Photo: Wikipedia.com
There are many workout routines that people use consistently. Some beginners don't do as many exercises and can get by with a full-body workout two or three times per week. Others may like to work one body part per day. But perhaps the most popular workout involves the split routine. This simply entails training multiple body parts each workout until each muscle is exercised once or twice per week.
While all routines have their pros and cons, the push-pull method has been proven to be the most beneficial split routine for fitness buffs in the long run. These benefits may not be as noticeable to younger weightlifters or novices, but the longer you work out the more apparent they become.
Briefly, push-pull simply means that you do all exercises that require pulling one day and those that entail pushing on another day. For example, on chest days you would also do shoulders and triceps because the bench press, military press and the triceps push-down are "push" exercises. Contrarily, you would work back and biceps on a separate day because they are "pull" exercises.
There are variations to push-pull. Some people actually split up their leg and shoulder routines on separate days. There are a few exercises for these body parts that require both pushing and pulling. For example, you are pushing the weights when you do leg presses and pulling them when you do leg curls. But the most highly recommended push-pull routine is as follows:
Day 1 - Chest, shoulders, triceps
Day 2 - Back, biceps, forearms
Day 3 - Legs and calves
(Work abdominal muscles 2-4 days weekly)
Repeat this routine every three to four days (The latter is recommended). If you do legs once per week (recommended) you would obviously vary the three and four-day time period between workouts or go to an eight-day cycle.
Regardless of which variation you use, the push-pull has its inherent advantages.
First, you are less likely to overtrain by adhering to a push-pull routine. If you are doing back and biceps on separate days and you train each body part twice per week, you would actually be pulling with your arms four times per week. And since biceps and forearms are used predominantly in pulling, these muscles can get overtaxed very easily. Subsequently, it allows you less time for recovery which can minimize your results.
Another advantage to the push-pull method is that it minimizes your chances of getting tendinitis. The push-pull method allows you to rest your biceps and triceps longer between workouts. This can help prevent the painful inflammation associated with tendinitis. A flare-up of tendinitis can cause you to miss some workouts. It is potentially a serious ailment. If you continue to work out with tendinitis you can actually rupture the muscle tendon. Tendinitis can particularly become a problem the older you are and the longer you've been working out.
Over time the push-pull method is less stressful on your muscles as well as your joints. If you are as addicted to weight training as most fitness buffs you'll want to continue training for many years. The push-pull method is the best workout routine to achieve that goal.
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