What Is Pre-Exhaust Training – How Bodybuilders Prep for Workouts

This Pre-Lift Training Technique Can Help You Build More Muscle

If packing on mass is your workout goal, try this approach before your big compound lifts.

By Trevor Thieme C.S.C.S. Published: Sep 12, 2022

This article is a repost which originally appeared on Men’s Health.

Edited for content. The opinions expressed in this article may not reflect the opinions of this site’s editors, staff or members.

Our Takeaways:

· Pre-exhaust training is a good way to bring up lagging body parts.

· Supersets can be used with good effect to increase training efficiency.

· Pre-exhaust training ensures all muscles involved are adequately fatigued.

This is Your Quick Training Tip, a chance to learn how to work smarter in just a few moments so you can get right to your workout.

EVERY LIFTER—from grizzled six-day-per-week bodybuilders to trainees on three-day splits with under a year of training under their weigh belt—hits a plateau at some point. So you shouldn’t feel like your gym life is ending when you hit yours. They key is to find the best way to break through.

Maybe you’re stuck because you’ve been hammering the same workout program for too long. Perhaps your periodization plan isn’t quite periodized enough. Or maybe everything is on point, but constantly targeting your largest muscle groups with compound exercises has exposed a critical weakness: the relative strength of your assistive muscles (e.g., the triceps in the bench press or the hamstrings and glutes in the squat). If that’s the case—and the more seasoned you are, the more likely it is—consider incorporating “pre-exhaustion training” into your fitness program.

What Is Pre-Exhaustion Training?

Pre-exhaustion training is essentially a superset strategy, but instead of pairing exercises that target two different muscle groups, you pair moves that target the same one. First, you hit the muscle in question with an isolation exercise, and then with a compound one.

Classic examples include performing the dumbbell fly or cable crossover before the bench press, or the leg extension before the squat. In so doing, you increase the odds that the target muscle doesn’t outlast the supporting ones in the compound movement, and thus the set doesn’t end prematurely and the adaptation stimulus for all of those muscles isn’t compromised.

At least, that’s the theory. But in this case theory is paramount, because science is staunchly against pre-exhaustion training for all of the wrong reasons.

Science vs. Reality in Pre-Exhaustion Training

Many of the studies that discount the benefits of pre-exhaustion training suggest that targeting a muscle first with an isolation exercise decreases activity in that muscle during the subsequent compound exercise. But here’s the thing (and the issue many studies miss): That’s the point.

The goal of pre-exhaustion training isn’t to boost muscle growth by increasing activity in the target muscle during the compound exercise; rather, it’s to boost growth in that muscle and the supporting musculature by leveling the playing field and making sure that all of the muscles involved can be worked to fatigue. Performance outcomes should be secondary.

How to Weave Pre-Exhaustion Training into Your Workouts

Pre-exhaustion training is just like it sounds—exhausting—so only use it to target one or two muscle groups per workout with one or two supersets. Any more than that and you risk overtraining—especially if you have less than a couple of years of pumping iron under your weight belt.

But if you’re an experienced lifter who’s struggling to make gains in big compound moves like the squat, bench press, and deadlift, pre-exhaustion training can help you bust out of a rut—or prevent one from happening in the first place.

How to Bench Press to Build Strength vs. Building Muscle

How You Bench Press Should Depend on Your Goals. Here’s How to Choose Your Approach.

Whether you’re trying to sculpt your pecs or push as many plates as possible, your form matters.

By Brett Williams, NASM May 19, 2022

This article is a repost which originally appeared on Men’sHealth

Edited for content. The opinions expressed in this article may not reflect the opinions of this site’s editors, staff or members.

Our Takeaways:

· The barbell bench press is one of the three staple powerlifting exercises.

· There are two main styles of bench pressing: bodybuilder and powerlifter style.

· A combination of both styles will give you both chest size and strength

You probably bench press every week as part of your workout routine (and maybe even multiple times a week). The exercise is a workout staple because of its reputation for being a surefire method for building big chest muscle. Barbell bench press is also one of the big three exercises powerlifters base their entire existence around, with the goal of piling ever more plates onto the bar for the highest total weight they can manage.

