Most gym rats have a chest/tricep, back/bicep and shoulder/leg schedule, or something similar. For the past year, I’ve switched to a back/tricep and chest/bicep rotation to change it up. Changing up your rotations and workout schedule keeps your muscles from getting used to a routine that can quickly lead to a plateau. The back/tri & chest/bi routine was not only to change it up, but to get a stronger tricep and bicep workout since the main muscle group wasn’t fatiguing the secondary group. I really liked this schedule, but for now I’m going to switch back to the more typical schedule of chest/tri and back/bi for two reasons. The first is like I mentioned, that is to just change it up, the second is that my workout schedule isn’t as concrete as it used to be. Back when I worked out with my HB buddies, gym was Monday, Wednesday and Friday, no exceptions. There were three of us, so it would be very rare that at least one of my two buddies wouldn’t make it. Now that I’m working out with my buddy Eric who’s pretty busy at work, and with my wife pregnant, our workouts are a little more sporadic and the chest/bicep workout means that i can’t do two workouts in a row or even every other day since the secondary muscle group would be too sore to support the primary of the next workout. The typical chest/tri and back/bi rotation means I could workout Monday and Tuesday if that’s what worked that week, and my Tuesday workout wouldn’t really be affected by Monday’s.
With a baby on the way, I expect that my gym schedule is going to be more random than ever and I’m going to do my best to get in at least two workouts a week. Hopefully this rotation will make it easier for me to stay in shape despite how busy I plan on being.