The Back And Biceps Workout
The Back And Biceps Workout
Why Put Back And Biceps Together?
The back and biceps are the two major muscle groups of the upper body that are involved in “pulling” exercises. (Rear delts would be another.)
In addition, the biceps are involved significantly in most back exercises. This includes various types of rows (e.g. bent over rows, seated cable rows, chest-supported rows, etc.) as well as pull-ups, chin-ups, and lat pull-downs.
This makes training them together on the same day a smart choice, as pairing up related muscle groups is one of the easiest ways to avoid the types of overlap issues that are common with less-intelligent setups.
For example, workout routines that train related muscle groups on separate days (e.g. back/chest on Monday, biceps/triceps on Tuesday, shoulders on Wednesday) come with a higher potential for problems with insufficient recovery and/or overuse injuries.
This is a big part of why many of the most effective training programs out there are built around schedules that group related body parts together. For example…
- Upper/lower
- Push/pull/legs
- Upper/lower/push/pull/legs
Speaking of schedules…
How To Schedule A Back And Biceps Workout
There are plenty of different workout splits you can use that involve having a “back and biceps day.” However, they’d all fall into one of two categories:
- A body part split.
- A push/pull/legs split.
Let’s take a look at a few examples of each and see which one is most ideal for you.
Body Part Split Examples
Here are three examples of common body part splits that have a back/biceps day.
Body Part Split #1:
- Monday: Chest/Triceps
- Tuesday: Back/Biceps
- Wednesday: off
- Thursday: Shoulders
- Friday: Legs/Abs
- Saturday: off
- Sunday: off
Body Part Split #2:
- Monday: Chest
- Tuesday: Legs/Abs
- Wednesday: off
- Thursday: Back/Biceps
- Friday: Shoulders/Triceps
- Saturday: off
- Sunday: off
Body Part Split #3:
- Monday: Back/Biceps
- Tuesday: Chest/Triceps
- Wednesday: Legs
- Thursday: Shoulders
- Friday: Abs/Forearms
- Saturday: off
- Sunday: off
Push/Pull/Legs Split Examples
In a push/pull/legs split, you have three different workouts:
- Push
On this day, you train all of the “pushing” muscles of the upper body. This means the chest, shoulders, and triceps. - Pull
On this day, you train all of the “pulling” muscles of the upper body. This means the back and biceps. (Rear delts are often included here as well). - Legs
On this day, you train all of the muscles of the lower body. This means the quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. (Abs are often included here as well.)
In terms of scheduling, there are quite a few options. Here are the three most common:
Push/Pull/Legs Split #1:
- Monday: Push (Chest/Shoulders/Triceps)
- Tuesday: off
- Wednesday: Pull (Back/Biceps)
- Thursday: off
- Friday: Legs (Quads/Hams/Glutes/Calves)
- Saturday: off
- Sunday: off
Push/Pull/Legs Split #2:
Week 1
- Monday: Push (Chest/Shoulders/Triceps)
- Tuesday: Pull (Back/Biceps)
- Wednesday: off
- Thursday: Legs (Quads/Hams/Glutes/Calves)
- Friday: off
- Saturday: Push (Chest/Shoulders/Triceps)
- Sunday: Pull (Back/Biceps)
Week 2
- Monday: off
- Tuesday: Legs (Quads/Hams/Glutes/Calves)
- Wednesday: off
- Thursday: Push (Chest/Shoulders/Triceps)
- Friday: Pull (Back/Biceps)
- Saturday: off
- Sunday: Legs (Quads/Hams/Glutes/Calves)
The workouts would continue the following week while maintaining this order. Meaning, the template is always Push, Pull, off, Legs, off, and then repeat it again.
Push/Pull/Legs Split #3:
Week 1
- Monday: Push (Chest/Shoulders/Triceps)
- Tuesday: Pull (Back/Biceps)
- Wednesday: off
- Thursday: Legs (Quads/Hams/Glutes/Calves)
- Friday: Push (Chest/Shoulders/Triceps)
- Saturday: Pull (Back/Biceps)
- Sunday: off
Week 2
- Monday: Legs (Quads/Hams/Glutes/Calves)
- Tuesday: Push (Chest/Shoulders/Triceps)
- Wednesday: off
- Thursday: Pull (Back/Biceps)
- Friday: Legs (Quads/Hams/Glutes/Calves)
- Saturday: Push (Chest/Shoulders/Triceps)
- Sunday: off
And so on.
In this split, you’re always cycling through Push/Pull/Legs (in that order) while using a template of two consecutive workouts… followed by a day off… followed by three consecutive workouts… followed by a day off. And then you repeat it again.
Which Is The Best Back And Biceps Split?
In terms of building muscle and gaining strength, all of these options are capable of working… assuming everything is designed correctly.
However, we don’t care about things just “working.” We care about what’s going to work best.
And for most people, research (sources here and here) and decades of real-world experience all point toward using a split that trains each body part more than once per week.
Looking at all of the “body part split” examples shown above (and most body part splits in general), you can see they all train each body part just once per week (every 7th day). The same goes for push/pull/legs split #1, which also trains everything just once per week.
For this reason, I don’t consider any of those options to be ideal for someone looking to gain muscle or strength.
On the other hand, push/pull/legs split #2 and #3 have a higher frequency. Split #2 trains each body part every 5th day (three times every two weeks), whereas split #3 trains each body part every 4th-5th day (almost exactly twice per week).
So, since it’s more effective to train your back and biceps (or any other muscle group, for that matter) with a frequency higher than once per week, my recommendation would be to use one of the following:
- Push/Pull/Legs Split #2
- Push/Pull/Legs Split #3
For additional details on these splits, check out my guide to the push/pull/legs workout.
And for details on a similar-but-slightly-different hybrid option, check out the 5-day upper/lower/push/pull/legs split.
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