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ADVANCED TRAINING TECHNIQUES FOR

MUSCLE HYPERTROPHY

Many people intuitively think advanced techniques should be reserved for advanced trainees;
beginners should ‘stick with the basics.’ Just like the relation between muscle soreness and
muscle growth, most people think of this issue in a superficial manner. Few people bother to
analyze the underlying physiological effects of the advanced technique.

We call a technique ‘advanced’ when it is unorthodox compared to straight sets, the traditional
way of performing sets with the same weight and rest interval every set, not because it is
suitable for more advanced trainees. As such, ‘stick with the basics’ is dogmatic advice, because
what we define as basic is simply a matter of tradition.

In this week of the course, we’re going beyond the superficial. First, we’ll analyze an advanced
set-rep scheme’s physiological effects, and then we’ll determine who benefits from those
effects.

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Training to failure
A fundamental aspect of many advanced techniques is that they involve training to muscular
failure. Before we get to the techniques, watch the following lecture about the effects of
training to failure.

lecture
Training to failure

A key point about training to failure is that muscle activation levels increase only slightly as you
reach failure. So if the load is not high enough, training to failure does not achieve maximum
muscle activation levels. However, metabolic stress increases exponentially as you approach
momentary muscle failure. The fatiguing effect of this is compounded by rising blood ammonia
levels, which also have an exponentially fatiguing effect (see graphs below). The result is that
your work capacity generally takes a serious hit after taking a set to failure.

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The loss of work capacity impairs both the quality and the quantity (volume) of the rest of your
training session. So is the relatively high fatigue induced by training to failure worth it? A meta-
analysis on training to failure vs. not training to failure found no statistically significant difference
in strength development between the 2 conditions (note the erratum in 2016). However, when
not controlling for training volume, “non-failure training was found to be slightly more effective
(i.e. there was a small effect).” Interestingly, even when volume was controlled for, i.e. the
group training to failure completed just as many reps as the non-failure group by either
performing more sets or continuing each set for more reps, training to failure still didn’t
produce more strength development.

A subsequent study confirmed that given the same training volume, training to failure requires a
higher RPE without any benefit to strength development. There was in fact a non-significant
trend towards greater strength development in the non-failure group (effect size 2 vs. 1.7 on
MVIC torque).

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Sampson & Groeller also found that biceps training to failure did not lead to greater strength
development or muscle growth compared to 2 similar protocols that didn’t involve going to
failure. The subjects were beginners and training volume was close to optimal (12 sets at 85%
of 1 RM). Compared to the group that performed regular repetitions as fast as possible without
going to failure, the failure group had a significantly higher training volume (24 vs. 17 reps per
week) and a significantly higher perceived exertion (RPE 17 vs. 15.5), but this evidently did not
improve their results, indicating that training to failure has a low cost-benefit.

Best of all, Samny et al. (2017) compared training programs with a low and a high intensity, both
performed to failure or until the untrained subjects decided themselves the set was over. In
spite of the untrained subjects probably not going balls-to-the-wall in the ‘volitional
interruption’ group, at neither intensity was there a difference in strength development (1RM)
or muscle growth (CSA and pennation angle) at either 6 or 12 weeks into the study.

Moreover, your blood pressure increases enormously when taking a set to failure. And as if the
cost-benefit wasn’t bad enough, training to failure for several weeks has been shown to
suppress IGF-1 and testosterone levels while increasing cortisol levels without any benefit to
strenth or power development.

Training to failure doesn’t provide zero benefit whatsoever. Drinkwater et al. (2005) found that
in novice level strength trainees with ample recovery time (3 sessions per week) and a relatively
low training volume (72 reps per week at ~6 RM), training closer to failure increased strength
and power development in the bench press. However, neuromuscular fatigue after each session
was 2.5 times greater after the failure protocol than the non-failure protocol, again
demonstrating the poor cost-benefit of failing reps.

The only situation where training to failure becomes not just beneficial but practically necessary
is when you’re training with suboptimal intensities due to, for example, an injury. Training to
failure can make low intensity work comparably effective to low volume, high intensity work for
muscle growth. However, when volume is comparable between the low and high intensity

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work, high intensity work is still generally superior for muscle growth and certainly for strength
development. (See the course topic on the optimal training intensity.)

Conclusion

Training to failure is generally best reserved as a strategy to increase training stress when there
is no time for any other way to increase training stress. You are better off staying close to
failure to elicit sufficient muscle activation but avoiding actual momentary muscular failure.

Even then, it is often preferable to take only the last set of each exercise or each body part to
failure. That way, work capacity remains higher after the first set. Training to failure on the last
set can also work well psychologically as a ‘finisher’.

Practical implementation: how do you judge proximity to failure?

Not going to failure begs the question of how you determine how close you are to momentary
muscle failure in the first place. There are several methods to measure this.

 Movement velocity
One way to determine how close you are to reaching muscular failure is by assessing your
movement speed, like the upward velocity of the barbell during a squat. As you come closer to
failing a repetition in a set of any exercise, your movement speed will decrease. As you reach
failure, the movement speed becomes zero.

As such, movement velocity can serve as a measure of proximity to muscle failure. Since the
average trainee doesn’t carry a portable dynamometer in their gym bag to literally measure
their movement velocity, the common implementation of this is something along the lines of
‘You stop the set when your explosiveness decreases/movement speed decreases/your reps
start grinding.’

