Dominic Stone
If you want to build muscle, you need to shock your body into creating a homeostatic disruption that will force it to adapt, evolve, and become stronger. This is because muscles tend to adapt to the work you're doing over time, and you need to adjust things for them to continue to grow. This can be done by committing to a training routine for at least 3 weeks before making adjustments, such as increasing the number of reps or adding weight. There are several techniques to shock your muscles, such as the 6-12-25 method, which involves giant sets or tri-sets with minimal rest to get a high volume of work done in a short amount of time, and the 100 rep set, which involves performing 100 reps of an exercise with light weights and short breaks.
Techniques to Shock a Muscle
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Drop sets | Perform a regular set and when you reach failure, rack the weight, drop the load by 20-30% and repeat until failure |
| Pre-fatigue sets | Identify the muscle you’re targeting and then figure out which muscle groups may be assisting that muscle in the exercises |
| Post-exhaust | Perform heavy sets of bench and then immediately follow that up with cable crossovers, pec dec, or flies |
| Negatives or eccentric training | Perform the negative slowly, as muscles are stronger in the negative (eccentric) portion of an exercise than they are during the positive (concentric) portion |
| Rest-pause | Complete more total reps than in a straight set with a given weight |
| 100s | Perform 100 reps of an exercise without racking the weight or setting down the dumbbells |
| 6-12-25 Shock Method | Giant sets or tri-sets with minimal rest to get a high volume of work done in a short amount of time |
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Muscle confusion
However, the concept of muscle confusion has little independent scientific backing. According to Keith Gulliford, a personal trainer and team development manager at Life Time, "muscles simply cannot be confused". He further emphasizes that attempting to achieve muscle confusion can result in poor form and potentially be unsafe. It can also be overwhelming for people, especially those new to exercise.
To avoid these pitfalls, Gulliford suggests making small changes to your workout routine. For example, if you usually do squats, you could try tempo squats or pause squats. This way, you can still hardwire the movement pattern while giving your muscles a fresh overload.
Additionally, progressive overload can help you bust through plateaus and minimize them in the future. This involves incrementally increasing the challenge of your workout program over time, giving your body continual opportunities for adaptation.
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Progressive overload
This method can be applied to any type of exercise, including strength training and cardiovascular endurance exercises like running. It is important to note that progressive overload training should only be implemented after mastering an exercise with proper form. It is also crucial to allow the body time to rest between workouts and adjust the training regimen if soreness or injury occurs. Working with a certified personal trainer can help individuals design a safe and effective progressive overload program tailored to their specific goals.
To implement progressive overload effectively, it is important to start with a baseline assessment of your current fitness level and the types of workouts you are performing. From there, you can make gradual adjustments to challenge your body and promote adaptation. For example, if you are performing bicep curls, you can start with 10- or 12-pound weights in the first week and gradually increase the weight over time, such as using 12- or 15-pound weights in the fourth week and 15- to 18-pound weights in the eighth week.
Additionally, progressive overload is not limited to strength training with weights. It can also be applied to bodyweight exercises such as squats and cardiovascular endurance exercises like running. For example, you can start with performing 10–12 squats in the first week and gradually increase the number of repetitions over time, aiming for 12–15 squats in the third week and 15 squats in the fifth week. Similarly, you can begin with light to moderate-paced running for 20 minutes, 2 days a week, and progressively increase the duration and frequency over several weeks.
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Pre-fatigue sets
Here's how it works: first, you identify the muscle group you want to target. Let's take the chest as an example. Before you move on to compound exercises like bench presses, you would start with an isolation exercise that targets the pecs specifically, such as pec-deck flyes or chest flys. By the time you get to the bench presses, your chest will be pre-fatigued, assuring that it does all the work it can during this compound exercise.
Pre-exhaustion training is a popular strategy among bodybuilders and weightlifters as it allows them to get similar gains while lifting a little lighter. This can be beneficial for joint health and safety, especially for athletes lifting very heavy loads. Additionally, by fatiguing the major muscles first, you'll have to do fewer reps of the compound lifts to stimulate hypertrophy, which can save time in your training session.
However, it's important to note that pre-exhaustion training can be intense and exhausting, so it's not suitable for everyone. If your form breaks down, fatiguing your muscles before a compound lift could potentially lead to injury. Therefore, it's recommended only for experienced athletes who are already lifting heavy loads and are looking for new ways to challenge their muscles and break through plateaus.
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Drop sets
To perform a drop set, choose a starting weight that allows you to perform 8-12 reps with proper form. Lift to failure, which is the point where your muscles are fully fatigued. Immediately reduce the weight by 20-30% and continue performing the exercise to failure again. You can perform multiple drops within one set, but typically 2-3 drops are sufficient for most workouts.
For example, if you start with 20kg, drop to 15kg, then 10kg, performing each set to failure. You can use barbells, dumbbells, and machines for drop sets. One method is the 6-20 drop set, where you lift a heavier weight for 6 reps, then drop the weight in half and perform 20 reps. Another method is strict drop sets, which involve using a predetermined number of reps for each drop.
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Rest-pause
For example, if you can bench-press 225 pounds for a set of 5, you would normally do your set of five, rack the weight, rest for 2-3 minutes, and then do another set of five. With rest-pause training, you would rack the weight after each rep, giving your muscles 10-15 seconds to recover before starting the next rep.
It is important to note that rest-pause training is not an easy program to follow and requires a lot of mental toughness and hard work. It is also crucial to maintain proper form throughout to avoid injury. Due to the intensity of the program, it is recommended to use it sparingly, perhaps once every week or two, and to save it for the end of your workout, as the final set.
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Frequently asked questions
Shocking a muscle means subjecting it to a new stimulus (stress) to cause the muscle to grow bigger and stronger. This is also known as "muscle confusion".
Over time, muscles adapt to the work you're doing, and you need to adjust things for them to continue to grow.
There are several ways to shock a muscle, including:
- Drop sets: After performing a regular set, immediately decrease the weight by 20-30% and continue until failure.
- 100s: Perform 100 reps of an exercise without racking the weight or setting down the dumbbells.
- Progressive overload: Incrementally add more load (weight, sets or reps) to the muscles over time to cause adaptation.
