Can You Do Back And Shoulders Together On The Same Day?

If you’re wondering whether you can train back and shoulders together, you’ve come to the right place.

In this article, we look at the pros and cons of doing back and shoulders together, which one should be trained first, and more!

Can You Train Back And Shoulders Together On The Same Day?

It’s perfectly acceptable to do back and shoulders together on the same day.

However, it’s worth keeping in mind that your shoulders will work hard in some back exercises. So they may be quite fatigued when it comes to focusing on your shoulder exercises.

Many gym-goers train their back and their shoulders on the same day and get some very good results from it.

Others find that the muscles are too close together and work together in too many exercises for it to be a viable solution.

You certainly can do back and shoulders on the same day, but there might be better pairings out there for you to choose from.

Benefits of Training Back And Shoulders Together On The Same Day

They Work Well Together

Your shoulders and back tend to work very effectively together in several exercises.

Movements such as lat pull down, bent over row, straight arm pull down, and other similar exercises all require activation of your back and shoulder muscles.

This means that your shoulders can benefit as secondary muscles during the bigger back movements as well as being the focus of their own shoulder-specific exercises later on.

It Saves Time

Doing back and shoulders together can reduce the number of workouts you need to do each week.

If you were to train your back and your shoulders independently, it can add an extra day or two into your training week.

By combining them on the same day, you could potentially reduce your training days from 7 to around 3 or 4 per week.

Drawbacks of Training Back And Shoulders Together On The Same Day

Fatigue

As your back is a pretty large area to train, it can take a lot of effort to effectively work out your back muscles.

After you’ve effectively trained your back, you may be too fatigued to properly train your shoulders.

This won’t necessarily be the case if you’re an experienced gym-goer with good levels of muscular endurance.

However, you need to consider the possibility of fatigue when thinking about doing back and shoulders on the same day.

It Can Take Up Quite A Bit Of Time

Although training back and shoulders together could reduce the number of workouts you need to do each week, it could actually increase the amount of time you spend in the gym on the day you’re training them.

For example, if it takes you 60 to 90 minutes to train your back and the same time again to train your shoulders, you could potentially be in the gym for up to three hours.

(This doesn’t include warm-up times and any travel time to and from the gym either.)

This may be a realistic amount of time for some people to spend in the gym, but for others, it could be too much of a sacrifice to make.

Can You Superset Back And Shoulders?

You can superset your back and your shoulders although there might be better options out there for more effective supersets.

Supersetting back and shoulders can work very well, but it’ll probably come down to your fitness goals as to whether they’re the most suitable pairing for you.

There aren’t many reasons why you couldn’t superset them. You just need to ensure you’re getting the most benefits from each workout you do.

If supersetting back and shoulders helps you to do that, then it’s a great thing to do.

(Watch below this short 2-minute vid of an epic back and shoulder superset workout for maximum gains!)

Should You Do Back And Shoulders Together On The Same Day? 

This will ultimately depend on your fitness goals and your personal preferences.

There isn’t a definitive answer to this question other than you certainly can do back and shoulders on the same day if you wish to do so. 

As long as your back and your shoulders are healthy and fully recovered from any previous exercise, training them on the same day can work very well for you.

Should You Do Shoulders Before Or After Back?

Normally, doing your shoulders after back would make the most sense.

This is mainly because you typically lift more weight during back exercises compared to shoulder exercises.

If you do your shoulders first, you may find that you aren’t able to lift enough weight during your back session to effectively hit all of the target muscles.

Should You Train Back And Shoulders In The Same Session or 2 Different Sessions?

You can train your back and your shoulders in the same session or you could split them into 2 different workouts.

As they don’t tend to work together too much in too many exercises, training both of them in a single session can work very well.

You may prefer to train them in their own individual sessions though, so doing 2 different sessions on the same day is perfectly fine too!

Conclusion

In summary:

• You can train back and shoulders together with minimal problems.
• If training this way, you should train your back first followed by shoulders.
• Back and shoulders can make a good superset workout.

That’s all for this article, but what about doing chest and shoulders on the same day? Or what about training chest and arms on the same day?

Hope this helped!

Sources

https://www.livestrong.com/article/331739-extreme-fatigue-after-exercise/