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Such instructions are hopelessly subjective, as movement speed starts decreasing very far away
from muscular failure already and continues to decrease gradually. At which point do you
determine the decrease is significant or notable? You may think you can do this, but look at the
actual velocity measurements during a 6 RM bench press in the graph below. There is no clear
cut-off point in either average or peak speed of movement, not in the upward phase of the
movement nor in the downward phase.

Source

Based on objective data, a decrease in movement velocity is better seen as a minimum level of
training intensiveness than a maximum. And using subjectively perceived movement velocity as a
measure of closeness to momentary muscle failure in a set is at best a very rough measure that
requires an arbitrarily determined cut-off point of how much speed reduction is acceptable.

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 RPEs
Ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) are, as the name implies, a rating on a scale (say 1-10) of
how difficult something is. A 10/10 RPE is training to failure by definition, so the RPE score can
serve as a measure of how close you are to that.

There are various definitions and scales of RPE, but there’s no need to go into them
individually, because they all suck. The validity of RPE as a measure of training intensiveness is
fundamentally flawed, because it is based on the incorrect underlying belief that your subjective
perception and judgement of your effort are a reliable indication of your objective performance
potential.

lecture
Mental vs. physical fatigue and RPEs

Interestingly, most proponents of the use of RPEs have come to the same conclusion as the
above lecture. Over time, most coaches’ definition of RPE has shifted further away from
subjective effort and closer to being a needlessly complex version of repetitions to failure
(RTF). RPE is now often defined as the inverse of RTF and given the ‘novel’ name of Repetitions
in Reserve. This is a great development, but there is nothing novel about it; RTF has always
been the most straightforward measurement of proximity to failure. Nor is the new definition
of RPE/RIR useful, as it is just a needless conversion of RTF. All it adds to the usefulness of RTF
is confusion and the need for a bit of mental calculus.

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Forced reps
What is it?

Continuing a set after reaching muscular failure by having a partner or machine help with
subsequent reps, e.g. 120x8 (partner starts helping) x4, rest, repeat.

What does it achieve compared to straight sets?

Since you’re training post-failure, you would expect metabolic stress to increase exponentially
and neural fatigue to increase linearly with volume. Technique necessarily suffers greatly and
muscle damage should increase correspondingly.

Indeed, research finds that neuromuscular fatigue is significantly greater after forced reps than
after the same volume of straight sets. However, muscle damage and metabolic stress do not
appear to be higher given the same training volume. This suggests that forced repetitions induce
high central fatigue and are thereby a serious risk factor for overtraining.

As if that’s not bad enough, what many people employing this technique don’t realize is that
muscle activity decreases post-failure as the faster motor units are already exhausted.

As a result, the ratio of muscle stimulation to muscle fatigue is very poor for forced reps. You
induce more (central) fatigue than otherwise, but you don’t stimulate any mechanism of muscle
hypertrophy to a greater extent (i.e. muscle activity, metabolic stress or muscle damage).

In support of the inferior training quality of forced repetitions, Drinkwater et al. (2007) found
that 3 groups of athletes training the bench press with the same repetition volume but a
different amount of forced reps gained the same amount of muscle (chest circumference and
estimated muscle mass), bench press strength and power. In one group the forced repetitions
resulted in 30% greater concentric time under tension and 40% greater total work, but
evidently this did not translate into better training adaptations.

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On the bright side, the assisted reps tend to have an excellent resistance curve, as the spotter
can provide more assistance during sticking points.

Recommended reading
A brief review of forced repetitions for the promotion of muscular hypertrophy

Who benefits from it?

No one really. It’s a high risk, low reward technique. In practically every situation, you have
better options.

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Drop-sets
What is it?

Stripping off weight as soon as you hit failure and then continuing the set, possibly several times,
e.g. 120x8, 90x8, 60x9, 30x14, rest, repeat.

What does it achieve compared to straight sets?

Metabolic stress goes through the roof because of the prolonged muscle tension. Neural fatigue
is also very high because you are hitting muscular failure repeatedly. Muscle activity decreases
once you train past the point of failure as the faster motor units are exhausted. This creates
high muscle damage and extends the recovery time. AMPK activity increases as a result of the
greatly increased endurance component, particularly when drop sets are used for compound
work. Technique tends to suffer considerably due to the high acute fatigue and lack of rest.

As an illustration, drop sets of 6 reps of Smith machine squats with 15% load reductions (85%
→ 70% → 55% → 40% 1 RM) induce just as much neuromuscular fatigue, metabolic stress and
muscle damage as 4 straight set of 6 with the initial weight (3 min. rest interval), even when
failure isn’t reached each set. So you get the same fatigue as with straight sets in spite of far less
total work being performed. When you use free-weight exercises or go to failure, drop sets
likely perform even worse.

Keogh et al. (1999) compared a traditional 6 RM set in the bench press with a special type of
dropset where the weight was reduced each repetition: 95, 90, 85, 82.5 to 80% of 1RM. This
resulted in several differences in the acute physiological response to the set.

 Unsurprisingly, force production was higher during the first rep but lower during the
lowest rep in the dropset. Power was lower in the dropset, especially after the halfway
point.
 Muscle activity in the pecs was similar across all reps and the only difference in the
triceps was that muscle activity was higher during the first reps in the dropset.

