Effective Reps Hypothesis and Myo-Reps
Whats up people,
So, this is science laden email. I almost hesitated to send it, as it deals with some technical discussion on training, but I think it would be educational, and hopefully you learn some scientific critical reasoning.
Lets start with a question
When you lift weights, have you ever wondered what reps DURING a set stimulate muscle?
For example, say you do a set of 10 reps. And lets say you train to about positive failure. You could not do another full range of motion rep with a controlled concentric and eccentric.
The first 1-5 reps of that set are not going to be hard. The weight might be heavy, but if you can lift it for 10 reps, 5 reps is only 50% of your strength.
Sets 6-10 through 10 though, those reps will feel more challenging. The last 2-3 reps may be a grind and real challenge.
So...what part of that set actually stimulated your muscles to grow?
Maybe you never asked yourself this question. But its relevant. If you train too easy, you obviously wont get results. So how hard do sets need to be?
A Swedish Personal Trainer by the name of Borge Fargerli explored this idea about 20 years ago.
Through observation, he noticed what every good personal trainer notices
-Most people dont train very hard, they dont challenge themselves on their exercises
-People who get stronger and bigger, they train harder
-training to failure, or close to failure, that leads to more muscle growth than doing easy sets.
Someone could use the same weights for years, doing the same sets and reps, and get minimal progress. Easy sets of 5, easy sets of 10, easy sets of 20.
The rep range doesnt matter.
If intensity is lacking, those sets dont stimulate muscle growth.
Borge realized for muscle and strength gain to happen, it must be the HARD reps of the set that stimulate the growth mechanisms in some way
He eventually came to call this
THE EFFECTIVE REPS HYPOTHESIS
This idea has been around for a long time in bodybuilding, but it was not scientifically well defined until Fagerli. It was something that Bros "knew" by way of experience, but like most of Broscience, it was informally understood and anecdotally supported.
Fagerli defined the theory as follows
The closer reps are to failure, the more effective they are at stimulating muscle growth.
Now, he did not know WHY this was. Were the hard reps causing more damage to the muscle? Was the muscle under more tension? Did the muscle fibers simply need to be fatigued to grow?
Fargerli wasnt so concerned about the specifics. One of the key practices of Broscience is finding what works FIRST, and then figuring out they "Why" later.
The theory did not explain the how or why. It was a theory after all, it was only identifying the relationship. And at the time, there simply was not much scientific data that studied this question.
But, this idea would later be expanded by various sports scientists, with Chris Beardsley being the most recent innovator. In 2018, Chris made waves in the fitness world by posting this chart (to his credit, Beardsley is fantastic at infographics)
Beardsley surmised that it is the last 5 hard reps of the set that stimulate growth, and was because of maximal muscle recruitment and slowing contraction
His take on the theory was that it was because of high threshold motor recruitment while the bar speed is slowing down.
Because of this, Beardsley pointed out that doing sets less than 5 reps are probably not good for hypertrophy. You need to do more of them, and they are also so heavy that it is impractical.
At the same time though, doing high rep sets can be considered less efficient (at least according to Beardsley). Say you do a set of 15 or even 20 reps. It takes a lot more reps before the set becomes challenging, which increases fatigue
Now, there is the DOWNSIDE to Beardsley version of the Theory
It did not fully hold up under scrutiny.
To be very clear, this did not mean the Effective Reps theory was WRONG. Or that is Beardsley research was "bad".
Rather, it was pointed out that muscle recruitment DECLINES as the reps get slower and slower, so it must be other mechanisms that made these reps stimulating.
Unfortunately most fitness professionals dont actually think scientifically. Rather than view it as a THEORY, they saw the chart and interpreted it as INCONTROVERTIBLE FACT.
Consequently, lots of people started claiming anything more than say 10 reps a set was a waste of time and training to failure was the ONLY way to train for muscle growth.
It was a good microcosm example of how people's default mode of reality to look for binaries and orthodoxies, versus thinking spectrally and holistically.
Science is hard. You can create rationales for theories that work in practice, but the rationale is NOT what is actually happening, but you dont know this, because you are still getting results, and trying to disentangle the two requires more hard thinking...
Unless you are an exercise science academic, this is not something to invest time.
Regardless, while the science and evidence people in fitness was arguing in the proverbial weeds about how the Effective Reps theory worked, Fagerli kept right on training people and developed his Myo-Rep system
Myo-reps: A Time-Efficient Muscle Growth Method
Lets finally talk about Myo Reps. (this is a condensation of Fagerlis on work, read the full length version here)
Myo-reps was first shared publicly in 2006 and Fargerli has refined it in the years since. Fagerli was and still is a personal trainer, and he wanted to get people RESULTS.
