GS Series--not working opposing muscle groups?

crazystepr

crazystepr

Cathlete
Hi Cathe,
I was always taught that you should work opposing muscle groups to get the best results (i.e chest and back one day, bi's and tri's another, etc.) However in your Gym Styles series you don't work opposing muscle groups.

I was wondering what the benefit is to working Bi's, Shoulders, and Tri's one day vs. Bi's and Tri's. What made you want to do a series like this? I am just wondering what the benefit of doing this is. I don't currently have the GS series (hopefully Santa will bring it! ;)) and am wondering if I've been missing out on something really important by not working the muscles the way this series does? Thanks a million!!!

Allison

http://www.picturetrail.com/allisonj90
 
not cathe but i'm not a fan of pairing chest and back then pairing bi's and tris together. First, I like to pair a larger muscle with a smaller muscle. Second your bi's and tris are both worked during chest and back workouts so you would be working them twice as hard during the week with a chest/back, tri/bi workout and since they are smaller muscles this is not needed. Pairing chest with tris is good b/c you are working tris with all the pushing motions of chest exercises so it fatigues them out and then gives them time to rest. when working back, bis get incorporated through rowing motions. hope this helps. i'm not saying that the split chest/back, bis/tris is wrong but for me i like the GS split better.
 
> I like to pair a
>larger muscle with a smaller muscle.

So do I.

Allison:
Opposing muscles groups is just one way of setting up a workout, and for the reasons kariev mentioned, not necessarily the best (I'd also add that it's probably preferable to split large muscle group work---that for legs, back and chest--throughout the week, for a more regular stimulation of growth hormone, rather than clumping the large muscle groups together, then doing a 'small muscle groups only' workout--which is why I'm concerned about the STS split that is presented on the blog).

The GS series was originally going to be split according to a push-pull method: pull muscles (back and biceps---biceps are synergists for the back, and are worked when you do back moves) in one workout, push muscles (chest, shoulders and triceps---shoulders and triceps are synergists for chest, triceps are synergists for shoulders) in another. Somewhere along the line, Cathe moved shoulders to the back/bicep workout, which doesn't make for a traditional split, but is a different stimulation to the body. Just don't do the chest/triceps workout and the back/shoulders/bi on consecutive days, as both work the shoulders, which could need more recovery---I do this series as "chest/triceps day 1," "legs day 3", "back/shoulders/ biceps day 5" with cardio days in between.
 
Allison:

it matters not how Cathe arranges the sections and muscle groups on the DVDs, you can still work them in the combos you want. So, I usually still work chest and back on the same day, just swapping DVDs in and out. The only thing to make sure of is that chest and shoulders are worked on separate days because there is considerable cross over in usage between these two muscle groups and working chest pre-fatigues the shoulders, making it hard to lift as much as you might like for shoulders, and vice versa.

Clare
 
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