Yes, that’s me. The methods are very similar to stuff I’ve been writing about and using in programs for quite a while now. Myo-reps is also based on auto-regulation. Concentrated loading is something we discussed in a thread on another forum in March which CT himself participated in.
It’s always interesting to see how colleagues implement these strategies and how their lifters are progressing with various implementations of auto-regulation wrt splits, frequency, volume and intensity.
[quote]Blade_MyR wrote:
Yes, that’s me. The methods are very similar to stuff I’ve been writing about and using in programs for quite a while now. Myo-reps is also based on auto-regulation. Concentrated loading is something we discussed in a thread on another forum in March which CT himself participated in.
It’s always interesting to see how colleagues implement these strategies and how their lifters are progressing with various implementations of auto-regulation wrt splits, frequency, volume and intensity.[/quote]
Thanks for the clarification. My question to you then would be, as someone who has trained in a somewhat myo rep based protocol for the last 6 weeks and made great progress, and is now attempting to integrate some of CT’s ideas, where you see the two methodologies overlapping when it comes to the topic of maximum hypertrophy. Although I see some similar ideas in muscle activation and stimulation, I was wondering if you could bridge the two for me? What would you suggest to the op in relation to Christian’s proposed plan?
Out of respect for CT and the OP I’d rather not hijack the thread, so start a new thread in the Bodybuilding forum and I’ll give you my thoughts.
[quote]loopfitt wrote:
This thread is very interesting. CT, you recently posted about accommodating the resistance curve with bands and cables by doing an exercise such as curls, low-pulley curls and curls with resistance bands, in a tri-set fashion. I can’t seem to find this post anymore, do you have the link for it? I was thinking of adding this method to the 4-day program the OP had asked for. How would you incorporate this method to the program you mentioned for the OP at the beginning of this thread?[/quote]
Bumping this. CT, any suggestions?
[quote]loopfitt wrote:
[quote]loopfitt wrote:
This thread is very interesting. CT, you recently posted about accommodating the resistance curve with bands and cables by doing an exercise such as curls, low-pulley curls and curls with resistance bands, in a tri-set fashion. I can’t seem to find this post anymore, do you have the link for it? I was thinking of adding this method to the 4-day program the OP had asked for. How would you incorporate this method to the program you mentioned for the OP at the beginning of this thread?[/quote]
Bumping this. CT, any suggestions?[/quote]
Are you guys talking about the article ‘Thib’s 35 minutes to hardcore muscle’ by Nate Green? If so it’s in issue 634.
Thank you again CT for this program
[quote]Blade_MyR wrote:
Out of respect for CT and the OP I’d rather not hijack the thread, so start a new thread in the Bodybuilding forum and I’ll give you my thoughts.
[/quote]
Man, feel free to post it here.
I’m all about sharing info, whether it comes from me or someone else if it is useful and innovative I want it posted here… heck, I want to read it myself.
I have ZERO ego. I don’t care if someone proves me wrong, comes up with a good idea that I didn’t think about or have an idea that goes against my own beliefs. As I mentionned in the past I don’t care where or from whom an info comes from. If it’s effective I want to learn about it. If it goes against my beliefs and works, then I’ll change my own paradigm.
Guys who are attracted to my zone are here because they have an open mind and want to learn something new. It doesn’t matter if it’s from me, you, Lyle, Santa Claus or anyone else.
[quote]Blade_MyR wrote:
I do, however, have experience with average Joe’s and concentrated loading, and with proper auto-regulation within short 3-4 week cycles it can be very productive. [/quote]
Oh yeah, no question! I agree 100% with that. Heck, I used that strategy with tons of clients in the past and it always works. Most people, except maybe the true genetically challenged (when it comes to tolerating physical stress) and those who are working atrocious hours at a physical job can handle such a blast phase. I find that it is actually great to kick start progress.
[quote]Blade_MyR wrote:
Autoregulation takes care of most volume issues when it comes to the number of sets per exercise. I also take care of the selection of the training load (weight).
I will, however, often plan various ‘‘stress levels’’ in advance.
For example (and this is just one example), let’s assume a 4 weeks block of concentrated loading.
