What are pre exhaust sets?

[butrybench555]

I'm doing a new workout and it says pre exhaust sets. Can someone explain to me what they are? Thank you

[VS91588]

Its a few sets to tire out the muscle just a tad bit b4 you go on to heavier exercises. When you pre exhaust the muscle b4 you go onto heavier exercises it manipulates the lighter weight into feeling heavier and allows the muscle to work harder. For example let's say you are training chest, in order to pre-exhaust your chest you would first do a machine or fly movement b4 the free weight pressing movements

Example Chest Workout
Machine Incline - 4 sets (Pre exhaust)
Dumbell Incline Bench - 4 sets
Dumbbell Flat Bench - 4 sets
Dips - 4 sets
Pec Dec Flys - 4 sets

[gregg1494]

It's doing an exercise to exhaust the muscle group you ate trying to work.

Ex: leg extensions before squats. Your quads will already be exhausted from the leg extensions. So you won't be able to go as heavy as you usually would have with just squats.

[Celorza]

It's doing an exercise to exhaust the muscle group you ate trying to work.

Ex: leg extensions before squats. Your quads will already be exhausted from the leg extensions. So you won't be able to go as heavy as you usually would have with just squats.

I hear backsquats are more for hammies and glutes but thats just me

[gregg1494]

I hear backsquats are more for hammies and glutes but thats just me

Yes. But when your quads are tired your legs as a whole get weaker.

[Celorza]

Yes. But when your quads are tired your legs as a whole get weaker.

Hm...I have not seen this happen to me but I don't do pre-exhaust sets , yet I do go all out on 5.3.1 squats and then on to high-volume high-weight leg press , I do it backwards , i tire my glutes and hammies and then jam my quads , i'll try out this pre-exhaust just for the heck of it on friday gregg I wanna see if tired out I can still manage my 5.3.1 hehe I like a challenge

[asooneyeonig]

i'll try out this pre-exhaust just for the heck of it on friday gregg

dont waste your time. pre exhaust is a silly bodybuilder thing. it wont make you stronger. which if you are doing 5 3 1 then you probably want to get stronger.

pre exhaust gives you the ability to do less work with a muscle and major in the minors by doing way too many isolation exercises and sucking at the big important lifts. so yes, i think its a silly idea.

[Celorza]

dont waste your time. pre exhaust is a silly bodybuilder thing. it wont make you stronger. which if you are doing 5 3 1 then you probably want to get stronger.

pre exhaust gives you the ability to do less work with a muscle and major in the minors by doing way too many isolation exercises and sucking at the big important lifts. so yes, i think its a silly idea.

Just thought kinda for the heck of it , I love my 5/3/1 , and yeah I want strength and mass , and do dedicate myself a lot to it I try to keep assistance exercises away from isolations and machines...seems stupid at a beginners point like mine , I just stick to compounds , and heavy BW exercises hehe

[VS91588]

dont waste your time. pre exhaust is a silly bodybuilder thing. it wont make you stronger. which if you are doing 5 3 1 then you probably want to get stronger.

pre exhaust gives you the ability to do less work with a muscle and major in the minors by doing way too many isolation exercises and sucking at the big important lifts. so yes, i think its a silly idea.

It's not silly of you know how to pre-exhaust. When you pre exhaust you are not taking an "easy" exercise and working the muscle out hard. You are just getting the blood flowing and stimulating the muscle just enough. You are not going 100% to failure on each pre-exhaust set. When I bench I warm up on Hammer Strength incline press and I follow up on DB incline presses. 100lb, 110lb, 120lb, 130lb... Those are still strong lifts in my opinion. When you pre-exhaust you just wanna get that pump feeling in your muscle not a tired sore feeling

[asooneyeonig]

It's not silly of you know how to pre-exhaust. When you pre exhaust you are not taking an "easy" exercise and working the muscle out hard. You are just getting the blood flowing and stimulating the muscle just enough. You are not going 100% to failure on each pre-exhaust set. When I bench I warm up on Hammer Strength incline press and I follow up on DB incline presses. 100lb, 110lb, 120lb, 130lb... Those are still strong lifts in my opinion. When you pre-exhaust you just wanna get that pump feeling in your muscle not a tired sore feeling

so basically you are warming up the muscle?

what i know of pre-exhaust is that you want to fatigue a muscle with an isolation exercise movement in the hopes that then doing a compound movement involving that muscle will allow for more stimulus and therefore more growth.

i may be wrong in that, but memory says that, for example doing leg extensions followed up by squats to try and get more of out of the quads just does not work. the pre exhausted muscle works less in the compound then if it was fresh. if that is the case then it just seems silly to do pre exhaust. but i could be wrong.

