Exercise grouping

[ericstretch]

Hi everybody,

I'm pretty new to ShapeFIt but right away it sure seems like a pretty amazing resource... if not a little overwhelming. What I wanted to ask though is a question about properly grouping exercises e.g. pairing them properly, doing too much or too little on a certain day and also allowing enough time for recovery. What I'm trying to achieve is general strength training, as well as some size gain and I've found that the following exercises seem to work well for me and plus I just plain enjoy doing them . So what I've got is bench press, squats, deadlift, clean and jerks, shrugs, good mornings, barbell rows, military press and barbell curls. At some point I was given the advice that if I wanted to improve strength and gain muscle mass I needed to concentrate on the big compound exercises and so that's what I've been trying to do, but the problem I'm having now is how to split all these exercises up without overlapping muscle groups too badly. I work out 5 days a week, always in the mornings and with Tuesday's and Friday's off. So if anyone has any advice for me, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Boss Man]

One way is to use the 5 days and do a 5 day split.

So something like this would work.

Day 1 Legs

Day 2. Chest

Day 3. Back

Day 4. Shoulders

Day 5. Bi's and Tri's

You're getting a good split on the off days, as there's 2 workout days inbetween the off days, so you're not going to be doing 5 days straight and 2 back to back off days.

The main thing with opposing muscle groups is to work them equally, so the same number of reps and sets for Quads and Hamstrings, Bi's and Tri's and also Chest and the Lats / Traps area of the back.

Some compound exercises, like Good Mornings, Deadlifts, Squats etc, utilise the lower back, stomach or both, so there's no need to be gung ho on things like Abs exercises, but if you put any in, things like Planks, Romain Chairs, Leg Raises, etc are all good ones.

If you're doing a 5 day split, then good Bicep and Tricep exercises include things like E-Z Bar Curls, Reverse E-Z Bar Curls, Hammer Curls, Dips, Pressdowns.

Just remember that rowing exercises will hit the Biceps to some extent and pressing exercises will hit the Triceps to some extent.