In A Workout: Abs First, or Chest First?

Hi there Carl,

Just one question, as i am trying to do some extensive weight training, is it better to do the ABS exercises before or after the workout. The reason i ask is a friend told me that if we are doing a good chest workout, and if we do ABS thereafter, you actually tend to loose the chest ‘pump’ as the ABS exercise is part of the cardio work…is this true? What would u recommend?

Thanks,
Des

Hi Des,

To answer your question, no, training another body part (the abdominals, for instance) after your chest will not slow down your chest growth. You might lose a little bit of the pump, yes, but the pump is temporary anyway and is not necessary for your chest to grow.

Take powerlifters, for example. They train with low reps (1-4) most of the time, which isn’t the typical “pump” training, yet they grow enormous.

What is most relevant in my opinion regarding exercise order in a workout is muscle group priority. Here’s why: the muscle group you train first will grow faster than the others. The reason for this is your body is “fresh” at the beginning of a training session. Thus, you can use heavier weights and overall handle the exercises better, which in turn speeds up this body part’s growth. This effect lasts for the first 15-20 minutes of your workout.

I’m sure you’ve done it: try training your legs or back extensively and then doing your usual chest workout. It’s not going to happen. You’ll either have to put less weight on the bar, or do less repetitions at your usual weight.

To sum up, exercise the body part you want to prioritize first. If chest and abs are even, train chest first one day, and abs first the next workout.

Best of luck,

-CJ

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