Overview on MYO Reps
I wrote about high reps, high volume earlier and found it to be quite beneficial for my purpose which is to maintain muscle with less stress to my central nervous system. As a senior, I was finding that going heavy multiple times a week as in the past was wiping me out like never before. Not the typical soreness and lethargy on off days but bone crushing fatigue that could last for days. I knew that it was over training but was not about to be a once or twice a week visitor to the gym just yet. Myo reps appears to be a great alternative to traditional heavy lifting for muscle hypertrophy.
My Experience with Myo Reps
Researching training options, I found evidence that high rep with less weight and more sets maintained muscle size if not strength. It also places much less stress on the central nervous system. Since learning of this promising research, I put this regimen into practice over the past couple of months. My results have been good in gaining a little more muscle mass and having much less fatigue.
I generally get about five sessions in per week that last a couple hours with full body workouts. I average fifteen reps per set at around fifty percent 1 rep max and look to complete sixty sets total. Some weeks I have been able to do more, some less but compared to the old eighty plus percent of 1 rep max times 3 twelve rep sets, it has been night and day.
I was unable to do three days lifting using the traditional approach. I am now able to not only train more but make decent gains. My only regret is that I am not making the gains that I used to and seem to be more in a holding pattern of maintaining muscle and not losing it. I shouldn’t complain but I am never one to accept status quo. I am continually researching all angles of the physical pillar of health through nutrition, training and supplementation.
Low and behold, I ran across a rather new protocol the other day called Myo Reps. The inventor of Myo Reps, BORGE FAGERLI, a Norwegian dude, began formulating his theories on this around 2006 and in the last few years, received research studies proving his protocol.
The Science Behind Myo Reps
Myo reps is a training technique taken from the field of muscle physiology. It was created in order to mimic the physiological response of muscle fibers during exercise. This is a proven method for people to increase their growth hormone levels, which can lead to increased lean body mass.
The myofibril is the smallest contractile organelle in a muscle cell. It provides for the contraction of the muscle fiber which can be seen when it shortens. When muscles are subjected to endurance training, there is an increase in the number of sarcomeres. This hypertrophy results in increased myofibrils and sarcomeres, which can be seen on EMG testing.
These increased myofibrils or satellite cells are the foundation of muscle growth and without stressing the muscle either through very heavy weight or by extending the stress through additional reps under tension, there will be no need for the muscle to grow.
Borge’s Myo Reps Theory Was Proven by Research
Borge theorized and witnessed from his own development and clients that it is usually the last three to five reps of the third set that shocked the muscles into growing. Most of us including myself generally glide through the first two sets before really grinding out the last five in the third and final set. Mr. Fagerli’s theory was that if we could get into that last five rep stage and keep it there longer, muscle hypertrophy would be increased.
So, to get into the correct phase, he used a primer set of up to 25 reps, give or take, to fatigue the muscles and get to near failure. (BTW, the weight load is more in the fifty to sixty percent of 1 rep max for this protocol.) After the primer set, the lifter rests only about fifteen seconds or maybe three deep breaths before continuing. His theory was to keep the stress nearly the same but with a slight reset and then continuing with three to five more reps.
This series of three to five reps is then repeated up to five times before stopping the exercise. Borge’s theory was that instead of five muscle building reps attained through traditional three set training, his new protocol, the Myo Reps, offered as much as twenty to twenty five quality reps and in less time! In addition to more hypertrophy inducing reps by as many as five times and less time spent, the lower weight also meant less wear and tear on the central nervous system and faster recovery!
Limitations of Myo Reps
He does not recommend using the Myo Reps approach on compound lifts such as squats or dead lifts due to chance of losing form in the extended sets and potential for injury. Other purveyors of this protocol have and endorse using the Myo Reps on virtually all lifts but suggest going slow and extreme caution. It definitely sounds like a winner for isolation reps on shoulders, biceps, tri’s, etc.
Machine presses should also be ok since form will not suffer very much as in free form lifting with dumbells and barbells. It also sounds like the first couple of days on this regimen will require trial and error on amount of weight used and how many initial reps to prep for the four to five sets of three to five.
The inventor also believes that progressive increase in weight is appropriate just like traditional lifting methods so calculation of your one rep max and starting at fifty to sixty percent would be the beginning set point and increasing from there over time. I did not find in my research if he endorsed more reps or sets but do not believe so. He referred to junk sets or too many sets as a waste of time and energy so I would presume he suggests adhering to the five by five set protocol as the standard and increasing weight as the method to grow.
Research indicated that although muscle growth was comparable with traditional 80 percent one rep max sets, it did not build strength. The study suggested that strength did not increase but did not significantly decrease.
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Conclusion
This sounds like it is right up my alley! Not only greater growth but less time in the gym and better recovery are the claims! I am anxious to try it out later today for the first time and will report my findings and results as they develop.
We reported on ATP and NAD+ and started on a few protocols recently and will report on how that is going soon. I figure that if we can boost NAD+, ATP production and reduce the detractors like myostatin and cd38, the recovery time and ability to go harder in the gym may result. My objective is to use current research in nutritional supplements and diet and apply to as aggressive as possible lifting protocol for muscle growth without burnout.
I think that I am onto a few golden nuggets already with my new supplementation protocol that boosts NAD and ATP and excited to combine with the Myo Reps method and report back to you!
