The Study
Varying the Order of Combinations of Single- and Multi-Joint Exercises Differentially Affects Resistance Training Adaptations.
This study is like a fair race where 43 guys were randomly picked to try different workout orders — and they measured how much their muscles grew. It tells us that for these guys, doing bench press and triceps exercises together or in different orders made a difference in muscle growth — but we can’t say it’ll work the same for girls, older people, or athletes.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
If you want a bigger chest, do bench press first. If you want the back part of your triceps bigger, do triceps extensions first. The front part of your triceps grows best with bench press. The middle part doesn’t care what you do. Strength doesn’t change based on order if you lift hard enough.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 547 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — the differences in muscle growth are large enough to matter for someone trying to build specific muscles, even if overall strength stays the same.
- 2Chest grew 9.1–10.6% with bench press first, 5.6% with triceps first.
- 3Triceps back part grew 14–18% with triceps first, 2.1% with bench press first.
- 4Triceps front part grew 7.0–7.2% with bench press first, 0.6% with triceps first.
- 5Middle triceps part grew same in all groups.
- 6Strength gains were equal across all groups.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research
Year
2020
Authors
Lucas Brandão, Vitor de Salles Painelli, T. Lasevicius, C. Silva-Batista, Helderson Brendon, B. Schoenfeld, A. Aihara, F. Cardoso, Bergson de Almeida Peres, E. Teixeira
Related Content
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Claims (6)
If you're a guy who hasn't trained much before, your triceps muscle in the back of your arm grows about the same no matter if you do push-ups, triceps extensions, or a mix of both — the type of exercise doesn't really matter for this part of the muscle.
If you're a young guy who hasn't trained much before, doing exercises that only move your elbow (like lying triceps presses) makes your triceps muscle grow way more than doing exercises like bench presses that use multiple joints at once.
If you're a guy who's new to lifting and you do both big compound moves and isolated triceps exercises, your triceps will grow more than if you only do one type — not because the exercises add up, but because they hit different parts of the muscle in different ways.
If you're a guy new to lifting and you start your workout with big compound moves like the bench press instead of isolation exercises, your chest muscles grow more—probably because you're not too tired when you do the main exercise.
If you're a young guy who's new to lifting, it doesn't matter whether you do bench press first or triceps press first—your strength gains will be the same as long as you lift heavy (80% of your max) and push each set until you can't do another rep.
If you're a young guy who hasn't trained much before, doing exercises like the bench press will make the back part of your triceps grow way more than just doing arm-only exercises like lying triceps extensions.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.