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 Metabolic stress, measured by lactate, was similar between the traditional set and the
dropset.

So even when you’re starting with a higher weight, there aren’t any clear mechanical,
physiological or neuromuscular advantages to using dropsets compared to traditional sets.

The most important question, of course, is: does the extra fatigue from drop sets offer any
advantage for muscle hypertrophy or strength development?

Fisher et al. (2016) found that adding 1 or 2 dropsets to a single set to failure did not improve
strength-endurance or muscle growth in spite of an up to ~3 times greater training volume(!) A
drop-set group starting with a higher intensity weight performed just as badly as the group
simply adding a dropset to the control group’s training protocol.

Angleri et al. (2017), illustrated below, found that dropsets were just as effective as straight sets
at developing strength and muscle growth when total training volume was equated. This was a
relatively ideal scenario for the use of dropsets, since total training volume and frequency were
very low and the training was entirely machine based.

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Basically, dropsets are a time-efficient method of creating a very high training stress, but the
quality and intensity of the work done is low.

Who benefits from it?

Since the neuromuscular fatigue to muscle stimulation ratio is poor, drop-sets offer no
advantage over straight sets as a default training method. Their only advantage is time-efficiency.

Since technique goes down the drain and compound work creates too much of an endurance
stimulus, this technique is generally further restricted to simple isolation exercises and machine
work.

Even then, you often have better options than dropsets.

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Reverse pyramiding
What is it?

After taking a set close to failure, the weight is reduced on subsequent sets, but unlike drop
sets, there is a normal inter-set rest interval. The reps of subsequent sets should be higher than
the reps of the first set for it to be a true reverse pyramid, e.g. 120 kg x 8, rest, 95 kg x 10,
rest, 75 kg x 12.

What does it achieve compared to straight sets?

Reverse pyramiding has effects in between that of straight sets and drop-sets. As such, it suffers
from some of the same problems as drop-sets. Reverse pyramiding induces greater
neuromuscular fatigue and metabolic stress without resulting in superior strength development
or muscle growth. The increased stress is likely the result of the greater total amount of work
done by using reverse pyramids.

There are 3 reasons for why this greater stress does not result in superior training adaptations.

1. The average intensity is lower. This can explain the lack of greater strength
development, which in turn can explain the lack of greater long term muscle
hypertrophy.
2. Mixing intensities in the same session of the same exercise may confound specific
training adaptations, much like the interference effect. Bros sometimes call this ‘muscle
confusion’. It is largely theoretical at the moment, but it aligns with the SAID principle.
(If you don’t know what that is, revisit the topic on ‘understanding muscle growth’.)
3. Mixing intensities in the same session of the same exercise likely confounds technique
development. Changing the load of an exercise changes its biomechanics, especially if it’s
a closed kinetic chain exercise like the squat, push-up or chin-up where the external
load strongly influences your center of gravity. People that actually lift should intuitively
know this. A squat at 60% of 1 RM does not feel like the same movement as a 1 RM
squat.

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Who benefits from it?

Injury-prone exercises and trainees, like the elderly, often benefit from the use of lower
average training intensities without compromising muscle growth.

People short on time, especially novices where exercise intensity isn’t that important yet, may
also find reverse pyramids time-efficient due to their greater work output.

More advanced bodybuilding trainees often benefit from reverse pyramiding their high intensity
work, as it is simply impractical to get enough total work done with straight sets above ~90% of
1RM. As a general guideline, it’s good to reverse pyramid all sets with 4 or fewer reps.

However, the needless extra stress makes reverse pyramids unsuitable as a default technique
during high-volume training.

Crescent pyramids

Progressive AKA crescent pyramids where you increase rather than decrease the weight every
set function very much like reverse pyramids. However, reverse pyramids are often preferable,
because exercise technique during the high intensity work suffers after the higher rep sets. Plus,
during a reverse pyramid you may benefit from PAP (discussed later on).

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Rest-pause training
What is it?

Taking a set to failure, taking a few breaths or resting for a short period, going to failure again,
taking a few breaths again, going to failure again, possibly repeating this sequence two or more
times. E.g. 120x12, take a few deep breaths, x6, take a few deep breaths, x3, rest, repeat.

What does it achieve compared to straight sets?

Rest-pause training is so well marketed, mainly in the specific form of DoggCrapp training, that
most people don’t recognize it is simply a combination of going to failure and using very short
rest periods. The difference between intra- and inter-set rest is purely semantic in the case of
rest-pause training.

So you’re looking at very high metabolic stress, neuromuscular fatigue and muscle damage and
major technique breakdown. Work capacity is abysmally poor as a result and the fatigue to
muscle activity ratio is very low.

Direct research on the rest-pause method is scarce. Marshall et al. (2012) found that a rest-
pause protocol in the squat elicited higher levels of muscle activation without greater
neuromuscular fatigue than 2 control workouts. However, the control workouts weren’t very
useful as reference points. All exercise protocols involved 20 squat repetitions, prescribed at
80% of 1RM. Protocol A consisted of 5 sets of 4 repetitions with 3 minute inter-set rest
intervals; protocol B was 5 sets of 4 repetitions with 20 seconds of inter-set rest and the rest-
pause method was an initial set to failure with subsequent sets performed with a 20 second
inter-set rest interval. Neither control protocol thus had the participants train close to failure
and it was more strength-endurance work than traditional strength training. Since these were
advanced strength trainees with an average squat close to 400 pounds (179 kg), it’s likely that
the rest-pause workout resulted in higher levels of muscle activation simply because it had the
trainees approach failure. As such, this study mostly supports the need to train close to failure,

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but it says nothing directly about the efficacy of rest-pause training compared to traditional
straight sets.

