1 you do Chest/Shoulders/Tri. Maybe your routine looks like this-

Day-1:
-Incline Bench Press
-Chest Flies
-Flat Bench Press
-Military Press
-Lateral Raises
-Narrow-Grip Bench

What's the best way to organize all of the exercises that work the same muscle? Do you want to group them all together so that you do all the chest exercises first, then you do all the shoulders, and then do all the triceps? Or is it better to do, for example: 1 Chest exercise, 1 Shoulder, 1 Tricep, 1 Chest, 1 Shoulder, 1 Tricep, 1 Chest... <--- as to let that muscle rest and be able to lift more after it's rested? Or will doing that spread out technique not stimulate the muscles as much because they're getting a lot of rest inbetween the exercises? Spam me up, boys.

Any help is appreciated. TIA.

[firas]

1st things 1st every1 is diff, and thebest routine is the one you find works for you.

i would recommend doing the exercises in groups, of body part because you can concentrate on a muscle group at a time and you can guage what changes need to be made to your routine next session more easily. also be sure to contantly change the order so for eg. one session do: BP, IBP, FLY, MP, LR, CGBP and then next session do: IBP, FLY, BP, MP, LR, CGBP.

If you train for bodybuilding as opposed to strength/mass then do your larger muscles later to help symmetricalise ur physique, if you want pure bulk, then always start with the most compund movement (generally the one that allows the most weight shifting) with a bar and move on from there to do the other(s) with dumbbells.

u seem to be on the tried and tested routine of push, pull, legs which works well but you tend to fatigue out the smaller muscle groups early. once you've settled in with it (say 3 months or so) try something like back/chest, legs, shoulders/arms, you'll get immediate benefits purely from the change but see how it works out over a few months.

[fixationdarknes]

1st things 1st every1 is diff, and thebest routine is the one you find works for you.

i would recommend doing the exercises in groups, of body part because you can concentrate on a muscle group at a time and you can guage what changes need to be made to your routine next session more easily. also be sure to contantly change the order so for eg. one session do: BP, IBP, FLY, MP, LR, CGBP and then next session do: IBP, FLY, BP, MP, LR, CGBP.

If you train for bodybuilding as opposed to strength/mass then do your larger muscles later to help symmetricalise ur physique, if you want pure bulk, then always start with the most compund movement (generally the one that allows the most weight shifting) with a bar and move on from there to do the other(s) with dumbbells.

u seem to be on the tried and tested routine of push, pull, legs which works well but you tend to fatigue out the smaller muscle groups early. once you've settled in with it (say 3 months or so) try something like back/chest, legs, shoulders/arms, you'll get immediate benefits purely from the change but see how it works out over a few months.

Cool, thanks for the info. But you say maybe switch to something like back/chest, legs, shoulders/arms later? Is it really that good to work 2 major muscles of your body in one day? I've never really tried it, so I don't know.

[txterry]

I used to work 2 muscle groups at a time when I went to the gym 3x a week
Legs/Abs
Back/Biceps
Chest/Triceps

But now I go 6x a week I work a single group each session. Lets me try different exercises and work the muscle different ways. I also have more energy to complete the workout.
Do it according to your schedule and available workout time.

[fixationdarknes]

I used to work 2 muscle groups at a time when I went to the gym 3x a week
Legs/Abs
Back/Biceps
Chest/Triceps

But now I go 6x a week I work a single group each session. Lets me try different exercises and work the muscle different ways. I also have more energy to complete the workout.
Do it according to your schedule and available workout time.

That wasn't my question though. I wanted to know about the exercises done in a given day, on how to spread them out or separate them or not to at all. I was just curious which way worked the best.

[txterry]

Sorry about that fixation.
I like to work a muscle to exhaustion then move to the next exercise. And I do the larger groups first so as not to tire the smaller group of muscles till the end of the workout.
The exception is when Im supersetting different muscle groups.

