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What is a good upper body weightlifting routine that I could do daily to gain muscle without leaving a day for rest in between? How can I split upper body exercises in 2 halves so that I let the rest of the upper body rest in between?

Background: I would like to do a weightlifting daily workout session over holidays (2 weeks) on a well-equipped gym, so I would like to have my weightlifting sessions fit in so that I can do as much as possible. During the year, I only do maintenance weightlifting twice per week, and the rest is x-trainer and running.

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    Why don't you want to rest? What are your goals? A bit more context would help, also what kind of equipment do you have available?
    – Baarn
    Dec 23, 2012 at 9:37
  • @Informaficker I have edited my question to add more context to it.
    – 719016
    Dec 23, 2012 at 13:22
  • You don't explain why you don't want to do it all on one day, and then take full rest days in between.
    – user4644
    Dec 25, 2012 at 0:26

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This can get VERY tricky. The reason you normally rest between workout days is to give your muscles time to recover from the muscle breakdown that occurs from lifting. I have heard of people breaking upper body routines into "arms and shoulders" and "chest and back." The reason I do not prefer this method is due to the fact you still use muscles from your arms while you are doing chest and back (and vice-versa). While they are not the primary muscles being used, they are still being used (think about how much your tricep helps when you are bench pressing, or how much of the front of your shoulder you use when doing an incline press).

I think hard leg routines are one of the most missed opportunities by weight lifters. For one, you don't want to look like the Hulk on stilts. But doing squats utilizes large muscle groups in a compound way which is very beneficial for your body (not to mention tough).

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  • My wife's trainer had her break her upper workouts into Chest/Shoulders/Triceps one day, and Back&Biceps another. Personally Upper one day, lower the next works better for me.
    – BillN
    Dec 27, 2012 at 0:43
  • I agree with your criticism of the "arms/shoulders => chest/back" split. If you're going to split upper body into two days, a better approach would be "push/pull", which would result in the split that @BillN mentioned
    – Forty-Two
    Feb 20, 2013 at 18:56

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