The Anabolic Switch

Q: I’ve read that it’s a good idea to switch the order of upper- and lower-chest exercises at every other workout. Do you recommend that order swap?

A: Working first upper and then lower pecs at one workout and first lower and then upper pecs at the next can do good things for muscle growth and balance. It’s almost like a heavy/light strategy because you can’t use as much weight on the big exercises for the section you hit second. For example, let’s say you do bench presses first for middle and lower pecs. When you get to incline presses later, you won’t be as strong as you would have been if you worked inclines first and bench presses later in the chest routine.

Us? We don’t swap the order because we feel that our upper pecs are most important and should always get priority. We’ve never seen anyone with an overdeveloped upper chest, but plenty of bench press hounds are walking around with hanging, droopy lower pecs, signaling a definite man-boob possibility later in life. Nevertheless, if you have all-around weak pecs, the switch may work well for you. Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman used that strategy and had one of the best chests in pro bodybuilding.

One area on which we would definitely recommend the switch strategy is back training. If you work lats and midback on the same day, train lats first and midback second at one workout, and then hit midback first and lats second at your next back workout. If one of those areas is a lot better than the other, of course, you should always prioritize and work the weaker area first. If your lats and midback are about equal in development, use the switch strategy.

—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com