The Hypertrophy Bomb: One Set for Muscle Growth - Coaching Lab

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The guy in the video who is doing dumbbell chest presses:

  1. is not doing negative slowly enough (2.5-3 sec, and not 4 seconds);
  2. if you truly have 1-2 reps in reserve before hitting failure, you will not be able to do next 3-5 regular speed reps. You will do them extremely slow after going almost to failure on the first sub-set. Otherwise, you are not that close to failure.
    Unless you are helping a lot with other muscles (leaving aside the question whether itā€™s needed, safe and beneficial).
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Borisv,

Would you feel better if a metronome was used? Most trainees would use a four count, which would probably get faster over the five reps. While a metronome would provide a precise four second count, most will not use one.

In pathway three slow concentrics benefitting Mtor are discussed, and quite possibly encouraged, as you should be running out of gas towards the end of the regular speed reps.

I hate to be a killjoy but:

  1. this program is needlessly complex
  2. there is not much proof that mTor concentration is affected by rep speed
  3. muscle growth is a complex, multifaceted subject. It is foolishness to think that turnaround speed on a set of repetitions is going to be significant over the long term.
  4. Dr. Dardenā€™s middle 10 reps at 1 second concentric speed is all you need.
  5. emphasis on accentuated eccentrics might enhance muscle damage, while prolonging recovery. There is little proof that long term emphasis on eccentrics are better for than any other style.

What about just plain-ole vanilla reps and give the metronome back to the music teacher or Drew!

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I donā€™t want to comment whether the whole method is worth it (and/or is better than any others). I just wanted to point out that itā€™s better to upload the video which follows the method exactly (which is not the case). However, itā€™s not a surprise to me that modern coaches and trainees rarely understand what is training to failure. This has been demonstrated many times - for instance, Lyle McDonald dedicated several posts to training to failure (or lack of it) on his website.

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Weā€™ve spent the last 40 years evaluating just about everything imaginable in the quest for building muscle, and weā€™ve found the most important factors are contraction quality and intramuscular biochemistry. Specialized training involving these parameters produces the most remarkable and sustainable gains ā€“ exceeding anything weā€™ve seen before.

Weight selection and rep speed should be range-based and non-specific. Dialing into the feel of the working muscle is the best effect gauge, even though itā€™s an imprecise technical measurement.

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Curious why you didnā€™t put this in the @Christian_Thibaudeau forum, considering it is his article? Would be a more ballsy move IMO

I am not trying to be ballsy or even care who wrote it. I am looking at the logic, method and approach. I do find it interesting how some people reject anything not written by Jones, Darden, or Mentzer. This article and approach is right up the HIT alley and I find it more appealing than 30/10/30.

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Dogma is as dogma does. Thank you for clarifying :slightly_smiling_face:

P.S I saw the topic change as well. I appreciate the openness of this post - dogma is bad wherever it is found (which does not apply only to one of these forums either). :beers:

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I donā€™t see much different from this being a regular set of starting slow and speeding up as you tire ā€¦ ending with a slower negative which after training in a HIT manner for a long time, seems to be the common way to milk that last rep.

But one of CTā€™s methods that really works for me is his two slow reps ( about 4/4 - no stop watch or gymnastic judges required ) followed by two normal reps , then repeat it for a set of eight reps. Doesnā€™t sound like much but it really does a job on me and works especially well for me with Pulldowns, Rows ( chest supported or cable ) Presses , Lateral Raises , Dips, Leg Press & Leg Extension.

Two sets and I usually can not complete the last two normal speed reps. Since learning this it has almost become my ā€˜normalā€™ way to do a set.

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it is hard to measure and how to do ?

I have found one with video and I am not sure what he is trying to say or prove. Is it just a ā€œlook at me I train hard and probably harder than youā€ or something?

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He has attempted to show that some coaches (Mike Israetel, for example) do not know (or, at least, canā€™t demonstrate in training videos responding directly to Lyle) what training to failure looks like. The point of his articles and videos related to this topic was not to suggest that one need to trains to failure or at this level of intensity. Rather, the point (again) is to demonstrate what training to 0 RIR (reps in reserve) or failure looks like in terms of how bar speed slows and how rep duration increases. However, he sees a need to train close to or to failure as part of his ā€œeffective repsā€ guideline for hypertrophy. What is Muscular Failure: Definitions -

There is so much lab knowledge out there, and I canā€™t discredit them, but empirical evidence is also out there.
not linking an article here, but stronger by science has an article about evidence missing regarding effective reps.
I see things referenced in a lot of places that going to absolute failure can be neuralgically draining. I have experienced it myself. If I cut a set and wait even 10 seconds, I can do another rep, rest, another,ā€¦sometimes for up to like 6. I take it to muscular failure, and I canā€™t do any for a while. Did those additional reps trigger hypertrophy though?
If a hypertrophy program works for 9 of 10 peopleā€¦what to change for the 10th person?
There are so, so many ways to trigger hypertrophy and I see some programs try and tackle them all. Lately I am beginning to think, take an approach, work it until it doesnā€™t work, and get away from it completely.
Christian had an article or a post with set intensification progression that I liked. I need to find that and pin it or copy it somewhere.

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I donā€™t know if this method is worth it per se or necessarily better than anything else out there, but I figured I would put in my two cents. Iā€™ve been experimenting with the Hypertrophy Bomb for a few months now, doing them here and there and figuring out if thereā€™s gold in it. Iā€™ve found that using it to replace my regular sets and reps in a regular workout for a given exercise is usually not the best idea, since the volume is not that high and I just donā€™t get better results from it over doing 3x8-12, for instance. I have, however, identified a couple different ways I like to use it where I do see results. The main strengths of this method are that it is very fast (about 4 minutes total time) and pretty brutal if done according to the instructions. Hereā€™s how I use it:

  • If I am super busy and have barely any time for a workout, Iā€™ll create an intense mini workout and do maybe 3-5 of these back to back with no rest in between to target different muscle groups quickly (Hypertrophy Bombs for chest/back/legs, for example) as Iā€™ve found that I can do them with little to no rest in between and each muscle group gets hammered with intensity very quickly. This way I get some workout in, which is better than noneā€“and itā€™s not bad in terms of keeping up the intensity, which is nice for something so simple and fast. Yet, I feel that using it this way is not the true strength of the Hypertrophy Bomb, though:
  • My favorite way to use this is as a quick finisher, creatively layering together one or two Hypertrophy Bombs to take advantage of the quick trashing of a muscle group. For instance, on Push day I could do a Hypertrophy Bomb of a chest exercise or two to fully fatigue the pecs. Or I could do Hypertrophy Bombs as a finisher to add a bit more volume to other muscle groups, or using it to finish off opposing muscle groups, and so forthā€¦the possibilities are very wide open with this approach, but using one or two Hypertrophy Bombs as a finisher from time to time to add a bit more intensity to a workout I think is the best and easiest way to take advantage of the benefits of this unique approach.

Anyway, those ideas are the fruit of me playing around with them here and there for the past couple months nowā€¦itā€™s been a fun process of evaluation to see what works for me and what doesnā€™t.

I tried this for four weeks using weighted dips. I thought it worked pretty well, and would certainly suggest giving it a try.

I like stuff that is easy to remember without always referring back to some piece of paper. For that reason, I conceptualized it as ā€œ5, 5, 10, 20ā€. 5 dips (or whatever at 70%) with a 5 second negative, 5 regular reps, 10 second negative, 20 second bottom hold. I just find this makes things easier for me when a range is given. I could do three sets unweighted and do several other exercises. A bit less with more weight added.

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