Two Sets in a Row OR...
 

I work several muscle groups every other day. My question is, rather than do two sets of say bench presses in a row, what if I did one set and then went on to the next exercise and came back to bench presses later during my routine? Does it matter if I do my lifts this way? Anyone have some pros and cons to point out?

Thanks!

~Julie

Both work. I normally speed up my workouts by alternating my Incline presses and cable curls for 5x5, and I do concentration curls (drop sets), along with Bradford presses and triceps pushdowns as a giant set without any rest between them.

The more time between your benchpress sets the more fully you can recover, and thus handle more weight. This is helpful for increasing your 1 rep max, but may not be the best way to get big.

The second option you referred to is called a superset. It can be done modified where you take a break in between or a true superset where you go directly from one to the next. For example I do my abs this way. I do four different exercise, 12 reps each all in a row. I then take a 90 second break and repeat. I think (although I may be off) this type is intended to keep your heart rate up and therefore burn more calories. Also it can be beneficial if you work opposing musce groups such as a bicep curl then a tricep extension because it stretches the muscle. I don't do it with my weightlifting though because I find I can't lift as much. Basically as Robert said they both work, you just have to try and see what works for you.

Don't know pros and cons, but my trainer has me do one set of 12 reps, go to another exercise and do one set of 12 reps, then go back to the first exercise until I've done three sets. She set it up to balance muscle groups.

Thanks for all of the input guys. :)

~Julie