How important is pre-fatiguing muscles?

u_e_s_i

u_e_s_i

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So I’ve read that all that matters is how much work you do in total and that splitting your workout up over multiple days gets about the same effect as doing everything for a muscle on a single day so long as the volume’s the same.

if say we split your chest workout for the week into two blocks, A and B. These can then be arranged in a few ways including

Plan 1
Do A followed by B on the same day

Plan 2
Do A on one day and B on another

The stuff I read that purports what’s summarised in the first paragraph suggests that plan 1 and plan 2 will get the same result so long as the volumes the same. The thing is tho that this would suggest that the ‘pre-fatiguing effect’ doing A immediately before B would have thats been preached by some other people as being very beneficial for growth, actually doesn’t affect growth.

So what’s the truth of the matter?
If say I usually go with plan 1 and then started doing plan 2 instead, should I expect to make about the same amount of gains? Or do you believe that one plan is better than the other? If so, why?
 
Rad83

Rad83

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So for example you’re saying “pec dec flies then bench” as pre-fatiguing a muscle?

Having tried all kinds of “bodybuilding” shtick like that when I was a bit younger...I much prefer hitting big compounds first and putting your all into that. 5x5, medium grip, rest-pause bench, full rom on each rep will take you so far....you may even decide to take flies out of your program, I find em to just be ‘icing on the cake.’
 
rodefeeh

rodefeeh

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I'm pretty sure I read that someone debunked the theory of pre-fatiguing your muscles. Just find a workout plan you like and stick with it.
 
Aleksandar37

Aleksandar37

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It all depends on what your goals are as well, but I tend to start with the heavier movements and then use whatever energy is left to the lighter movements that might give more of a stretch. So using the example Rad83 said, I would do bench and then flyes. You can always mix it up every once in a while for variety, but I wouldn't make it the norm.
 

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