http://trainforlife.no/blogg/myo-reps-in-english/

Nice article. I am posting the application part here. I dont think much about his explanations though for why it works.

The Myo-reps set from start to finish

Simplistically speaking we basically need to lift a sufficiently heavy load, for a sufficient number of sets and reps, sufficiently often to build muscle at the optimal rate. There are many ways of achieving this, and Myo-reps is simply a very time-efficient and productive tool to have in your repertoire. Don’t get married to one rep range or one method of training if you want maximum results, a planned and strategic variation with both heavy and lighter loads, high and low volume, high and low frequency is needed if you want to maximize results, but that is an extensive topic to cover and I will save it for later articles.

Let’s see how you perform a Myo-rep set from beginning to end. I recommend 2-3 warm-up sets of progressively increasing loads of 8-12 reps prior to the work set both to increase neural drive, to provide additional volume and to let you determine your daily strength level and hence, work set load.

Pick a load you can perform 9-20 reps with (depending on your programming and exercise selection). I will sometimes go even higher, to 25-40 reps.
Go to failure or 1-2 reps short of failure, judged by when rep speed slows noticeably. This is your “activation set” where you achieve full fiber recruitment. Total failure isn’t an absolute requirement, and leaving a rep or two in the tank will allow you to do more total reps, as we shall see soon.
By keeping constant tension on the muscle, i.e. shorten the ROM by 10% on top (avoid locking out the weight) and 10% in the bottom (resting the weight or overstretching the muscle), you will mimic the occlusion effect and reach higher fiber recruitment faster.
Now the important part – rerack the weight and rest for a maximum of 30 seconds – unrack the weight and keep going for several short mini-sets of 1-5 reps (depending on the load used). By keeping the rest period short you will maintain fatigue level, and hence – fiber recruitment at a high rate. All reps of the mini-set are now “effective” reps. I simplify the rest period prescription by counting deep breaths, similar to the DC method, where 5 deep breaths (in+out) is about 10 seconds, 10 is 20 seconds and so on. You can get away with the higher end (30secs) with heavier loads, at lighter loads you should keep rest periods short (5-15secs) to maintain high fiber recruitment. It is also productive on the Myo-rep series to keep constant tension on the muscle by shortening the ROM.
Let’s illustrate the difference between a “traditional” 3 sets of 10 vs. a Myo-rep set, the asterisk ‘*’ denoting “effective” reps:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8* 9* 10*

1-2min of rest

1 2 3 4 5 6 7* 8* 9* (a typical drop off in reps if using a 10RM load)

1-2min of rest

1 2 3 4 5 6 7* 8* 9*

So you did 28 total reps in about 6 minutes, where 9 reps were “effective” reps (at sufficiently high fiber recruitment).

Now a Myo-rep set:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8* 9* 10* – 15sec rest – 1* 2* 3* – 15sec rest – 1* 2* 3* – 15sec rest – 1* 2* 3* – 15sec rest – 1* 2* 3* – 15sec rest – 1* 2* 3*

Here you did 25 total reps in about 2 minutes, where 18 reps were “effective”. The premise here is to *manage* fatigue to get in more work in less time, and you have to balance the reps and rest periods in the Myo-rep set appropriately.

Auto-regulating your way to better results

There are two ways of managing volume here.

First, you can prescribe a total number of reps for an exercise, and I would recommend that you get at least 10 reps after the activation set. An example would be (the ‘+’ denotes 10-20sec of reracking the weight and resting): 12 +3+3+2+2 (or 12 +10). Lighter weights generally need more volume, so: 20 +5+5+5+5+5 (or 20 +25) which would also be a productive Myo-rep set. You generally just keep doing mini-sets of 2-5 reps until you hit the prescribed total rep count.

