ORGANIZE YOUR EXERCISES FOR EFFICIENCY

EXERCISE ORDER by Mike Hupertz, B.S. Kinesiology, NASM CPT 

Basic rule of thumb is start with larger muscle groups first and then focus on smaller muscle groups / isolation exercises second. For instance, the chest press or bench press utilizes not only the chest but also the stabilizers such as triceps, shoulders and abdominals. It would be more efficient to start with the chest press first and triceps press / pull-down second. This is because the triceps have been pre-worked or warm-up during the chest press…therefore less time and effort would be needed to achieve overload during the triceps press / pull-down.

Also, if smaller muscle groups are worked before larger muscle groups…i.e. arms before chest…the arms will tend to overcompensate for the chest and tire out or reach overload before the chest ever does. This gives the exerciser the illusion that they reached overload when in all actuality they have not. The chest would not be properly stimulated under such an exercise order.

Exception: Large chest and small arms. Under this circumstance then yes…start with the arm exercises first and them move on to chest exercises.  Here, the chest would be overcompensating for the arms. Therefore, to correct this, start with the arm exercises first and end with chest. (or reduce amount of chest exercises and increase arm exercises focusing on arms first…chest second) This usually seen with more advanced exercisers