If you’re wondering whether you can do back after chest day, then you’ve come to the right place!
In this article, I look at the pros and cons of doing back after chest day, as well as looking at other muscle groups that you may want to work out after a heavy chest workout.
Can You Do Back After Chest Day?
Yes, you absolutely can do back after chest day.
Many gym-goers follow a PPL (pull, push, legs) training plan as it’s proven to be effective.
Your back is a ‘pull’ muscle group and your chest is a ‘push’ muscle group, so doing back after chest day allows you to follow a PPL split.
During chest day, your back will be doing minimal work and during back day, your chest will be doing minimal work.
This means that you can train your back after chest day with peace of mind that your back will be in prime training condition.
You also won’t put additional stress on your chest during your back exercises, which is a win-win.
Benefits of Doing Back After Chest Day
Your Back Can Be Trained To Its Full Potential
Since your back has a minimal role to play on chest day, it’ll likely be in a fully recovered state and ready to be trained hard after chest day.
On chest day, you’ll be lifting heavy weights and working your muscles very hard.
So, it can be challenging to find another suitable muscle group that you can work just as hard the next day.
Your back is another large muscle group that you’ll need to work hard to get good results.
As you won’t have exercised it in your chest session, your back can still lift heavy weights that it needs to in order to get bigger and stronger.
Target Two Large Muscle Groups Back To Back
Hitting two large muscle groups back-to-back can be an epic way of progressing your fitness goals.
You can burn more calories, increase your strength, and muscular endurance by training two big muscle groups consecutively.
For some people, it’s also a fun way to train.
(There’s nothing like those endorphins you get after pushing your body to its limits 2 days in a row!)
Drawbacks of Doing Back After Chest Day
Fatigue
There’s a good chance that you’ll feel fatigued and in need of recovery time after chest day.
(Since you’ll have been lifting heavy weights and doing some big compound movements.)
For some people, doing more big compound movements (on back day) can be too challenging for your body.
While your back may still be in great condition, the rest of your body might not be, which can reduce the effectiveness of your workout.
If you’re feeling fatigued and low on energy after chest day, you may be better off having a rest day.
Should You Do Back After Chest Day?
Many fitness fanatics enjoy training their back after chest day and have great success from doing so.
That’s not to say that you should 100% always do back after chest day, but it can certainly be an effective way to train.
As long as your back is injury-free and fully recovered from any previous exercise, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t do back after chest day.
Is It Better To Do Chest After Back Day?
Training your chest after back day is likely to be equally effective as doing back after chest day.
Since they don’t work together very much, the order in which you train your chest and back is largely unimportant.
A good rule of thumb is to train the weaker muscle group first, so if you have a stronger chest than back, then you may want to train your chest first.
(And vice-versa if you have a stronger back.)
Is It Safe To Do Back After Chest Day?
It’s safe to train your back after chest day given that you’re not injured and have the appropriate strength and fitness levels to do so.
There’s a bit of safety concern with regards to training two big muscle groups back-to-back, but as long as you’re sufficiently warmed up, this risk is minimal.
Conclusion
In summary:
- You can do back after chest day because your back muscles will still be fresh after a chest workout.
- If you’re fatigued after chest day, you may want to train a smaller group or take a rest day.
That’s all for training back after chest day, but can you do shoulders after chest day? Or what about arms after chest day?
Thanks for reading!
Sources
https://www.joionline.net/trending/content/exercise-fatigue
I’ve been in the fitness and strength training industry for nearly a decade. In that time, I’ve gained 30 pounds of muscle, written hundreds of articles, and reviewed dozens of fitness supplements. As for my educational background, I’m a currently studying for my Active IQ Level 3 Diploma in Personal Training.
