Thursday, April 29, 2010

The return of Myo-Reps.

Now that I'm feeling better, I wanted to jump back into the style of training that I enjoy. I do something called Myo-Reps. It's a little difficult to explain, but it's really similar to DoggCrapp training, but some argue that Myo-Reps does a better job of managing fatigue. I've never done DoggCrapp, so I can't comment on that. It's essentially an extended rest-pause set style of training.

You pick a weight you can do for 8-12 reps. It's really your preference. I go for much higher rep ranges on certain movements, lower on others. You do your first set, but stop when the reps start to slow down a bit. You don't hit failure. You then rest for five breaths, and then do another set. You'll usually get between 3-5 reps on this second set. You rest again for another five breaths, do another set. About now you'll notice that rep speed is starting to slow. They call this Fatigue Stop 1. At Fatigue Stop 1, you then rest 10 breaths, do another set, then repeat the ten breath then a set thing two more times.

So you do one 'primer' set, followed by 5 shorter rest pause sets. If you do a weight that gets you 10-12 reps on the primer set, you'll end up doing about 24-25 total reps for the entire sequence. It you pick a weight you can do 20 times, you can get as high 45-50 reps for the whole sequence. A set typically takes about 3 minutes to complete.

Due to the fatiguing nature of this type of training, they don't recommend doing things like squats and deadlifts in this style, so I usually do those with straight sets to start my workout and then the rest of the movements I do in a My0-Rep style.

You are supposed to do all the reps as fast as possible, and stop the set when the rep speed starts to get slow and grindy. That's when you rest.

If you want to read more about Myo-Reps, you can check it out here:

http://www.hypertrophy-specific.info/cgi-bin/ib314/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=2;t=15579;&#top

So here's what I did today:

Neutral Grip Pulldown: 180 x 10 + 3, 3, 3, 3, 4
Chest Supported Row: 135 x 10 + 4, 3, 4, 3, 4
Floor Press: 185 x 7 + 3, 2, 3, 2, 3
Hulk Claps: 95 x 13 + 5, 4, 4, 4, 4
Upright DB Row: 50 x 10 + 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Cybex Rear Delt Raise: 90 x 13 + 4, 4, 6, 5, 5
EX Bar Tri Extension: 65 x 12 + 5, 4, 4, 4, 4
Hammer DB Curls: 45 x 12 + 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

To understand the notation above, using the first exercise as an example, I did 180 pounds for 10 reps (the primer set), then 3 reps for each rest pause set. I almost always take Fatigue Stop 1 after the second rest pause set. You'll usually be able to figure out where I took the extra rest, because there will be a jump back up in reps after a dip in them as I got tired.

1 comment:

  1. This sounds great. I will have to try it out. Thanks for the info.

    ReplyDelete