Week 1 - Introductory load (normally start with one main movement and one assistance exercise per muscle or movement pattern)
Week 2 - Base load (add one secondary assistance exercise per muscle group or movement pattern)
Week 3 - Stress week - increase the stress of the workout by the utilisation of various training techniques e.g. addition of resistance bands or chains or by increasing the overall volume via micro-ramping (much smaller increments from set to set, which leads to doing a lot more sets) or double ramping (performing 2 sets with each weight before going up).
Week 4 - Deloading week… here I normally use one of three strategies:
First method: eccentric-less (concentric-only) microcycle
It is well established that the eccentric portion of a repetition is where most of the micro-trauma to the muscle occurs. Equally well understood is the fact that the eccentric portion of the movement requires a different motor pattern, or motor unit recruitment strategy than the concentric portion.
Itâ??s for those reasons that the eccentric portion of a lift is effective at stimulating growth, but by the same token it explains why it is highly stressful on the nervous system and muscles.
Exercises devoid of eccentric loading are much less stressful on both those systems (nervous and musculoskeletal). Yes they are somewhat less effective in stimulating size gains. But they are not ineffective in that regard. Concentric-only lifting can stimulate both strength and size gains, albeit to lesser extent than movements including both types of contractions.
However the main benefit of concentric-only is the drastically lowered stress level of such a training approach. As such, you can still get some gains while giving the body a brief period of relative rest by using concentric-only exercises as your sole mode of training for a 5-10 days microcycle.
This type of deloading is interesting in that it allows you to deload without having to decrease training volume or intensity (although you can still do that too). This makes it possible to further stimulate strength and size gains as well as neural improvements as you recover and reload your system.
Good concentric-only exercises include sled and prowler work. As you may already know, I am a big believer in using the sled to perform many upper body movements, not only the classical runs, walks and sprints. This type of training completely removes the eccentric portion of the exercise and allows you to do a form of heavy or high volume lifting while deloading.
You can also use these two concentric-emphasis techniques:
1-2 technique: This is the opposite of the ‘classic’ 2-1 technique (which has you doing the lifting portion with two limbs and the lowering portion with one limb). In the 1-2 technique you perform the concentric (lifting) portion with two limbs (e.g. leg extension, leg press or leg curl with one leg, machine curl with one arm, etc.) and then the eccentric (lowering) portion with two limbs (two legs or two arms). This way, while you do not completely remove the eccentric stress you severely reduce it, to non-stressful levels.
Manual accentuated concentric: Use a bar weight that is fairly easy to lift and lower (40-50% of your maximum should do) and have your partner applies additional resistance to the bar during the concentric (lifting) portion of the lift. During the eccentric (lowering) your partner either removes his hands from the bar and let you lower it by yourself (which is easy because of the light load) or even help you lower it (further reducing eccentric loading).
Finally, if you have access to bumper plates (Olympic lifting plates made of rubber that you can drop on the floor) you can perform such lifts as the various deadlifts and Olympic lifts almost devoid of eccentric loading by dropping the bar on the floor after each rep.
When using this deloading method I suggest keeping the same training split and frequency as you did during the rest of your training cycle. A typical workout might be structured like this:
A- Main exercise: Traditional upper body lift (or leg press) utilizing the manual accentuated concentric method (squatting with this method is idiotic at best).
B- Secondary movements: 2-3 movements performed with the sled
C- Isolation work (optional): Isolation work using the 1-2 technique (e.g. leg curl, leg extension, machine curl, preacher DB curl, lying DB triceps extension, etc.)
This type of deloading is best used when only slight symptoms of neural or physical fatigue are shown. It Is a very effective way of deloading, but it does not represent enough of a deload to do the job with cases of severe systemic fatigue.
Second method: the neural ‘power up’ microcycle
I like to actually use neural charge workouts within a training week, to amp up the system and improve the quality of the subsequent workouts. But it is also possible to perform a whole microcycle (5-10 days) using only this type of session. It represents a great way to revive a dead nervous system while giving the musculoskeletal system a much needed break.
