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The old-school muscle-building plan for mammoth gains

Forget pre-exhaustion. This plan orders compound moves before isolation exercises for maximum muscle.

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The old-school muscle-building plan for mammoth gains
The old-school muscle-building plan for mammoth gains

In the past, you may have tried what many lifters call “pre-exhaustion” training, a philosophy based on isolation exercises, followed immediately by a compound move—a chest fly preceding a bench press, for instance. But we’re here to tell you that you’ll get much better results (and much bigger gains) by doing just the opposite.

How it works

The idea behind pre-exhaustion training is fairly simple. The isolation lifts tire out the main muscles you want to work (like the pecs during a fly). The compound lifts that you follow them up with require those same muscles—but since you also get to use surrounding muscles, you’re basically able to pump out a few more reps. The problem is that by working your target muscles to isolation first, you fatigue them too much to lift heavy loads when you get to the compound lift. Since compound movements are the best for muscle growth, we put them first in this workout, and then let you do the isolation move to “finish off” the target muscles. It’s a big switch that leads to even bigger gains.

Directions

Frequency

Perform the workouts (Days I, II, and III) once per week, resting at least a day between each session.

How to do it

Perform the exercises marked “a,” “b,” and sometimes “c” in succession. So you’ll complete one set for each, resting as prescribed, and repeat until you’ve completed all the given sets in the group. Then go on to the next group. Exercises that don’t have a letter are done as straight sets—complete all the sets for that move before going on to the next one.

Routine

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Day 1

Workout 1

Exercise
Equipment
Sets
Reps
Rest
Exercise 1 of 5

Neutral-Grip Chinup

Equipment
V-Handle Attachment
Sets
2
Reps
5-7
Rest
90 sec.
Exercise 2 of 5

Dumbbell Overhead Press

Equipment
Dumbbells
Sets
2
Reps
5-7
Rest
90 sec.
Exercise 3 of 5

Neutral-Grip Chinup

Equipment
V-Handle Attachment
Sets
1
Reps
8-10
Rest
0 sec.
Exercise 4 of 5

Straight-Arm Pulldown

Equipment
Lat Pulldown Bar
Sets
1
Reps
9-12
Rest
90 sec.
Exercise 5 of 5

Dumbbell Overhead Press

Equipment
Dumbbells
Sets
1
Reps
8-10
Rest
0 sec.
Exercise 6 of 5

Cross-Body Cable Raise

Equipment
Cable Machine
Sets
1
Reps
9-12
Rest
90 sec
Exercise 7 of 5

Incline Hammer Curl

Equipment
Dumbbells
Sets
3
Reps
6-8, 9-11, 12-14
Rest
--
Exercise 8 of 5

Dip

Equipment
Dip Station
Sets
2
Reps
6-10
Rest
--
Exercise 9 of 5

Overhead cable triceps extension

Equipment
Adjustable Cable Machine
Sets
2
Reps
10-12
Rest
60 sec.

Day 2

Workout 2

Exercise
Equipment
Sets
Reps
Rest
Exercise 10 of 5

Squat

Equipment
Squat Rack
Sets
2
Reps
5-8
Rest
180 sec.
Exercise 11 of 5

Standing Calf Raise

Equipment
Box
Sets
4
Reps
8-10
Rest
0 sec.
Exercise 12 of 5

Seated Calf Raise

Equipment
Dumbbells
Sets
4
Reps
12-15
Rest
90 sec
Exercise 13 of 5

Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift

Equipment
Dumbbells
Sets
3
Reps
6-8
Rest
--
Exercise 14 of 5

Single-leg hip thrust

Equipment
Bench
Sets
3
Reps
10-15
Rest
60 sec.

Day 3

Workout 3

Exercise
Equipment
Sets
Reps
Rest
Exercise 15 of 5

Incline Dumbbell Press

Equipment
Dumbbells
Sets
2
Reps
5-7
Rest
90 sec.
Exercise 16 of 5

Incline Dumbbell Row

Equipment
Dumbbells
Sets
1
Reps
5-7
Rest
90 sec
Exercise 17 of 5

Incline Dumbbell Press

Equipment
Dumbbells
Sets
1
Reps
8-10
Rest
0 sec.
Exercise 18 of 5

Incline cable flye

Equipment
Adjustable Cable Machine
Sets
1
Reps
9-12
Rest
90 sec.
Exercise 19 of 5

Incline Dumbbell Row

Equipment
Dumbbells
Sets
1
Reps
8-10
Rest
0 sec.
Exercise 20 of 5

Bentover cable lateral raise

Equipment
Adjustable Cable Machine
Sets
1
Reps
9-12
Rest
90 sec.
Exercise 21 of 5

Triceps Pushdown

Equipment
Elastic Band
Sets
3
Reps
13-15, 10-12, 7-9
Rest
60 sec.
Exercise 22 of 5

EZ-Bar Curl

Equipment
EZ-Bar
Sets
2
Reps
6-8
Rest
0 sec.
Exercise 23 of 5

Seated Incline Dumbbell Curl

Equipment
Dumbbells
Sets
2
Reps
9-12
Rest
60 sec.
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