Strength training sequence

The top priority logic of ordinary people's daily strength training is essentially to "prioritize training of the parts/abilities you want to improve most, and then adjust flexibly according to the general framework of "multi-joints to single joints, large muscle groups to small muscle groups, high nerve load to low nerve load". There is no dead order that is universally applicable. All rules must give way to your training goals, status of the day, and even the use of the gym space.

A while ago, I met a young man in the gym who wanted to train his chest. Every time he went there, he would first use the butterfly machine and the chest clamp to do 20 sets. He would not move to the bench press area until his arms were so sore that he could not lift them.

Why is there the universal framework mentioned earlier? It’s really not something made up by fitness bloggers. It’s essentially an optimal solution that conforms to physiological laws: multi-joint compound movements such as squats, deadlifts, bench presses, presses, and pull-ups require dozens of muscles throughout the body to work together, and the nerves must be highly tense throughout the process. If you do it when you are tired, either the weight will not be used to stimulate the muscles in place, or the movement will be deformed and directly cause waist and shoulder pain. The risks are high and the benefits are low. However, large muscle groups such as legs, back, and chest can bear greater loads, and the anabolic gains brought about by training are also higher. If you first train small muscle groups such as forearms and shoulder muscles, you will not be able to pull the bar with deadlifts or stabilize your shoulders with bench presses. This is simply putting the cart before the horse.

But if you think that this framework is an iron law that cannot be changed, you are wrong. The sequential gameplay of schools with different training objectives is very different.

When powerlifters prepare for a competition, it is a routine operation to go straight to the limit of the main event after the first set of warm-up. The subsequent leg flexion, extension and core training are all for the main event. They will never put the auxiliary items in front to consume energy. After all, their core goal is to squat, push and pull the weight limit of the three major events, and all arrangements must give way to the main event.

The "pre-fatigue" method that has been popular in the bodybuilding circle for almost ten years directly goes against the general framework: before doing chest exercises, do a few sets of chest clamps to make the chest muscles semi-fatigued. When doing bench presses, the anterior deltoid muscle compensation can be reduced, and the contraction of the chest muscles will be fully stretched. Of course, this method is still controversial. Recent sports medicine research shows that pre-fatigue’s overall muscle hypertrophy gain is not much different from the conventional sequence ratio. It is more suitable for novices who can’t find a sense of muscle strength, or veteran players who are looking for new stimulation during the bottleneck period. If your original bench press weight is not 1.5 times your own body weight, using pre-fatigue indiscriminately will only slow down your strength increase.

I have been practicing for 6 years, and I was obsessed with the order of "large muscle groups to small muscle groups" before. Until my shoulder injury recurred last year, the rehabilitation doctor asked me to activate the rotator cuff and supraspinatus muscles every time before doing pushing movements. Now, no matter whether I do chest or shoulder training, I first use the lightest elastic band to do 3 sets of abduction. The shoulder pain problem is 80% improved, and I don't care about the "big first, then small" rule. Also, during peak hours in the gym, all the bench press racks are occupied. You can’t stand there for half an hour waiting for a spot, right? It’s perfectly fine to practice lat pull-downs and barbell rows first, and then chest presses when the rack is empty. There’s no need to compete with the rules.

If you have obvious weaknesses, the order can be adjusted flexibly. When I deadlifted to 140kg, I was stuck for almost three months. Every time, my forearms failed first and my back failed to feel. So I simply moved my forearm training to the beginning of my back training day. I first did 4 sets of wrist curls and hammer curls and then pulled. In two months, I reached 160kg. There are also people with naturally thin calves who do calf raises first every time they train their legs. After half a year of training, their circumference has increased by 2cm. Do you think this order is wrong? What people want is to prioritize making up for weaknesses, and conventional frameworks are nothing in the face of clear goals.

Of course, there are also methods that don’t pay attention to the order at all. CrossFit’s daily training often mixes deadlifts, burpees, and push-ups. What is required is the ability to complete movements under fatigue. What is practiced is mixed metabolic quality. The goals are different, and the judgment standards are naturally different.

To put it bluntly, the training sequence is never the standard answer on the test paper, it is just a tool to serve your goals. If you are exhausted from work today and want to go to the gym to do a few sets of curls to feel good, then no one will say you are wrong if you just go to do arm exercises. It is just a fitness exercise, not a professional competition. Don’t be constrained by all kinds of rules and regulations and lose the fun of training.