Myo Reps by: Erik Miller, M.S., FIT EDU
Great for Building Muscle Mass ...
Myo reps are a variation of a rest / pause training protocol. It’s an excellent technique to incorporate into your workouts if you want to build muscle mass because of the weight and time under tension. They were made popular in the mid 2000’s by the Norwegian strength coach; Borge Fagerli.
The protocol is made up of an Activation set and 5 mini sets. In the activation set you perform 15 to 20 reps with the last rep being close to failure. A :15 to :20 second break follows the activation set. Then you perform 5 mini sets of 3 to 5 reps with :20 seconds rest in-between. According to Coach Erik Miller, always start a little lighter with the weight. If you can easily perform 5 reps of an exercise with good form in the 5 mini sets you should up your weight.
The myo reps protocol generally work best with exercises that are single joint movements. As far as equipment barbells tend to work better the dumbbells because you rack them instead of picking them up and putting them down. A couple of Coach Erik’s favorites exercises for Myo Reps include; bench press, curls and pullovers.