I'm on a full body lifting routine twice a week on wednesday and saturday. I do Bench, Military Press, Incline, Toe Raises(Sit and Stand), Crunches, Leg lifts, Curls, Upright Rows, Lateral Raises, Skull Crushers, Lunges, and Squats. Should I be doing exercises that work similar muscles after each other? For instance, Should I bench press and then do Incline Press next because they work similary muscles? Or should I do the exercises further apart (e. g. Bench, Toe Raise, Squat, Incline Press)? What is better for me and why?

It's kind of tough to say... If you work related muscle groups together, you will fatigue them faster. What this means is that if you do bench and then move to shoulders,, the shoulders' role in the bench has already put significant stress on them, and you will not be able to lift as much as you might have if you started fresh. On the plus side, those muscle fibers already have a pump going and it will be like pulling an extra set for them.

Conversely, working unrelated muscle groups back to back allows for more recovery time and will probably increase your lifts. Not to mention that you can do squats during the rest period between benching sets (for example) and cut your gym time in half as well as keeping the workout aerobic.

So it depends on how you feel about it, how your body responds and what your goals are. If you're lifting HEAVY I would recommend the latter, but probably not doing 2 exercises between sets.

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Keep your body lean, your blood clean and your mind sharp. -Rollins

Thanks. But what about people who are on splits? I'm lifting somewhat heavy (6-8 reps x 3 sets) Don't people on splits work only a few muscles each day to train them more?

Yep. I have a 4 day split currently. Looks like this:

Sun: chest/tri
Mon: cardio
Tue: legs
Wed: shoulders/abs
Thurs: cardio
Fri: Back/Bi
Sat: cardio or outside activity.

Theres a lot of ways to run a split... none are necessarily "right" but sometimes you just need to change things up. For a 3 day split, you might try something like:

1: chest/tri/shoulders
2: legs/abs
3: back/bi/calves

or

1: chest/back
2: legs/shoulders/calves
3: bi/tri/abs

Just examples...

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Keep your body lean, your blood clean and your mind sharp. -Rollins

[This message has been edited by Naxis (edited 07-10-2003).]

Hi Naxis, could you please list the specific exercises you do on your chest/tri, shoulders/abs, and back/bi days. thx

I change the exercises almost every time. I take the holistic approach: I *feel* the workout. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

Seriously, I just like to keep things changing so I don't have a chance to adapt. I use primarily free weights and employ pyramids, drop sets, volume training, HIT, slow eccentrics - not necessarily every time, but if it feels stagnant or if I want to hit a muscle really hard, I try one of the other methods. Served me well so far. The only real constant I have right now are pullups and pushups which I do on non-lifting days before cardio. Sometimes I'll start back day with a few sets of pullups too.

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Keep your body lean, your blood clean and your mind sharp. -Rollins

I noticed you don't have a lot of rest in your program. Is it really not needed that much? Or does one only really need rest from weight lifting and not cardio? In other words, cardio acts as the rest day?

You will get differing opinions on this, but for muscle recovery, cardio doesn't really count against you. I do cardio almost every day, even on lifting days (although not listed). At least I plan on it. Then if something comes up or I simply do not feel up to it, I don't do it and I have no guilt about it. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

Only thing to think about is after leg day or general overtraining. I keep cardio light or short the day after leg day and if I start to get achy or fatigued or sick, I lay off, but I try to do something active every day that I am able. A lot of people say that one whole day of rest a week is necessary, and that's fine too, but I don't choose to follow that and have had no adverse effects thus far. Saturdays are kind of a rest day - I like to go hiking/rock climbing which sometimes is more strenuous than HIIT, but a LOT more fun. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/wink.gif

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Keep your body lean, your blood clean and your mind sharp. -Rollins

Thanks for the info Naxis! I've been working out for about 8 weeks this summer, trying to cut a little while keeping muscle, and I haven't been able to keep a single program going for more than a couple weeks without thinking I should change it. Any estimate for how long getting my bf% down from 13 to 8 will take. I'm 6'3 200lbs. I guess I might just be impatient with all this. I wouldn't call myself a beginner as I've been lifting since I was 14, but I've never been on a GOOD program for more than a few weeks. Thanks for all the help