The last reason to go antagonistic is to conserve time. And you can better incorporate exercises like pullovers for chest/back and lunges for quads/hams, which work both sides. If you hit chest with back or have a “width day,” in which you combine shoulders with pulldowns, you’ll feel a synergy by doing a movement with its opposite. Thirdly, it forces you to think of your physique as more of a whole unit, and less as a collection of parts.

You’ve never experienced a maximum arm blowup until you’ve superset bi’s with tri’s. Second, it boosts the pump by driving more blood into one via its neighbor. There are several reasons to go antagonistic.įirst, working two sides together keeps both warm and stretched. For calves, do at least some work for the tibialis at the front of your lower legs. However, you can combine overhead pushing movements, like dumbbell shoulder presses, with overhead pulling movements, like front pulldowns. Likewise, flying motions can be teamed with rear laterals.ĭeltoids also have no true antagonists. However, it still makes sense to pair pushing motions for chest with rowing motions for back, since these are opposing actions. Quads/ hams and biceps/triceps are true antagonists, because they share single hinge joints.ĭue to the ball-and-socket joints of your shoulders, pecs and lats are not precise antagonists. When your quadriceps contract, your hamstrings relax and stretch, and when your hams contract, it’s your quads that are taking it easy and elongating. If it works for Arnold and Jackson, antagonistic is a workout split you need to try.Īntagonistic muscles oppose the actions of each other. To boost intensity, they’ll superset biceps and triceps exercises, alternating after each set. Charles Glass favors this, so his Jedi knights, including Dexter Jackson, will alternate a biceps exercise with a triceps exercise, going back and forth like that on arm day, keeping both muscles pumped and stretched. Today, the most common antagonistic combo is biceps and triceps. Many trainers divide their body into six workouts, so it’s a given they’ll hit chest and back on separate days. He liked pumping up the two sides together, and, frequently, he superset them, combining bench presses with pullups and incline presses with T-bar rows. OPPOSITES ATTRACTĪrnold no-last-name-necessary blasted chest and back together in the ’70s when he was annually expanding his Olympia trophy collection.

By training them in pairs, alternating exercises or sets, you can achieve a synergistic effect that brings out the best in two opposing forces. Your physique is an amalgamation of antagonists, triceps on one side, biceps on the other. Think Magic Johnson and Larry Bird on the Dream Team. And sometimes, antagonists can join together to double their effectiveness. Samsung-fierce rivalries bring out the best in both combatants.

Muscle synergy pair list