work the same muscle consecutively or alternate with other muscles?
 

When working out more than one muscle in day's routine, how do you guys structure your different exercises? Ok, I mean, if you're working out your chest and back in one routine, do you do one chest exercise and then a back exercise? Or perhaps just not work out one specific muscle in consecutive exercises? Or will some of you do all your chest exercises and then move to back exercises?

Hope you understand what I'm saying here. What do you guys do and what do you think is best. I tend to just make sure and not work the same muscle (or part of the muscle) on consecutive exercises.

I normally do opposing muscle groups, although here's some info which'll probably be beneficial for you :)

Super Sets

snippet:
it's probably not exactly what you're after, but hopefully it gives you a ballpark :)

If you do it this way, remember that the second exercise (back) will not be able to lift as much due to your body being exhausted from working the chest. So the next time you hit the gym, do the back first and chest second to 'even out' the workouts.

For me it depends on what muscle groups I'm working. For example, when you are talking back & chest I would do them opposite of each other (ie, one chest exercise then one back exercise) until the routine is over.

However if I am doing two muscle groups that can have a direct impact on each other I will do the larger one first then the smaller one. For example on a day like back & biceps, I do all my back exercises first, then I will finish off with some bicep exercises. If I did it the other way my biceps would not be able to keep up with the weight I need to use for back and then my back would suffer.

I think the order of the routine directly depends on what muscle groups you are working and what your goals are. If you are just toning then the weight you are using shouldnt be high enough to really detriment the other muscle group to the point where you dont feel like you are getting a good workout.

Hope that was what you were looking for.

Thanks guys. I hadn't thought about which exercise I do first and how it would hurt the progress of the next exercise, for different muscle groups, so I probably will start to flip which I do first and try to even out my workouts. And I don't do the chest/triceps and back/biceps routines so I don't really have to worry too much with how one exercise will directly influence another. Thanks guys, was interested in how others approached this topic.

yah, i usually do the core exercises that hit a bunch of muscle groups first then do isolation exercises (ps don't forget about your shoulders with your back)

-alec

But then again, your bicep muscles are always 'suffering' as they never get to lift the weights fresh after your warm-up. How are the arms suppose to grow when they are already pre-exhausted before you start lifting just with those muscles? I would still suggest to do your biceps first at least once a month.

While this is true the biceps still get a decent workout doing the back stuff beforehand. Mine ache after a good back/bicep day. But i do agree 100% that you should not always do it that way. I like to vary my routine often. Every couple of weeks i'll switch up from a 4 day routine (chest/tri, back/bi, legs, shoulders/traps) to a 5 day (chest, back, legs, shoulders/traps, bi/tri). This gives the arm muscles a day of their own in which you can really work on building them.

It also depends on your goals for yourself, whether you are building or toning. If you are building then I would recommend a 5 day routine where every muscle gets the attention it needs, whereas if you are toning you can afford to do a more compressed routine.