Pure Strength - Upper Body Question

[missyb70]

I'm starting the Pure Strength series next week and I have a question regarding the upper body tapes. As you know, one tape does Back/Biceps and the other does Chest/Shoulders/Triceps. Is it necessary to do those tapes on different days (and is it necessary to split up the upper body in general), or can I do them back to back? Here is the rotation I was thinking of doing. I definitely want 3 full cardio workouts per week.

Monday - PS Legs
Tuesday - Cardio
Wednesday - PS Back/Biceps and Chest/Shoulders/Triceps
Thursday - Cardio
Friday - Power Hour
Saturday - Cardio
And, of course, abs every day!

Thanks for any input you can give!!

 

[jillybean]

I almost always double up my PS days too. Cathe has said before that you can most definitely do both tapes in one day. But one thing she said not to do was split the tapes over different days, like Chest on Mon., Shoulders on Tues., etc. because the chest is worked during the shoulder and triceps segments, just like the biceps are worked during the back work, etc. I love the PS series more than any other. Hope you like it too! Your rotation is very similar to mine!

 

[nancy324]

Jilly-

Just want to confirm this: The same is not true for Slow & Heavy, right? For S&H it is fine to do one body part per day, as I recall. I am doing an S&H rotation now where I do one body part per day over a 6-day period (except I usually will do more on weekends).

Missy-
I agree with Jilly. It is fine to do 2 PS workouts in one day. I've done those two together many times!

-Nancy

 

[jillybean]

Yes, for Slow and Heavy it is totally fine to split the tapes. I like doing it that way too, since it allows me to get some cardio in. If I do an hour of lifting, I'm usually wiped out!

 

[kathryn]

>But one thing she said not to do was split the tapes over
>different days, like Chest on Mon., Shoulders on Tues., etc.
>because the chest is worked during the shoulder and triceps
>segments, just like the biceps are worked during the back
>work, etc.


Hmm...it's odd that she would say that, since that's exactly how CTX is set up. I would definitely not do back/chest/shoulders in that order without a break in between because you would be working shoulders three days in a row. But one could work around it by putting a day off (or a cardio day) in betwee two of these body parts, and a legs workout between two of them.

 

[Connie1]

Actually from what I remember reading Cathe's answer to a post, PS was designed to take advantage of secondary muscles assisting primary muscles working. Although back and chest work does work the shoulders, it doesn't work them nearly as intensely as a shoulder workout.

However, a 17- minute (just guessing the time here) shoulder workout is as beneficial as a 30-minute one when the shoulders are somewhat pre-fatigued by some intense inclines.

Also, triceps are worked thoroughly when pre-fatigued by chest work as well, yet rested during the shoulder portion.

In PS the exercises are selected and sequenced to take advantage of a pre-fatigue effect, thereby maximizing the time spent.

I don't remember Cathe saying not to use PS do one body part per day; rather, that PS is recommended to do as-is rather than changing the sequence of the exercises in a mix & match fashion. I think she spent some time working out the particular sequence and number of sets for an ideal workout.

Each CTX strength segment, on the other hand, was designed to use as a stand-alone.

Not that I surf here all that much...

;-)