How you start your workouts matters, no matter your goal. Pre-exhaustion, a popular technique among pro bodybuilders and muscle-minded gymgoers alike, may not be all it’s cracked up to be.
There are two types of pre-exhaustion:
- Working the target muscle directly before using it in a compound exercise; think using the leg extension machine before doing barbell squats on leg day.
- Deliberately tiring out supportive or auxiliary muscles to place more load on the target muscle afterward; think exhausting your triceps with pressdowns before performing the bench press.
Pre-exhaustion falls under the umbrella of exercise order. And according to a study published in the Journal of Sport Science & Medicine, it doesn’t provide a substantial advantage. In fact, it might be holding you back.
Pre-Exhaustion for Muscle Growth: Science Explained
In 2016, authors Soares et al. published “Comparison Between Pre-Exhaustion and Traditional Exercise Order on Muscle Activation and Performance in Trained Men.” (1) Their work deserves praise for using trained subjects — when you’re first starting out with your gym career, anything works.
- Fourteen male subjects performed the bench press and triceps pushdown in various combinations; separately, bench press first followed by pushdowns, and pushdowns followed by the bench press.
The authors drew two conclusions of note. Total weights moved between the groups were similar. Also, “The primary target (e.g. muscle group) of the training session should be trained first,” the authors said.
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Other research has yielded more specific results. In 2022, a meta-analysis of studies on pre-exhaustion noted “the literature still lacks sufficient evidence to substantiate the usefulness of the pre-exhaustion method compared with traditional resistance training models…” (2)
Notably, this meta-analysis did collect some studies with positive findings on pre-exhaustion. So, how do we interpret the findings of Soares & colleagues, plus the 2022 meta-analysis?
Pre-Exhaustion: Your Takeaways
When it comes to pre-exhaustion for muscle growth, here’s what you need to know:
- The existing scientific research does not provide anything conclusive about pre-exhaustion being superior to standard resistance training protocols.
- As far as exercise order goes, most studies endorse training your most important movement first.
- This can mean the exercise you’re trying to build strength on, such as a squat or bench press, or a movement with a balance or skill-based element, such as a split squat.
- Pre-exhausting your muscles may change how the rest of your workout feels, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re making better gains.
- You can prioritize your triceps by performing pushdowns first, but you’ll have to accept that pre-exhausting them might impact any subsequent pressing exercises you perform.
If pre-exhaustion helps you connect with your muscles such that you can apply more effort, go for it. Just remember it’s not magic and certainly not a muscle-building must-do.
More Research Content
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- 10 Minutes Gets You a Year: New Study on Exercise & Life Expectancy
References
- Soares EG, Brown LE, Gomes WA, Corrêa DA, Serpa ÉP, da Silva JJ, Junior Gde B, Fioravanti GZ, Aoki MS, Lopes CR, Marchetti PH. Comparison Between Pre-Exhaustion and Traditional Exercise Order on Muscle Activation and Performance in Trained Men. J Sports Sci Med. 2016 Feb 23;15(1):111-7. PMID: 26957933; PMCID: PMC4763829.
- Trindade TB, Alves RC, DE Castro BM, DE Medeiros MA, DE Medeiros JA, Dantas PMS, Prestes J. Pre-exhaustion Training, a Narrative Review of the Acute Responses and Chronic Adaptations. Int J Exerc Sci. 2022 Mar 1;15(3):507-525. PMID: 35516415; PMCID: PMC9022698.
Featured Image: Maksym Fesenko / Shutterstock
