am i doing too much?

[Rek]

hi all,
i was reading a post below about training the biceps too hard.
It made me think i am training my bi and tri muscles too much.

Coulds you please comment on the following:
once a week i do back and bi together, another day i do chest tri, another shoulder abs another legs.
2on, 1 off, 2 on, 2 off

Back and bi day:
2 set of:
wide pull up, med pull up, med chin, close chin
3 sets each:
lat pull down
close grip seated cable pull
standing wide grip ez-bar
inclined sitting dumbells
bent over row
cable curls
one arm concintration curls
I only just started the pull ups and curls, I didn't used to have them in there. I alternat the wide grip ez-bar with close grip preacher cul some weeks.

Chest tri day:
3 sets each:
bench press
decline press
incline dumbell press
flat bench flys
Barbell Lying Triceps Extension
cable push down with V bar
dips on side of bench
one arm push downs

I read this post...and it seems like alot to me.... but if I do less i leave the gym feeling like i didn't push as hard as I could...i mean i know i can do all the above, so it is hard to do less...

I have seen growth, but I am in my first 4 months so anything would probably work. One thing i noticed is I am getting alot of thickness in my bicep, but the peak isn't really growing...no baseball yet

Please feel free to comment, and modify this routine for me. Tel me what to remove/add etc... or better yet, tell me i am doing the right thing...although i doubt it!!

thanks!!!!!!!!!

 

[Ms Figure]

Hi Rik

Your exercises for arms look good but can i make a suggestion!

There is nothing wrong with the amount of exercises you are doing for biceps and triceps but you will have already pre-exhausted this muscle!

Ok to explain better when you train back on lat pull, chins etc your biceps are being trained as a secondary muscle so you are already pre-exhausting them! So to then go on at the end of back and train them as intensly as you do may well break them down rather than build them in other words overtrain them! I am not saying it is wrong to train back and biceps and the principle is the same for chest and triceps but what i tend to do is train my biceps and triceps together on a seperate day! I do the same sort of exercises as you and either train bis first then triceps or superset or whatever you want!

If you have the time and can do this i would recommend it because in this way you are not fatigued when it comes to arms and you are also in a way hitting them twice because as i said when you train back you are also getting them!

 

[gopro]

I believe that you are performing too many sets in your workouts. In general, you should be able to torch your chest and back with 9-10 total work sets and bi's and tri's with 6-7 total work sets. If you are truly training with enough intensity, this would be plenty. Remember, in order for growth to occur, we must recover. In order for recovery to occur, we must not overtrain. Do what I suugest and you will increase your progress. If you are worried about exercise varitey than switch up your routine every few weeks.

 

[Rek]

thanks folks.
gopro, i will try to reduce, and increase intencity..if possible, i go quite hard each set right now.

Ms Figure, how is your week split up? what muscle what days ?

I used to do:
chest bicep
back tricep
shoulder abs
legs

but now that I do pull-ups and chins i put back and bicep together because the biceps are worked so hard.

are you sugesting:
chest back
bicep tricep
shoulders abs
legs

thanks.

 

[Ms Figure]

Right routine

back
chest
Off
Legs
Shoulders / rear delts
Biceps / triceps

this is very similar to my workout! i find that this way you can consentrate on the major muscle groups such as back and chest! Do four exercises easily without fatigue! As i said earlier you will be hitting biecps in most back exercises and triceps on most chest exercises so in effect you will be hitting them twice which should bring them up nicely and you will definitly see how much stronger they become when you train bieceps and triceps on there own!

What you also have to understand is that triceps and biceps are stabalising muscles so as these get stronger so will your ability to lift more weight on chest and back exercises!

hope this helps!

 

[Ironguy]

Me too, but...

I had a similar time as you...too much. I was running into the problem of bicep cramping. You know, try to show off the hard ball of bicep only to have it cramp. OW!