Rotating Exercise Sets - Is this still as effective?

violet976

I just stumbled upon a wonderful discovery for my own workout and I'm hoping it's not too good to be true. This has probably already been discussed and I simply missed it, but has anyone else rotated the exercises/sets - rather than doing all 5 sets of squats back to back, instead doing 1 set of squats, then 1 set of OHP, then the next set of squats, etc.

I found I actually need less rest time this way, since the set of squats is actually my rest for the OHP, and so forth. Is there a reason this would be frowned upon, other than the time it takes shuffling the weights back and forth?

I just did my workout this way and found my exertion level was minimized, rest time shortened and I was actually able to hit my sets easier. Is this still an acceptable way to perform this workout program?

Llamapants86

I found it worked great until I got closer to my limits with weights as long as you had the equipment available to load up 3 different weights and didn't have to worry about hogging the squat rack. Once I hit body weight for squats I found that turning it into a circuit really dropped my performance although if I am really pressed for time I'll break out my standard bar and get my bench press done while I "rest" from squats.

SkepticalOwl

I do this when the gym isn't too crowded but I still take the same amount of time for rest between sets of the same exercise.

violet976

Fantastic. I'm glad to hear this is still an acceptable way to do the program. Since I'm working out at home, I don't have to worry about hogging equipment. & I've got my own power rack showing up in a few weeks. I'm definitely already looking forward to the added security for OHP and squats.

I actually found my rest times decreased, but I'm only on week 3 and still working very low weight compared to many in this group. I'm sure that will change once the weights go up.

krokador

While I don't see a problem with rotating the lifts per say - it's circuit training of some sort, after all - doing so will eventually tire you out more over the course of the workout and your last few sets might suffer down the line. Also, your work capacity might not be as challenged as it should, so while I'm no expert on the matter, I'd be wary to compare doing 5 sets of 5 at a certain weight but with 10 minutes between sets to doing them back to back with only 2-3 minutes. If you want to switch programs or go back to doing them in order, you'll have to take that into account and scale back a bit.

Also, switching the weights around is quite a drag. lol

violet976

I would be surprised if the results were different, as before I was doing 5 sets of 5 with about 3 minutes in between each set, and now I'm simply doing a set of 5, followed by a few minute break, then a set of 5 of another exercise, followed by a few minute break, then a set of the first exercise again. So, the rest times aren't much different, and the time in between each set for the same exercise isn't much different either.

For me, it felt as if I spent around the same time resting, but was giving my body a different exercise during that break time as well, which seemed to give me extra energy for the next set of the original exercise. Being at the beginning of the program I can definitely understand that it may not work later in the program, but I can't see any reason why the results would be altered.

Changing weights back and forth wasn't much issue at all, as I workout from home and simply did that during my rest time.