The question was posed, does the order of exercises make a difference when strength training. In short... YES! I see people fluttering around the gym , particularly "newbies" who will hop on a bench press, then move over to the dumbbell rack and perform a few sets of curls, perhaps a few triceps press downs then finish with some lat pull downs. The American College Of Sports Medicine and many other fitness organizations recommend working the larger muscles of the body first and proceed to the smaller muscles. Most all machine circuits including Nautilus are set up in this fashion. As a general rule, if training the upper body on the same day, you would work the back muscles, chest, shoulders, triceps and finish with biceps.
When training the specific muscle groups in a single workout such as chest one day, back the next etc., it is best to begin with basic compound exercises (multi joint movements) which will allow for more strength to be generated. Isolation exercises (movement at a single joint) generally are best completed after the basic compound exercises. For instance, if you were training the pectorals muscle (chest), you would usually begin with a pressing movement such as dumbbell or barbell bench press (incline, flat or decline) and finish with a rotary isolation movement such as a dumbbell fly or pec deck exercise.
Exercise Order And Neuromuscular Response
Many bodybuilders use a technique referred to as Pre-Exhaust. This is where an isolation exercise such as a leg extension is performed before a basic compound, multi joint exercise such as squats. It has been found that when performing the leg extensions first, it was generally not possible to perform as many reps or lift as much weight as when performing the squats first. This is because the single joint exercise created a neurological activation of the quadriceps muscles which are used as one of the primary movers for the squats. The exercise performed earlier in the workout tend to be able to be executed for more repetitions and with more weight. To perform a multi joint exercise designed to create power and increased hypertrophy at the end of the workout will be less effective at increasing activation of pre-fatigued muscles.
Exercise Order And Affect On Muscular Adaptations
When performing exercises in a specific order, the exercises at the end of the sequence will generally show least improvement. Whether performing multi or single joint exercises at the end of the workout. If your goal is to increase lean muscle tissue and/or increase muscular strength, basic compound exercises are more effective at accomplishing this goal. Muscular adaptations will be influenced on the exercises completed at the end of the workout. Performing basic compound exercises at the beginning will increase muscular strength and hypertrophy at a more efficient rate.
*Some information compiled from ideafit.com