I recently (just tonight!) read something by Stanley about doing “antagonistic” sets (e.g. doing one set of biceps curls (rest two minutes) followed by one set of triceps extentions(rest two minutes) and so on). The thought is that you 1) achieve 4 minutes rest between 2 sets of the same exercise and 2) you ensure equal strength around both sides of a joint. What are you guys thoughts and do any of you train in this fashion? (If so, I would love to see your weekly split!) Again…some intriguing thoughts!
I train this way. It’s a great way to promote muscle balance. Try to exercises that oppose each other, not just body parts. For example, Bench press and wide grip rows, Dumbell shoulder press and lat pull down, etc. Ian King is a big advocate of this and I picked it up from one of his heavy metal articles. Poloquin also recommneds this when doing a lot of his programs.
Mufasa, this sort of training has been advocated by everyone from Staley to Poliquin to King…i use it in all my workouts as i find that it saves time and gives me about 5 minutes rest between sets of the same exercise…it’s usually referred to in the t-mag articles and elsewhere using the symbols A1, A2 etc. However, i dont use it when training legs as exercises like full squats involve both the quads and hams.
My current split utilising a 5x5 protocol is as follows:
Monday - Chest and Back (A1 Bench Press A2Bent over row B1 Dips B2 Pull Ups)
Tuesday - Quads, Shoulders and Calves - For this, i would do a set of squats, rest 4 minutes then repeat. After 5 sets, i move on to something like standing dumbbell shoulder presses.
Wed-Rest
Thursday - Biceps and Triceps(A1 Dips A2 Barbell curls B1 Close Grip BP B2 Close Grip Chins
Friday - Hamstrings, Traps and Calves - No antagonistic training on this day either.
Hope this helps and makes sense.BTW, some people prefer to alternate between sets of pulling and pushing movements…eg horizontal and vertical pulling but i find that alternating exercises according to bodyparts is the easiest to stick to.