I haven’t touched a barbell a lot since January. I’ve been in a leaning out/hypertrophy/mobility-focused season of my coaching (extremely suggest having seasons to your coaching!). I’ve been working solely with dumbbells and my cable machine. I’m chasing the pump. I’m loving it.
My energy coach Matt Reynolds continues to create my programming, and one of many issues he’s included into my hypertrophy exercises is myo-reps. I’d by no means performed ‘em earlier than, however after a couple of months of doing them, I’m loving them. They’re a time-saver however extremely efficient. I can knock out a whole upper-body exercise in about half-hour, I get a stable pump, and I’m placing on muscle and beginning to look jacked.
When you’re brief on time however nonetheless need to construct muscle, myo-reps is perhaps price making an attempt. They’ll at the least shake up what may really feel like a boring, rote exercise rut.
Let me stroll you thru what they’re and how you can program them.
What Is a Myo-Rep?
Myo-reps have been developed within the mid-2000s by Norwegian energy coach Børge Fagerli. They’re a rest-pause approach, which suggests you’re stringing collectively what would usually be a number of separate units into one prolonged set with very brief relaxation breaks scattered between that prolonged set.
Right here’s the way it works:
Decide a weight at 60–80% of your one-rep max; one thing you can raise for 10-15 reps. Do an “activation set” of 10-12 reps, stopping one or two reps shy of failure (a Price of Perceived Exertion of 8 or 9). Then relaxation for about 10-20 seconds. Fagerli recommends counting out 3-5 deep breaths. I simply depend “one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi” till I get to 12 Mississippi.
You then do a “mini-set” of 4 to five reps with the identical weight.
Relaxation one other 10-20 seconds.
One other mini-set.
Relaxation one other 10-20 seconds.
Preserve repeating these mini-sets and brief breaks till you may’t hit 4 reps in a mini-set. When you’ve bought the load set at the correct amount, you’ll normally be capable of full 4-5 of those mini-sets.
So one activation set plus 3-5 mini-sets. You’ve basically performed what could be 4-5 conventional units compressed into a couple of minutes.
The Principle Behind Myo-Reps
Muscle progress is pushed by two predominant mechanisms: mechanical stress and metabolic stress.
Mechanical stress is the first driver. It’s the power your muscle fibers generate after they contract towards resistance. When a fiber is loaded onerous sufficient, specialised mechanosensors within the cell set off the signaling pathway that tells your physique to construct new muscle.
Rigidity isn’t about how heavy the load feels to you. It’s about how onerous every particular person fiber is working. A reasonable weight can produce excessive stress in a selected fiber if that fiber is doing all of the work.
That’s the place the “efficient reps” mannequin is available in. In a standard set of 12, the primary 6-8 reps don’t contribute as a lot to progress. You’re principally warming up the high-threshold fast-twitch fibers (those most answerable for hypertrophy) by exhausting the smaller slow-twitch fibers first. The final 4-6 reps, when fatigue forces your physique to recruit these large fast-twitch fibers, are the place the magic occurs.
Myo-reps allow you to skip the warm-up part after that first activation set. When you’ve fatigued the slow-twitch fibers, the fast-twitch fibers need to deal with each subsequent rep. They’re working at most capability despite the fact that the load feels comparatively gentle, producing the sort of high-tension contractions that drive progress. Practically each rep in your mini-sets is an efficient rep. That’s the thought, at the least.
The brief relaxation intervals additionally create metabolic stress, which might (in concept) sensitize muscle tissue to anabolic signaling. It’s why myo-reps really feel so pumpy. You’re making a hypoxic surroundings much like what blood stream restriction coaching does, however with out the bands.
Why Do Myo-Reps?
The most important motive to do myo-reps is that they save time. You’re knocking out the equal of some conventional units in a couple of minutes. It’s been good getting by way of my exercises in about half an hour.
However there are different advantages, too. Since you’re working with 60-80% of your one-rep max as an alternative of grinding heavy weight, myo-reps are simpler in your joints. The restricted relaxation time forces you to coach near failure. Most guys depart manner an excessive amount of within the tank on accent work. It’s onerous to do this whenever you’re cranking out mini-sets with 12 seconds of relaxation. Myo-reps break the monotony of the standard three units of ten. And also you get an awesome pump, which is sweet.
Mainly, myo-reps will get you outcomes which might be near what you get with straight units with lengthy rests in between, in much less time. They’re not utterly optimum for strength-building, nonetheless, because the brief rests make it tougher to maneuver extra weight and obtain progressive overload. That’s why they work finest as a software for accent work and as one thing to make use of every so often to combine up your programming, relatively than as a wholesale substitute for a standard set/relaxation scheme.
Which Workouts to Use Myo-Reps On
Myo-reps aren’t for each raise. Since you’re pushing near failure with very brief rests, you want workout routines the place fatigue-induced type breakdown gained’t get you harm.
So don’t use myo-reps on heavy barbell squats, presses, deadlifts, or the bench press. The stabilization calls for are too excessive, and getting caught beneath a loaded bar throughout your fourth mini-set is an efficient strategy to find yourself within the ER. Skip Olympic lifts totally. Cleans and snatches are explosive actions that have to be performed contemporary. And should you do Bulgarian cut up squats, go on myo-reps. Requires an excessive amount of stability.
For myo-reps, follow machines, cables, and dumbbell actions.
Nice myo-rep workout routines embody machine chest presses, lat pulldowns, cable rows, dumbbell shoulder presses, leg presses, leg extensions, hack squats, leg curls, dumbbell lateral raises, bicep curls, and tricep pushdowns. Something the place the trail of the load is guided or the motion is easy sufficient that you could grind by way of the final reps with out your type collapsing. You may additionally use myo-reps with body weight workout routines like push-ups and air squats.
The right way to Program Myo-Reps
When you’re doing a standard barbell/energy targeted program, hold your heavy compound lifts as conventional straight units. You need contemporary power and full restoration whenever you’re squatting or benching close to your max.
Save myo-reps for the again half of your exercise whenever you’re doing accent work.
Right here’s a easy strategy: decide two to a few accent workout routines per exercise to do as myo-reps.
So on an higher physique day the place the bench press is your predominant raise, do dumbbell shoulder presses, lateral raises, and dumbbell curls as myo-reps. On decrease physique day the place the barbell squat is your predominant raise, do leg extensions and leg curls as myo-reps.
Your activation set ought to really feel like an RPE 8 or 9. That’s about one or two reps shy of failure. Monitor your reps within the mini-sets. When you’re constantly hitting 4 clusters of 5 reps, bump the load up subsequent session.
Frequency-wise, you may hit a muscle group with myo-reps 2-3 instances per week. Simply keep in mind these are an depth approach. Don’t flip each set of each raise right into a myo-rep set. That’s only a recipe for burnout.
Give Myo-Reps a Shot
When you’re like me and making an attempt to construct muscle with out spending 90 minutes within the health club on daily basis, give myo-reps a shot. They scale back your exercise time, could make your exercises really feel contemporary, and can assist you pack on some critical muscle.