Pure Strength Upper Body

[workout junkie]

I finally decided to take a break from my hardcore workouts and use some of my neglected older ones. I'm currently rotating PUB and Pure Strength Upper Body workouts.

How many of you combine the CST and BBA workouts? If so, which one do you do first or do you do back, then chest, then shoulders...?

Do you think doing both in one session is too much? Would it be more beneficial to put a day in between the two then do PUB a few days later? I used to alternate them when that was the only upper body workout I was doing, but now that I'm alternating it with PUB, I've been combining the CST and BBA.

Thanks for any thoughts,

Melissa

 

[hippahips]

I used to combine them when I was just starting out. The weights I used were relatively light and did not stress my entire upper body too much. I'd do cst before bba, or chest/back/shoulders/tri/bi for variety. As my weights got heavier, I had to split them. The heavier I got, the harder I had to work, and the more recovery time my body needed.

Pinky

 

[kathryn]

If I were to combine CST and BBA, I would follow a logical progression of larger muscle groups to smaller muscle groups: starting with back, then chest (these two can be switched around), then on to shoulders, then triceps, then biceps (again, these last two can be switched around).

You could actually do these back-to-back, though, since there is no muscle overlap between the triceps and the back (not advisable to work a smaller muscle group before a larger muscle group that it is a synergist for, or the weakened smaller muscle group would be the limiting factor in how much work you can do for the larger muscle group). Since you are doing a less "hardcore" rotation (or did you mean that as "Hardcore," as in the series? ), and probably using lighter weights than usual, this is perfectly feasible.

Combining the two workouts would be "too much," IMO, if you were going all-out on them.

 

[clareMc]

As an added note to Kathryn's post:

You should take care to not work chest and shoulders in the same workout session. So if you choose to do all PS upper body in one day, take out either shoulders or chest and schedule that set for the following day or later in the week. My experience is that there is the greatest amount of overlap of additional muscles worked between these two. If I am going as heavy as poss and putting my all into it, I know that I can go really heavy on chest, still ffit in back, triceps and bis still going relly heavy, but there's no way I'd be able to give shoulders anything nut a lip service workout, which I refuse to do.

On days that you do all the PS upper body, don't schedule cardio in as well. If you are lifting as heavy as you can and going for building strength and muscle mass, that is enough stress on the body for one day.

Clare

 

[workout junkie]

Wow! I feel lucky to get the three people who always have great info to respond to my post. I'm glad I asked the question, because the night after I posted, I did both CST and BBA back to back. Guess I won't be doing that anymore.

Kathryn - I guess I should've capitalized Hardcore because I was referring to the Gym Styles, Muscle Max, HSC and Low Max...(love those!) While the results I got from those were great, I love the way the bis and tris are worked in Pure Strength, and I love the DOMS I get from PUB.

Pinky - I've been taking your advice from several of your posts and have been working on lighter lower body workouts. Am liking the results!

Clare - I'm glad you told me not to do cardio the same day as Pure Strength upper because I was thinking about doing that (on my new rebounder). I guess the same goes for when I do my S&H rotation since that's even more draining.

Thanks everyone!