But those two aspects of the bench press mean that there are different ways to approach the lift, both in terms of training philosophy and technique, in order to accomplish the goal at hand—and if you want to make the most out of your time and effort under the barbell, Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. says you should make sure you’re targeting one or the other.

First, it’s important to understand the difference between the two approaches. Think of them as the bodybuilder style (to build muscle) and powerlifter style (to push the most amount of weight possible).

Bodybuilder-Style Bench Press

●Engage your core

●Maintain a slight arch in the thoracic spine

The point is maximizing time under tension, making your chest work as much as possible.

Powerlifter-Style Bench Press

●Arch the back as much as possible, keeping your butt on the pad

The point of this position is that it helps to change the angle of the bar to a decline and shortens the distance the bar needs to travel, making it easier to move heavier loads.

How to Choose the Right Bench Press for You

Now comes the question: What is most important for you? What are your goals in the weight room?

If you’re looking to build big muscles but you don’t care as much about your gym stats, go with the bodybuilder-style bench press. You’ll get plenty of chest stimulation (and eventually, you might find you prefer swapping the barbell for other options that allow you to home in on the muscles to accentuate growth and shape). This is going to be the best option for most people.

Brute strength might be your end goal, and that’s okay too. There are few more satisfying feats than adding a new plate to the bar and crushing a rep. Go with the powerlifter-style bench press, and focus on progressively adding more weight to your PR max by training smart with a program that allows you to scale up safely.

The Diet and Workout I Used to Build Muscle and Get Ripped at 63

The Workout and Diet I Used to Build Muscle and Get Ripped at 63 Years Old

“Small successes add up. One more rep can make a big difference.”

By Philip Ellis   Jun 23, 2021

This article is a repost which originally appeared on Men’sHealth

Edited for content.

Airline pilot Bruce Endler, 63, shares with Men’s Health how he overcame a quarantine slump and transformed his body in just 60 days.

I have always been involved in some form of physical activity, from weight training to martial arts, and around my 60th birthday I got into bodybuilding. However, it was not unusual to miss several months at a time for various reasons. In addition to family and work issues, several surgeries caused me to suspend training. I’ve had both shoulders decompressed, a deviated septum corrected (a result of my Tae Kwon Do studies) and a spinal surgery that cost me three months.

As an airline pilot, I would plan my trips around layovers where I knew I would have have access to a gym and time to train. I would also work out with my trainer Bob Holper at Life Time once or twice a week depending on my work schedule. But starting in late March 2020, the airline industry suffered a dramatic reduction in passenger traffic due to the pandemic.

Coupled with the inability to train on the road, the shutdown of gyms meant that I was solely working out at home. I have never found pure bodyweight workouts appealing, and had only minimal equipment available at the beginning of quarantine. I ordered some resistance bands, but the global logistics issues resulted in a lengthy delay in their arrival. The same issue affected the building of my garage gym .The result was that my workouts became markedly inconsistent.

On the nutrition side, I also struggled to stick to the macronutrients and calories in my healthy eating plan: in order to support the struggling restaurant industry, my wife and I routinely ordered from three or four of our favorite local restaurants. And like many others, we also found ourselves drinking too much and watching too much television.

I decided to sign up for Life Time’s 60-Day Challenge. My younger son, Andrew, had just competed in his first bodybuilding show, and he any my trainer Bob (an IFBB pro) encouraged me to give it a shot. I have always been goal-oriented and driven to succeed. I was disappointed with the extra body fat I had acquired, and wanted to return to a healthier state. Ultimately, I decided to enrol a couple of weeks prior to the challenge start date.

Bob and I set up two three-day training splits. The first was heavier compound movements, and the second was higher rep isolation movements. He left cardio up to me, but encouraged me to begin each day with fasting fat-burning cardio. I began each day with 16 ounces of water, a cup of coffee, and a 45-minute walk. Then it was meal one. I then did my weight training for 60 to 90 minutes followed by meal two. Another 45-minute walk was followed by meal three and a shower, with meals four and five about three hours apart. On non-weight training days, I would add to or replace one of the walking workouts with a 30-minute HIIT session on an elliptical machine.