The second way, and my favorite, is auto-regulation where you use a set of “rules” to let the total volume (number of reps) take care of itself based on how you feel that day – your individual recovery level. You will also see this prescription in most of my programs where I implement Myo-reps. Example protocols:

6-8 +2x

9-12 +3x

12-15 +4x

15-20 +5x

20-25 +6x

The first part (e.g. 9-12) denotes reps in the activation set, the number after the + is how many reps you will do in the Myo-reps mini-series. So 9-12 +3x will play out like this:

200lbs x 10 +3+3+3+3+2 – you weren’t able to do the third rep of the last set so you stop there

Here’s how auto-regulation works:

Let’s say you had a good night’s sleep, ate well, had a day off from work, and generally feel great and well recovered. The 9-12 +3x protocol would most likely turn out like this:

200lbs x 12 +3+3+3+3+3+3+3+2

Now, let’s say you had a couple of drinks too many at your brother’s bachelor party last night, your girlfriend broke up with you because you fondled the stripper, the neighbour’s cat kept you awake, and you’ve been dieting for 3 months. The same protocol would most likely deteriorate to this:

200lbs x 8 +3+2

Doing less work when your recovery and adaptive reserves are compromised makes logical and practical sense, and you will most likely come back stronger the next time (provided you stay sober, stop dieting, kiss and make up with your girlfriend – or the stripper if she was really hot) vs. struggling to do the same amount of work you had planned to, or even more by adding sets and dropsets to punish yourself for being such a failure as a human being. Stimulate, don’t annihilate.

You will also note that various muscle groups and exercises have different recovery rates and volume tolerances, so if you consistently get something like 8 +3+2 I recommend the following adjustments:

Do 9-12 +2x instead of 3x. (3x instead of 4x etc)
Add more rest in the Myo-rep set, e.g. 15 deep breaths instead of 10
If you insist on going to absolute failure on the activation set, I strongly recommend a period of leaving 1-2 reps in reserve. There’s not so much to be gained from that last rep or two in terms of muscular stimulation – but it vastly increases the neural stress, and it is easily compensated by getting in more total volume at the end.
If your recovery rate and volume tolerance is exceptional and you seem to be able to just keep going forever with +3x, you would obviously use the opposite strategy to compensate (4x, shorter rest, work closer to failure).

Note that you can also do more reps in the Myo-rep series by doing short ROM partial reps.

For the full article, check here: http://trainforlife.no/blogg/myo-reps-in-english/

Anoop - 03 May 2012 12:59 AM

Nice article. I am posting the application part here. I dont think much about his explanations though for why it works.

The Myo-reps set from start to finish

Simplistically speaking we basically need to lift a sufficiently heavy load, for a sufficient number of sets and reps, sufficiently often to build muscle at the optimal rate. There are many ways of achieving this, and Myo-reps is simply a very time-efficient and productive tool to have in your repertoire. Don’t get married to one rep range or one method of training if you want maximum results, a planned and strategic variation with both heavy and lighter loads, high and low volume, high and low frequency is needed if you want to maximize results, but that is an extensive topic to cover and I will save it for later articles.

Let’s see how you perform a Myo-rep set from beginning to end. I recommend 2-3 warm-up sets of progressively increasing loads of 8-12 reps prior to the work set both to increase neural drive, to provide additional volume and to let you determine your daily strength level and hence, work set load.

Pick a load you can perform 9-20 reps with (depending on your programming and exercise selection). I will sometimes go even higher, to 25-40 reps.
Go to failure or 1-2 reps short of failure, judged by when rep speed slows noticeably. This is your “activation set” where you achieve full fiber recruitment. Total failure isn’t an absolute requirement, and leaving a rep or two in the tank will allow you to do more total reps, as we shall see soon.
By keeping constant tension on the muscle, i.e. shorten the ROM by 10% on top (avoid locking out the weight) and 10% in the bottom (resting the weight or overstretching the muscle), you will mimic the occlusion effect and reach higher fiber recruitment faster.
Now the important part – rerack the weight and rest for a maximum of 30 seconds – unrack the weight and keep going for several short mini-sets of 1-5 reps (depending on the load used). By keeping the rest period short you will maintain fatigue level, and hence – fiber recruitment at a high rate. All reps of the mini-set are now “effective” reps. I simplify the rest period prescription by counting deep breaths, similar to the DC method, where 5 deep breaths (in+out) is about 10 seconds, 10 is 20 seconds and so on. You can get away with the higher end (30secs) with heavier loads, at lighter loads you should keep rest periods short (5-15secs) to maintain high fiber recruitment. It is also productive on the Myo-rep series to keep constant tension on the muscle by shortening the ROM.
Let’s illustrate the difference between a “traditional” 3 sets of 10 vs. a Myo-rep set, the asterisk ‘*’ denoting “effective” reps:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8* 9* 10*

