WEAPONS OF MASS CONSTRUCTION

By Shane Robert

Building muscle is really quite simple. At least in theory. Pick a weight, do some reps with that weight until you almost can’t do anymore reps, or actually can’t do anymore reps, also known as failure, and repeat that for as many sets as you can do without dying. The reps are seemingly irrelevant. 3 reps or 30, as long as you hit that close to or at failure level of effort, you will grow some muscle. We can quibble over other minute concepts, but this really is the crux of it.

To sum: do a hard set. Do that a lot.

Of course, there is a limit to the total amount of sets that you can do without causing undue fatigue and spending all day in the gym. This is where the concept of intensity techniques comes in. These techniques allow you to eke out a few more productive reps (those close to failure) and/or ‘sets’, depending how you define it, in a shorter amount of time. In the process, not only building as much muscle as you can, but being more efficient with your gym time.

There are essentially three categories of intensity techniques:

1. Forced Reps and Partials 
2. Rest Pause sets
3. Drop sets and supersets 

All intensity techniques will fall into one of these categories. Perhaps multiple categories if you are a true masochist.

FORCED REPS and PARTIALS

There are a few ways to execute forced reps. The most obvious is to have a partner help you just enough on the concentric, or lifting portion, of the movement to complete more reps once you can no longer complete a full range of motion. You control the eccentric, or lowering, portion of the movement without any help. As the reps progress, the partner adds more and more assistance to keep getting reps (within reason. You still need to do some work).

Another technique that fits the bill as forced reps is using partial reps once the ability to do full reps has diminished. Partial reps are done unassisted and work from the lengthened position. I can’t stress this enough—partial reps are only effective when they are done in the stretched position, usually the bottom of the range of motion.

Here is an example using biceps curls:

You do 8 reps and can barely get the 8th rep up, knowing that the 9th would be bad form. Your partner will put their fingers on the bar and give you just a little help to get the bar all the way up. You control the bar slowly to the bottom and repeat for as many reps you can force out with help.

Secondarily, you do 8 reps and can barely get the 8th rep up, knowing that the 9th would be bad form, so you intentionally shorten the range of motion, starting from the most stretch at the bottom and going up ½, ⅓, or ¼ of the full ROM for as many reps as you can (or perhaps all three!).

REST PAUSE SETS

Rest pausing is likely the most commonly used type of intensity technique, whether people realize it or not. It simply means taking a little break before completing more reps. How long of a break, how many reps, how many breaks, etc. are all up for debate. However, there are three tried and true methods for arranging forced reps that have stood the test of time. They are:

1. DC rest/pause sets: Do a set to failure, rest 20-30 seconds, do another set of as many reps as you can to failure, rest 20-30 seconds, and do another set of as many reps as you can to failure. In the original DC training system, you only do this once per exercise. You, dear reader, will need to decide if you feel you need more.

2. Myo-Reps:  Do a set 1-2 reps shy of failure. Any reps will work, but for the most convenience, probably 6-12. After you hit that near failure mark, rest 10-20 seconds and do a set with ¼-½ the amount of initial reps, e.g. 2-3 if you did 6, and rest the same 10-20 second interval (keep the rest the same throughout). Repeat this until you either a) do a set with 1 rep fewer than the initial myo-rep set, e.g. 1 instead of 2, or b) complete more than 5 myo-rep sets. 

3. Total Rep Accumulation: This right here is the simplest rest/pause setup you can do. Pick a weight that you can do a certain number of reps with. Let’s say 10. Do 8-10 reps, then take as many short rests as needed until you have done a specific number of reps. Let’s say 20-25 in this case. Absolutely brutal. 

DROP SETS and SUPERSETS

Drop sets simply mean taking some weight off and continuing the set. You can drop a little or a lot, depending on the goal. A good rule of thumb is around 20% each time. One drop or more is fine, though much more than 3 starts to become a bit silly. There are two options for the number of reps:

1. Match the reps of the initial set. This works best if the drops aren’t too big, otherwise they won’t be challenging sets.

2. Go for broke and push close to or at failure on each drop. 

The term supersets sometimes means pairing any two exercises together. Though I won’t get bogged down in semantics, that’s technically incorrect. A superset refers to pairing two different movements for the same muscle group, usually going from a big, multi-joint movement to a smaller isolation movement. An example might be close-grip bench paired with triceps pushdowns, or squats paired with leg extensions. The idea is to rest as little as possible between the paired movements and benefit from the initial fatigue built with the big movement. 

Done right, these hurt in the best way.

Most of our training should be the usual barebones straight hard sets. Sometimes, however, we need a little extra something to kick us out of a rut or to save time. The fewer sets you incorporate these techniques into (per exercise and per workout), the longer you can use these muscle multipliers. In general, it’s a good rule to say that intensity techniques are best used on the last set of an exercise and probably no more than 2 exercises per workout. They should only be used 2 weeks out of 4, not necessarily sequentially, and should rotate somewhat frequently to avoid burnout if you are doing more than that.