Chest, Shoulders, Biceps, Repeat

Chest, Shoulders, Biceps, Repeat. Have you ever seen a training plan like this? It's far too common that these three body areas are the basis of a training routine. Scary, isn't it?

This routine's basis is around the "mirror muscles", so the thought process is by working the crap out of the muscles that one can regularly check out in the mirror, it will get you to swole city faster than if you worked all the muscles in the body.

It should make sense, except there are a few factors that work against this logic.
First, working only these muscles will cause crazy imbalances. It will cause your shoulders to round forward, which is the last thing anybody needs from their training since we already sit at a computer and on the couch for hours on end, which also makes the rounded shoulder problem worse.

Next, and most importantly, where is the lower body training? Specifically, squats and deadlifts. These two exercises should be the basis of any strength program. Why? These exercises will allow you to use more weight than any other, using a lot of muscles. More weight = more muscle. And, these movements are engrained in our genetic makeup. Ask a 3 year old to squat. It's perfect. Ask the same 3 year old to pick up a heavy (for them) object and they deadlift it. Need I say more?

It's also fairly easy to improve on these exercises once you learn how to do them properly. 5 pound a week increases can be attained because of all the muscles used. These increases won't continue for years on end, but can certainly remain constant for the first year or two if diet, recovery and training consistency are all in place.

Lastly, what's more badass than loading up a bar and putting it on your back or picking it up off the ground. Nothing!

Personally, I just flat out dislike bodypart training, as you can probably tell. The majority of it comes from bodybuilders jacked through the roof on illegal substances. I prefer training movements and areas of the body. If you strength train three days or less a week, train full body. If you strength train four days a week, train two upper body and two lower body.

In a similar fashion, if you do an upper body press exercise, do an upper body pull. If you do a lower body push (quad based exercise), do a lower body pull (hamstring based exercise). I also recommend, 2x as many hamstring exercises for athletes because the majority of them are "quad dominant" or more appropriately "hamstring weak" which is the cause for many knee injuries.

Regardless of how many days a week you train, the fundamental movements still need to be in place: Deadlifting, squatting, pressing and pulling. If you focus on these movements you will be far better off than blasting your bi's for an hour with 13 different exercises in front of the mirror. Who do you think has bigger biceps; the guy doing curls for an hour or the guy doing pullups with 90lbs strapped to his waist?

So focus on the big movements, leave your biceps alone for a few weeks and watch your strength and body progress!