Pre Fatigue Technique For the BURN!

I absolutely love creating working for clients and of course, you guys!! My readers. Finding new, effective and unique ways to work the body never gets old for me. How boring would it be to have the same routine, day in and day out for months upon months? Not only will your body stop responding and you would most likely hit that dreaded plateau BUT you would also lose motivation and most likely drop off for a while. There is NOTHING that brings your focus and attention back to your workouts like something fresh, new and challenging! We all tend to get pretty good at things we love and things we are good at. The challenge therein lies to push ourselves just past that point.

Something I have been playing around with myself is pre fatigue sets. This is a great training technique to really really fry the muscles and get a nice burn!

You complete pre-fatigue sets by completing an exercise to failure before moving directly into another exercise that works the same body part. This serves to fatigue and isolate the muscle very effectively from the get go. Than after the single joint, isolation movements, you will then move on to your multi-joint, compound exercises.

When you move onto exercise “B” or “C” (depending on if it is a superset or a triplet) this will be the COMPOUND EXERCISE for that body part,you will already be a bit fatigued and now will have the assistance of those secondary muscles involved with the movement.

For instance, after a wall sit and some squat jumps, you will THEN move onto your heavy barbell squats. HELLO LEGS! They will already be feeling quite fatigued from those wallsits and plyos prior!

I will warn you that you may not be able to lift as heavy as you would with those compound movements during this type of superset than you would if you were doing say, a set of squats on their own BUT because you will be pre fatiguing that same muscle group–you may want to take the weight down a notch!  

The goal of the pre fatiguing sets is to really recruit and stimulate those muscle fibers and get the muscle to respond accordingly. This will truly bring your body out of its comfort zone and give you a nice push! I personally LOVE pre fatigue sets, as they push me past a plateau and when I am looking for a certain soreness the next day–you have your work cut out for you!

The combination of strength from the compound sets and endurance from the isolated movements will help you push past that plateau and work those muscles til exhaustion.

 Sounds good, doesn’t it? If you love that pumped up feeling from a good strength workout, then this should sound good to you. Pre-fatigue sets deliver. I have not one, but TWO, workouts for you today.One upper body and one lower body. 

Pre exhaust technique is certaintly not for everyone! For me-I use this method here and there when I am looking for something new and fun for me to challenge myself with! Its a great way to utilize different muscle fibers and even different muscle groups that you are not used to focusing so much energy on. I usually perform more full body workouts (lately) but this technique is a great way to spend more energy on certain muscle groups. 

Looking to BUILD SERIOUS MUSCLE?: Now with all of these amazing benefits of the pre fatigue workout technique-If your goal is to build maximal muscle, I would stick to straight sets. Building muscle is about straight stimulation using basic, compound, heavy movements with a focus on strength and progression. Throwing this form of workout every now and again is great! But serious muscle builders–stick to those straight sets!

Below you will see TWO WORKOUTS. One is a lower body pre fatigue workout and the next is a upper body pre fatigue workout  Like I mentioned earlier in the post, Each workout has pairs or triplets of exercises. You will perform the pairs or triplets as supersets (back to back with little to no rest) The first one or two exercises will be more isolation and bodyweight focused. In the lower body workout you will also see that I threw in some plyometric work which I LOVE to throw into my lower body workout to work the fast twitch fibers, explosive power and really fatigue the legs. These power/plyo moves elevate the heart rate and also incorporate a cardio component that will really challenge you!

You will complete each pair or triplet 3-4 times through. At the end of the giant pair or triplet, THEN you take your rest for 60 seconds before repeating it again.  

So after a brief warm up, you will complete exercises as follows:

• 1a
• 1b
• 1C
• REST FOR 60 SECONDS and REPEAT.
• Once you have gone through this circuit 3-4 times move onto exercises
• 1b
• 2b
• 2b
• REST FOR 60 SECONDS and REPEAT.
• Once you have gone through this circuit 3-4 times move onto exercises
• 1c
• 2c
• 3c

Each workout should last between 20 to 40 minutes depending on how many sets you complete.

