they lock out their reps and tell them that their joints are headed for certain

destruction. More
myths to come later and please feel free to comment with questions, disagreements,
disagreements, and personal
insults!

Training Myths That Won't Die #2. “Finishers”

What's a finisher? It's the

the exercise you do at the very
very end of a bodybuilding training session. And
And
of course since it's a real thing, it can't actually be a myth. But the myth here is that the last
movement is somehow very special or powerful in its effects on hypertrophy, and thus more
important than other exercises done during a typical session. Let's give this idea some thought:

1.) To be sure, there IS some research and theory to suggest that what you do last in a training
session may be of importance as iti t sends the last signals to your adaptive systems... signals that,
since you just rest afterwards, have no chance of being overridden by further signals and thus
have a higher chance of affecting the outcomes of training.

That being said, it's by no means clear that this implies the last exercise is THE MOST
IMPORTANT or even close... it probably just means it's not almost wholly unimportant like we'd
assume. Why would we assume that?

2.) Because you have the least energy at the end of the workout, whatever you do then will likely
have the least effect on disrupting systems and pushing them toward adaptation. How often do
you hear people say "yeah,
"yeah, I really wanna prioritize biceps this
this training cycle, so I put them dead
last every time I train them." Huh? That's nonsense, but for some reason the very same ideas with
finishers are accepted at face value. If you really want a super-import
super-important
ant part of your workout to
focus on; the first couple of movements when you're fresh and able to lift the hardest are top
candidates.

3.) Not only do you have the least energy for finishers, but the majority of anabolic signaling has
already been done by... drum roll... THE WHOLE WORKOUT UP TO THAT POINT. It's highly
unlikely that the many heavy sets you do for the majority of your workout are just primers and
the last couple sets are what really stimulate the gains.

4.) Why do people focus on finishers SO MUCH out of their likely proportion of effects? I think
it's a couple of reasons:

a.) You're the most pumped by then, and you're much more apt to post videos of you doing a
finisher cause that's when you're most likely to want to show off your physique in action. Yep, I
really think this is a big explanatory factor, kind of like why people buy NO and other "pump"
products... if they make you look your most ja cked, there's no shortage of make-belief reasons
why they work great to to make you bigger.