Tip of the Week: By putting order to your workouts, you can make your workouts more efficient.

When you wake up in the morning and get dressed for the day, you probably don't put your shoes on before your pants or brush your hair and then wash it. Both examples are inefficient ways of going about your morning routine because they're ordered in ways that are counterproductive.

Just as a sense of order keeps your day running smoothly, so too can order make your workouts more productive and even less time-consuming. For example, let's say you train on a split routine and that you've scheduled it so that you train your back and biceps together on the same day. Without question, you'll want to work your back before hitting your biceps. Why? Because your back is a much larger muscle group for which you need more energy. In addition, your biceps take a beating when you train the back.

So when you train back before biceps, you have the strength you need to tackle the bigger of the two body parts and you fatigue the biceps enough so that you don't have to use as many sets on them as if you trained them alone. Consider this to be the law of order.

Q: What's a good pre-workout drink to have? What about post-workout? Should I be getting mostly carbs or mostly protein, or some of each? Thanks Joe!

Joe: Ideally you'll want to ensure that you have adequate nutrient stores to fuel your workout well in advance of the time you're scheduled to go to the gym. In other words, a meal consisting of slow-burning carbs, protein and healthy fats taken an hour and a half to two hours before your workout should provide ample energy once you've reached the gym.

Sometimes, however, you may not be able to sync your meals with your workouts, in which case you could find yourself undernourished as workout hour approaches. In this case, I recommend simply drinking 8 ounces of fat-free chocolate milk, which provides around 8 grams of whey protein and nearly 30 grams of fairly fast-acting carbohydrates — enough to keep your energy levels high for the next hour or so.

Although grabbing a meal after training is always a good idea, having at least a quick drink that contains more quick-burning carbs with some whey is vital to taking advantage of the 45-minute window of opportunity during which time your body is most ready to build muscle.
Another cup of chocolate milk or a protein-carb shake supplement will do the trick nicely.

Q: I'm pregnant with my first child, and even though I'm only about 20 weeks in, my back is starting to hurt from all the extra weight up front. Do you recommend anything in the way of exercise for relieving the pain?

Joe: Normally when someone asks me for advice on strengthening his or her body, I'm quick to recommend a comprehensive training routine. In your case, though, I'm going to be a little more conservative, for two reasons. For one, your back is already hurting. For another, you're training for two, which is a little different than training for yourself only.

The two best lower-back exercises in my opinion — deadlifts and hyperextensions — are not ideal for you. Deadlifts could exacerbate your back issue, and although hyperextensions offer a slightly simpler alternative, your added weight would make the exercise harder than it is for someone who isn't pregnant.

So, I would suggest you start off practicing static hold poses and then working your way up to the two exercises mentioned above. The plank is a favorite yoga pose that develops great strength throughout the entire core. A modified version, done on elbows and knees, is easy enough for anyone to do and a good way to prepare oneself for the more advanced form of the move.

The strength you gain from exercising your lower back will help you throughout your pregnancy and during the birthing process, not to mention all the days coming up, during which time you'll be carrying a certain weight with you practically everywhere you go.

Joe Weider is acclaimed as "the father of modern bodybuilding" and the founder of the world's leading fitness magazines, including Shape, Muscle and Fitness, Men's Fitness, Fit Pregnancy, Hers, Golf for Seniors and others published worldwide in over 20 languages.