Couple of questions..(chest, back, abs?)

Kat2002

Cathlete
If I'm running short on time at the gym, I'll admit that I'll do shoulders, biceps, and triceps only. Am I making a big mistake by neglecting chest and back?

Another question is about abs..right now my abs are being worked approx. twice a week with a once a week ab class and then pilates. I still have fat to lose, so I'm not really going for a "six-pack" or anything. Should I be adding more to this for just general core strength?

I feel like I'm really putting all my effort into arms, legs, and cardio and that these areas are on the back burner for time's sake. Any input?
 
While I know you will get far more detailed responses, I want to chime in quickly. I wouldn’t neglect your chest and back. It’s very important to have balanced strength. While you may not think working these muscles will make a visible difference, it is important to do so to avoid injury. They assist when you work other parts of your body.
 
Well I guess it's true confession time here--when I'm short on time those are definitely the two body parts I neglect. Not back so much--I'll try to at least get some pull ups in since they target the entire back & are very effective--but for me my chest is my weakest & least important body part. So if I'm forced to skip something it's always chest.

As far as the ab work goes, your routine sounds pretty good. My only suggestion would be to add some weights to your workouts. Do you have Core Max? Maybe you could throw that into your routine........
 
I would add that although all of your muscles are important, many people (and I mean MANY), experience chronic back pain during their lives. Having a strong back(upper and lower) is so important in terms of posture and possibly the prevention of injuries. Many people who've had injuries or surgeries(or both)to their backs have a hard time "coming back" because they never had a strong back to begin with. A lot of these people then end up believing that they need their backs to be constantly manipulated (chiros) to get some relief when they may just need to strengthen their backs.
Just a suggestion. :)

Carolyn
 
Sounds like you are doing an 'appearance" based workout (those shoulder and arm muscles really do look nice when they have nice tone). Unfortunately, that is neglecting the two largest muscle groups in the upper body: chest and back.

Don't forget that when you work the chest, you will also be working front shoulder and triceps, and when you work the back, you'll work rear shoulder and biceps as well.

A more balanced upper body workout would have at least one set of chest work and back work (possibly one more set of back than chest, to counteract the imbalance of chest vs. back movements in daily life), followed by an abbreviated version of what you are now doing for shoulders and arms (because they've already been worked with the chest and back).

Another alternative would be to keep doing your shoulder/arm workout maybe 1-2 days a week, and doing chest/back 1-2 days a week.
 
Just to add another reason to work chest and back...

Strengthening the back, especially the muscles that act on the scapula (Rhomboids, traps), and strengthening the chest (especially pec minor) will prevent impingement of the glenohumeral joint (where humeral head of the arm articulates with the acromion of the scapula). Impingement syndrome is very common and is almost always due to poor mobility of the scapula (retraction, depression, upward and downward rotation). Impingement causes pain and inflammation of the joint. Humeral head depression is also very important for avoiding impingement, this is achieved by stengthening the rotator cuff muscles (infraspinatus, subscapularis, and teres minor), using external rotation exercises (Cathe does one in GS BSB w/ the band).

Maybe you could do rotation for a couple of weeks and focus on chest and back and eliminate the bicep/tricep work since those muscles will be worked anyway.
 
Hi Kathryn. I always appreciate your advice. I do admit to the bias for appearance, but I do want a balanced workout. A few weeks ago, I posted about the arm routine that the trainer at the gym had set up and whether it was enough..I met with a second trainer to put together my lowerbody routine and apparently he thought what the first trainer had set up was incomplete too, because he added more to it. Now I'm doing (not necessarily in this order):

Arm extensions (triceps), 3 sets, 12-15 reps
Chest press (chest, 3 sets, 12-15 reps
Bicep curls (biceps), 3 sets, 12-15 reps
Seated row (back), 3 sets, 12-15 reps
Lateral raises (shoulders), 3 sets 12-15 reps
Tricep dip machine, 3 sets, 12-15 reps
Shoulder press, 3 sets 12-15 reps

I thought that I needed a second exercise for biceps so I added in hammer curls, 3 sets, 12-15 reps. And, tricep overhead extensions with one dumbell. I've been doing arms 3x a week. And I'm going to start going to an upper body weights class in place of one of those days. I've been upping my weights everytime things are feeling too easy.

When I'm running low on time, I admit to dropping the chest presses and seated rows. Now, I'm concerned if I even have enough exercises for the chest and back? If I worked them once a week in addition to the arm workout, is that enough? I also do pilates once a week, which does work the lower back. And several of the cardio classes I take do include some push-ups.

Thanks for listening, I'm not convinced that I'm working out efficiently for the upperbody, but I am able to frequently up the weights so I think that I am gaining strength.
 
>Arm extensions (triceps), 3 sets, 12-15 reps
>Chest press (chest, 3 sets, 12-15 reps
>Bicep curls (biceps), 3 sets, 12-15 reps
>Seated row (back), 3 sets, 12-15 reps
>Lateral raises (shoulders), 3 sets 12-15 reps
>Tricep dip machine, 3 sets, 12-15 reps
>Shoulder press, 3 sets 12-15 reps

In one of the books I read recently, the author made a very interesting point: if you're going to do three sets of an exercise for whatever body part, it's a good idea to do more than one exercise. Even to the point of doing three different exercises to make the total of three sets. This makes sense when you are short on time, especially.

I think this is a good idea especially for the smaller muscle groups, like biceps and triceps. I think the two tricep exercises you have are good, but you could vary the extensions by doing them a bit differently for each set (one as a tricep push-down using a bar, one as a seated oh extension, one as a lying extension).

For biceps, you could do one set straight curls, one set starting with a neutral (palms facing each other) hand position, and turning to a supine (palms up) position.

For chest press, I'd do at least one set on the incline.

The only thing I see missing is rear shoulder work. You could do some rear shoulder flyes to hit that area.

I think the basic workout looks good (but not necessarily in the order listed, which is sometimes working the smaller synergistic muscles, like triceps, before the larger muslces).

If you are running short on time, I'd keep the chest work (2 sets, one on incline) the back work (all three sets: I always think it's a good idea to do just a bit more work for the back than for the chest, or at least an equal amount, but never less, because we do so many pushing-dominant moves in everyday life we need the counterbalance of back work). Go heavy on these, and do them at the begining of your workout time (start with back, then chest , then back, then chest, then back). Then move to the shoulders and arms, and only do two sets of each instead of three, but remind yourself you're only doing two sets, otherwise, the subconscious mind, which is used to what you habitually do, will 'save some energy' for that 3rd set that's never coming.

DOing the chest and back in a push-pull manner will allow you to take less rest between sets, and make the workout go faster as well.

You can also save time by doing the shoulder and arm exercises in a circuit fashion: a shoulder exercise, followed by a bicep exdercise, followed by a tricep exercise. Then a short break, then repeat the sequence with the same or different exercises.

If you're used to doing straight sets (3 sets of exercises for X body part, done one after the other, with a break between sets), you may actually be able to do your whole workout in the same amount of time by using the push-pull and circuit order of exercises.
 

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