Is There A Best Order of Exercise?

Here's The Answer

Generally accepted resistance training guidelines recommend that exercise order should progress from large to small muscle group movements over the course of a workout session.^1,5 In this regard, multi-joint exercises such as squats, presses and rows should be performed early in the session, while single-joint movements such as leg extensions and biceps curls are performed later on. The reasoning for such a recommendation is predicated on the theory that performing small muscle exercises first fatigues the smaller synergistic muscles required to carry out compound movements, thereby impairing subsequent multi-joint performance. For instance, performance of skull-crushers before the bench press would fatigue the triceps brachii, thereby hindering the ability to overload the larger pectoralis major muscle when benching. Since overload is essential to muscle development, it’s reasonable to assume that growth would be compromised.

The question is: does scientific evidence back up the assumption? Let’s take a look at what the research shows.

Exercise Order and Hypertrophy

Acute training studies consistently show a reduction in the number of repetitions achieved when a given exercise is performed later, as opposed to at the beginning of a session.^9,10,12 These findings hold true regardless of whether the exercise is for a small or large muscle group, and persist irrespective of the percentage of one-repetition maximum. Note, however, that since the absolute amount of weight used in an exercise is necessarily heavier during compound movements, the magnitude of decreases tend to be greater in these exercises when they’re performed after those involving small muscle groups. Hence, volume load— a potentially important factor for hypertrophy⁶— is generally better preserved when compound movements are placed early in the training sequence.

Despite a seemingly logical basis in support of the recommendation to perform large-muscle exercises first, long-term training studies investigating the effects of exercise order on muscle hypertrophy indicate otherwise. Brazilian researchers¹¹ assessed how exercise order influences growth of the arm muscles following 12 weeks of upper-body training. One group of subjects performed four exercises in the following order: barbell bench press, lat pulldown, triceps extension and biceps curl (i.e., large muscles before small muscles), while another group performed the exercises in the reverse order (i.e., small muscles before large muscles). Somewhat surprisingly, performing large muscle exercises first did not enhance hypertrophy. In fact, triceps growth increased only in the group that performed small muscle group exercises early in the session! A follow-up study by the same researchers showed similar results, with the triceps gaining more size when exercise order progressed from small to large muscle movements.¹³ Based on these studies, it would seem like there’s actually a benefit to training the arms before the muscles of the torso, right? Not so fast.

It’s important to realize that neither study measured hypertrophy in the pecs or the lats. It would be reasonable to speculate that whichever muscles were trained early on in the workout grew more than when they were performed toward the end of the session. All told, this suggests a benefit to training your weak points first, and leaving the muscles that respond well until the end of the bout.

Some fitness pros advocate performing lower-body exercises before upper-body movements. This approach is based on the hormone hypothesis, whereby a surge in testosterone, GH and IGF-1 from working the leg muscles is purported to improve the anabolic environment when training the upper-body musculature.¹⁴ A study by Ronnestad et al.⁷ seems to support this contention, with results showing that growth of the elbow flexors (i.e., biceps brachii and brachialis) was substantially enhanced when trained after performing multiple sets of leg presses, leg extensions and leg curls. The researchers attributed the increased growth to greater elevations in post-exercise anabolic hormonal levels. One little problem: recent research shows that exercise order (lower to upper versus upper to lower) has no effect on delivery of testosterone, growth hormone and IGF-1 to the arm muscles.¹⁴ What’s more, emerging evidence shows that acute elevations in anabolic hormones following exercise are of questionable significance, and at best have a small effect on overall growth.⁸ Thus, if there is a benefit to performing lower body exercise first in a session— a possibility that’s still highly equivocal— it likely is not influenced much if at all by hormonal fluctuations.

Pre-exhaustion and Muscle Growth

What about a potential benefit to pre-exhaustion? You know, where a single-joint exercise is immediately followed by a multi-joint exercise for the same muscle group (i.e., chest flye followed by bench press)? The strategy sounds good in theory. After all, pre-fatiguing the target muscle should enhance recruitment of its highest-threshold motor units— the ones associated with the largest fast-twitch fibers— during the ensuing compound exercise. Thing is, EMG studies don’t support the hypothesis. In fact, muscle activation of the quads was actually found to be lower in the leg press when performed following leg extensions to failure.² Similarly, Gentil et al.⁴ showed that activation of the pectoralis major was reduced during the bench press after performance of a set of pec deck flyes.

To determine whether pre-exhaustion influences muscle growth over the long haul, Fisher et al.³ randomized resistance-trained men into one of three groups: a group that performed an isolation exercise and then immediately performed a compound exercise (i.e., pre-exhaustion); a group that performed the same exercise order with a 60-second rest interval between sets; and a group that performed exercises following traditional guidelines (compound exercise performed early on in the session, followed afterward by single-joint movements) with a 60-second rest between sets. Exercises included the pec flye, chest press, leg extension, leg press, pullover and pulldown. One set of eight to 12 repetitions was performed for each exercise. Training was carried out twice a week for 12 weeks. The results? Consistent with EMG findings, all groups increased lean mass over the study period, but no significant differences were seen between the participants who pre-fatigued their muscles compared with those who did not.

Lessons Learned in the Trenches

So what can we take away when reconciling all the evidence? The practical message is this: prioritize exercise order so that lagging muscles are trained first in a workout; whether the muscle is large or small shouldn’t matter. In this way, you can channel your efforts to bring up weak areas when your energy levels are at their peak. It’s a concept popularized by Joe Weider many years ago, and it still holds true today. Sometimes, research needs time to catch up with what we learn in the trenches.

Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D., CSCS, FNSCA is widely regarded as one of the leading authorities on training for muscle development and fat loss. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed studies on various exercise- and nutrition-related topics. He is also the author of the best-selling book, The M.A.X. Muscle Plan and the seminal textbook, Science and Development of Muscle Hypertrophy. Check out is website and blog at www.lookgreatnaked.com.

DISCUSS THIS ARTICLE ON THE MD FORUM

READ MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS IN THE TRAINING SECTION

FOLLOW MUSCULAR DEVELOPMENT ON:

FACEBOOK: MuscularDevelopment Magazine

TWITTER: @MuscularDevelop

INSTAGRAM: @MuscularDevelopment

YOUTUBE: http://bit.ly/2fvHgnZ