i personally like using john little’s max contraction training idea’s on the movements that lend themselves to the technique. doing so greatly increased my size and strength, while at the same time helped rehab old joint injuries from years of conventional full range exercise.

great pace
butcher

Yes, using static holds on the isolation exercise during a pre-exhaustion superset is excellent–very intense! As Fred said, use these with discretion, if you find you are not progressing don’t use the technique as often because you may not be recovering from it sufficiently.

The 3 minute rest I spoke about was just an example, and would usually apply to a beginner who was just starting out with High Intensity Training and wasn’t used to it. However, even advanced trainees may need that much rest after a very metabolically demanding exercise, such as leg press, squat, deadlift, or a pre-exhaustion superset for a large muscle group, such as chest or back.

The main point with rest periods (except for pre-exhaustion) is that you are trying to go to muscular failure on each set, not cardiovascular failure. If you are capable of doing 8 reps on the second exercise of your routine, but you only get 3 because you only rested 15 seconds after your first exercise, you are not going to muscular failure on that second exercise, and therefore you won’t stimulate an increase in muscular size and strength.

Hope that helps.

The general rule for how much rest to take between sets is this: take as much time
as you need to recover sufficiently so that you can perform your next set
effectively, but no more. For example, after your first exercise you may be a little
out of breath, and it may take 3 minutes before you feel like you can give your best
effort on your second exercise. In that case, take the 3 minutes rest, but no more,
and then begin your second exercise.

Eventually as you get in better condition you will find yourself needing less and
less recovery time between sets. Remember, take all the time you need, but no
more.

If you are in excellent condition, you may only need the time it takes to get to the next machine. Just make sure you don’t allow your workouts to degenerate into a race against the clock; make sure you do take enough rest to get the maximum number of reps on every exercise that your strength will allow.

The exception to this is the advanced technique of pre-exhaustion, where you go from an isolation exercise to a compound exercise for the same muscle group with no rest at all.

Pre-exhaustion will be the subject of a future blog post and video.