Pre Exhaustion Pre – Exhaustion - To the next level of muscle building during your workouts! The Pre-exhaustion principle was first popularized by MuscleMag International founder, Robert Kennedy in the late 1960’s and is one of the most effective ways to increase your muscle-building potential during your workouts. The primary benefit of the technique is that it helps bypass the “weak link” that often accompanies most exercises. The technique is based on a sort of "double set", where one, single-joint movement is quickly followed by a multi-joint movement. The goal of the principle is to first tire out or "pre-exhaust" the muscles you are trying to work by performing a single-joint, isolation exercise. This single-joint isolation exercise is then quickly followed by a multi-joint, compound movement. This will utilize the surrounding muscles that provide assistance to work the pre-fatigued muscle beyond its normal state of exhaustion. Putting it into Practice Let's say that you want to target your upper back lat muscles using the Pre-Exhaustion Principle during your workouts. The first thing you do is perform a single-joint exercise - such as a dumbbell pullover or straight-arm pushdown - to pre-fatigue your upper back muscles. As soon as possible, follow that exercise with a multi-joint movement such as lat pulldowns or seated rows. That second exercise will employ your arms to assist your now pre-fatigued upper back. This will force the lats to work to a level of exhaustion that would normally be extremely difficult. For maximum muscle-building results, the second exercise should follow the first with as little rest in between as possible. Too much time between the first and second exercises will allow the pre-fatigued muscle to recover some of its original level of strength. If the muscle recovers too much, then you are back to where you started from (the weak link still being the limiting factor). Here are some highly effective pre-exhaustion combinations: BODYPART ISOLATION EXERCISE COMPOUND EXERCISE Chest Pec-Deck Machine Flat-Bench BarbellPress Back Pull-Over Barbell Row Shoulders Lateral Raise Barbell Press Biceps Preacher Curl Chin-Up Triceps Lying French Press Close-Grip Bench Press Glutes Hip Abductor Machine Dumbbell Lunge Quads Leg Extension Squats Hamstrings Lying Leg Curl Deadlift Because of their intensity we don’t recommend pre-exhaustion sets for beginners. Only start incorporating them into your workouts after four to six months of steady training. Even then, only perform them for one exercise per muscle group. Doing too much too fast could put you in a state of overtraining. But do them correct and you’ll vault to the next level of muscle-building.