[VS91588]

so basically you are warming up the muscle?

what i know of pre-exhaust is that you want to fatigue a muscle with an isolation exercise movement in the hopes that then doing a compound movement involving that muscle will allow for more stimulus and therefore more growth.

i may be wrong in that, but memory says that, for example doing leg extensions followed up by squats to try and get more of out of the quads just does not work. the pre exhausted muscle works less in the compound then if it was fresh. if that is the case then it just seems silly to do pre exhaust. but i could be wrong.

Your 1st paragraph is the correct theory. In regards to that leg routine, just because you are not squating a heavier weight that you normally could do because of pre exhausting the quads w/ leg extensions does not mean you're getting less out of your quad development. Your muscles only understand resistance. It can't calculate how much weight you have on the bar. Your muscles don't know how much it is lifting. If you pre exhaust your muscle b4 a heavier compound movement just remember to leave your ego at the front door!

[VS91588]

Your 1st paragraph is the correct theory. In regards to that leg routine, just because you are not squating a heavier weight that you normally could do because of pre exhausting the quads w/ leg extensions does not mean you're not getting less out of your quad development. Your muscles only understand resistance. It can't calculate how much weight you have on the bar. Your muscles don't know how much it is lifting. If you pre exhaust your muscle b4 a heavier compound movement just remember to leave your ego at the front door!

Does not mean you are not getting more*** (sorry)

[ZiR RED]

I'll try to look up the studies when I get back in front of my external hard drive, but.........

If you look at any EMG studies done with pre-exhuast you actually get the opposite response. For example, if you do pec dec before bench press, you do not get additional pec work, but in stead the triceps and anterior deltoids recruitment increases while pectoral recruitment decreases. This lends me to believe that pre-exhuast while challenging and pump inducing, may not be all that efficient as far as increasing size in the desired muscle. If anything, I would suggest the opposite. Doing the big movement then following immediately after with the isolation to induce some extra lactic-acidosis and muscle damage.

Br

[AZMIDLYF]

This^^^ If the target muscle has been pre-exhausted and therefore weakened. The tendency would be for you to recruit other muscles in order to perform the next exercise. So if you pre-exhaust your quads with extensions and then go to squats, you will probably be recruiting more glutes/hams to peform them.

[CopyCat]

I'll try to look up the studies when I get back in front of my external hard drive, but.........

If you look at any EMG studies done with pre-exhuast you actually get the opposite response. For example, if you do pec dec before bench press, you do not get additional pec work, but in stead the triceps and anterior deltoids recruitment increases while pectoral recruitment decreases. This lends me to believe that pre-exhuast while challenging and pump inducing, may not be all that efficient as far as increasing size in the desired muscle. If anything, I would suggest the opposite. Doing the big movement then following immediately after with the isolation to induce some extra lactic-acidosis and muscle damage.

Br

Just saved me a bunch of typing on my iPhone.

[mcc23]

I'll try to look up the studies when I get back in front of my external hard drive, but.........

If you look at any EMG studies done with pre-exhuast you actually get the opposite response. For example, if you do pec dec before bench press, you do not get additional pec work, but in stead the triceps and anterior deltoids recruitment increases while pectoral recruitment decreases. This lends me to believe that pre-exhuast while challenging and pump inducing, may not be all that efficient as far as increasing size in the desired muscle. If anything, I would suggest the opposite. Doing the big movement then following immediately after with the isolation to induce some extra lactic-acidosis and muscle damage.

Br

Very good post.. The term in this case would be "post fatigue". Ex: Supinated Grip Pulldowns, followed by straight arm lat pulldowns.. Isolates the latissimus w/ no involvement of biceps