Exercising and Using Different Muscle Groups In Your Workout
Muscle Groups
No matter what lift you are doing during your workout, you are targeting a specific muscle group. Having better knowledge of the different muscle groups can give you a great advantage in the gym. It will allow you to plan your workouts more efficiently and lift accordingly based upon what you are training for. For the most part, there are 5 major muscle groups: legs, midsection, chest, back, and arms.
Most people choose to incorporate a variety of exercises during each workout so that they work all of the different muscle groups. However, this is not always the best approach. For some, it is best to focus on specific muscle groups during a workout, and then switch to a completely different muscle group for the next workout, repeating the cycle. It is not bad to work on multiple muscle groups in a single workout, however, it is best not to work them all. This way, you give certain muscles a break and time to heal while you work on others the next day.
For example, if you work your midsection and back during one workout, then you are covering two muscle groups. For the next workout, switch to the legs and arms muscle groups to give your chest and back time to recover. If you do dumbell presses, curls, squats, and lateral pulldowns every single day, you are never giving rest to any muscle groups. This makes it harder to make gains and become stronger.
Another benefit of targeting specific muscle groups during your workouts is that it allows you to use your full amount of energy towards specific muscles, thus making those areas bigger and stronger.
Different Combinations of Muscle Group Routines
Example Workout Week 1:
Day 1: Target lifts: chest and back
Day 2: Target lifts: legs and arms
Day 3: Target lifts: midsection and cardio
Day 4: Rest
Day 5: Repeat starting at day 1
Example Workout Week 2:
Day 1: Target lifts: chest and legs
Day 2: Target lifts: arms and midsection
Day 3: Target lifts: back and cardio
Day 4: Rest
Day 5: Repeat starting at day 1
Conclusion
The above workouts are only examples. The important thing to remember is that you want to work different muscle groups that are apart from each other on your body on different days. This will allow the body to recover more efficiently and much faster. Experiment with your workouts and see what works best for you. If you are already in a routine where you work all muscle groups everyday, give targeting muscle groups a try. You should see some immediate gains as you are now allowing your muscles more rest and recovery time.
