I'm curious about the importance of the order of lifts during a routine.

For example - for back exercises does the order in which you do these matter?

Bent over rows
Pulldowns
Deadlifts

Is there a reason to do 1 of these before the other 2? any other examples where the order of lifts is important?

Start with the bigger musles first and work your way down.

In the example you gave I'd do:

deadlift
bent over rows
pulldown

If you start with the smaller muscles you'll be tired by the time you get to the big ones (legs, back, chest) and those are the ones you primarily want to be training.

Is there a reason to do 1 of these before the other 2? any other examples where the order of lifts is important?

There are as many reasons as there are goals. Some simplified examples:

Biggest compound lift to smallest isolation lift - Gives you the most energy for the most challenging lift (as J_W described above)

Constant shuffling of exercise order - Helps prevent your body from becoming accustomed to the lift quickly

Smallest isolation lift to biggest compound lift - Uses the small lifts as pre-exhaustion exercises so that when you get to the big lift you're hitting the prime-mover of the lift the hardest (e.g. pre-exhaust triceps, pre-exhaust anterior delts, finish with chest lifts/Bench Press/Dips)

So there are lots of different ways/reasons to order your workout. What are you trying to do?

Generally, you should order from "most" to "least" unless you want to preexhaust a muscle, prioritize an exercise, or bring up a weak point. Most and least can be quantified in multiple ways, including:

- most to least weight (deadlift, romanian deadlift, cable pull-through)
- most to least muscle (squat, row, bench press)
- most to least range of motion (power snatch, power clean, jump shrug)
- most to least speed (power clean, deadlift)
- most to least compound (bench press, military press, tricep extension)

I generally would not just shuffle for the sake of shuffling, unless you're doing so among movements that are roughly equivalent in the musculature and degree of compoundness used (e.g. romanian deadlift, good morning, cable pull-through) or constitute pairings of antagonist movements. For example, if one is not proportionally weaker than the other and neither takes priority in your routine, you could shuffle a back squat and romanian deadlift or a bench press and row as you see fit.

So, to answer your question specifically, yes, it does matter. However, if you want to know my preference, it's usually

deadlifts
bent-over rows
pull-downs

when I'm focusing on strength, or

pull-downs
bent-over rows
deadlifts

when I really want to focus on the muscle of my upper back.

I normally do compounds as my second or third excercise. So for squats I may do step ups or superset ham curls and leg extensions.

I used to do all compounds first but found that doing other things first worked best for me. It always seemed like my squats on the last set would always be my best set as far as range of motion and just generally "getting in the groove".

1) I really think that it helps with my CNS and getting things firing
2)Suprisingly it helps my strength rather than hindering it which is why most say to do compunds first
3) helps my joints fell less achy
4) Keeps my workout times shorter because I don't have as many typical warm up movements

All off this came about because someone about a year ago was using the squat rack and I had to do other things first. I immediately changed my routines from there on out.

Thank you all for the replies. I was simply curious as I've seen certain lifts suggested in a particular order. I knew there was a reason for that and needed/wanted to know why.

I agree about squats - my 3rd and 4th set have a better range of motion than the first couple.

There are as many reasons as there are goals. Some simplified examples:

Biggest compound lift to smallest isolation lift - Gives you the most energy for the most challenging lift (as J_W described above)

Constant shuffling of exercise order - Helps prevent your body from becoming accustomed to the lift quickly

Smallest isolation lift to biggest compound lift - Uses the small lifts as pre-exhaustion exercises so that when you get to the big lift you're hitting the prime-mover of the lift the hardest (e.g. pre-exhaust triceps, pre-exhaust anterior delts, finish with chest lifts/Bench Press/Dips)

So there are lots of different ways/reasons to order your workout. What are you trying to do?

We have a winner. :nod: