MYOREPS: Your Ticket to Twice as Many Gains?
Feeling like you aren't able to stimulate your muscles enough? Try this training technique that no one talks about!
In our training careers, it's inevitable for us to feel at some point that we're just not able to stimulate our muscles properly, and feel like the quality of our training has dropped.
Maybe we'll find that we're not feeling the exercises in our target muscles anymore, or that no matter how hard we seem to be training, we can't get that sore muscle feeling anymore and that we've stopped seeing progress in our lifts.
If this sounds like you, you'll be glad to hear that there are several training intensity techniques that can be used, such as drop sets, forced reps, myoreps, and more.
In this article we'll specifically go over myoreps, what the upsides to this intensity technique are, and why and how you should implement them into your training program if it's suitable.
Let's get started.
What Are Myoreps?
Myoreps are kind of similar to drop sets, in the way that they help move you past your initial level of muscular failure and allow you to keep on banging out a few extra reps, even after you've reached mechanical failure.
Sometimes also known as 'rest-pause reps', myoreps involve you taking a set with relatively heavy weight to, or close to muscular failure, resting for a short period of time (usually around 8-10 seconds), and then doing a couple more reps with the same weight.
Another popular way to do it is to rest just long enough for the 'burn' feeling to dissipate, before going again.
As you can see, it's basically extending your set a little longer by having you reach mechanical failure, and then pushing past your initial limits after a short break.
This will increase your workout intensity without having to commit that much more time to your training, making it a great implementation into your workout program if you're wanting to boost productivity whilst keeping time-efficient.
Myoreps are technically a subcategory of 'rest-pause sets', but more for hypertrophic purposes instead of athletic performance purposes, where something like a cluster set would be more appropriate.
What Are the Benefits of Myoreps?
There are lots of benefits that come with using myoreps, especially for bodybuilding purposes.
Great Extra Stimulus for Resistant Muscles
There are some muscles that we always find people complaining about when it comes to feeling the burn, and wanting to specifically target for growth.
forearms
calves
traps
delts.
It's the smaller muscle groups like these that are usually targeted through isolation exercises (such as forearm curls, or shrugs), which can be hard to stimulate and grow.
Plus, these are the muscles that can tolerate loads and loads of volume, and don't take that much of a beating.
Think about it.
Muscles like your forearms and biceps go through entire pull day workouts without becoming too tired.
However if you've ever done myoreps or drop sets, these are the muscles that actually feel the burn.
It's part of the reason why you hear people complaining about their forearms lacking, or their traps lacking.
As for calves, well, they're a lost cause.
Just kidding.
But doing those extra few reps after a short break can be just what you need to really feel the burn in these stubborn muscles and simulate some real growth.
Easy Way to Increase Volume
Myoreps are also going to give you a way to achieve failure at much larger volumes than you would otherwise be able to with straight sets or normal sets.
It's no secret that the most muscle growth occurs when you're training close to failure.
However if we told you to take a certain muscle group (such as the calves, for example) to failure 6 or 8 times during your workout, you'd probably think it would be way too much volume!
However with myoreps, you're going to be able to spend a lot more time doing training that's already close to failure (as any reps you do after that short rest period is close to failure anyways).
You're going to be doing a lot more productive training as opposed to volume that's gearing you closer to muscular failure, but not actually near it (i.e. the initial reps of a set).
Added Intensity in Less Time
Myoreps also allow you to increase your workout intensity, and make you work harder without having to allocate too much extra time to your workout sessions.
By just adding that extra 20 seconds or so onto each working set to do the extra reps, you increase both workout volume and intensity by a lot without having to spend ridiculously long in the gym, making it a great option for those that train in tight window slots and need to be in and out of the gym quickly.
Learn more: the 6 best intensifying techniques for your workouts!
Are There Any Drawbacks of Using Myoreps?
As with anything, there are pros and cons to using myoreps in your training programs.
There is only really one major one that you have to keep in consideration when using myoreps.
Myoreps Can be Very Exhausting
Training to failure in itself is exhausting already.
It gets the heart rate going on the right exercises, and it can cause a huge burn in the muscles that make require time to recover from.
As you can imagine, resting those few seconds and then going again can really take a toll and cause you to feel extra fatigued, far more than you would if you have just done normal sets and reps.
So, to work around this you need to make sure you're wisely picking the exercises that you implement myorep techniques onto.
Don't do myoreps on hugely taxing exercises like deadlifts or squats, because you'll simply be far too tired to do any productive reps again after only 8-10 seconds of rest.
Can you imagine trying to squeeze out a few extra reps of deadlifts and squats while you're panting and gasping for air?
It would simply be stupid.
Plus, on exercises with more annoying setups such as heavy dumbbell presses or weighted pull ups, it's probably not the best idea to go with myoreps either due to the high setup cost.
Myoreps should only be done with smaller exercises that can be done again once the burn in the muscles are gone, and other limiting factors (such as your cardiovascular system) don't get in the way.
You'd never run out of air doing quad extensions, whereas you likely would with squats or barbell rows.
So generally, myoreps should be used on smaller, more isolating exercises that don't tax the body and cardiovascular system too hard.
Plus, make sure you're not overusing them in your workout either due to the high recovery cost.
Just pick a couple of exercises in your workout to do them on, and gear it towards the end of your workout so that you're not exhausted for the entire session.
Examples of good exercises for myoreps would include (but aren't limited to):
quad extensions
forearm curls
bicep curls
calf raises
shrugs
rear delt flyes
lateral raises
hamstring curls
ab crunches
tricep pushdowns.
To Conclude
Myoreps are another great intensifying technque that could be your ticket to making more gains without too much extra time allocation to your workout routines.
Myoreps could be just what you need to stimulate that extra growth and get of this feeling that you're not training productively, or seeing no progress.
Give them a try!
Implement then into your next workout and see how it feels.
And don't forget to share this with a friend so that they can try it out too!
Have YOU use myoreps before?
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