16 Fast Muscle Building Tricks
- Drop Sets
- Clusters
- Pause Reps
- Rest-Pause Reps
- Giant Sets
- Negatives
- Heavy Negatives
- Super Slow Negatives
- Pre-Exhaust
- Negative Pre-Exhaust
- Post Exhaustion
- Mechanical Drop Sets
- Forced Reps
- Cheat Reps
- Peak Contraction
- 1½ Reps
1. Drop Sets
To do the drop set trick,
- Start off with a certain amount of weight & do as many reps as you can and once you can't do anymore reps,
- Drop down to a lighter weight so you can keep doing more reps.
- Repeat the process of doing as many reps as you can before dropping down to a lighter weight as many times as you want.
Here's a video of Mike Rashid doing a bench press drop set ↓
Drop sets help you build muscle faster by making you DO MORE reps even after your muscles are so fatigued you can't do another rep.
- Everytime you drop down… Use a +10% lighter weight to do more reps.
- Drop sets are intense! ONLY use drop sets as the last 1-to-2 sets for any muscle building exercise.
2. Clusters
To do the cluster trick,
- Instead of doing 5-to-8 reps in a row with your 5-to-8 Rep Max,
- You only do 2-to-3 reps at a time, rest 10-to-30 seconds, do 2-to-3 more reps and,
- You keep repeating that process until you're unable to get 2-to-3 reps but usually,
- This allows you to do more than 5-to-8 total reps.
3. Pause Reps
Pause reps are where you pause for 2-to-5 seconds between the negative & positive parts of any exercise.
- The negative part of an exercise is where you're not doing work like lowering the weight to your chest in a bench press.
- The positive part of an exercise is where you're doing work like pushing the weight off your chest in the bench press.
Pausing makes your muscles do 100% of the work without any extra help from momentum. The more your muscles work = the bigger & stronger they'll get.
- Since you can't use momentum… You won't be able to lift the same amount of weight and/or do the same number of reps as you would doing normal reps. For example,
- If you normally lift 200lbs for 10 reps… Then with pause reps, you may only be able to lift 180lbs for 8 reps.
Pause reps will be a good fit for you if you're afraid of getting injured with heavy weights or if you don't have access to heavy weights.
4. Rest-Pause Reps
To do the rest pause trick,
- Do as many reps as you can until you have to stop due to muscular fatigue/failure.
- Then pause or rest for 30-to-60 seconds before you continue doing more reps which'll usually be less total reps than you did before you rested.
- Keep doing as many reps as you can and resting/pausing as many times as you like.
5. Giant Sets
Giant sets are when you do at least 2 exercises back-to-back with very little rest between exercises for the same bodypart(s) - for example,
For bigger triceps you could do a set of dips, close grip bench presses and overhead triceps extensions in any order with very little rest between exercises.
Giant sets should be done at the end of your workout for the last 1-to-2 sets or as the only sets you do for a bodypart(s) because they're so intense.
Tip → Increase the intensity by doing a drop set for each exercise in the giant set → High Intensity Training trick
6. Negatives
What exactly are negatives? Negatives or negative reps are the part of any weight training exercise where you're not doing any work → For example,
- In the bench press, the negative part is when you lower the weight down to your chest.
- In the squat, the negative part is when you squat down.
- In the pull-up, the negative part when you lower yourself down.
Focus more on the negative
- Make each rep more intense by taking 5-to-10 seconds to complete the negative part of each rep → For example,
- On the bench press you'd take 5-to-10 seconds to lower the weight down to your chest for each rep.
Do more reps
- Once you've done as many normal reps as you can… Don't stop and keep doing more negative only reps but at this point,
- You'll need to cheat/use bad form or have a partner help you get the weight back into starting position for each negative rep.
Stop doing negative reps once you can't make it last longer than 5 seconds.
7. Heavy Negatives
Heavy negatives are where you only do the negative part with a heavier weight that's 90-to-130% of your 1-rep max
The weights you use for heavy negatives will be too heavy for you to do the positive or the pushing or pulling part of the exercise by yourself. You'll need some type of assistance (as shown in Videos A, B & C below) to complete the rep to keep doing more heavy negative reps.
