Q: I’ve read that studies looking into pre-exhaustion (isolation exercise prior to a multi-joint move for the same muscle) found that it isn’t any better at building muscle than straight sets. Mike Mentzer seemed to believe that it was a magic mass builder, like doing leg extensions first before going immediately to squats or leg presses. You have a stretch-first pre-ex workout in Old Man, Young Muscle. Is it any better than just doing straight sets?
A: I haven’t seen those studies, but even if the conclusion is correct—that pre-ex is not better but equal to straight sets for hypertrophy—pre-ex has a major advantage: less joint trauma…
If you saw the Monday Mantra newsletter with the quote from Lee Haney, he said that the target muscle doesn’t know what poundage you’re using; it only knows feel…
In other words, if you can somehow make 50-pound dumbbells feel like 100s for bench presses, you’ll get the same growth effects without hammering your joints into dust. And that’s what pre-ex is good at…
For example, in the OMYM stretch-first STX workout, using a single-joint movement, like dumbbell flyes, prior to the ideal, dumbbell decline presses, you will need much lighter dumbbells on the presses; however…
Your pecs will feel as if they are a being taxed with heavy weight on presses due to the flyes isolated pre-exhaustion effect on the chest muscles.
And I would argue that starting with a single-joint STRETCH move is even better. That’s because when you start with a stretch-position isolation exercise, you may get better gains by prioritizing stretch loading.
Many recent studies show stretch loading is a dominant hypertrophy factor, so why not do it first when you’re fresh.
Your Efficient Mass-Building Handbook: For complete mass workouts that include Speed Sets, the ideal exercise for each muscle, and the best stretch and contracted add-on moves, get your copy of Old Man, Young Muscle.
And you still get The Muscle-On, Belly-Gone “Diet” ebook FREE for a limited time when you add Old Man, Young Muscle to your mass-building library. Go HERE.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
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