LOWER BODY PRE FATIGUE WORKOUT

Exercise	Reps	Notes
1a) Wall sit	Until fatigue	Bodyweight
2a) Jump squats	15	Bodyweight
3a) Squats	15,12,10,8	Increase weight each set
1b) Lateral Band walks	15 each direction	Stay LOW and keep toes facing forward. Avoid bouncing as you walk.
2b) Speed Skaters	10-12 each leg	Bodyweight
3B) SL Deadlifts	10-12 each leg	Keep belly in, weight in heels
1c) Donkey Kicks	20 each leg	Weight on forearms
2c) Jump Lunges	15 each leg	Explode up and land nice and light!
3c) Barbell Glute Bridges	15,12,10,8	Increase weight each set

EXERCISE BREAKDOWN

Exercise	Notes
1a) Wall sit	Make sure back is flat against the wall and weight is in the heels. Take your hands off your thighs to assist and keep your shoulders glued to the wall.
2a) Jump squats	Squat stance. Explode off the ground and land with your feet exactly where you started. Weight in your heels. Use your arms to help you gain heigh!
3a) Squats	You can perform barbell back squats, barbell front squats, Kettlebell goblet squats. Make sure that whichever variation you are choosing you are executing proper form and increasing the weight with each set! As the reps decrease your weight on the exercise will increase.
1b) Lateral Band walks	Stay LOW and keep toes facing forward. Avoid bouncing as you walk. The band should be around your mid calf (belly of the calf)
2b) Speed Skaters	Stand with your feet shoulder width apart.  Bend your knees to lower your body 8-10 inches and lean forward until your shoulders are positioned above your knees. Maintain good posture with your upper back. Begin by lightly hopping sideways about 2 feet and landing on your right foot. Hop sideways again so you land back on the left foot, and repeat for the desired amount of time/repetitions.
3B) SL Deadlifts	Keep belly in, weight in heels. See video below! Keep your head up and a tight arch in the small of my back. As you begin to bend your left knee,  hinge directly from the hips to lower the torso toward the floor, using the weight as a counterbalance as your left leg comes up in a straight line behind you.  Keep the  abs super contracted and squeeze  the left glute and hamstring as you pull my torso back to vertical. Repeat for the desired reps before switching legs
1c) Donkey Kicks	Assume start position as shown by kneeling down and supporting your upper body on your forearms. Keeping your right knee bent, slowly lift that leg behind you so your foot raises up toward the ceiling. Return to start position and repeat with left leg.
2c) Jump Lunges	Start  in a lunge position. Jump straight up as you thrust your arms forward, elbows still bent. Switch legs in midair, like a scissor. Repeat for the desired.reps.
3c) Barbell Glute Bridges	Start with a light bar OR bodyweight if you are just starting out and add weight plates. Now start by driving through the heels, extending your hips vertically through the bar. Your weight should be supported by your upper back rear delts and the heels of your feet. Extend as far as possible and squeeze that contraction hard at the top, then reverse the motion to return to the starting position.

 

Try this GLUTE workout if you are looking for more!! —> Glorious Glute Workout

UPPER BODY PRE FATIGUE WORKOUT

Exercise	Reps	Notes
1a) Stiff arm pulldowns	15	Lighter weight
1b) Cable Back Rows	10,8,8,6	Heavy weight
2a) Lateral Raises	15	Lighter weight
2b) High plank shoulder taps	20 each	Bodyweight.
2c) Seated Shoulder press	10,10,8,8	Heavier weight
3a) Push ups	Failure	bodyweight
3b) DB Bench Press	10,10,8,6	Heavier weight

HOPE YOU ENJOY THE WORKOUT!!!

 

 

 

And for those who want a little more? Check out the above for an awesome HIIT and ABS workout!! There are three circuits to complete and the last one involves some sprints on the treadmill! The rest are bodyweight and AB focused! If this isn’t enough ideas for you…well let me know how I can help! I am here for YOU! xoxoxo TRAIN HARD. TRAIN SMART. RECOVER WELL. SMILE!