large muscles over smaller ones

[anniehall]

I was told in my personal training course that when we do weight training it is important to do the large muscle groups first and the assisting/smaller ones after. I do upper body (biceps, triceps, shoulders, chest, upper back)twice a week and lower body (quads, hams, calves, lower back, gluets) twice a week. In what order would I do these muscles that I have specificed?

[Buk]

Forum seems kinda slow lately so I will toss in my input on this. I would reverse the order you listed on your upper body day. Prioritize back, then chest, shoulders, triceps, and biceps. I try to work the muscles in groups or movement patterns. A few push exercises and a few pull exercises will hit all the upper body muscles, and leave the necessary isolation movements at a minimum. For the legs, work the posterior chain as a group/movement, and then hit the quads and lower legs.

[Jean-Paul]

I agree with that, and I would probably even avoid direct arm work. You hit your biceps and triceps hard enough when you do chest and back exercises. Depends on the client I guess. I skinney guy will definitely want to bulk up his arms, whereas most women will be satisfied with the tone they get without directly targetting them. In fact, I don't even target train my bi's and tri's anymore. Start with largest and work your way to the smaller muscles.

[kuri]

To follow up on the lower body many people do squats/leg presses/deadlifts to work the hams & lower back (posterior chain) and quads, maybe leg curls or raises then finish with calf raises.

Agree with JP on arms. I'd use the time not doing direct arm work for energy system(cardio) or abs. Or for checking out the forum