Opposite Muscle Groups Together?

I am totally confused! Tonight I was working on one of my workouts (shoulder and traps) and a personal trainer who I always see at the gym asked me for a spot, and I started talking with him/asking questions. He told me you should work opposite muscles on the same day, aka bi’s and tri’s.

I, for the past 4 weeks, have been doing as follows, chest/tris, back/bi’s, legs, shoulders/traps.

Now, if I were to work opposites, what would it look like if i wanna hit each muscle twice a week? Thanks guys, I am just confused because there are a lot of opinions out there about same muscle groups etc.

A great and simple way tio get you into a oprogram like the one you talk about is to check out Chad Waterburys work. Go to the library and do an author search.

A great one would be ABBH. You will do horzontal pulling and pushing. verticle pyullin and pushing hip dom legs and quad dom legs each week.

The method you speak of is antagonist training by the way.

Another great one would be Charles Staleys EDT programs they work with antagonist pairs as well. You could do an author seacrh on him as well. I also have a thread. " MY EDT Critique" that is using his and some of Chads ideas now to do antagonist work.

The premiss behind it is that you actually rest the opposing muscle more by working its opposite. The one you just worked say Bis must rest while you trigger the tris.

But really all will work as well as the split you have. Just change it up from time to time.

Hope you can make some sense out of this broken Blabber,

Phill

There’s nothing wrong with working muscle groups that move alike. There is evidence that working antagonist muscles together creates a better output from both. For example, working back with chest, one primes the other for work and you may get more power from each set. Plus the pump you get from working opposites is unique in that you feel tight in front and back. Does that help?

[quote]BIGRAGOO wrote:
There’s nothing wrong with working muscle groups that move alike. There is evidence that working antagonist muscles together creates a better output from both. For example, working back with chest, one primes the other for work and you may get more power from each set. Plus the pump you get from working opposites is unique in that you feel tight in front and back. Does that help?[/quote]

Along with that, people need to get out of the idea that there is only one way to train. I have trained like that before. You don’t die if you train antagonistic body parts. The world doesn’t end, the fat lady doesn’t sing (unless you are at an Aretha Franklin concert), and you may actually gain some muscle mass…the horror.

[quote]Chadicus22 wrote:
I am totally confused! Tonight I was working on one of my workouts (shoulder and traps) and a personal trainer who I always see at the gym asked me for a spot, and I started talking with him/asking questions. He told me you should work opposite muscles on the same day, aka bi’s and tri’s.

I, for the past 4 weeks, have been doing as follows, chest/tris, back/bi’s, legs, shoulders/traps.

Now, if I were to work opposites, what would it look like if i wanna hit each muscle twice a week? Thanks guys, I am just confused because there are a lot of opinions out there about same muscle groups etc.[/quote]

If you knew how little difference that it made you probably wouldn’t waste any time thinking about it.

I have trained about every way that you can and have found no profound difference in the mix.

Here is one way you could do it if your goal is to hit each body part twice per week and train opposing muscles on the same day:

  1. Arms (Bi’s & Tri’s)-Neck-Legs (Quads & Hams)-Mon & Fri

  2. Back-Chest-Abs-Wed & Sun

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Along with that, people need to get out of the idea that there is only one way to train. I have trained like that before. You don’t die if you train antagonistic body parts. The world doesn’t end, the fat lady doesn’t sing (unless you are at an Aretha Franklin concert), and you may actually gain some muscle mass…the horror.[/quote]

So true! Many are in the rut of grouping the pushers together and then the pullers. I agree that mixing it up is a very good idea, and can get one out of a rut and, like you said, add new mass.

the trainer also told me to place more emphasis on form instead of weight, to resist heavily on the decline of the movement, and to become tuned in more with which muscle you were pulling with. I thought it was good advice! Also, it was weird spotting a guy doing 225 on close grip bench :stuck_out_tongue: I felt weak lol!

I think what everyone is saying is dont overthink it. All methods work.

Yes for a someone just starting out it IMO is a good idea to concentrate on form. Dropping the ego and lifting Right. Learning to fire and building your strength and tendons joints and such. Avoiding injury, etc. Then after a time you will find that cheating a bit to move more weight from time to time can also do wonders.

Going to failure can do wonders as well. I feel even more so in new trainiees as they are not really failing. Their Mind is failing. It is telling them they cant move more but with time they learn thier real failing point. How to recruit all the fibers and how the mind can be a powerfull tool.

In short it all works. have a BIG tool box. You bdoint have to use it all at once but try them all out. switch it up and find what works best for you, your body and mind.

Hope that helps,
Phill

[quote]Chadicus22 wrote:
Also, it was weird spotting a guy doing 225 on close grip bench :stuck_out_tongue: I felt weak lol![/quote]

If 225 is a good close-grip bench, then I’m not too far behind. I used 195 a couple weeks ago. :wink: