110/365 Total Body or Split Routine

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

There are a couple basic rules for strength and conditioning. Throughout the week I will post the other rules. Your first task is decide how many days/week you can go to the gym to lift weights.

The average person only needs to lift 2-4 days/week. If you are an athlete, you'll probably be working out 4-6 days/week. If you can do 2 or 3, you should probably approach weight lifting with your total body in mind. These exercise days could fall on a Monday and Thursday, a Tuesday and Friday, or MWF. When you do your total body, work your upper body, then lower body, upper, lower, etc. For example:
Total Body
- Lat Pull Downs
- Lunges
- Bench Press
- Leg Press, and so on

If you can do 3-4 days/week, you should do a split routine where you break up your muscle groups into agonists and antagonists. For example, an agonist muscle could be your biceps; your triceps would thus be your antagonists. As I've said, it's necessary to keep the strength of these muscles equal so that you are balanced. A work out like this could be:

 Split Routine Day 1 and 3
-  Lat Pull Downs
- Lunges
- Bicep Curls
- Leg Extensions

Split Routine Day 2 and 4
- Bench Press
- Squats
- Tricep Extension
- Leg Press

In this example, your muscles for pulling are in days 1/3 and your pushing muscles are in days 2/4. If you were to do a 3 days/week routine you could do pull muscles on day 1, push muscles on day 2, and legs on day 3. Don't forget about your shoulders and core!

In health,

Lauren