Workout Plan Dilemma

Jet had posted this query in the last post;
" I have a query, What should be an ideal exercise schedule. I take two muscle parts a day, the muscle group should be two big muscles say chest n Back, or one big muscle + one small, say chest+ tricep , so on.... how to make out for an ideal combination."

This is a good topic that he has come up with. Many people are often anxious to know what kind of workout combination is best. So let's dig into little detail on this issue:

Combination of muscle group/day is something that varies a lot gym to gym. You might have noticed people doing chest+shoulder , chest+back or chest+ bicep. Out of these two i personally prefer alternating between the last two combinations from time to time.

There is a set of antagonistic muscles in the body:
1. Chest + Back
2. Bicep + Tricep
3. Thighs + Hamstrings


So a antagonist muscle workout would look like as:

DAY 1. CHEST + BACK
DAY 2. SHOULDER + CALVES
DAY 3. CARDIO + ABS
DAY 4. BACK + BICEP
DAY 5. LEGS + ABS
DAY 6. CARDIO
DAY 7. REST

Now when one muscles contracts the other extends and vice versa. For example, when bending the elbow and doing bicep curls, the biceps muscle contracts and is the agonist; the triceps muscle stretches and is the antagonist. When the movement is reversed and the elbow is extended, the triceps muscle contracts (is the agonist) and the biceps muscle lengthens (is the antagonist). Antagonistic pairs are needed in the body because muscles can only exert a pulling force, and can't push themselves back into their original positions.To push them back, the antagonistic counterpart is needed. This workout schedule is particularly beneficial for gaining serious strength. However since both the muscles are exercised on the same day, there is quite a considerable gap between two consecutive workouts of the same muscle group(7 days). Whenever we work out one muscle, the antagonist muscle is worked out to some extent. Again, doing chest and back on the same day can be energy sapping as both are big muscles.





Second classification is done on the basis of push n pull muslce types.
1. CHEST + TRICEP + SHOULDER : Push muscles ( most of the exercises involve push movements instead of pull movements)
2. BICEP + BACK: Pull Muscles ( Most of exerices involve pull motion)


So it's a good idea to combine a push exerice with a pull exercise. with this we can also maintain the balance that we do not workout two big muscles on a the same day. This also saves the timelag between two antagonist muscles being trained. So a workout based on this would look like the following:

DAY 1 Chest + Biceps
DAY 2 Legs + calfs
DAY 3 Cardio
DAY 4 Back + Abs
DAY 5 Shoulder + triceps
DAY 6 Cardio + Abs
DAY 7 Rest


However, different workout schedules may work out differently for different people. If the healing time for the body is more, then antagonist approach seems to be a better idea while if the muscles heal quickly, the second approach has more weight on its side.
However sticking to one schedule for a long time may actually slow down the growth. More on this in the next post.


Till then happy gyming!!!!!