One of the most common mistakes made by new fitness enthusiasts is not knowing how to work out all of your muscles and start training their muscle groups randomly without any plan or grouping system.
If you try to consistently train two or more major muscle groups in the same workout, you will constantly not only drain your energy but also overload your nervous system.
To see the best results, you must focus only on a specific muscle group in your workout sessions.
Working on a single muscle group stimulates many muscle fibers, and you automatically work out many other muscles.
It also ensures that you don’t use up all your energy at the same time.
Why is focusing on muscle groups important?
In your body different muscle groups function in support of each other.
Smaller muscles support the larger muscles. Muscles cannot function individually.
They all work together to develop a strong core. Chest exercises for men work triceps, shoulders, and pectoral muscles simultaneously.
So you should divide your workouts to stimulate all the muscle groups alternatingly.
Training two or more big muscle groups in the same workout session is a big mistake. For instance, if you combine back and leg exercises on the same day, you will need a lot of energy and stress your nervous system.
Considering your reps, if you train the first muscle group in your first rep, you won’t have enough energy to work out with the same intensity for the other muscle group in the second rep.
Which muscle groups can I work together?
To get your muscles into your peak shape, it is ideal that you focus on a single major muscle group in each of your workout sessions.
You should select whether to work out your chest, back, or legs and then supplement with exercises to target two smaller muscle groups like the biceps, triceps, calves, hamstrings, shoulders, and abs.
You should space your training sessions over three days to get the most out of the workout.
- For instance
Day 1: Focus on Chest, shoulders, and triceps - Day 2: Focus on Back, biceps, and abs
- Day 3: Focus on Hamstrings, quadriceps, butt, and calves
- Day 4: Rest Day
Then Repeat.
Scheduling a rest day after three consecutive days of working out is important as it gives your
Muscles some much-needed time to repair, heal and recover. This allows you to attack your workouts with the gusto they deserve and lets you enjoy the maximum benefits from your efforts.
Focus on chest, shoulders, and triceps.
The muscles in your chest, shoulders, and triceps are also called the push muscles. This is because they work together to push any resistive force from your body.
Your chest, shoulders, and pectorals constitute the larger muscles in this grouping, whereas the triceps constitute the smaller muscles.
This group will benefit from shoulder and chest presses. You can also employ dips for the chest, the overhead press for the shoulders, and reverse and close grip bench presses to trains the triceps.
Focus on the back, abs, and biceps.
The muscles in your back, abs, and your biceps are also called the pull muscles. This is because they work together to pull any resistive forces towards your body.
The rhomboid and lats in your back are the large muscles in this combination, and they are supported by the small muscles, in this case, the biceps.
This group will benefit from pull-down exercises done with barbells and cable pulleys as the back has to make an effort to move the shoulders when the biceps aid the movement of your elbow. Weight training exercises also help work for this muscle group.
Focus on Hamstrings, quadriceps, calves, and glutes.
These muscles are found at the back of your legs and are essential in aiding hip and knee movements.
The hamstrings support your posture while the calves work in pointing the toe and lifting your heels. Gluteal or butt muscles support the hamstrings and other muscles. This muscle group benefits most by doing squats and lunges.
However, make sure you follow the proper posture when performing squats to avoid injury.
Bodybuilding workouts traditionally comprise a combination of cardiovascular and resistance training.
This helps in decreasing body fat and enhancing muscle mass for a more toned look. Strength training uses weights and equipment to improve muscle fiber by exerting pressure on the targeted muscle groups.
Strength training, coupled with cardio, enhances muscular definition. Most bodybuilding exercises are grouped according to the muscle groups they target.
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