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Rocco says don't fall pray to workout myths |
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Written by Rocco Castellano
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Thursday, 01 March 2007 |
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Q: I have heard that it’s better to work out opposite muscle groups (e.g. back and chest, bi’s and tri’s). Is that really more beneficial than devoting a full workout to just one muscle group?
wf_strength
A: What you heard about working opposite muscles is a bodybuilding myth that has been around as long as the so-called “sport” (posing in Speedos) has been around.
You have me confused, are you talking about working opposite muscles on different days, (back and chest Monday-Thursday, bi’s and tri’s on Tuesday-Saturday)? Or are you suggesting just working opposite muscle throughout your workout? I’m going to take the liberty and accept that you are asking the stupider question, which would be working the opposite muscles on different days.
There is no research to prove that working opposite muscles on the same day is better or worse than any other ridiculous body-building workout, but I will give you my opinion: breaking up the workout into body segments doesn’t allow the auxiliary muscle ample time to rest. Auxiliary muscles, biceps, triceps and shoulders, are used in almost every compound body movement. Compound body movements include bench press, lat pulldowns and the like.
Getting to your other unbelievably idiotic statement — focusing on one body part throughout the entire workout is not only absurd, it’s downright insane. Why the hell would you train a muscle and then let it go untrained for five days or so?
Your muscles need to be trained in tandem with themselves (meaning working all the muscle groups together) within at least two days of each workout, and not more than three days between workouts. That is because muscles will begin to atrophy (melt away) after 96 hours of no physical activity.
So, common sense would tell you to work out every other day with a full-body workout.
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Rocco Castellano is the co-founder of askROCCO Media, which provides boot camps, seminars, media content and online fitness services at askROCCO.com. He is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine and has written “askROCCO Uncensored v1” available at bookstores. Ask your personal
fitness questions at askROCCO.com.
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