Who benefits from it?

Practically none. Myo-reps are almost universally superior even when time is scarce and reverse
pyramids or good ol’ straight sets are generally superior when it isn’t.

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Myo-reps
What is it?

Myo-reps, as per the creator Borge Fagerli’s definition, have changed considerably over the
years. The most recently publicized method is as follows:

“After warm ups and a few minutes of rest, unrack the chosen load and do reps until you hit
the failure point (leaving one rep in the tank can be a good idea). This is the ‘activation set’. Re-
rack the weight, count three to five deep breaths, unrack, and do a set of three to five reps.
(That’s about a quarter of your first set. For example, complete five reps when you did 20 reps
on the first set.) Now re-rack, rest, and repeat until you hit another failure point. This is the
autoregulation aspect. On some days and on some exercises, you may only get something like
20 + 5 + 4 reps, but on other days/exercises, you may get 20 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 (or more).
The point is to achieve high muscle fiber activation on the activation set and extend this effect
by balancing on the verge of fatigue to perform more “effective” reps, taking advantage of all
the hypertrophic signaling effects of occlusion training.”

What does it achieve compared to straight sets?

When the first set is taken to failure, myo-reps are comparable to rest-pause training.
However, taking the first but not the later sets to failure in combination with a low intensity
makes myo-reps much more useful, since this allows for the accumulation of a high training
volume. As such, myo-reps are very time-efficient.

The low weights that have to be used also make myo-reps very joint friendly.

Downsides of myo-reps are that the short rest and low intensity make it a poor method for
strength development. The inevitable technique breakdown and major cardiorespiratory
component also make myo-reps unsuitable for technical exercises, like the powerlifts.

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Myo-reps also to be closer to the endurance spectrum than traditional rest-pause training or
straight sets. The intensity used ends up being low; likely too low for full muscle recruitment in
advanced trainees. AMPK activity, which is a measure of fuel usage, generally increases.

Who benefits from it?

The more endurance like stimulus from myo-reps makes them suitable mostly for
simple/isolation exercises.

Myo-reps are particularly suitable for injury prone exercises and trainees, like the elderly.

Other trainees can also benefit from myo-reps when they’re short on time. For the limbs,
however, KAATSU training has more evidence behind it, so that may be preferable (discussed
later on).

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Cluster sets
What is it?

The use of intra-set rest periods, i.e. resting in between every rep or every ‘cluster’ of reps
instead of only in between sets (inter-set). E.g. 120x1, rest 5 seconds, 120x1, rest 5 seconds,
120x1, rest 5 seconds, 120x1, rest 5 minutes, repeat.

What does it achieve compared to straight sets?

Metabolic stress is minimized and technique remains good throughout the set. This makes it
ideal for strength and power development and most research indeed finds that cluster sets are
superior to straight sets to develop strength and power without compromising muscle
hypertrophy. In effect, when you cluster a set, you are trading metabolic stress and thereby
often muscle activity for increased power and work output [2, 3, 4, 5].

However, not all research about cluster training is positive. Giessing et al. (2014) studied a full-
body training program consisting of a single set for each exercise in strength trained individuals.
One group performed all exercises as a traditional set to failure at 80% of 1 RM (~9 reps per
set). The other group performed all exercises in cluster fashion at 90% of 1 RM with ~5-20
seconds of rest between each repetition (~18 reps per set). So the cluster group used a 10%
higher intensity and performed double the training volume compared to the traditional training
group. In spite of this, the traditional training group experienced considerably better body
recomposition and strength development than the cluster group with effect sizes averaging
around 50% greater. The inferiority of cluster training was likely because all subjects were
required to use a very slow repetition tempo of ~10 seconds per rep. This may have cancelled
out any positive benefits in terms of power and force production as a result of using cluster
sets.

As such, cluster training should probably be reserved for strength and power work and it most
likely doesn’t confer any benefits for muscle growth. The inability to reach similarly high levels

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muscle activity is probably not outweighed by the ability to produce more force or do more
work.

Another caveat with cluster training is that a sufficiently high intensity must be used to achieve
high levels of muscle activity without the need for metabolic stress. A study comparing 120
seconds of isometric work done either as 40 clustered contractions or 4 long, continuous
contractions found that the continuous contraction group gained more strength and size, likely
due to the greater metabolic stress they experienced. Similarly, a study comparing 3-5 sets of
10 reps performed either with or without a 30 second break halfway through the set found that
the traditional protocol resulted in more strength and muscle development.

Plus, when sets of 1-3 reps are employed and the sets aren’t taken to failure, as most strength
and power athletes do, the difference between cluster sets and straight sets becomes marginal.

A practical issue with cluster sets for barbell exercises is the constant unracking and reracking
of the bar. Since you’ll often want to employ them for the powerlifts, most trainees find they
need the constant presence of a spotter for the bench press. Squats are an annoyance too, but
within reason, you can ‘rest’ in the top position instead of racking the bar every cluster
(‘breathing squats’). Deadlifts and the Olympic lifts, on the other hand, are absolutely perfect
for cluster sets.