- You can do heavy negatives to extend a set. Doing more reps once your muscles are exhausted from normal reps or,
- Do a set that's purely all heavy negative reps.
If you can't make the negative rep last longer than 5 seconds then the weight is TOO Heavy or its time to end the set.
8. Super Slow Negatives
For super slow negatives you do each negative rep for 15-to-60 seconds using lighter weights less than 70% of your 1-rep max
- You can do super slow negatives to extend a set. Doing more reps once your muscles are exhausted from normal reps or,
- Do a set that's purely all super slow negative reps.
Stop doing super slow negatives once you're unable to make each rep last longer than 15 seconds.
9. Pre-exhaust
To do the pre-exhaust trick,
- First, you literally exhaust the muscle you want to target with an isolation exercise for at least 1 set of 12-to-25+ reps and then,
- You do a heavier compound exercise for the same muscle you're targeting to get a more intense workout for the target muscle.
The pre-exhaust & post-exhaust tricks works best for lagging body parts or any muscle you're having a tough time making bigger.
Examples of the pre-exhaust trick,
- Chest: Do pec flyes followed by bench presses
- Biceps: Do bicep curls followed by chin-ups
- Butt/Glutes: Do donkey kicks followed by squats
10. Negative Pre-exhaust
To do the negative pre-exhaust trick,
- First, you exhaust the target muscle with at least ONE Super-slow negative rep of an isolation or compound exercise
- Then you can continue to do the same exercise (with normal reps) or you can switch to a different exercise for the same target muscle.
11. Post Exhaust
Post exhaustion is the pre-exhaust trick done backwards. You do the compound exercise first before you post-exhaust or continue working the target muscle with an isolation exercise for 12-to-25+ reps.
Post-Exhaust examples,
- Chest: Do Dips followed by pec flyes
- Triceps: Do close grip bench presses followed by triceps extensions
- Butt/Glutes: Do hip thrust followed by donkey kicks
12. Mechanical Drop Set
To do the mechanical drop set trick… You change your form, stance, position or the angle of an exercise to gain a mechanical advantage that allows you to do more reps → For example,
- Once you've done all the pull-ups you can do with your palms facing away from you where your back muscles do all the work with very little help from your arms,
- Switch over to chin-ups with your palms facing you where your back muscles get more help from your arms to allow you to keep doing more reps.
13. Forced Reps
To do the forced reps trick,
- A partner helps/forces you into doing more reps after you're unable to do anymore reps on your own at the end of a set but,
- Your partner only helps out a little. Forced reps are no good once your partner is doing more than half the work.
- Bench Press → Your partner pulls the weight up as you're unable to complete any more reps on your own.
- Pec flye machine → Your partner can help you bring your arms/hands together.
- Pull-up → Your partner can push on your feet a little bit helping you complete some extra pull-ups.
To do forced reps if you're alone,
Do Uni-lateral exercises like one-arm bicep curls or one-legged leg extensions where you use the non-working arm or leg to do forced reps with the working arm or leg.
14. Cheat reps
To do the cheat reps trick,
You cheat a little bit by using bad form or extra momentum after you're unable to do anymore reps in near perfect form at the end of a set.
- Pull-ups → Do extra cheat reps by swinging/kipping yourself up.
- Overhead press → Do extra cheat reps by turning the overhead press into a push press
Stop doing cheat reps once your form is so bad that all you are doing is bouncing, swinging, or using mostly momentum to move the weight.
15. Peak contractions
To do the peak contraction trick,
You contract, squeeze or strongly flex the muscle you're working at the end of each rep for at least 2 seconds to make each rep more intense → For example,
When you do a bicep curl… Contract or squeeze your biceps hard for at least 2 seconds at the top of the curl.
16. 1½ Reps
The 1½ Reps trick is another way to make every rep more intense like pause reps or negatives
High Intensity Training
High Intensity Training or HIT is when you combine 2 or more of the 16 fast muscle building tricks on this page into ONE SET.
For example… Combine pause reps, forced reps & drop set tricks into 1 long high intensity set like this,
- First, do as many pause reps as you can and once you can't do anymore pause reps in near perfect form,
- Keep the set going with forced reps and once you' can't do anymore forced reps,
- Keep the set going with the drop set trick using a lighter weight of pause reps & forced reps.
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