TESTED: 5 Muscle Building Techniques

If you've been following my training on my Instagram stories, you'll know that the last 12 weeks have had a very heavy hypertrophy focus.

If you haven't, what are you doing? They're literally the best thing ever and you're missing out... probably.

It's been great fun, effective, and I want to share some of what I've tried, tested and learned with my loyal readers.

I'm going to share with you the 5 muscle building techniques that I've used over the last 12 weeks to add the right intensity to my training so you can try them for yourselves.

This does needs to come with a quick disclaimer just to make sure this information gets used well however...

Hypertrophy training is largely effective as it takes you very close to muscular failure. This comes with a couple of risks you need to mitigate:

The first is losing technique... so don't. Treat failure more like technical failure rather than absolute failure and you'll train better and safer for longer.

The second is too much intensity. Every technique I list here is a way of intensifying a workout. Too much intensity without enough recovery will result in injury. Use these methods sparingly, or even better yet, hire me to do your programming for you in the safest and most effective way.

Now onto the techniques:

1) Tempos

Tempo training simply means lifting with a particular focus on the speed of each section of your lifts starting with the eccentric motion.

The tempo I have most frequently been using is 5-2-1-1 which would mean:

5 second eccentric (lowering phase)

2 second pause (in the lengthened position)

1 second concentric (the lifting phase)

1 second reset (in the start position)

They work for 3 main reasons:

1) Increased time under tension which increases metabolic stress.

2) Increased micro-tears in the muscle which get repaired bigger and stronger.

3) Loaded stretching which activates your mTor pathway.

All of which can lead to an increase muscle protein synthesis, aka muscle building, aka gains.

You can use a variety of tempos, but generally the eccentric and pauses will be the extended actions for the muscle gain outcome.

2) Iso Reps

Iso-Reps are similar to tempos in how they work, but are performed with a greater emphasis on the pause and loaded stretch to create the intensity rather than the eccentric.

Normally written as a descending rep scheme like 5/4/3, they refer to completing a set number of reps followed by a pause of the same amount in the lengthened position, then onto the next number of reps. One set of 5/4/3 would work as follows:

5 reps

5 second pause

4 reps

4 second pause

3 reps

3 second pause

Totalling 12 reps and 12 seconds of loaded stretching in one set... potent.

They again work by increasing time under tension and loaded stretching, and can have an awesome additional benefit of helping increase your mobility.

3) Clusters

Cluster sets are 1 set that you break into smaller mini-sets with very short rest periods in between, and are a great way to lift a heavy weight for more reps than usual.

The way I have used them most recently is to take and 8-10 rep max weight and hit it for 3 clusters of 4 reps with 10-15 seconds rest in between. I would write this as 4/4/4 and the set would be completed as:

4 reps

10-15s rest

4 reps

10-15s rest

4 reps

The mini-rests of 10-15 seconds will allow you to hit a few more reps than usual at that weight, creating an overload which is the signal for your body to change and grow.

You can do them with a wide variety of loads and reps, I just chose the 8RM for 4/4/4 as a personal preference.

4) Rest-Pause

The rest pause set is similar to a cluster, but where the cluster starts sub-maximally (a set of 4 at an 8RM), the Rest-Pause set starts maximally then you hang on.

The way I've been completing them is to hit an 8-10 rep max, getting right up to that point of technical failure, then resting for 15 seconds. Go again and AMRAP the same weight. The reps you hit will be less than your initial effort. Rest 15 seconds then AMRAP again.

Repeat the rest and AMRAP process until you have doubled the initial set number of reps.

So, if you hit a first set of 8, you're aiming for 16 total reps which might look like:

8 reps

15s rest

4 reps

15s rest

2 reps

15s rest

2 reps

This process will expose you to that point of technical/muscular failure a few times in quick succession, creating the stimulus to grow. This one set alone could potentially do that as many times as doing 3x10 straight sets on 4 different exercises, where the last set is the only time you get close to failure.

5) Drop Sets

Finally, lets talk drop-sets. The classic bodybuilding favourite of hitting a hard set at a heavy weight, dropping the load by 20-40%, immediately hitting another hard set, dropping the weight by a further 20-40% and then immediately doing a final hard set.

I've been doing these with the intention of hitting reps along the lines of 6/8/10 as follows:

6 reps

Drop 20% load

8 reps

Drop 20% load

10 reps

The reps and drops can vary, but the intention should be to be close to technical failure on the set of 6, 8 and 10, with the dropping of the load being the only reason you can continue the set.

Application

So there you have it, 5 tested techniques I've used extensively over the last 12 weeks to help build muscle over lockdown.

It's a lot of information to take in and apply, so if you're going to try these alone, I'd recommend trying one set per session and getting a good feel for it. Less is more with these things. But ideally, if maximising muscle growth is your aim then hiring a coach who knows how to effectively implement these techniques using exercises that really fit the methods is essential. Everything else leaves things to chance. Ian.