Can anyone tell me if it is more important to do your sets in the same order every week? Or is it more important to just insure that you do them with full intensity? Example is that one day I may be able to do my close grip pull downs first in my workout (i.e meaning I will be able to lift more weight) then the next time I do them I may not do them until the 4th or 5th excercise (i.e I won’t be able to do as much weight). Of course this is mainly due to the availability of machines. Any input?
If you’re doing full body workouts, the order DEFINITELY matters, as the first movements will be the ones for the body parts you want to emphasize (i.e. something is lagging). Generally, some one would do the movement that uses the most muscle mass first (squats or deads), but I’ve found myself hitting better lifts in those movements if I do something else first (say, pullups before squats). If you’re doing body part splits, however, it won’t make that much difference.
Read the article called “The Ian King Cheat Sheets” at T-mag. It will be of great help to you with issues like this.
I try to periodize my weakest areas first in the week and first in my workout.