Is it better to work your back and biceps one day and your chest and triceps another?

Question

My trainer has me working big muscles and little ones. She has me doing back and triceps one day and chest and biceps another. Would it be better to work biceps with the back, like when doing pullups, and chest and triceps at the same time, like when doing push-ups?

Answer 1

I think that's pretty reasonable. You could alternate those, but the problem with that is that you'd be working triceps one day with bench press, then working them again the next day with tricep exercises, and that doesn't allow much opportunity for them to recover. Same goes with back and biceps - most back exercises utilize biceps in the movement so if you do biceps a different day, again it's not allowing much chance for your biceps to recover.

As you've probably heard, strength training stresses the muscles by creating tiny tears in the fibers, which actually take a few days to heal. If done correctly, these tears will heal along with added muscle fibers in response to the stresses being put on them(adaptive muscle growth). If these tears are not allowed adequate time to heal, new fibers won't be added, or worse, you could see diminishing returns.

This is why it's so important to be strategic in your lifting routines. Of course, there are many routines out there that target different things, and I'm sure there's a routine out there that does alternate muscle groups, but I think it's generally accepted that doing what your trainer is suggesting is correct in most cases.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Well, different bodybuilders have different styles. Of course, everyone agrees that it's the compound movements (bench, squat, lat pull downs, etc.) that should be your bread and butter. Some people do chest and tris, back and bis on two separate days and others do chest and back on one day and then isolation movements for the biceps and triceps on another. The trick is to find out what works best for you. Also, after you've been doing this a while, you might want to mix things up as your body will plateau. So, for example, I might do back and chest one day and arms one day for several weeks, then switch to chest and triceps
one day and back and biceps one day for several weeks. This way your body is constantly having to adjust: less fat, more muscle, etc.

Answer 3

When I work out, I ususally work the chest and triceps on the same day, as well as back and biceps. With the bench press, a compound exercise, you work the chest when lowering the bar to your chest, and mostly arm (triceps and shoulders) when pushing the bar back up. For curls, you are using yor back muscles to help pull the bar up, and, of course, biceps. I would talk to your trainer to see what her theory is. Good luck!

Answer 4

Seems reasonable. In general, I'm a fan of doing body-weight exercises, as they tend to provide better core training and you can do them when you're out running (sometimes) and not at the gym. P.S. If you want to work abs along with a bunch of other stuff try Chinese pushups. I can do 50 regular pushups in a set, but only 1-3 Chinese pushups. They are VERY hard. :-)

Answer 5

I dont think it matters that much. I do chest and biceps on the same day.