Nutrition started off low carb for the first few weeks to get my metabolism going. I then moved into a few weeks of carb cycling. Bob tends to like five low days followed by two high days, but I have found that three low and one high works better for me. Since the challenge ended, I have been adding additional daily carbs on a weekly basis. This has slowed the rate of weight loss but increased my metabolism further.

Getting back into consistent training was fabulous. I have always enjoyed the endorphin high. Additionally, despite the weight loss, my strength was mostly maintained. Fortunately, motivation was not a factor since the pilot side of me thrives on routine. Additionally, my wife’s trainer provided her with a nutrition plan that was similar initially, so we could eat together.

I began the 60-day process at a little over 165 pounds and 22.9% body fat. I ended the contest at 152.1 pounds and 17.8%. Since then, continued training has put me at 15.1%. I feel so much more confident as a result. Pullups are also a lot easier, which means I am about ready to make them weighted rather than bodyweight.

The most important advice I could give anyone is to understand your own journey. There will always be setbacks or detours, but you must press on with the effort. Consistency is the key to success, but don’t let an inability to maintain consistency keep you from undertaking the journey. Small successes add up. One more rep, another 5 pounds, or a few more minutes can make a big difference. Never, ever quit. Or, if you are a Galaxy Quest fan: “Never give up, never surrender.”

 

Eat to Build Muscle – Foods and Diet Plan

The Bodybuilder’s Diet: 8 New Rules of Muscle Building

Pure gains.

By Jeff Csatari

This article is a repost which originally appeared on Men’sHealth

Edited for content

You can crank out heavy squats and curls until your quads and biceps scream for mercy, and still you can’t seem to build the muscle you want.

What’s going on?

If you’re struggling to grow muscle despite your dedication in the gym, your problem most likely isn’t your workout, but rather your diet and lifestyle.

Building muscle is a complex science. It’s a coalescence of your lifting, your nutrition, your hormones, and your rest. So, let’s assume you’re doing everything right in the gym—following a good program and pushing yourself hard. Keep it up.

But now let’s focus on the other stuff. Are you getting enough protein and calories? Are you supporting your endocrine system properly? Are you getting quality sleep? Tweaking these crucial variables will result in the kind of muscle that fills out a T-shirt—and then some.

“Nutrition is the cornerstone in building lean muscle,” says nutritionist and exercise physiologist Jim White, R.D. “If the protein isn’t there, it’s not going to help your muscles grow. If the carbs aren’t there, you’re going to feel sluggish. If the fat isn’t there, it’s going to affect energy levels and overall health.”

In short, it’s time to master the soft art of building hard muscle—meal time. Your diet needs to be strategically choreographed to accelerate the repair-and-grow process that follows that strenuous workout session you’re so proud of.

White knows the right formula. A former skinny athlete, he was a self-described “hard gainer,” frustrated by his inability to grow bigger and stronger and run faster. Then he took a hard look at his crappy diet: He ate like a bird. Rarely touched fruits and vegetables. He gravitated toward sugary processed junk.

His nutrition training opened his eyes to his problem, and he changed his body and his life. He started eating six meals a day, increasing his daily calories to 3,500 and began experimenting with different percentages of macronutrients until he found the sweet spot.

Suddenly, his energy skyrocketed, making his time in the gym more productive. Now he’s jacked—he added 70 pounds of lean muscle and saw huge strength gains. The guy who struggled to bench 65 pounds can now press 295.

White shares his story of total body transformation and the plan that got him there in the new book Men’s Health Best Meals for Muscle. Here’s a sample of White’s muscle building plan, below. To finesse your own massive growth spurt, grab a copy of Best Meals for Muscle; it’s full of White’s expert advice and tasty, easy-to-cook meals with the right macronutrient mix to fuel your transition.

1. Eat More Protein

The actual process of growing muscle, when cells rush in to rebuild your torn-down muscle fibers, happens not in the gym but after your workout, when you rest. And the composition of what you eat before and after you stress that muscle can mean the difference between building up the muscle or destroying it.

Making sure you’re eating enough protein is of paramount importance for two reasons:

1. Proteins deliver the amino acids that form the building blocks of muscle. When intense weightlifting breaks down muscle protein synthesis provides the proteins needed to repair that muscle and spur it to grow bigger.

