Muscle building techniques

Looking for something to spice up your workouts and make them more interesting? Or hit a plateau and can not make new gains? Whatever your reasons are you are on the right place. We will help you. Here are some great muscle building techniques that will break through the plateau, spice up your workouts and help you achieve your goal.

21S Biceps curls technique

The 21s biceps curl technique will really pump your biceps. Here you will do 21 reps in one set. This technique works best with the barbell curls. You will do the 21 reps in three parts with no rest in between. For the first part of 21 biceps curl technique you will do 7 reps. You will start from the starting position and you will go only halfway up (where your forearms are parallel to the floor and are making a 90 degree angle with your upper arms), then immediately you will do the second 7 reps. They start from the halfway and go all the way up. For the last 7 reps you will do the full range of motion. This technique will really fatigue your muscles so it will be best  to use lighter weights than usually.

100 rep set technique

The 100 rep set technique may sound a little silly but it really pushes your muscles into new growth ( that is, if you can handle the pain ). Choose a weight that is not very light nor too heavy. If you fail before completing 100 reps take a few seconds to rest and continue again until you reach 100 reps. You can take a maximum of three short rests during the set. The 100 rep set technique really fatigues the muscles so do not try this with an exercise that you wont be able do maintain proper form and where you can get hurt (like the bench press). It is best done on a cable machine ( standing biceps cable curl).

German volume training technique

In the German volume training technique you will perform 10 sets of 10 reps in one exercise using the same weight. The rest between sets should be about 1 minute. You should use a weight that is about 60% of your 1 rep max for that exercise. For example if your one rep max on the barbell curl is 150 lbs, then you should use 90 lbs. The first 3 sets are a warm up and in the next few sets you will achieve a great pump, by the time you finish the last set you will shock your muscles into new growth. Use this technique on one exercise per muscle group.

Pyramid sets technique

In the pyramid sets technique you will do 3-5 sets with 1-2 minutes rest between sets. You will start with a light weight and high reps and you will pyramid up on each set and finish with heavy weight and low reps. You will start with a weight that is easy enough for you to the 30 reps but you will only do 15 reps. In the second set you will pick a weight that is easy enough for you to do 20 reps but again you will do 15 reps. In the third set you will pick a weight with which you will fail between 12-15 reps and in the fourth set you will pick a weight with which you will fail between 5-8 reps. You can also choose to pyramid back down or you can add another training technique on the fourth set such as drop sets or negative reps.

Negative reps technique

While the positive (concentric) movement involves the contracting of the muscle, the negative (eccentric) movement involves the lengthening of the muscle. For example when you do the barbell press behind neck the lowering of the weight is the negative movement and when you start to push the weight back up it is the positive movement. Almost everyone gives 100% in their positive movement and neglects the negative movement, but on the negative movement you can push your muscles up to 30-40% more than you can on the positive movement. The way to do that is to lower the weight slowly for about 4-5 seconds. Pick a weight that will allow you to fail between the 5-8 rep and then ask your spotter to help you get the weight to the fully contracted position and then focus on the negative part of the motion for an additional 2-3 reps. You can add the negative reps technique to the last set of every exercise.

Muscle building techniques

Super set technique

A super set is a combination of two exercises done one after another with no rest in between. A tri-set is a combination of three exercises that are done with no rest in between. Many bodybuilders use this when they train two muscle groups in a single workout. It is a great way to target multiple muscle groups in one set or to fully fatigue all areas of the muscle group you are training and maximize your pump. Also by doing this technique you will finish with your workout a lot faster.

Example of a super set: biceps and triceps (barbell curls and barbell skull crushers).

Example of a tri-set: rear delts, side delts and front delts (rear lateral raise, side lateral raise and front dumbbell raise).

Ascending set technique

The ascending set technique is pretty much the opposite of the drop set technique. Here you will start with the lightest weight and finish with the heaviest and you will decrease the reps as you go. For example if you want to do the dumbbell biceps curls you will start by doing 15 reps with the 10 lbs dumbbells then immediately after that you will take the 20 lbs dumbbells and you will do 12 reps then you will take the 30 lbs dumbbells and you will do 8 more reps. You can choose one exercise and do 1-3 ascending sets. DO NOT USE THIS TECHNIQUE ON MORE THAN ONE EXERCISE PER MUSCLE GROUP IN A WORKOUT.

Drop set technique

In the drop set you will do three sets in one drop set without any rest and you will start with the heaviest and finish with the lightest weight. You will start with a weight that you can do 5-8 reps. Then you will drop the weight by 30% and you will do 5-8 reps then you will again drop the weight by 30% and you will continue with your reps until you are no longer able to do a single rep. Drop sets are usually done on the last set of an exercise and are a great way to completely annihilate your muscles without needing a spotter and without the risk of getting injured. Here is an example of a drop set for barbell bench press.

Lets say you will start with 200 lbs and you will fail at 5-8 rep then you will drop the weight to 140 lbs and do 5-8 more reps and then
you will drop the weight to 80 lbs and continue until failure.