What does these workouts consist of? Fairly simple:
a) pick anywhere between 2 and 4 exercises either working the whole body (at least indirectly). These can be basic lifts (bench, squat, deadlifts, rows, chins, dips, etc.), variation of the olympic lifts or jumps and throws. Or covering a specific movement pattern (depending on how you structure your training).
b) perform the exercises as a circuit.
c) use moderate rest intervals between exercises (roughly 15-30 seconds if using a whole body approach or 30-45 seconds for a movement pattern-specific one).
d) use a load that is roughly 70% of your maximum and perform sets of 3 reps. If you decide to include jumps, use only your body weight and perform sets of 5. At this intensity level and number of reps even when doing a ‘same movement pattern circuit’ (e.g. push press, bench press, dips) you should be able to go through the workout being super explosive and not causing any excessive fatigue or have a drop in performance.
e) perform each repetition as explosively as possible.
f) complete as many circuits as you can in 20-30 minutes (start at 20 and gradually build up to 30) but never allow yourself to do a non-explosive rep. If one exercise stops being explosive drop it from the rotation.
That’s it! You do not want to be gassed or slow during the workout. The emphasis is on speed and power, not burning yourself out. At the end of the workout you should actually want to continue training. And one hour after the session you should feel the need to chain yourself to a tree to avoid going to the gym again!
With this type of deloading microcycle not only do I feel that a drop in training frequency is not necessary, I believe that it is counterproductive. Neural charge workouts work best (as a deloading week) if the frequency of training is high: at least 4 sessions per week, preferably 5 or even 6.
This type of deloading week is ideal when you start to feel less explosive and being to have a lowered motivation to hit the weights. A similar approach is often used by Russian powerlifters who include a phase of explosive lifting only after spending some gruelling weeks under mostly heavy weights.
At the end of such a deloading week you should feel like you want to destroy the weight; you should be amped up to train like never before!
Third method: the relative strength microcycle
Coach Stephane Aubé, one of my protégés, like to use what he calls a ‘relative strength’ approach to deload the body. To do so he will perform sessions where your own body acts as the main source of resistance.
Movements used include stuff like various types of chin-ups (wide, medium, close, pronated, supinated, neutral, horizontal row, etc.), dips, various types of push-ups (normal, with blast-straps, ballistic, on a swiss ball, etc.), bodyweight squats (single leg, both legs) and jumps. He will also use prowler and sled sprints during this phase.
The bodyweight exercises are not performed to the point of form breakdown; all the reps you do must be technically solid. As such you do not go to failure but stop one or two reps short of failure.
When using this deloading method, a whole-body approach is best although an upper and lower body one could also be used.
This deloading style is best used when you are starting to have signs of physical overload (muscle aches, joint stiffness or pain, etc.) but not neural fatigue: bodyweight exercises are actually fairly high on the neural involvement scale.
[quote]Blade_MyR wrote:
It really depends. If the main goal is size I will normally have 2 or 3 rep ranges within the workout (kinda like what you just mentionned) but in that case I do not change the rep zones from week to week.
If strength is the main focus I like to micro-periodize the reps, e.g.
Week 1 - Ramping sets of 5
Week 2 - Ramping sets of 3
Week 3 - Ramping sets of 4
Week 4 - Ramping sets of 2 (if using a more linear method)
And in that case I do not use more than one rep range within a workout and I only use big basic movements.
[quote]Blade_MyR wrote:
If this is information you will publish in a later thread or article, I completely understand.
[/quote]
Actually part of my answer is a cut and paste from an article I’m working on, but I don’t really mind.
Let’s say I want maximal neural improvements on a push or pull exercise (weak rep maxes : 80-100 kg), and skip other assistance stuff for these muscle groups, with 1-2 leg workouts per week of moderate intensity.
What are the maximum frequency and loading paramters that you would suggest in that case ?
Ok, thanks CT - I’ll give the short(ish) version here 
For the general guidelines to auto-regulation, run my article through Google Translate:
myrevolution.no/auto-regulering-for-optimale-%C3%B8kninger-i-styrke-og-muskelmasse/
I also wrote about a recent study on auto-regulation, where advanced college athletes gained 10kg+ on their bench press and squats over 5-6 weeks compared to the linear group which gained basically nothing:
myrevolution.no/studie-auto-regulering-gir-dramatiske-styrke%C3%B8kninger-pa-bare-6-uker/
As you can see, the RPE-method should be familiar - it’s the basic ramping to a top set of e.g. 5 reps. I prefer to focus on hitting a heavy load here, so the load increments are slightly higher (5-10kg, which is 10-20lbs) and rest periods slightly longer (2-3 mins prior to the max/top set) than what CT recommends.
