Push and Pull; Destroying a Myth.
Every so often in the gym, someone ask me, "what are you training today", my response is usually it's chest and tri day, of chest and back superset day, leg day etc. I usually return the kind geuster with the same question and often hear the response "it's push and pull day". The other night I was laying in bed, thinking about training, and that "push and pull day" keep echoing in my thoughts. So I began to analyze it, more thoroughly in depth. As I was thinking about it, a light bulb went off in my head. How can there be a push and pull day when there's no muscle that pushes. Think about this for a sec, the bicep, contracts and pulls in, the opposite to that would be the tricep. The triceps contract and forces the arm downward. So there is no push muscle, they both contract along with every other muscle we have. For another example, take the bench press. When we lower the bar down to our chest, our lats contract and cause the weight to move towards us, and on the upward part of the motion of pectoralis contract and force our arms together causing the upward motion of the exercise. I understand what they mean when they say that, but do they? Do they really know the purpose of the muscle and how it interacts with other muscle to perform the task ask of it? Do you believe in your opinion it is beneficial to do a "push and pull" day? I personally don't see any logical reason why. Maybe you can add to the subject.
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Right when I was lookin for some new training ideas I stumble upon this thread and all my questions and thoughts were already answerd.....thanx fellas!.....lol
I never got the whole push pull thing..." I'm doing push day" "so that means chest shoulders triceps quads and calves?" "No chest shoulders and tris." ".... You couldn't have just said that?"
The only time I ever do a pull/push day is if I'm doing full upper body workouts and full lower body workouts. So while I'm working everything out, I'll emphasize push or tri chest and shoulders more than back bi and traps. That means I'll have an even push to pull 1:1 ratio on a push day but on a pull day it's like 3:1.
RustyhookerOn cycle i like irishmacks one below. Easy enough to drop set or switch reps/sets to shock muscles.
Push pull is old term that makes perfect sense to my age group. Push pull....chest/bis or back/tris. But I'm no genious on vernacular. I pick it up til im tired and repeat. Lol.
I like to stick with the major lifts, and keep it old school. My favorite routine is monday, chest and back superset. Tuesday, shoulders, arms, forearms. Wednesday, Legs. Than repeat. I do calves EOD, they heal relatively fast, abs are everyday... I like to do romain chairs, as I get mentally intuned with myself and the task before me, it's a warm up both mentally and physically. I found H.IT and superseting has produce the greatest growth.
Why not try ONE bodypart pr day and see how that boosts growth........ thats what i do when i fancy swapping things around.
The thing I do like about that is in a half hour I'm wasted. I'm out in half the time and have spent nearly 3 times as much time on one muscle. I can't even curl a 20 lb barbell when through.
Thanks for taking the time to comment vike, Ill give it a go come tomorrow, just killed delts and traps today...
When i do the one bodypart thing i always like to blast abs after chest to get that real balanced roman soldier chest/ab armour look.... if you check my pics you will see what i mean bro.
@ Greg.... i know what you mean bro those 20s are like lifting cars after a real hardcore blast.
I see what you mean, good proportioned, very solid looking. Now since I train chest/tris twice a week, then should I only focus on trains abs on those days? Right now, I've been starting every session with an 15 minutes of consistent ab work. Romain Chairs, Russian Twist, Flutter Kicks, Reverse Crunches... I like to plank between sets, to keep the intensity, but at the same time, I can recover a little.
What are some of your go-to ab exercises? I have trouble developing my lower abs. Even when my diet is good and body fat is down, just cant seem to get them to pop out.
for lowers hanging knee raises until failure for 3 sets........... uppers it weighted incline crunches for me, and i use a swiss ball for overall core definition and strength.
that works great too, when I think im plateuing I switch to 1 muscle group a day for about 2 weeks and use SDM's isolation techniques. then back to a schedule.
I started a new routine that is working for me greatly
Day 1: chest back forearms abdomen
Day 2: Quads hamstrings calves
Day 3: Shoulders biceps triceps
Day 4: Rest
Day 5: back chest abdomen
Day 6: Shoulders biceps triceps
Day 7: Rest
Notice that in between I am getting each group to have its 48 hours of rest. I did not get into the details of the actual routine such as bench press, flye, e.t.c but you get the jest of it. As long as you have your 48 hours rest per muscle group; you will not over train to a certain degree. I also train my legs once a week because they are my strongest feature, i.e they grow the fastest so no need to work them twice when I can concentrate on bringing up the other groups.
Not to nitpick, but I'm assuming glutes are in there on day two right? Sure would be a big muscle to ignore lol
RustyhookerLol! Any squat movement blasts glutes on leg day.
lol i assumed ppl would know my glutes are tbe same day as quads. sorry about that.
Lots of older guys I know train chest and tris together, back and bis together too. I don't, as quite frankly by the end of my chest workout my triceps are destroyed, same for biceps on back day. I can see why someone would train chest and bis, back and tris together as they're fresher as a result, but it's not my preference. I'd rather train chest and back knowing my arms are getting hit then have a separate arm day.
Got to figure out what works for you and keep changing things up to ignite growth.
Semantics...
The point of the vernacular is on the direction of the movement. I'm either pushing you away or pulling you in.
Leave the rocket science to the BodyBuilders. ;-)
IMO it's beneficial to work opposing muscle groups. I'll mix it up. I'll work the tri's only for a few months then switch to bi's & tri's for a few. -Awesome full arm pump
Leave it to semantics LOL, why can't they just say what they mean LOL...well, I guess they did I just interpret it differently lol... I find that following Arnold layout produce the most growth for me. He suggest monday.. chest and back.. superset whole workout, tues... shoulders, arms... wens legs, then repeat, take sunday off or do cardio... forearms and calves EOD abs ED. I never heard of anyone take a month to focus on one muscle group, but if it works dude, then why not?