Who benefits from it?

 Power athletes!
 Powerlifters! The deadlift in particular should almost always be trained using cluster
sets.
 Intermediate or advanced bodybuilders short on time or wanting to use something
other than straight sets and employing intensities in between 80 – 90%.
 Cluster sets can also be a great way to learn proper technique in beginners, though
their rapid recovery and poor motor unit recruitment means every set will take a very
long time and the time efficiency benefit is generally lost.

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Tip: Machines can make cluster sets much easier to implement. Menno likes using cluster sets
for high intensity unilateral leg curls performed in an alternating fashion, i.e. one leg rests while
the other leg is performing a cluster. This training method fits well with the muscle fiber type
composition of the hamstrings.

Recommended reading
Cluster training: theoretical and practical applications for the strength and
conditioning professional

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Weighted stretching
What is it?

Stretching a muscle under resistance, such as in the bottom position of a dumbbell fly.

What does it achieve compared to traditional sets?

The hypothesis is generally that stretching muscle or connective tissue, specifically the fascia,
gives the muscle room to expand. When asked to provide any evidence to support the notion
that tissue length of any kind is a limiting factor in the process of muscle hypertrophy, Antonio
& Gonyea (1985) is often mentioned. Many people don’t read the full text of studies, but in this
case it seems that no one even reads the abstract. This study shows that when you hang heavy
weights on to the wings of birds, their wing muscles get stronger and bigger. Shocker. It has
nothing to do with stretching per se. It simply demonstrates the most basic of physiological
principles: high muscle tension causes muscle hypertrophy.

The whole theory of weighted stretching reeks of broscience. See, bros rarely read anything
about biomechanics. If they had, they’d have known that actual muscle length is not the limiting
factor of flexibility in most movements. Most muscles simply don’t change length that much
during strength training or basically any other movement. It is biomechanically impossible to
stretch most muscles to their maximum length without breaking a few joints or bones along the
way. The same applies to fascia. You shouldn’t “stretch fascia because it’s stiff”. Fascia is too stiff
to stretch in length. Like “you’d have to pull on this with a tractor” too stiff [2]. The most
notable exceptions to this are the hamstrings and the calves, which can be stretched in actual
length very significantly when they lengthen across both the knee and the hip/ankle.

So let’s look at if you can induce muscle growth by stretching the holy crap out of your calves.
Fowles et al. (2000) studied the effect of stretching the calves for almost half an hour. “The
procedure began with the subject’s foot locked into the maximal tolerable dorsiflexed position
without pain and thereafter, every 2 min, the magnitude of the stretch was increased and a new
maximal joint angle established, as limited by the tolerance of the subject. On average, this

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protocol resulted in a 6–7° increase in joint angle, beyond the original maximal tolerable
stretch”.

Turns out, even this medieval level of stretching did not induce any muscle growth as measured
by fractional synthetic rate in the soleus. Moreover, a control group performed an isometric
contraction at the same level of force as was used to induce the stretch. These guys did
experience a 49% increase in proteins synthesis. Quoting the researchers, “Since the magnitude
and the duration of the stretch in this experiment vastly exceeded that encountered during a
typical resistance training session, and yet were still not sufficient to stimulate protein synthesis,
it is apparent that minimal muscle stretch occurs during weightlifting… muscle stretch per se is
not the stimulus for the muscle hypertrophy that occurs with resistance training.”

You may be wondering about the upcoming publication from the University of Tampa co-
authored by Jacob Wilson showing that the addition of weighted stretching of the calves in
between sets increases strength adaptations. However, the control group here rested while the
stretching group was undergoing the inter-set stretching, so again all this study shows is that
mechanical tension causes muscle adaptation in a dose-response manner. Based on Fowler’s
research, we would expect a control group that performed any type of contraction instead of
the stretching to perform better than the stretching group.

Since there is also a substantial literature showing that partial range of motion (ROM) exercise,
even in the stretched position, is inferior to full ROM exercise in every regard in almost every
situation, and that static stretching is detrimental to muscle performance, it is likely that
weighted stretching is inferior to full ROM exercise. Not to mention it is considerably more
injurious and creates substantially more muscle damage, increasing the required recovery time.

Who benefits from it?

Sadomasochists.

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Eccentric emphasized training / Eccentric overloading

What is it?

Training in a way that makes the eccentric (muscle lengthening) portions of your exercises
harder than the concentric (muscle shortening) ones.

Machines and weight releasers make eccentric emphasized training a lot easier to implement,
but with some creativity you can still implement eccentric overloading with free weights. There
are 2 main ways to implement eccentric overloading with common gym equipment:

1. Biomechanical eccentric overloading

Instead of increasing the resistance during the eccentric portion of the movement, you
decrease your strength level in the concentric portion by weakening your biomechanical
leverage. A common example of this is the Zottman curl, depicted below, where you
flex your elbows with a supinated grip but let the weights back down with a pronated
grip.

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Here are some more examples of biomechanically eccentric-emphasized training.

