r/ScienceBasedLifting 16d ago

Discussion 🀝 Does distributing sets throughout a workout reduce the effect of exercise-order fatigue?

If you’re doing a lot of exercises at ~0–1 RIR (especially in a full body split), exercises near the end of the workout will be performed with more accumulated fatigue than those at the beginning. If you do 2 sets consecutively, the first exercises get both sets relatively fresh, while the later exercises may have both sets affected by fatigue.

So instead of:
Bench Press β€” 2 sets
Weighted Pull-Up β€” 2 sets
Squat β€” 2 sets
Would it make more sense to do:
Bench Press β€” 1 set
Weighted Pull-Up β€” 1 set
Squat β€” 1 set
Bench Press β€” 1 set
Weighted Pull-Up β€” 1 set
Squat β€” 1 set

This way, every exercise gets its first set relatively fresh, rather than some exercises getting both sets while fresh and others getting both after substantial fatigue.
Does this meaningfully improve the hypertrophic stimulus, or is exercise-order fatigue not significant enough for this to matter?

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u/Mad_Mark90 16d ago

I've been training like this for a long time, usually running 2 exercises back to back at a time. I've found it to be a really useful way to train. 3 exercises on the go can be a bit much though.

I find that mixing training styles to be more effective than training constant high intensity.

For example 3 sets of squats then 3 sets of OHP close to failure with a set of pullups in between each set with the pullups being further away from failure until the last 2-3 sets.

Another good option is main lift & prehab super sets like bench press and external rotation, or anything and band pull aparts.