[BaamIce]

I group them together. e.g. Chest: flat, incline, flat DB Tricep: skull crusher, cable push-downs. This works best for me because i get more power out of the triceps while benching. I think by alternating chest/tricep exercises i wouldnt be able to lift as heavy on bench or DB cause of tricep fatigue

[fixationdarknes]

Sorry about that fixation.
I like to work a muscle to exhaustion then move to the next exercise. And I do the larger groups first so as not to tire the smaller group of muscles till the end of the workout.
The exception is when Im supersetting different muscle groups.

So, this means that you'd work all of one muscle group separately and not mix in different exercises with each other as to give rest to those muscles?

[Adam]

I group all of my sets together for a given muscle. Ex. bench, skulls, military press. Then db rows, chins, pullovers
This cuts down on wamup times and makes the workout alot shorter.

[fixationdarknes]

I group all of my sets together for a given muscle. Ex. bench, skulls, military press. Then db rows, chins, pullovers
This cuts down on wamup times and makes the workout alot shorter.

Wait, I'm confused. So, you do- Chest, Triceps, Shoulders. Then, you do Back, Back, and Chest. I'm lost.

[txterry]

Fixation,
Correct, I do not mix exercises, and only change to the next one when Im done with the current exercise. Ive found my muscles to grow better if I keep them under constant stress and work them to exhaustion instead of working them once then coming back a litttle later to gear them up again.
The simple way I look at it, 'reps' are to get a muscle engaged ,and 'sets' are to give a little recovery time, before the reps start again, perhaps to prevent lactic acid buildup, and to alllow pyramiding if you do that.
Ive not seen results on myself with supersetting different groups and mixing exercises, which I might do if shorter gym time was important to my workout.

[Songsangnim]

If you train for bodybuilding as opposed to strength/mass then do your larger muscles later to help symmetricalise ur physique,

once you've settled in with it (say 3 months or so) try something like back/chest, legs, shoulders/arms, you'll get immediate benefits purely from the change but see how it works out over a few months.


No, this is wrong. If you do your larger muscles later, say chest for example they will become even less symmetrical. Why? Think about it. For most chest exercises you use your triceps and shoulders as well. If you work your triceps and shoulders first, they will become stronger and bigger (assuming you do it right). But if you do chest after shoulders and triceps, the latter two muscle groups will be fatigued and not able to assist as much. Therefore your chest exercises will soon become limited (in terms of weight), while your shoulder and tricep exercises should continue to progress. This will likely result in well-developed shoulders and triceps, but a poorly developed chest.

He may not get any benefits from change, and the program you suggested seems better for advanced trainers. To name just one example doing chest and back together is a tough workout.

[Songsangnim]

I have a question. Let's say on day-1 you do Chest/Shoulders/Tri. Maybe your routine looks like this-

Day-1:
-Incline Bench Press
-Chest Flies
-Flat Bench Press
-Military Press
-Lateral Raises
-Narrow-Grip Bench

What's the best way to organize all of the exercises that work the same muscle? Do you want to group them all together so that you do all the chest exercises first, then you do all the shoulders, and then do all the triceps? .

This is the way I do it, and so do many others. I would say that this is the best way to organize your workout.

[firas]

ExtremeAnabolic you seem to have misunderstood me, what I meant was if you are training for bodybuilding (e.g. leading to a contest physique) and you're chest is well developed but your shoulders/tris are lagging then train chest last since contest judges will dock you marks for one part being more overly developed than others. hence,

"If you train for bodybuilding as opposed to strength/mass then do your larger muscles later to help symmetricalise ur physique"

my wording may have not been ideal I should have said train your more developed muscles later.


Cool, thanks for the info. But you say maybe switch to something like back/chest, legs, shoulders/arms later? Is it really that good to work 2 major muscles of your body in one day? I've never really tried it, so I don't know..

the old push, pull, legs routine is ideal for anyone who has limited time to go to the gym whatever level. a lot of people i've worked with use it and have made big strength/size gains, the main disadvantage you have here is that for example if you do your push day as chest, shoulders then tris by the time you reach your triceps your muscles are so fatigued you can't really push (excuse the pun) them any further.

by doing chest and back in the same session, when you do chest you aren't working the back muscles in any sense other than as stabilisers. this is as was mentioned by extremeanabolic a little more advanced but if you stick religiously to a gym program of 3-4 days a week for about 3 months there's no reason why you couldn't change to the mentioned routine, if you do move to this routine at some point then u can even switch around which comes first ie. one week do back first next week do chest first. then after another 3 months or so switch back.