 Barbell overhead push presses (i.e. with leg drive) where you lower the weight under
control instead of letting it drop down to the front squat catch position.
 Performing a wide push-up, moving your hands in at the top and lowering yourself with
a close grip.
 Step-ups where you use the rear leg to help push you up but you lower yourself under
control all the way down to the start position. Tip: use the cue ‘land on your heel’.

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 Pulling yourself up chin-up style, switching to a pronated grip at the top and lowering
yourself pull-up style.

2. Unilateral eccentric overloading

With this technique you make the eccentric part of the exercise harder by performing it
with only one limb. For example, you raise the pad of the leg extension with both of
your legs, then you drop one leg and lower the weight with the remaining leg to
overload that leg’s eccentric contraction. This technique can be implemented in many
machines and with certain cable exercises, like close grip rows and pull-downs.

What does it achieve compared to traditional sets?

Muscles can produce 20 – 60% more force during eccentric contractions than concentric
contractions of the same movement [2]. The difference varies from 14% all the way up to over
a 100%, depending on the person, the training intensity and the exercise.

As intuitive as it seems that you can lower more weight than you can lift, the higher eccentric
strength of muscle tissue is actually not as straightforward as that. Muscles can actually produce
more total force eccentrically than concentrically, not just ‘control the descent a bit’. How can
they do that?

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During a concentric muscle action, the muscle shortens because actin filaments are repeatedly
pulled over myosin filaments. This process is called actin-myosin cross-bridge formation. These
cross-bridges have to be detached with a chemical reaction, the cleaving of an ATP molecule.

During eccentric contractions, the cross-bridges are separated mechanically as the muscle
lengthens, so less energy is required to produce force.

The result is that eccentric emphasized training allows you to perform more work and reach
higher levels of muscle activation than during traditional sets. In many studies, eccentric
accentuated training outperforms traditional sets for strength development and muscle growth
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

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An additional benefit of eccentric overloading is that eccentric muscle contractions are

inherently very joint friendly due to their relatively low energy production requirement and
normally higher level of neuromuscular control. This ensures that maximum stress is placed on
the muscle tissue with relatively little stress on the surrounding connective tissue, like your
joints and tendons.

The high muscle stress of eccentric overloading comes at a cost, however. Eccentric
emphasized training induces significantly more neuromuscular fatigue than straight sets or even
drop-sets. Muscle damage and delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) can be very severe if
someone is not accustomed to eccentric overloading and can increase recovery demands
greatly, often necessitating a lower training frequency.

Who benefits from it?

Eccentric overloading is a great training technique during (p)rehabilitation and it is well

established in the scientific literature for that purpose. Unilaterally eccentric-overloaded leg
extensions are very useful to rehab overuse injuries in the knee; exercises like Zottman curls
can be similarly useful in the case of elbow tendinosis.

Eccentric overloading is a great technique to use for individuals with a suboptimal training
frequency, since they can afford prolonged recovery periods. Likewise, eccentric overloading is
a very time efficient method to induce a great stimulus for muscle growth with low volume
training. Eccentric overloading is arguably the most time-effective training technique there is.

Eccentric overloading is also a very viable training technique for advanced trainees in general. It
combines particularly well with KAATSU training in the next session for that body part, to
avoid debilitating muscle damage levels (see KAATSU section in this document).

When training volume and frequency are already optimized, eccentric overloading is not
suitable for beginners. The muscle damage from intense eccentrics is generally too great to
recover from. Their less engrained exercise technique also poses a risk.

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Women benefit more from eccentric overloading than men due to their greater resistance to
muscle damage combined with their lower capacity for explosive, dynamic movements. So for
women, eccentric overloading can be implemented from the intermediate stages onwards.

Recommended reading

Eccentric exercise: a comprehensive review of a distinctive training method

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Post-activation potentiation (PAP)

What is it?

Post-activation potentiation (PAP) refers to the phenomenon whereby high levels of muscle
activation can potentiate (read: increase) subsequent performance. The 1-6 method is one of
the more popular methods designed to take advantage of PAP: you perform a heavy single, you
strip off some of the weight and then you perform a heavy set of 6 reps.

What does it achieve compared to straight sets?

PAP is a phenomenon where heavy strength training (1-5 RM usually) induces more
performance-enhancing changes in the nervous system and the exercised muscle’s architecture
than it induces fatigue. As a result, after certain (near-)maximal muscle contractions at specific
times, you actually become stronger in spite of being fatigued.

Like with many of these advanced techniques, people love to talk about them, but few people
actually try them. If they had, they’d notice that the 1-6 method doesn’t actually work in most
people. Most people do not increase their 6 RM by performing a 1RM first, and their 6 RM sure
as hell doesn’t keep increasing after performing more 1RMs (i.e. wave loading).

PAP works best for low intensity work, such as speed work, plyometrics and explosive
athletics. Only certain trainees, usually stronger trainees and those gifted with a potential for
extreme strength and explosiveness, actually benefit from PAP for strength training.

Even when PAP does work, it is highly contentious if a few percent increase in strength is
worth performing a true 1RM for as a bodybuilder. A 1RM comes with a relatively high injury
risk and even though the acute fatigue is very low – contrary to what you often hear – the
chronic fatigue is high. It can reduce performance even on the subsequent day. In terms of
muscle activity and muscle tension relative to neural fatigue and muscle damage for
bodybuilders, there is no reason why something like the 1-6 Method would work considerably
better than simply performing 2 sets with your 6 RM.

