When you start bodybuilding, you often tend to make very rapid gains in terms of performance and muscle gains. However, over time, training performance often tends to stagnate and so do gains in muscle mass. It is therefore often common for bodybuilding practitioners to seek to change their training technique and training regimen in order to be able to continue their progress in terms of muscle mass. This article provides an introduction to different training intensification techniques.
Pre-fatigue training: understanding the key principle
Pre-fatigue training consists of performing an isolation exercise on a target muscle before performing an exercise mobilizing several muscles including the target muscle. The principle is to create pre-fatigue on the target muscle to be sure that it will be mobilized and pushed to its limits during a multi-joint exercise.
The 4 main intensity variables in pre-fatigue training
There are 4 main variables for adjusting pre-fatigue training intensity: the intensity of each series (both in terms of weight used, number of repetitions and contraction tempo), the recovery time between each series, the duration between the end of the isolation exercise and the start of the poly-articular exercise and the sequence structure between the isolation exercise and the poly-articular exercise (chained or in silo, see below).
The intensity of pre-fatigue (in the sense of the % mobilization of the target muscle during the exercise in isolation) depends on each bodybuilding practitioner. Indeed, some prefer a moderate intensity mainly aimed at blood flow and nervous system mobilization. Others look for prior muscular failure on an isolation exercise before continuing with a multi-joint exercise.
Chained pre-fatigue vs. Silo pre-fatigue
There are 2 main variations of the pre-fatigue exercise: chained pre-fatigue and silo pre-fatigue.
Chained pre-fatigue
Chained pre-fatigue consists of performing an isolation exercise and following it up (directly or after a recovery period) with the multi-joint exercise.
Let’s take the example of the best-known pre-fatigue training for the quadriceps which consists of chaining a series of leg extensions (directly or after recovery) with a series of squats. In this example, only the tempo, the weight used and the sequence time between the leg extension and the squat serve as a variable for adjusting the intensity of the exercise.
Silo pre-fatigue
Silo pre-fatigue involves performing several sets of an exercise in isolation before performing several sets of a multi-joint exercise.
Let’s return to our example of training targeting the quadriceps, a pre-fatigue silo training could consist, for example, of doing between 3 and 5 sets of leg extensions before performing between 3 to 5 sets of squats. In this example, the number of repetitions, the tempo, the weights used, the recovery time specific to each series (series of leg extension and series of squats) as well as the sequence time between the leg extension and the squat serve as variable adjustment of exercise intensity.
Pre-fatigue training is not Contrast training
What is important to understand about pre-fatigue training is that it is not contrast training (heavy/light or static/mobile). The principle is to impose the maximum intensity on the target muscle (while mobilizing as few peripheral muscles as possible) before moving on to an exercise where the intensity will be distributed between several muscle groups. Therefore, a push-up exercise (even static) followed by a bench press cannot be considered as pre-fatigue training.
In the case of pre-fatigue training targeting the pectorals, good practice consists of performing a cable isolation exercise (for example) before a bench press exercise.
The purpose of pre-fatigue training
The aim of pre-fatigue training is based on the fact that the kinetics of a poly-articular movement will force muscle fibers (of the target muscle) to exceed their saturation thanks to the overall nerve impulse and the help of adjacent muscle groups which will take over during certain phases of the movement or will provide the initial impulse to pass the critical moments of execution of the exercise.
Let’s return to our example of working on pre-fatigue quadriceps training. Practitioners rely largely on the help of the gluteal muscles to help overcome phases of failure or saturation of the quadriceps.
The risks of pre-fatigue training
The main risk associated with pre-fatigue training lies in the risk of injury due to muscular failure or deterioration in the technical execution of a multi-joint movement.
Therefore, it is important to be progressive and to properly dose the intensity of the pre-fatigue exercise as well as the intensity of the multi-joint exercise.
It should be noted that in pre-fatigue training one should not take as a reference point the intensity of the exercises performed separately in normal times. Hence, in our example, it is obvious that the Squat performance will be completely different and it will not be possible to lift the usual weights.
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