Example:
60kg x 5 reps
80kg x 5 reps
90kg x 5 reps
100kg x 5 reps (RPE 8)
105kg x 5 reps (RPE 8.5)
110kg x 5 reps (RPE 9) top set
I follow this with one or more dropsets, for hypertrophy orientation it’s 20% and up to 30%, 1 set max reps, for strength it’s 3-7% and several sets of 5 reps (or whichever the intial ramping was) until RPE 9 is achieved again. This is also what Mike Tuchscherer of Reactive Training Systems is doing.
Myo-reps was spawned a couple of years ago, inspired by various discussions with my friends Dan Moore (of Max Stimulation) and Mathias Wernbom - a Swedish research, known for his huge meta-review on strength and hypertrophy training, as well as occlusion studies.
The basic premise is:
Achieve a high fiber recruitment. This is achieved by working close to failure on the first set, also called the “activation set”. This is probably required to get any growth response out of loads in the 60-75% range. Higher loads achieve higher recruitment levels simply by being sufficiently heavy, as well as accelerating the load (or trying to). I mainly recommend Myo-reps for 8-15 RM loads, occasionally 20-25RM which will simulate occlusion training if you keep continuous tension on the muscle.
Get in a proper amount of work at this higher recruitment level. This is achieved by keeping rest periods short (5-30 secs) and doing short series of reps (2-5 reps depending on the load) with the added benefit of metabolic work which plays an additive role in the hypertrophic stimulus.
Auto-regulate the volume by limiting the total reps performed according to Failure Point. The program might call for 9-12 +3x - which means a range of 9-12 reps on the activation set, then short rest periods and short sets of 3 reps until no more sets can be completed.
In practice you will see the following (there are also 1-3 warmup sets prior to the main set).
On a “bad” day, where your stress level is too high, you’re not fully recovered or whatever:
100kg x 9 reps + 3 + 2 (the + indicates a rest period of about 10-30sec). If you can’t complete the third rep - you end the exercise. If you have to rest longer than 30 secs to complete the 3 rep series, you also end the exercise.
On a regular/average day:
100kg x 10 reps + 3 + 3 + 3
On a good day:
100kg x 12 reps + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 - you will increase the load on your next workout to hit 9 reps on the activation set. On some exercises you might get an endless series of 3 reps, so you either 1. shorten the rest periods or 2. increase it to 4 reps - so e.g. 12 + 4 + 4
Those are the basic principles.
I might also throw in some dropsets, supersets or giant sets - which is also very similar to what CT is doing. You basically get in a “primer” set with heavy mechanical tension, auto-regulate the volume, and get in some metabolic work by keeping rest periods short, do dropsets/supersets (which, by virtue of having short rest periods, automatically drops the load to enable sets of 5-10 reps).
For beginners, I use a simple linear progression. For intermediate and advanced I implement daily undulating periodization:
Workout 1: 12-15 RM Myo-reps
Workout 2 (for the same muscle group(s)): 9-12 RM Myo-reps or ramping to 9-12 reps then adding metabolic work via dropsets/supersets/giant sets.
Workout 3: 4-6 reps RPE-based training, then adding metabolic work via dropsets/supersets/giant sets.
For spec phases I prefer to use the same loading range for consecutive workouts to accumulate the various adaptions and gene expression (12-15 reps = pump/glycogen/energy system growth, 4-6 reps = mechanical stimulus).
So Workouts 1-3 on consecutive days for the same muscle group(s) I use 12-15RM, then intersperse rest days and work the rest of the body in the same rep range. Workouts 4-6 is 9-12RM etc etc.
I’m seeing better effects by focusing on heavier loads, so I’ll switch from 9-12RM to 4-6RM work, then add in 12-15 rep work for a few workouts every 3-4 weeks to serve a deloading purpose. Depends on the person and what they respond best to. Girls prefer more higher rep pumping stuff, obviously - although my experience is that they get even better results than guys working the lower rep ranges. Ironic? Yes indeed.
[quote]Blade_MyR wrote:
2. Get in a proper amount of work at this higher recruitment level. This is achieved by keeping rest periods short (5-30 secs) and doing short series of reps (2-5 reps depending on the load) with the added benefit of metabolic work which plays an additive role in the hypertrophic stimulus.
In practice you will see the following (there are also 1-3 warmup sets prior to the main set).