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Recommended reading
Factors modulating post-activation potentiation and its effect on performance of subsequent
explosive activities

Who benefits from it?

 Powerlifters! If you’re going to perform 1RMs, you may as well take advantage of PAP
afterwards.
 Competitive athletes after meticulous testing. Modern evidence-based Olympic sprinting
coaches in particular are experimenting with PAP.
 Advanced bodybuilders employing 90+% training intensities can use PAP as a superior
form of reverse pyramiding to reach a good intensity-volume compromise.

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Y3T
What does it achieve compared to straight sets?

“A 3-dimensional program” (read: a serious contender for the ‘best bro-science’ award).

“This program hits both your fast and slow-twitch muscle fibers…”
As does anything else that remotely resembles intensive training.

“…and also focuses on stretching the fascia, connective tissue fibers that wrap around the
muscles.”
Not likely.

“At the end of week three you go back to week 1, 2, 3 and then repeat again. You'll repeat this
for three phases or a total of nine weeks. After nine weeks, you'll take 5-7 days off from
training for recovery. At that point, you can start the Y3T process over again.”
A full cookie-cutter training program for the rest of your life complete with exercise
prescriptions without any regard for a person’s training experience, injury history, actual
progress made on the program, anthropometry, stress level, diet, genetics, etc.

Who benefits from it?

Consumers who want the ‘perfect program,’ preferably something cool and new, without any
understanding of the principles of training program design.

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FST-7
What does it achieve compared to straight sets?

“Heavy weights will build thickness and density, but they will not give you that round, full look.”
Broscience debunked decades ago.

“The most genetically blessed bodybuilders have thinner fascia, which is why their muscle bellies
appear to be larger and fuller, with that round ‘bubbly’ look that all bodybuilders covet.”
Evidence to support this: nada.

Arbitrary volume (‘the magic number 7’): check.

Research supporting the hypothesis that fascial constriction is a limiting factor of muscle
hypertrophy: zero.
Research supporting the hypothesis that any permanent architectural changes in fascial
structure can be induced by muscle occlusion: zero.
Inducing excessive muscle damage to limit the amount of net protein synthesis you can
stimulate: check.

Who benefits from it?

No one.

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KAATSU
It’s not often that revolutionary training techniques are developed. Most are just re-marketed
techniques or variety for the sake of variety. KAATSU was developed by a Japanese sport
scientist by the name of Sato in 1966 as a technique to increase muscle mass without having to
use heavy weights. He first developed the idea during a Buddhist ceremony where he had to
remain kneeling for so long that he occluded the blood flow from his own calves and thought
‘hey, this feels like the burn’. Years of experimentation went into it before it became publicly
known in the West in the 90s, though elite athletes have been using it since the 80s when
KAATSU training gear became publicly available in Japan.

What is it?

Blood flow restriction training. You occlude a muscle with an occlusion device or simply some
elastic material like knee wraps before exercising the muscle with a light weight.

What does it achieve compared to straight sets?

Arteries pump blood into muscles, but the superficial occlusion prevents your veins from taking
the blood out. The result is an accumulation of oxygen-deprived blood, AKA the pump, and of
metabolic waste products like lactate, what you feel as ‘the burn’.

To compensate, motor unit recruitment has to increase, specifically that of fast twitch muscle
fibers that can function in the anaerobic environment induced by the blood flow restriction.

Since mechanical muscle tension is relatively low and the fatigue from KAATSU is induced
mostly by acute metabolic stress, KAATSU does not induce much muscle damage in most
people. However, there are people, mostly women in my experience, who are exceedingly
sensitive to KAATSU and actually seem to experience extreme muscle damage and soreness
from it.

Just as for muscle damage, KAATSU greatly limits stress on connective tissue.

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A common misconception about KAATSU is that it preferentially benefits muscle growth but
not strength. This is a myth based on the more general myth you’ve learned about in this
course that there is a huge difference between strength and size. There isn’t. Ultimately, size
drives strength and both are developed by adaptations in muscle fibers in response to fatigue.
So to be clear, KAATSU training benefits strength just as well as muscle growth. In fact, in a few
studies there’s a trend for greater relative strength than size increases. This may be due to the
preferential recruitment of fast twitch muscle fibers and that KAATSU training effectively
mimics the effect of increasing the training intensity. Note that this is relative to training with a
low intensity without KAATSU. There is still an independent dose-response curve of intensity
to strength gains.

Interestingly, KAATSU training is effective for the non-occluded muscle groups in the trunk as
well as the occluded limbs. Restricting blood flow to your arms during the bench press
increases muscle activation levels not just in the triceps but also in your pecs. Blood flow
restriction makes the exercise as a whole more difficult, so all muscle groups must work harder
to lift the weight.
Moreover, occluding your arms during the bench press increases triceps ánd chest muscle
hypertrophy; likewise, occluding your thighs during squats and leg curls increases quad ánd glute
hypertrophy. However, occluding the thighs during squats did not increase calf hypertrophy and
during walking it did not increase glute hypertrophy, likely because muscle activation levels in
these muscles did not reach a sufficient level to increase muscle growth even with KAATSU. So
it appears that the beneficial effects of KAATSU are mediated by increased muscle activation,
not the metabolic stress itself. KAATSU is thus a prime demonstration that muscle hypertrophy
occurs in response to sufficiently high muscle activation for a sufficient time period, not muscle
damage or metabolic stress.