[Rik-s]

I have a question. Let's say on day-1 you do Chest/Shoulders/Tri. Maybe your routine looks like this-

Day-1:
-Incline Bench Press
-Chest Flies
-Flat Bench Press
-Military Press
-Lateral Raises
-Narrow-Grip Bench

What's the best way to organize all of the exercises that work the same muscle? Do you want to group them all together so that you do all the chest exercises first, then you do all the shoulders, and then do all the triceps? Or is it better to do, for example: 1 Chest exercise, 1 Shoulder, 1 Tricep, 1 Chest, 1 Shoulder, 1 Tricep, 1 Chest... <--- as to let that muscle rest and be able to lift more after it's rested? Or will doing that spread out technique not stimulate the muscles as much because they're getting a lot of rest inbetween the exercises? Spam me up, boys.

Any help is appreciated. TIA.

Day-1:
-Flat Bench Press
-Incline Bench Press
-Narrow-Grip Bench
-Chest Flies
-Military Press
-Lateral Raises

^^ I'd personally do it in that order(as an example), your chest being the bigger muscle group tends to take more exersion. If this is your routine theres not much you can do to limit the tri work, they're gonna get hit hard regardless. But i definatly feel its best to work the bigger muscle groups first and then hit the smaller ones or move to isolation lifts.

On another note i wouldnt go doing "1 Chest exercise, 1 Shoulder, 1 Tricep, 1 Chest, 1 Shoulder, 1 Tricep, 1 Chest". Essentially your not alowing your Triceps any recovery time at all, which will totally kill and overtrain them. Different matter if it was "1.chest 2.Abs 3. squat", just make sure your not hitting ANY muscle group constantly without resting them.

Personal preferance but i find it hard to bench heavy after i've already killed my shoulders or tri's :)

Hope that helps.

[fixationdarknes]

Thanks to everyone who replied.

[Songsangnim]

ExtremeAnabolic you seem to have misunderstood me, what I meant was if you are training for bodybuilding (e.g. leading to a contest physique) and you're chest is well developed but your shoulders/tris are lagging then train chest last since contest judges will dock you marks for one part being more overly developed than others. hence,

"If you train for bodybuilding as opposed to strength/mass then do your larger muscles later to help symmetricalise ur physique"

(1) my wording may have not been ideal I should have said train your more developed muscles later.



(2) the old push, pull, legs routine is ideal for anyone who has limited time to go to the gym whatever level. a lot of people i've worked with use it and have made big strength/size gains, the main disadvantage you have here is that for example if you do your push day as chest, shoulders then tris by the time you reach your triceps your muscles are so fatigued you can't really push (excuse the pun) them any further.

(3) by doing chest and back in the same session, when you do chest you aren't working the back muscles in any sense other than as stabilisers. this is as was mentioned by extremeanabolic a little more advanced but if you stick religiously to a gym program of 3-4 days a week for about 3 months there's no reason why you couldn't change to the mentioned routine, if you do move to this routine at some point then u can even switch around which comes first ie. one week do back first next week do chest first. then after another 3 months or so switch back.


(numbers are mine)

1. I agree with you here.

2. Push, pull, legs is a good routine. What I meant was that simply because he changes he may not necessarily get benefits.

3. Doing chest and back in the same workout is tough precisely as "when you do chest, you aren't working the back muscles in any sense other than stabilizers". Let me use myself for an example. A chest routine I use from time to time is to perform 50 reps of dips (however many sets it takes) and then finish off with two heavy sets of flyes. Try doing 4 sets of 315+ lb deadlifts after those. It's darn near impossible (for me at any rate). And I have been working out for 14 years. I'd think he'd get better gains from separating the two. Both are such large muscle groups that to work them hard and throughly, most people do not have enough energy to do them both on the same day. That said some people here do that and see good gains (but they tend to be highly advanced lifters).