Order of weight lifting routine...

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ReRollingMyStats
ReRollingMyStats Posts: 9 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Many work out routines I research have bench press as the first exercise in the routine. Never gave it much thought until today when I put bench press was moved to the middle of my routine because the benches were in use. That's when I found out muscle fatigue hit hard preventing me from "going the distance" (Disney reference). Anyone else experience this? Is this the reason why Bench Press should be first?

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  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    Yes, exercises definitely affect me when done in different orders. I like to do bench press first. My current program has me doing lighter squats first on bench press days so if I do that I'm fine but if they were heavy squats I'd do bp first.

  • MKEgal
    MKEgal Posts: 3,250 Member
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    http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/exercise-order/
    Partial quote:
    More demanding exercises should be performed before less demanding exercises.
    Here are the most common examples of what that means…
    1. Exercises for bigger muscles should come before exercises for smaller muscles.
    2. Compound exercises should come before isolation exercises.
    3. Free weight/body weight exercises should come before machines.

    .
    http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/utilize-proper-workout-structure-and-exercise-order
    Partial quote:
    The order of exercises within a workout significantly affects acute lifting performance and subsequent changes
    in strength during resistance training. The primary training goals should dictate the exercise order.
    Exercises performed early in the workout are completed with less fatigue, yielding greater rates of force development,
    higher repetition number, and greater amount of weights lifted. Studies show that performance of multiple-joint
    exercises (bench press, squat, leg press, shoulder press) declines significantly when done later in a workout
  • Alipop
    Alipop Posts: 15 Member
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    It is an art and a science when it comes to order, and rules are meant to be broken. That being said, if you are new to training you should do compound movements first for best strength gains, neuromuscular recruitment, fatigue management. Bench recruits other muscles while focussing on the pecs (triceps mostly). Follow the large movements with isolation exercises to burn those out on their own after being used to "help" the compound movement. There is research that shows the biggest strength gains come from the first exercise you do in a session.
    You can prioritize your movements based on your weak points as well as your training goals. Work on the areas you want to develop first then hit the rest later.
    In the end, muscle fatigue is fatigue, no matter how you slice it. If that means your bench was less weight today doesn't mean you didn't have a good workout.
  • ReRollingMyStats
    ReRollingMyStats Posts: 9 Member
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    Thanks for the replies and confirming my suspicions.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    always do your big, primary lifts first. I bench and squat on the same day, so I can pick either one of those to start with...but I'd never start with accessory work.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,692 Member
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    An easy rule of thumb to follow is largest muscles to smallest muscles. So legs, back, chest, shoulders, arms, abs. As mentioned, do compound exercises first, then isolations.

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  • SonyaCele
    SonyaCele Posts: 2,841 Member
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    i always do my big compound movements first. bench, or squat or dead. And then i move on to the accessory movements.
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 9,747 Member
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    Another consideration is the risk of having your workout cut short for whatever reason. More than once I've had to stop a workout to deal with kids, or wife, or whatever. By placing the most important-to-me exercises first, they get done no matter what, and if I have to stop before doing a couple accessory exercises at the end, no sweat off my brow.

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