I realize this is thread necromancy, but I wanted to make a quick note about the old Arthur Jones full body routines...
Yes, in general, you'll grow better by working the largest muscles first, then the next largest and so on 'til you're finishing a workout with something piddily like wrist curls
However, even as a relative newbie brimming with insane natural test levels AND a VERY high degree of cardiovascular fitness, I found I'd basically shoot my wad in doing the very biggest and heaviest lower body work first. I typically started those sessions with a set of Nautilus let extensions to total failure, followed by the same on their leg curl, and without rest, a brutal set of Duo Squats.
I progressed nicely enough in the leg cycle for a time, but everything that came after suffered. It wasn't until I went to a split routine, the '92 version of Heavy Duty, that everything skyrocketed. I almost doubled the weight I used on the Nautilus Pullover, Behind-neck Torso, Pulldown and the Arm Cross on the old Double Chest machine. I also maxed out their lateral raise and got much stronger on the Multi-biceps and triceps machines. Over the course of six months, I probably put on a good ten to twelve pounds of lean mass that way.
After that, I hit another plateau and, stupidly, thought Mike was right in cutting exercises and inserting some rest days. If I could do it again, I would have gone back to twice weekly, full body routines, only this time installed would:
Save the very hardest exercise for last. Squats, deadlifts.
Cycle through a pool of proven exercises for each body part (e.g., Nautilus chest press on Monday, weighted dips on Thursday, and maybe even a different move to start off the following week)
Forget about traditional set/rep modalities. If I parallel dip one failure set of bodyweight plus 90 for eight strict one week, the next time I'm slated to dip, why not try the same 90 for six sets of six? Or 100 for four or five sets of triples?
Ah, the benefit of hindsight! LOL.