2. Your body also looks to proteins to supply amino acids for producing hormones like insulin and human growth hormone, which can further drain protein reserves. A higher protein diet ensures you have more than enough to go around and shifts your body into an anabolic mode, one that builds tissues rather than breaking them down.

While the recommended daily allowance for protein is less than half a gram per pound of bodyweight, you should double that to a gram per pound of bodyweight to build muscle. That’s the maximum amount your body can use in a day, according to a landmark study in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

So, for example, a 160-pound man should try to consume 160 grams of protein a day in order to fuel muscle growth. One hundred sixty grams of protein looks like this: 8 ounces of chicken breast, 1 cup of cottage cheese, a roast beef sandwich, two eggs, a glass of milk, and 2 ounces of peanuts.

2. Consume More Calories

If you’re weight training to bulk up, don’t eat like a guy who’s trying to lose weight. Growing a pound of muscle requires about 2,800 calories. That means you may have to overeat to consume enough calories to build size.

In fact, in some studies, researchers found that lifters with the greatest gains in muscle were the men who were the biggest eaters. White’s plan calls for boosting your calories to 3,000 a day. That’s a lot of food to consume in three squares, so White recommends you . . .

Eat Every 3 Hours (roughly)

By spreading your calories out over, say, six meals spaced about 3 hours apart, you’ll avoid that full-belly feeling that can make you sluggish, and you’ll ensure your muscles get consistently stoked with protein and carbs. Your body needs a constant supply of macronutrients and micronutrients to operate properly, especially when it is being taxed by intense exercise.

Shoot for about 30 grams of protein per meal. That’ll get most people into the proper range for muscle growth.

Get the Right Mix of Macros

Protein is critical, but it shouldn’t be a soloist when you’re orchestrating a plan for building mass. The other macronutrients, namely carbohydrates and healthy fats, influence muscle growth, too. By getting your macro ratio right, you can expect to see your gains skyrocket and avoid adding body fat even with the increase in calories, says White. Best Meals for Muscle makes hitting that holy grail ratio of 50 percent carbs, 25 percent protein, and 25 percent fat easy by translating it into ideal meal examples (and recipes) you can use to fuel your day.

Hydrate for More T

Exercise-induced dehydration slows your motor neurons. Not only will you feel fatigue sooner during a workout than you otherwise would, but your performance slips as well.

What’s more, a study in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that dehydrated weight lifters produced more of the stress hormone cortisol, while reducing the release of testosterone, the body’s best muscle builder.

Find Your Whey

Right after your workout, drink a whey protein shake that delivers about 25 grams of protein per serving. Whey digests more quickly than other types of protein, so it hits your muscles faster. Whey protein also has the highest concentration of the branched-chain amino acid leucine, which is required for protein synthesis.

Have a Banana Before a Workout

Or some Greek yogurt. Or a low-sugar sports drink. All are rich in electrolytes, which help your muscles contract. Exercise depletes electrolytes fast. Be sure you don’t run short and cramp up.

Time Your Meals

If you’re serious about packing on more muscle, get serious about being more disciplined about when you eat. You can start by creating a meal plan and sticking to strict meal times. Begin refueling shortly after you wake up and stop eating three hours before going to bed. Remember, your body repairs and builds muscles as you sleep. Eating just before bed can disrupt your sleep and throw a monkey wrench into that crucial repair process.

Men’s Health Best Meals for Muscle is full of ready-to-serve meal plans and recipes that take the guesswork out of feeding your muscles the right amounts at the right times.

Stamina Training Specifics, Similarities With Male Enhancement & Bodybuilding: Ask The Experts

Big Al, of MaleEnhancementCoach.com, answers questions about Stamina Training specifics and similarities with male enhancement & bodybuilding.

If you have questions you’d like answered in an Ask the Experts article, please PM Big Al.

Q. In the instructions for Stamina Training it’s advised to ejaculate at the end of the Stop and Starts…

…but what if I want to get the benefits of not ejaculating? Can I train the Stop and Starts without ejaculating?

