Workout Sequence & Hypertrophy?

Training Bodybuilding
1

Hey all,
A little background on myself: I’m 6’2" 175 at about 9% bf. I have been training hard since the end of November when my PT gave me the okay to start working out again (I had open shoulder surgery for MDI and a slap lesion). I have gained 11 pounds since the end of November which is mostly muscle (this is my 3rd time rebuilding myself as I have had one other shoulder surgery in the past and several dislocation that took me out of training for weeks at a time).

Since I started reading up on T-Nation I discovered that I was doing more things wrong than I would like to mention i.e. bad PWO nutrition, bad nutrition in general, no DL’s, not doing full squats ect.

Anyways, for the past 14 weeks or so I have been doing a TBT program 3 days a week which consists of Squats, DL’s, Pull ups, dumbell bench (I have to lay on the ground when I do this b/c of shoulder, so if you ever see anyone benching on the ground you know why), bent over rows, some shoulder raises, a few isolation exercises, and of course shoulder rehabing stuff.

My workout is usually in the order that I listed above; if I change anything it’s whether I start with squats or DL’s. One out of every three workouts I also do unilateral work.

My question: My left shoulder (the one I had surgery on) is progressing very slowly (well, the whole arm for that matter), and I was wondering if it was due to the order of my workouts. I have read that you want to do the heavy compound lifts first (squats and DL’s), when you are most fresh, and save the isolation exercises for last (I prefer doing things like this anyways, as it’s nice to get squats and DL’s out of the way).

Should I just start off with my shoulder (deltoid) exercises and curls, or just continue doing what I’ve been doing (I’ve made some great progress in my squat and DL numbers)? Will the exercises performed first give you a greater anabolic response to the muscles worked as opposed to those at the end of your workout??

Thanks for any help you can give. I apologize for being so long-winded.

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The reason why you would generally want to do your big compounds first in a workout is because they are your “core” exercises, ie, the big exercises that the rest (isolations) are there to supplement, more or less.

Doing them FIRST allows you to tackle these high priority movements when you are fresh, as opposed to using up your energy on the “less valuable” isolation exercises, in which case you wouldn’t be able to go at them as intensely as you would like.

That’s the theory as I understand it. That being said, I generally do compound movements first, but only as a preference.

Assuming you know you aren’t putting to much stress on your shoulder…

if I have a body part I want to bring up, I either a) work it FIRST (compounds be damned), b) dedicate a separate training session to it (on campus, I have the luxury of a gym being 20 seconds away), c) work it more often, or d) working it more in my normal routine through either more exercises, sets, or other “intensity” techniques.

I would probably say options a) or b) would be my first choices if I were you. Despite what “they” say, doing some isolations first in your workout won’t screw with your squat or deadlift numbers (at least, it didn’t for me).

Of course, if you’re still in contact with your PT you should run this question by him, as he would have a better idea of where you’re at than we do.

Keep it up, man, you’ve shown more balls by continuing to bounce back than most people would have.

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Conner: Thanks for taking the time to reply. I think I’ll probably go with option b, as I dread squats (but love the feeling I get when they’re over with) and like to finish them first.
It’s kinda funny because the toughest part about rebuilding yourself back up over and over is going to a gymn where you see the guys who you started with, who were about your same size (me @ 156 pds aka skinny bastards), and they are all over 200 pds now and pushing big weights.

The biggest I have ever been was 192 (I got frustrated last time this happened to me and did a cycle of deca followed by some winny - which now I am reading can cause joint problems… so stupid of me). This website has really put some things in perspective for me, as I thought I was huge when I was 192 laughs.
Anyways, thanks for the encouraging words. Hopefully, I won’t have anymore shoulder issues (I have given up basketball, snowboarding, and sports in general).
It sucks, I repeat SUCKS not being able to work out for long periods of time, and seeing all that hard work turn to mush. I’d rather not do any of those sports (even though I miss them all) and be able to workout, then have to build, rebuild ect.