1-2min of rest

1 2 3 4 5 6 7* 8* 9* (a typical drop off in reps if using a 10RM load)

1-2min of rest

1 2 3 4 5 6 7* 8* 9*

So you did 28 total reps in about 6 minutes, where 9 reps were “effective” reps (at sufficiently high fiber recruitment).

Now a Myo-rep set:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8* 9* 10* – 15sec rest – 1* 2* 3* – 15sec rest – 1* 2* 3* – 15sec rest – 1* 2* 3* – 15sec rest – 1* 2* 3* – 15sec rest – 1* 2* 3*

Here you did 25 total reps in about 2 minutes, where 18 reps were “effective”. The premise here is to *manage* fatigue to get in more work in less time, and you have to balance the reps and rest periods in the Myo-rep set appropriately.

Here I would be really interested if the other reps are “unneccessary”.

If this is true I would get the same hypertrophy response when doing 3x3 with 90%of my rpm. 9 efective reps.

I doubt hat.

Borge recommends using more then one exercise for muscle group

I mean the example he has given.

I can´t really belive that 3x3 elicts the same hypertrophie response as 3x10.
Regarding “effective” reps it might be true, but as a whole stimulus?

flow - 29 May 2012 05:57 PM

I mean the example he has given.

I can´t really belive that 3x3 elicts the same hypertrophie response as 3x10.
Regarding “effective” reps it might be true, but as a whole stimulus?

I think that Borge mean that for rep been effective it have to be done in fatigue state

Anatoly - 29 May 2012 06:02 PM

flow - 29 May 2012 05:57 PM

I mean the example he has given.

I can´t really belive that 3x3 elicts the same hypertrophie response as 3x10.
Regarding “effective” reps it might be true, but as a whole stimulus?

I think that Borge mean that for rep been effective it have to be done in fatigue state

But not with weights over 85%of 1rpm i think.

No.
In this case he uses straight sets, since there is full recruitment from the first rep

Do you familiar with Dan Moore’s max-stim training system, flow?

Jup. thats the protocoll with M time.
But as I understand, Dan avoids fatigue completely while Blade rides the sweet spot of fatigue during the set.

Anoop,

Would you elaborate a bit on where you disagree with Borge on the rationale of how/why Myo-reps work well?

I believe he uses EMG and biopsy results from Wernbom’s lab to validate the sustained activation of the IIx fibers with the short breaks.

thanks

Yes-speak to us!
I will be interested too=)

I don’t think we need any new EMG research. This is just basic science. The recruitment of Type 2 fibers due to the metabolic accumulation is increasing protein synthesis. Thus is the reason even Dr. Phillip gives to his 30RM studies. But I am not sure if we have established it conclusively.

The rest of the talk about metabolic stress, AMPK, calcium signalling and such haven’t shown any conclusive evidence that it is contributing besides load and volume. If metabolic stress was indeed contributing to muscle, we would have surely seen a significant increase in muscle growth with high reps compared to low reps. But we haven’t still.

why compared?

Was the thesis if higher reps with lower load stimulate growth MORE than low reps?

They could both impact growth but perhaps to a smiliar degree—-> no significant difference.

That’s what I wrote. That is, there is no increase in muscle growth when you do high reps compared to low reps.

And 8-12 reps is the established range for hypertrophy.