Before you hop on the KAATSU bandwagon, KAATSU is generally no more potent than
regular strength training. Intensities as low as 20% with KAATSU can induce similar but no
better muscle growth and strength development compared to traditional heavy strength
training [e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4 & unpublished work by Tricoli et al. in Brazil]. And overall, there is a

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trend in the literature for regular high intensity training to edge out KAATSU training in terms
of size, muscle activity and obviously strength, especially at lower intensities [e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5, 6,
7 & unpublished work by Ellefsen et al. in Norway]

KAATSU training is sometimes said to improve recovery. While it is true that the increased
blood flow from intermittent occlusion can improve recovery, it is highly doubtful that the
stress from actual occlusion training has a net positive effect on your rate of recovery.
KAATSU training is still easier to recover from than regular high intensity training though, due
to the low resulting muscle damage and connective tissue stress.

Recommended reading
Exercise with blood flow restriction: an updated evidence-based approach for enhanced
muscular development

Who benefits from it?

 Beginners benefit in particular from the great metabolic stress to achieve full muscle
fiber recruitment and the lack of muscle damage, enabling them to greatly increase their
training frequency.
 Endurance athletes also benefit in particular from the synergy between strength training
and buffering metabolic stress.
 Elderly and injured trainees benefit from the extremely low required intensity [2].

In practice, Menno mainly employs KAATSU as a prehabilitative exercise modality for the
knees, elbows, wrists and ankles.

KAATSU FAQ
Q: I don’t have an occlusion device. How do I implement it?

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A: You wrap knee wraps around your limbs. Any kind used by powerlifters will suffice.

On a pressure scale of 1 - 10, aim for a 7 for your legs and a 6 for your arms. Your legs can be
wrapped tighter, because they have more fat on them and don’t change shape as much when
flexed.

Don’t try to go ‘super hardcore’ and bind down your limb as if you have to make sure you
don’t bleed out. If the training intensity is sufficient, there is no point in increasing the cuff
pressure. If you experience significant pain before even starting the exercise, numbness, tingling
or skin whitening, the wraps are too tight.

On the other hand, if you do not experience an extreme pump and burn during the set, the
wraps probably aren’t tight enough. Pain tends to be higher during KAATSU training than
during regular high intensity training, especially in the elderly according to unpublished work by
Todd Manini. KAATSU calf training is probably the most painful thing you’ll ever experience in
the gym, including most injuries.

You can also objectively measure the tightness of the wraps by the length you stretch out the
knee wraps, i.e. you grab the knee wrap at point A and stretch it out to point B. The difference
in length of the knee wrap is a measure of how tight you’re wrapping it around your limb.

The cuff width or the breadth of the knee wrap doesn’t matter.

Q: How do I program KAATSU exercises in a Bayesian program?

A: Implementation is quite simple. Assuming you can use a sufficiently high intensity (see section
below), a set of KAATSU work is in principle simply entirely interchangeable with a set of
traditional heavy strength training. The only difference in program design you need to make –
and this is a key advantage of KAATSU training – is that you can increase the training frequency
for body parts that you employ KAATSU for, since KAATSU training inflicts so little muscle
damage.

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For example: you have a trainee on an every other day training frequency for the quads with
squats and leg extensions on day A and no quad work on day B. If you have access to knee
wraps or an occlusion device, you can use KAATSU for the leg extensions and move them to
day B.

Q: Is it safe?
A: Yes, safer than high intensity training in most regards. It was developed for injured athletes
and the elderly. To be conservative, however, limit KAATSU training to 4 sets per exercise, as
some unpublished research from Wernbom’s lab has shown cardiovascular risks with higher
volumes than that.

Q: How long should I rest in between sets?

A: Until you’ve caught your breath is generally long enough, but it varies exactly like regular
high intensity training: see the course topic on rest intervals. If the intensity is less than 30%,
you will likely need to use short rest intervals to cause enough metabolic stress to cause
sufficient muscle activation.

Q: Should I take the wraps off in between sets?

A: To get the maximum occlusion effect, leave them on until you’re done, otherwise the
metabolic stress won’t accumulate.

Q: How heavy should I go?

A: Just like with regular high intensity training, KAATSU training has a dose-response relation
to intensity and muscle activity. It just peaks sooner. Metabolic stress can only compensate for
mechanical tension up to a point. For maximum muscle growth, it’s advisable to use at least
30% of 1RM (~30 reps) and benefits are observed all the way up to 50%, at which intensity
some people can only manage 10 reps if the wraps are tight enough but most people will
manage closer to 20. The pooling of oxygen deprived blood rich in metabolic byproducts has a
way of, you know, limiting how many reps that muscle can pump out.

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If you’re using KAATSU to intentionally reduce the load intensity, like during injuries, it can
help to increase the cuff pressure to just below the point where you get side effects from it.
The greater occlusion compensates for the suboptimal training intensity and mechanical
tension, so that you can still reach high levels of muscle activation even with very light weights.

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Note: paired sets, (antagonist) supersets and circuit training are discussed in the topic on
exercise order. Concentric, isometric and eccentric only muscle actions are discussed in the
topic on exercise selection and repetition tempo.

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