During the dbl pre-exhaust leg workout in Dr. Darden’s The New High Intensity workout, it calls for performing 1 set, in a 1&1/4, no-pause-turnaround/continuous tension manner of 8-11 reps for the leg extension, leg press, leg curl, SL deadlift & calf raises. I don’t know about anyone else, but Lactic Acid (LA) makes reaching MMF in the leg ext & leg press impossible! So then…in cases like these, is reaching LAF acceptable for ‘end-of-set’ when MMF has not yet been reached?
I used to do rest-pauses in my leg extensions to relieve LA pain to a point where I COULD continue the set until I hit MMF. But’ve not been able to find if that’s acceptable or not. Rest pause allowed me to consistently progress in weight/reps but size remained elusive.
I can only speak from personal experience. I have found higher rep work superior for leg development, especially when chasing lactic acid. Things like supersets, giant sets, walking lunges, prowler pushing, blood flow restriction.
When you do these Darden type supersets, specialization routines, with continuous excercises piled up after each other - I believe you need to look upon all excercises as one “entity”, so to speak. In practical terms you need to balance the weights (lower them) in early excercises (maybe do the first two excercises, or maybe all - Not To Failure) in order to fulfill the entire session as planned. Pre-exhaust does not mean eyeballs out strategy (to me).
Another way of looking upon it, especially if you’re new to HIT, is you need to push these lactic acid boundaries - meaning you will make enough progress over time to make it possible over time. But I prefer my first suggestion above.
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