Tip Do Your Workout Backwards Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Training Tip Do Your Workout Backwards Tomorrow do your workout as planned but reverse the order of the exercises Here' s why by Dean Graddon August 28, 2017December 31, 2021 Tags Bodybuilding, Tips, Training Every once in a while, do your workout backwards. From time to time, we all get into a training rut and start to lose enthusiasm and motivation. This can happen in response to life's stresses or it might happen after an extended period of time without taking a deload. Sometimes you just have to try something completely different. In a well-structured program, a template for a good daily workout might be a heavy compound exercise or two, followed by a moderate rep compound exercise or two, and then a higher-rep isolation exercise or two. As an example, here's a pretty typical leg workout: Squat: 5 x 5 Bulgarian Split Squat: 3 x 6 per leg Glute-Ham Raise: 3 x 8-12 Leg Curl: 3 x 8-12 Standing Calf Raise: 3 x 15-20 So, shake things up and do it backwards. Completely reverse your exercise order. Start with the high-rep isolation work before moving into your moderate rep range exercises, then finish off with the heavy stuff. Will you have to go lighter at the end? Maybe. But surprisingly, maybe not. Either way, the novelty of both the training stimulus and the mental break of switching things up may be just what you need to get over the hump. You'll also get the benefits of the classic "pre-exhaust" bodybuilding method. As a bonus, this approach will allow you to invest more energy in exercises or muscle groups that you normally just "throw in" at the end of a workout when you're already fatigued. (The exception here may be with the more technical lifts, like Olympic lifting variations.) Regardless of whether you typically do full-body workouts or follow a split, a little backwards training can work. I'm not advocating this approach as a regular thing, but at the end of a long week (or for a week at the end of a tough month), a backwards workout might be just what you need. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Training Real Core Training Offset Loading How adding more weight to one side of the body can help you smash even the most stubborn plateaus. Abs, Powerlifting & Strength, Training Kyle Arsenault September 5 Training Rest-Pause Training Re-visited Go to any gym these days and you see most trainees doing an endless number of reps all in the hopes of attaining the oh-so elusive and fleetingly short pump. Training Mike Mahler November 22 Training Fix Tight Hamstrings Forever The countless hours many of us spend stretching our hamstrings are a tragic waste of time. Here's a legitimate way to fix the problem. It Hurts Fix It, Training Adam Vogel November 19 Training 4 Cool Fixes For Awkward Exercises Some exercises just don't fit your body type. Others are hard to set up. Here's how to make those awkward exercises work for you. Bodybuilding, Powerlifting & Strength, Training Lee Boyce May 23