Compound exercises first, or isolation exercises first? Start by naming the exercise you most want to improve. Put that priority early in the working session, after appropriate preparation, rather than following a rule without a purpose.

A review of eleven studies found that strength improvements favoured the exercises placed earlier. It did not find a significant overall muscle-growth difference between the compared orders. Those are different outcomes, and neither guarantees your individual result.

Consider a fictional bench, row and curl session. For bench performance, bench goes first. For row performance, the row goes first. Prioritising curls changes the order again. This illustrates a choice, not a complete workout prescription.

Twelve curls at the end of one session and fifteen at the start of another were performed under different conditions. Record the order before calling that difference lasting progress or deciding the programme failed.

If equipment is occupied, use a planned alternative or record the changed sequence. One disrupted session does not need to trigger a complete programme rewrite. Keep the decision connected to your goal.

Track the priority exercise over comparable sessions. Keep warm-up separate from the working order. The article includes example sequences and a simple log to make the next decision clearer.