Big Al: If you’re training for sexual proficiency, then SOME regular ejaculations are required. There certainly is a risk of ejaculating too frequently, but ejaculating infrequently can create a “use it or lose it” scenario.

I am aware of the Chinese study that shows a spike in testosterone levels after 7 days of abstinence, then a DROP. If you read through the study, you’ll note where it states: “No regular fluctuation was observed following continuous abstinence after the peak.” It should also be noted that additional testosterone in your bloodstream will not increase your penis size if you are a healthy adult.

The takeaway from this is you should find the level of ejaculatiory frequency that’s right for you- enough to preserve your libido and allow for increased functioning, but not so much you deplete your libido and energy. The general recommendation is to ejaculate 3-4 times a week, so you can work from this point to determine the optimal frequency for you.

Q. I’ve been having some troubles with my routine – First and the main is that my erection isn’t good at all …

It might and probably is due to my sleep and hard training at the gym …

I’m sleeping ok , 8+ hours every night but around 5pm. I’m super tired and I get it that I should take a nap -will do it from tomorrow …

Stop and Start time dropped – first two stops are 2 minutes top and then the last one I somehow manage to do 7+ minutes and when it gets really close to ponr I remember to breathe …

Anyway , I’ve decided to take a break from todays and next two routines just to rest the penis a little bit …

And yes , I wanted to ask you about doing stop and starts with a woman –

1) This one doesn’t matter if it’s with a woman …

I read that I should masturbate up to couple of seconds before ejaculating …

Is that how it should be done or when I feel that the end is about to come – my pelvic floor starts tensing and I know that I’ve lost control over it – when should I stop , first or second ?

2) Are there some positions that you suggest since I need to have full control over the motions ?

3) And I understood that I shouldn’t do the Stop and Starts if I have sex more than three times a week ?

4) Since in the past I managed easily to get erection after finishing once or just maintaining it , is it bad to cum 3,4 times per evening when with a partner ?

5) And when coming 3 or 4 times, do you suggest doing the Stop and Start each time or just the first time ?

Big Al: Given the totality of your circumstances, you may not be allowing enough recovery for progress. A few days off would be a good idea, and when you resume, let’s stick with Stamina Only (Kegels and Stop and Starts) for awhile until you feel conditioned enough to transition to a full routine.

To answer your questions:

1) Performing the techniques of the Stop and Starts during sexual activity is a superior practice to the manual version, but also more difficult to control. You’ll need to experiment with learning how you feel when you’re building up to ejaculation. If your pelvic floor begins to flutter this is a good sign you’re getting close. Slowing/stopping at this time should allow you to hold off ejaculation/orgasm. Learning when to stop and the timing in which you kegel in reference to approaching the PONR is going to take practice.

2) Missionary position allows you maximum control, and when performed correctly is often the preferred position for giving a woman orgasms.

3) You should limit the MANUAL Stop and Starts as per the “60 Minute Rule” outlined in the Stamina Exercises section. You can have as much sexual contact as you can handle, but please be aware that sex can be considered a form of training. If you’re engaging in a lot of sex (several hours a day, multiple days per week) this will cut into your recovery. Yo umay need to take extra days off between your enlargement sessions to account for this. Compound this with other types of trainign and you can see how you’ll need to optimize your recovery if you wish to be able to handle it all.

4) If you can recover enough to engage in 3 to 4 bouts of sexual activity per evening then more power to you 🙂

5) Practicing during live sexual activity is different from manual training. I don’t want to place any positive limitations on you (which includes the number of “stops”), but you should ensure you’re attempting to increase your time each session.

Q. I like the way you’re so methodical about training!

As a bodybuilder, I can relate to a lot of the principles you outline in your courses. Would you say that having experience with bodybuilding can be helpful to penis training?

Big Al: There are some similarities (and some important differences) with weight training and male enhancement training. Male enhancement does rely on progressive training principles to force progress, but the feel of the movements and the resultant level of tissue stretch is far more important than reps or intensity. Also- with the exception of Kegel-type exercises- male enhancement exercises are passive in nature. The concept is similar to PNF style stretching for bodybuilding.

 

Like Big Al’s articles?  Read more of them here: Posts by AJ “Big Al” Alfaro

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