Five Great Fiber-Tearing Techniques

The Rest-Pause Technique:

I’ve outlined an entire routine for rest-pausing for strength and size gains in a previous post. Here’s the general consensus of the rest-pause technique: Lift a weight at 70-80% of your 1 RM for 1 or 2 reps at a time and then rack it. Assume a very short rest (enough to catch your head and your breath) and get back to the weight. Continue single reps and racking the weight until you can’t get 1 rep yourself.

Most Beneficial for: Strength gains (but strength can also precede size, so hypertrophy is definitely possible).

Best Performed During: The beginning of your workout (or your entire workout).

X-Reps:

X-Reps are intense in nature and may be difficult for beginning lifters. Much neuromuscular connection is needed to successfully perform this technique. X-Reps are used as a finisher for a work set. Basically, the x-rep is a partial rep performed in a pulsating manner - it’s very rapid in tempo. For instance, when you are on bench press, you would perform full range reps (full extension in lifting and full contraction in the lowering phase), followed by partial reps (performed at the bottom position of the bench press up to the mid-range) - just shy of half a rep. This is supposed to activate additional motor units, thereby stimulating more than the typical Type-II fibers. For more information on x-reps and the physiological descriptions behind it, visit the official X-Reps website.

Most Beneficial for: Hypertrophy.

Best Performed During: The end of a work set.

Static Holds

This one is easier said than done. While it is really only a static (non-moving) contraction, it will really fatigue the muscle and induce micro-tears (great for additional muscle growth). Perform a typical work set on the exercise of your choice and when you finish the last rep, hold the weight for 10-20 seconds in full extension or near full extension. Get ready to scream!

Most Beneficial for: Strength and Hypertrophy.

Best Performed During: The end of a work set.

One and a Half Reps

I wrote a guest article for Israel at Fat Man Unleashed for One and a Half Squats. This deals with one and a half reps, the basis behind the squatting technique, except you can apply it to additional muscle groups and exercises. Here’s how it works: You’ll take the weight through the eccentric (lowering) phase, fire the weight up mid-way, lower it through the eccentric again, and the fire it up through the concentric (lifting) phase. That’s rep number one. This is best done in a smith machine so you don’t end up looking like the pancake you ate this morning.

Most Beneficial for: Hypertrophy

Best Performed During: your first full set. It’s too hard to perform this in a pre-exhausted state! Start this one fresh!

Super Sets

You’ve probably heard of a super set before. In case you haven’t, you’re really missing out! A super set is a super way to induce size gains and a great way to break a plateau. Pick two exercises for the target muscle and as soon as you finish one set on the first exercise, bounce to the next without rest. Continue for two or three total sets.

Most Beneficial for: Hypertrophy and Fat Loss! (due to natural stimulation of growth hormone and the induction of lactic acid, which will positively affect body composition).

Best Performed During: The entire workout or the end of the workout.