The pre-exhaustion (pe) system in resistance training is largely used by athletes and practitioners with the goal of enhancing muscular adaptations. Pre-exhaustion consists of performing a single-joint exercise before a multiple-joint exercise in an effort to increase the overload (muscle activation and/or training volume) in a given muscle. Different pe approaches have been investigated in research; this review discusses the relevant literature regarding the efficacy of pe for potentiating overload and muscle hypertrophy. In general, pe does not alter the neuromuscular activity of the target muscle in multijoint exercise, but it does allow for a greater training volume.
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