Thread: Arms on Seperate Day?

I usually split up back/bis + chest / tris or back/tris + chest / bis for a switch, or arms after a leg day or a break. That's a serious pre-exhaust of the support muscles (arms) after a heavy major muscle day. Its fine to do a push/pull schedule but you'd really want to at least take a day rest between. Else overtraining. I also have concerns about overtraining upper body as shoulders & elbows take a lot of the brunt of the work - if you're tired (e.g. doing arms the day after back/chest), you're also setting yourself up for the already tires muscles to be covered by secondary muscles that aren't supposed to be doing all the work. IMO this is a recipe for tendonitis at the least.

See thats exactly what I was thinking.

Cause my biceps are sore after back day. And my triceps are sore after chest day.

Why would I go in the next day and lift sore?

Just seems pointless.

I concur with Sassy on the tendinitis issues. I did this routine for about a month.
Day 1 : Chest/back
Day 2 : Arms

Result was a little gain, a lot of muscle fatigue/overtraining and now I'm trying to recuperate from strains/pains in the pectoralis minor and acromioclavicular ligament (where the clavicle meets the acromion) and elbow joints. So this was a really bad idea to do a routine like that and it's also put a significant damper on bench pressing since I can't put much weight on either chest/shoulder muscle group right now.

A one or more day break in between those two is a must do. I switched to a push/pull bi/tri workout so now I have a 3 day break between chest or back workouts and my arm workouts and since chest workout sucks for now I'm hammering my legs.

Alright. Thanks Sassy and T. I'm glad to know my suspicion of this routine was correct.

Thanks for the info, advice, and even real life experience with the routine. Wasn't expecting that!

Even if you did this routine, why would you chose that order?
Wouldn't
Day 1: Chest/back, Day 2: Legs, Day 3: Arms
be the obvious choice?

Originally Posted by PushAndPull

Even if you did this routine, why would you chose that order?
Wouldn't
Day 1: Chest/back, Day 2: Legs, Day 3: Arms
be the obvious choice?

Maybe, maybe not, it all depends on the individual's genetics and personal priorities.

In my case, I've always struggled with my leg development, therefore I put my legs as the first bodypart to be trained every week. Followed by chest then back because my chest development lags behind my back. By prioritizing, you can hit your weakest bodypart early in the week when you have the most strength to really work it hard.

I shouldn't have said obvious, because what works for one person doesn't always work for another.
I hear what you're saying about priorities and wanting to focus on weaker areas, but you have to be careful about wearing out the stronger areas. I like prioritizing a day, say chest/back or bi/tri, and pick the weaker of the two to start with so you have more energy to focus on your weaker area. As far as planning the workout week, my priorities are to get as much rest as possible for all my muscles, regardless of which ones are doing well. I do prioritize muscles, but trying to aviod injuries is a higher priority.