Order of exercise

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I'm curious if there is any benefits to the order exercises are performed, for example today is chest and back . Should I do one or the other first or can I just do my exercise in any order and switch between chest exercise and back exercises.

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  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,979 Member
    edited November 2016
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    I would suggest first doing the lift(s) that is (are) the most difficult/strenuous for you to do. If there's no difference in difficulty, then it doesn't really matter.
  • Marjael
    Marjael Posts: 111 Member
    edited November 2016
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    I do compound lifts (rows, bench press, etc.) before isolation lifts (bicep curls, dumbbell flyes, etc.)
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
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    idk if there's a universal prescription, but i think sl and/or starting strength say do your squats first with a proper warmup, and that should prime you for everything else.

    i kind of play it by ear. accessory stuff depends on whether i'm doing the particular move to grow more strength in a particular muscle, or to prime/correct something that tends to be lazy or misbehave during a compound lift (hello abs, hello bum). so i'll do planks and bridges early, but i'll do other stuff kind of ad-hoc during the main workout depending on how everything feels.

    i mix a lot of antagonist work in with the agonist stuff, if it doesn't mean i'm hogging equipment that others want.
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
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    sgt1372 wrote: »
    I would suggest first doing the lift(s) that is (are) the most difficult/strenuous for you to do. If there's no difference in difficulty, then it doesn't really matter.

    i go the opposite way, but i'm 51. it can depend on what the reason for 'difficult' is. some stuff is 'eat your broccoli before you can have your dessert' and other stuff is 'let's ease you up to the big hairy stuff'.

  • kelhea
    kelhea Posts: 52 Member
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    You always want to start with with the big muscles first then work your way to the smaller muscles
  • Dogmom1978
    Dogmom1978 Posts: 1,580 Member
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    I superset everything so I will do bench press followed by lat pull downs then back to the bench for 3 sets each. I hate waiting for it to be time for the next set and I feel that I get a better work out without the breaks.
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 9,129 Member
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    Are you more interested in powerlifting (going as heavy as possible), bodybuilding (bigger muscles) or quality-of-life lifting?

    Powerlifting is aided by putting the Big 3 (squats, bench, deadlift) first in their respective workouts. (I do some light rotator cuff exercises before benching for injury prevention purposes, but otherwise yes.) After that it probably doesn't matter.

    Bodybuilding is all about focusing on the muscle you want to grow. This does not necessarily mean attacking your chest from a million angles with a million reps (though it can), but it can also mean selecting lifts which help to focus your efforts on the chest muscle as much as possible. This might mean pre-exhausting any assist muscles. For example, in the bench press the front delts and the triceps are heavily involved. By doing some brief work on these muscles (such as with an overhead press), they are tired before you bench and can't help as much, leaving the chest to do more of the work. (Be careful to lower the weight accordingly.) Or you can go heavy bench presses followed immediately by light-to-medium flys to further exhaust the chest muscle without worrying whether the triceps/delts can assist.

    For general quality-of-life lifting, safety is paramount. (You want to always be safe anyway, of course.) So a good rule of thumb may be to start with the hardest lifts first, progressing to easier lifts as you get fatigued. This might mean going dumbbell bench press --> barbell bench press --> machine bench press to keep good form despite your stabilizer muscles getting tired, or incline --> flat --> decline to take advantage of greater mechanical leverage. Compound lifts before isolation, dual-limbed before single, etc.
  • frantzcr
    frantzcr Posts: 129 Member
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    kelhea wrote: »
    You always want to start with with the big muscles first then work your way to the smaller muscles
    She's right. I'm a nutrition, fitness and health major and this is exactly what they teach us in exercise physiology.
  • briscott2014
    briscott2014 Posts: 1 Member
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    I would suggest not doing back same day as chest . Try to stick to push exercises one day chest, shoulders , triceps next day pull exercises back , biceps and a leg day on another day . If your doing back and chest same day and arms another day your double working your arms . And this causes over training
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    edited November 2016
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    I would suggest not doing back same day as chest . Try to stick to push exercises one day chest, shoulders , triceps next day pull exercises back , biceps and a leg day on another day . If your doing back and chest same day and arms another day your double working your arms . And this causes over training

    No. This is a very simplistic view and is incorrect as a universal recommendation.
  • cajuntank
    cajuntank Posts: 924 Member
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    justinrye wrote: »
    I'm curious if there is any benefits to the order exercises are performed, for example today is chest and back . Should I do one or the other first or can I just do my exercise in any order and switch between chest exercise and back exercises.

    What is/are your goals? Your goal(s) will lend to answer your question due to the specificity of your goal(s).

    Beyond that, some have mentioned about doing big muscles first, then working your way to smaller ones, and while this is solid advice, its just not a 100% rule.
    There might be times where, in trying to grow a specific body-part for aesthetic purposes, your time and energy is better spent on working that first and body-part might not equate to a large muscle. So just using this as a simplistic example, if your goal in life at the moment is to grow your calves, then prioritizing and spending all of your energy up front doing squats, will not grow your calves. Yes, your leg workout might suffer some because you did calves first, but your goal was not quads/hams/glutes...it was calves.

    Your goals will help better answer things for you and might require a change in programming to help align those up better.