Sep
12
Reader Q&A - Finding the right workout
Filed Under Gyms, Reader Q&A, Work Out
- The four day workout - Tuesday, abs and back
- The four day workout - Wednesday, biceps and triceps
- The four day workout - Thursday, legs
- The four day workout - Friday, chest and shoulders
- The four day workout - Finishing it up with cardio
- The four day workout - Some last tips and tricks
- The fifth day: Why rest counts as part of a workout
- Reader Q&A - Finding the right workout
I received this email a few days ago.
Hello,
I am a daily reader of your blog and just had a couple of questions. I am going to start exercising at the gym but can’t find a workout plan that I like. I have read some of your posts on the 4 day workout but would rather work with machines and a few free weights. My main goal is to build a little muscle, but not look like a bodybuilder.
I plan on going to the gym 3-4 days a week. I read that you should do chest and triceps one day, biceps and back another, and legs and shoulders another day. Is this the right combination of muscle groups to work together or should I just stick to one muscle group a day? Thanks
There’s more than one question here:
- The four day workout I wrote about used a minimum of machines. Most of the equipment involved was a pair of dumbbells. I did this on purpose because I wanted to make sure that even folks without access to a gym could use this workout routine. However, it’s very easy to adapt this routine to use more machines. Take a look at the exercise encyclopedia on Cooper’s Guns. You can see that just about every exercise on the 4 day workout has a counterpart that uses machines. For example, instead of squats you can do the upright leg press which exercises the exact same muscles. Proponents of free weights will tell you that using machines is less beneficial since it doesn’t involve stabilizing muscles but then again, free weights are slightly more injury prone. In general, I’m ambivalent about this whole machines versus free weights thing. Use whatever feels right to you and feel free to modify my four day workout using machine based exercises. An alternative source to Cooper’s Guns is exrx, which also has a variety of exercise possibilities.
- Building a little muscle but not going all the way to body building doesn’t have much to do with machines versus free wights. It’s a bit of a misconception that body builders work with free weights and people who just want to build up a bit of muscle tone work with machines. Both can give you a great workout and both are used by body builders. The key difference between body builders and non body builders is the time they spend at the gym. If you’re like me and plan to spend 3 to 4 days a week at 1 hour or so each time, then you’re fine. That’s simply not enough time to really bulk up. Keep your weights reasonable and your reps at around 10 to 15 per set. You’re not going to look like a body builder anytime soon with that routine, but you will get the muscle tone you’re looking for.
- Should you stick to one muscle group a day? Well, that’s ideal, but it doesn’t work well with a 3 to 4 day schedule. You have more than 3 or 4 major muscle groups so doing one per day is just not realistic. With your planned schedule, two muscle groups per day seems like a better idea. You’ll fit in all the major groups while still getting a great workout for each.
- The four day workout I described worked the following groups together; abs and back, chest and shoulders, biceps and triceps and finally legs. I’d recommend sticking to that combo over the suggested groupings in your email. For one, your planned workout doesn’t include time for abs, which are a crucial core muscle group to work on. Second, legs are such a large portion of your body that I really think you should devote an entire day to them. In fact, calling legs a single muscle group is really misleading, there’s more than one major muscle group down there. After you fix those two issues, the other muscle groups can be combined any way you like. There’s no real benefit that I am aware of in the various combinations.
If anyone out there has a tip they would like to share with us about their workout routine, please feel free to do so in the comments. Would love to hear how other readers split up their exercises.
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Thanks for the detailed response. I will look on Coopers site for exercise machines that I am comfortable with and start with your recommended muscle groups.