MD Training Camp: Victor Martinez #1

Chest & Shoulders in the Same Workout?

Chest and Shoulders in the Same Workout?

Should chest and shoulders be trained in the same workout? Some people say they should, because they have so much overlap with the pressing movements. Other people say you should not, because whichever one you do second is going to suffer. What do you think, and did you ever try it yourself?

I only tried training them together a couple of times years ago, and right away I could tell it was a bad idea. I wasn’t able to get anywhere near as good of a shoulder workout and felt that if I kept doing them in the same workout, my shoulders would suffer badly. I also think it’s too much strain on your rotator cuffs to do all that pressing in one session. For a little while I also tried working chest one day and shoulders on the next day, but I found that my shoulder workout still was affected. There’s just too much overlap. One thing I would do for a little extra shoulder work was to add in a few sets of lateral raises or front raises at the end of a chest workout. Ideally, I would have at least one full day in between chest and shoulders, like a Monday and a Wednesday. You could even go another day or two and see if that works better for you.

4X Training for Those Who Can’t Lift Heavy

What do you think about the 4X training system for older guys who can’t train super heavy anymore due to injuries or arthritis? Basically, you do four sets of an exercise with a weight you can do 15 reps with, but you start with just 10 reps and do the next three sets of 10 with just 30 seconds rest in between so that it’s almost impossible to get all 10 reps on the last one. If you get 10 or more, you are supposed to add a little more weight at the next workout. The pumps are supposed to be ridiculous. If for whatever reason you couldn’t train super heavy anymore, do you think you might do something similar to this?

Yes, it makes a lot of sense if you can’t train heavy anymore. I would just be concerned that guys who are still young and healthy would emulate it, when what they need to be doing is getting stronger on the basic free-weight movements like bench presses, squats, deadlifts, weighted dips and chins, military presses and barbell rows. To do that, you need to take your time and rest and recover between sets. Training mainly with methods that focus more on the muscle pump would shortchange beginners and intermediates from a lot of potential size and strength gains.

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