In yesterday’s newsletter, I discussed blocking blood flow to the target muscle by doing a continuous-tension exercise first for high reps, then following with the ideal exercise…
For example, you could do a high-rep set of leg extensions before sissy squats, the ideal exercise. Or cable flyes before dumbbell decline presses for chest…
That is not what most people call pre-exhaustion, which is an isolation exercise quickly followed by a compound move, although the chest example above does fall into that. The quad example does not, as it’s two isolation exercises…
What I’m talking about is a continuous-tension exercise to fatigue and shut down a lot of the slow-twitch fibers before moving to the ideal exercise for optimal and perhaps heightened fast-twitch activation.
With either type of pre-ex, however, supersetting can be a pain in the ass, or nearly impossible, in a crowded commercial gym. To solve the problem, you could simply do a partial-range high-rep set on the ideal exercise first for continuous tension…
For example, on dumbbell decline presses, do only the bottom two-thirds of the stroke for 20-plus reps, rest 20 seconds, then do a full-range set.
Same with sissy squats or cable squats—just do the bottom two-thirds of the stroke for high reps, then follow with a full-range set.
The partial reps should provide the occlusion effect to provide heightened fast-twitch activation in your quads on the second and third full-range sets.
Of course, you won’t get the variation of doing two different exercises, which many researchers believe can more fully develop the muscle. But If you want that, simply do the add-on exercise as recommended in the workouts in Old Man, Young Muscle.
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Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
X-Rep.com
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