On a “bad” day, where your stress level is too high, you’re not fully recovered or whatever:
100kg x 9 reps + 3 + 2 (the + indicates a rest period of about 10-30sec). If you can’t complete the third rep - you end the exercise. If you have to rest longer than 30 secs to complete the 3 rep series, you also end the exercise.
On a regular/average day:
100kg x 10 reps + 3 + 3 + 3
On a good day:
100kg x 12 reps + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 - you will increase the load on your next workout to hit 9 reps on the activation set. On some exercises you might get an endless series of 3 reps, so you either 1. shorten the rest periods or 2. increase it to 4 reps - so e.g. 12 + 4 + 4
Those are the basic principles.
I might also throw in some dropsets, supersets or giant sets - which is also very similar to what CT is doing. You basically get in a “primer” set with heavy mechanical tension, auto-regulate the volume, and get in some metabolic work by keeping rest periods short, do dropsets/supersets (which, by virtue of having short rest periods, automatically drops the load to enable sets of 5-10 reps).
[/quote]
Some great ideas in there, akin to a lot of CT’s stuff. Example: the use of 3-rep clusters for 12 total reps as opposed to just going through the 12 total reps all at once at lower acceleration.
Though I don’t get though how drop sets and supersets fit into CT’s ideas as of late.
Thanks for contributing, Blade_MyR.
This is essentially the same loading and effect as dropsets or supersets:
[quote]D1. Push press using 70% of the top reached on B.
Max reps
D2. Dips bodyweight only
Max reps
D3. DB lateral raises
Max reps with a weight you can do 8-12 times
D4. DB shoulder press
Max reps with the same weight as in D3.
D5. Push ups
Max reps
[/quote]
So for MyoReps, do you ramp up to a RPE for the Failure Point (e.g. 9-12RM) and then do the +3 sets or do you simply do a few warm up, pick a 9-12RM and then do the +3 sets?
Also, after you finish the +3 sets, do you rest and do it again or do you move to another exercise?
Well, if you look at it in a practical sense, there’s not so much difference between ramping and warming up - but I use the performance on the previous workout to determine what load to use for the Myo-rep set. See my example above - e.g. if I managed 100kg x 12 +whatever, I’ll use 105kg next time. If I only managed 100kg x 7 +3+2 or something, I’ll drop to 95kg next time for that exercise. You’ll see that this is the exact same method as in the auto-regulation study I wrote about in my second link above.
Warmups/ramp sets will be something like 60kg x 8-10, 80kg x 5, 90kg x 5.
When the +3 rep series is finished, the exercise is done. Move on to the next exercise or muscle group.
[quote]Blade_MyR wrote:
This is essentially the same loading and effect as dropsets or supersets:
[quote]D1. Push press using 70% of the top reached on B.
Max reps
D2. Dips bodyweight only
Max reps
D3. DB lateral raises
Max reps with a weight you can do 8-12 times
D4. DB shoulder press
Max reps with the same weight as in D3.
D5. Push ups
Max reps
[/quote][/quote]
I guess when CT wrote [quote]D1 to D5 are performed as a circuit with as little rest as possible between stations [/quote]
I interpreted “as little rest as possible” to mean up to even 2 minutes.
[quote]Blade_MyR wrote:
When the +3 rep series is finished, the exercise is done. Move on to the next exercise or muscle group.[/quote]
unless you reduce the weight by 20% and perform a dropset or two, if I followed your other post correctly?
Well, I prefer to not excessively mix methods - if you do you could basically keep going forever and you lose the whole auto-regulation aspect.
So I’d either do:
Myo-reps
60kg x 8, 80kg x 5, 90kg x 5, 100kg x 12 +3+3+3+3 STOP
or
Ramp up to top set and do dropset(s)
60kg x 8, 80kg x 8, 90kg x 8, 100kg x 8, 105kg x 8, 90kg x max reps e.g. 9 reps (I’ll only reduce the load by 10-20% on lighter loads to keep a certain minimum of mechanical loading on the muscle).
C. Power shrugs
Ramping sets of 5
C3. Nosebreaker
Max reps with a weight you can do 8-12 times
^
(aka skull crushers?)
cheers
T100… are you kidding me?
[quote]Italiano wrote:
T100… are you kidding me?[/quote]
What gives you that impression?