This led him to study Rest-Pause training, and he realized why it worked so well for muscle growth: Rest Pause is doing a bunch of hard reps all close together, and this adds up to a lot of "stimulating reps"
By the most basic definition, Myo-reps is a rest-pause method, although more advanced version of the typical rest-pause set.
By advanced, I dont mean that Myo-reps can only be done by "advanced" lifters. Rather, its advanced in that it requires more THINKING.
Fagerli wanted a way to do lots of effective reps, without needing to do multiple sets with lots of rest inbetween.
A Myo-rep set looks like this:
1. Warm-up with 2 or more progressively heavier sets to prepare you for working set (warmups dont count as work sets). These sets should be 5-8 reps, and then 2-5 reps. The point of warmup is preparation, NOT fatigue.
2. For the working Set, you choose a load you can lift for 5-12 reps (adjustable up to 20 reps for specific purposes, depending on the trainee and the exercise).
3. Perform 1-2 reps short of failure (1-2RIR) in your first set, which is called the activation set. To be clear, this set is NOT done to positive failure. You are leaving 1-2 reps in the tank on purpose, to be able to do more mini sets
4. Rest briefly (3-10 deep breaths) and do short mini-sets of 2-4 reps. The rest period shouldnt be more than 10-30 seconds at most. Heavier weights on big compound lifts will require a bit more rest.
5. You have three options as to when you can STOP the set
-Stop when you lose 1 rep from the initial mini set (say you do 8 reps, 4 reps, 4 reps, 3 reps. Stop at 3)
-Stop when you hit positive failure and you simply cannot do another set (say you do 8 reps, 4 reps, 3 reps, and those last 3 are hard enough that you'd need a long break to do anymore reps at all)
-Stop when you hit 5 mini sets (say you do 8 reps, 3 reps, 3 reps, 3 reps, 3 reps, 3 reps).
The Premise of Myo-Reps is accumulating as many Stimulating/Effective Reps as Possible in as few sets as possible
To illustrate the difference between a “traditional” 3 sets of 10 vs. a Myo-rep set, the asterisk ‘*’ denoting “effective” reps:
If you do 3 Traditional Sets, with each set done to failure, and starting with your 10RM
1 2 3 4 5* 6* 7* 8* 9* 10* reps
So the last 5 reps are stimulating
1-3 min of rest
---
You do a 2nd set
1 2 3 4 5* 6* 7* 8* 9* reps (a typical drop off in reps if using a 10RM load)
1-3 min of rest
---
You do a 3rd set
1 2 3 4* 5* 6* 7* 8* reps
So you did 27 total reps, of which we can 15 are effective reps, and depending how long you rested, and setting up for the exercise, this is going to take at least 6-10+ minutes. And thats not counting warmups.
So now you are looking at possibly 15 minutes. And this is one exercise. For 15 reps that will lead to growth.
Now a Myo-rep set:
Activation set-, you do 1 2 3 4 5* 6* 7* 8* 9* reps (1RIR)
- 15sec rest
- 1* 2* 3* 4* reps
- 15sec rest
-1* 2* 3* 4* reps
- 15sec rest
- 1* 2* 3* reps
Set DONE.
Here you did 20 total reps in about 1.5-2 minutes, of which 15 reps were “effective reps”.
Counting warmup sets, lets say you finished this in 5 minutes. Compared that to the hypothetical 15 minutes for doing 3 sets with 3 minutes full rest in between.
So a Myo-rep set takes 60-70% less time, it is 30% less volume, but its the same number of effective reps.
And to be clear, you DO NOT repeat the Myo-rep set.
Its done ONE TIME per Exercise
You are getting more productive work done in Less time, what is not to like?
You are minimizing overall fatigue, reducing your workout time, and you get the SAME muscle growth.
The one "make or break" factor to My-reps is Auto-regulation
You have to know what your strength levels are, and be able to gauge your efforts. If you dont know what a 10 rep max is, or the concept itself of doing multiple mini sets is confusing to you, or you simply train like a bitch and struggle to push yourself...Myo-Reps is not a good strategy.
BUT, if you are internally motivated and enjoy training hard, Myo-reps are excellent.
Its an adjustable model; if you are having a high energy day, do 5 mini sets. If you are having low energy day, do less mini sets. You can adapt as needed. The progressive overload does not need to be perfectly linear every workout.
Lastly, Myo-Reps DO NOT work for EVERY Exercise
Heavy barbell squats, deadlift, bench press, DB overhead press, any free weight movement that has a balance and stability component, you dont want to do myo-reps. Its too high risk.
But any cable, machine, even free weight movements like a 1-arm DB row, which is easy to get into position for, or a weighted dip, myo-reps work.
Myo-reps are also fantastic for isolation exercises. Lateral raises, bicep curls, leg curls, calf raises, you can get the equivalent of 2-3 sets of volume done fast.